View source for Fridman/Michlin-Shapir: Strategy Without Design, Decoding the Kremlin's Behavior

'''Date:''' September 7th, 2023 at 17:00 CET / 12:00 EST  
'''Platform:''' Cisco Webex Events  

=== Link to Video Recording ===
[https://eucom.webex.com/eucom/ldr.php?RCID=45005ec171ead33d902f0c445a84a669 Link to Video Recording] -- Passcode: gpHT6fC2NC5

=== Details ===
RSI will host Ofer Fridman and Vera Michlin-Shapir for a discussion on their recent RSI-sponsored research titled, ''Information War as Russia's Theory of Influence.''

=== Abstract ===
The Russian concept of “information war” significantly differs from the Western view of Russia’s malign disinformation/information operations and malign influence conducted predominantly in the information domain. While Western political and professional discourse on Russia’s influence is dominated by understanding its malign activities as predominantly informational, the Russian information war presents a unique approach that is a wide-ranging framework for understanding relations in which “nonmilitary” means are employed across all possible domains to influence the opponent.

=== Biographies ===

==== Ofer Fridman ====
[[File:Photo_Ofer_Fridman.jpg|thumb|200px|Ofer Fridman]]  
'''Title:''' Director of Operations, King's Center for Strategic Communications  
'''Affiliation:''' Senior Lecturer, Department of War Studies, King's College London  

Dr. Ofer Fridman is Director of Operations at King’s Centre for Strategic Communications (KCSC) and Senior Lecturer at the Department of War Studies, King’s College London. Dr. Fridman has worked on different projects commissioned by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, the European Parliament, and the Government of Canada. 

In 2020, he coauthored ''Mapping Fake News and Disinformation in the Western Balkans and Identifying Ways to Effectively Counter Them,'' a study commissioned by the European Parliament Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in 2019, he submitted written evidence to the UK Defence Committee’s inquiry on the UK’s response to hybrid threats. He has contributed many articles to ''RUSI Journal,'' ''Prism,'' ''Joint Force Quarterly,'' ''Defence Strategic Communications,'' ''The National Interest,'' ''The Journal of Advance Military Studies,'' and other journals. 

His recent books include: ''Strategiya: The Foundations of the Russian Art of Strategy'' (Oxford University Press, 2021) and ''Russian ‘Hybrid Warfare’: Resurgence and Politicization'' (Oxford University Press, 2018/2022). Prior to embarking on his academic career, he served for 15 years in the Israel Defense Forces on active duty.

==== Vera Michlin-Shapir ====
[[File:Photo_Vera_Michlin_Shapir.jpg|thumb|200px|Vera Michlin-Shapir]]  
'''Title:''' Visiting Fellow, King's Center for Strategic Communications  
'''Affiliation:''' Lecturer, Department of War Studies, King's College London  

Dr. Vera Michlin-Shapir is Visiting Fellow at King’s Centre for Strategic Communications (KCSC) and Lecturer at the Department of War Studies, King’s College London. Dr. Michlin-Shapir worked for six years (2010–2016) in the Israeli National Security Council, Prime Minister’s Office. She was a research fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies at Tel Aviv University, where she engaged in projects commissioned by the Israeli Ministries of Defense and Foreign Affairs, the Israeli Intelligence and Commemoration Centre, as well as foreign embassies based in Tel Aviv. 

Recently, she coauthored a report on Russia’s coronavirus vaccine diplomacy, ''The Rise and Fall of Sputnik V—How the Kremlin Used the Coronavirus Vaccine as a Tool of Information Warfare,'' published by the Institute of Modern Russia in New York. Dr. Michlin-Shapir has authored many articles and opinion pieces. Her recent book ''Fluid Russia: Between the Global and the National in the Post-Soviet Era'' was published in 2021 by Cornell University Press.

=== Additional Resources ===
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