(This image from Ukraine is what got Melissa going this morning. And the rest of us).

Melissa led it off this morning. We naturally expected Splash to start the discussion on the fourth day of war. Mr. Putin has placed his nuclear forces on the highest alert, and that had him up early. This is, he said gravely, a messaging exercise. We generally agree with that professional assessment, though the “strategic exercise” the Russians conducted last week brushed the cobwebs off a potent threat to human civilization.

There followed an agitated discussion of nuclear messaging around the Fire Ring under uncertain skies, and the fact that the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, already contaminated, could be a place to make a small demonstration of adamant resolve. You can imagine that got the old Cold Warriors agitated with old thinking not exercised in decades.

Melissa’s point was more direct. “You saw how I reacted yesterday to that cute blonde woman broadcasting from a bomb shelter, holding her baby. You have no idea how wrenching that is to any woman who has held her baby in times of uncertainty. How can Putin allow that messaging to come out of a place in which no one believes there is justification to threaten infants with tanks?”

The Old Salts agreed from a practical military standpoint. It was a function of professional planning. First step was always Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses- what we called SEAD in our time. Effective operations require a campaign to disable the defensive capabilities of a place you are going to occupy by force. Without it, you have disaster.

“We talked about that yesterday with the nod back to Height 776. It was a military disaster for the Russians that had to be turned around into a story of heroism. The key is to not have a humiliating event to spin around. You want to humiliate other peple.”

“Like a Mom huddled in a basement?”

“That sort of horror is to be expected. The key is to suppress the message before the media runs it again and again.”

“So, as a practical matter, how do you do that? I would put it right up there with turning off the power grid and the ability to communicate as first items on the Targets That Count list.”

“Agree. There is something new here in terms of technology transforming our old trade. Word this morning is that Elon Musk’s StarLink orbital media system is being used to allow that Mom to represent Ukraine. And that old video from other wars is being re-cycled to demonstrate other stories that aren’t happening now, but did happen.”

“Shooting down two large transport aircraft and ambushing a mechanized column to destroy fifty vehicles and the young men driving them is pretty effective messaging. You don’t need that in terms of perception management on a war that appears unjustified.”

“That is the key to why things appear the way they are. The Kremlin not only announced the nuclear option, but said they might hav to take out the International Space Station.”

“Which is totally harmless.”

Splash was already deep into that message. “The crew onboard Expedition 62 numbers seven, mostly male, but a representative sample of some of the glob’s men and women. Today they were supposed to be doing experiments in the “differences in human bone biology in microgravity. Part OsteoOmics-02 experiment they announced last week.”

“So, destroying the Space Station is effective in what freaking manner? Spreading eight people and a bunch of twisted metal and plastic in low earth orbit?”

“Demonstration of resolve.”

“I think the blonde lady in the bunker is more effective. But isn’t her message being spread by Elon Musk’s SpaceLink internet system?”

“That is the system we would like to have here in the Piedmont to get decent broadband. So we can stream all sorts of new movies.” Loma was barely through his third cup of steaming java.

“And messaging,” said Melissa thoughtfully.

“We might want to examine the nature of warfighting. It seems to have changed again.”

“Yeah,” said Splash, nodding in Melissa’s direction. “It’s for the children.”

Copyright 2022 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com