Saturday, October 3, 2020

Kaminska: On War

Obviously, first and foremost because she is not a nineteenth-century Prussian general, Ms Kaminska takes a different approach than Clausewitz did in Vom Kriege.
Specifically, Izabella is looking more at the marketing and framing of war propaganda, in the instant case what folks in Azerbaijan are seeing.

From FT Alphaville:

Social media to make benefit glorious nation of Azerbaijan (and others)
Morale-boosting military messaging intended to recruit and galvanise troops, while prompting patriotic goodwill with the public, is nothing new. Such techniques have been in play since war itself was invented.

In the 20th century, the military took advantage of the media of its day: broadcast radio, video and celluloid film. In 2020, it would clearly be negligent for it not to take advantage of the craze for musically backdropped micro-clippable content shareable on social media.

And the Azeri military has done just that. Take a gander at some of their greatest creations, starting with their latest release, described as Alkhanli and performed (according to Google Translate) by Nur Group.
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Back in 2018, the Azeris also released this Top-gun evoking but equally Mamma Mia-channelling wonder hit:
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The Turks have been at it too, though their creations have focused on the far grittier and arguably “cooler” style of rap.

Mind blown. Right? (Not literally, we hasten to add.)

But while it might be fun to laugh about it and share it on social media for the LOLs (yes, we stand guilty), there’s a serious consequence in doing so. On two fronts....
....MUCH MORE

Do click through, the videos have to be seen to be believed.

Re: Clausewitz v Kaminska I get the feeling she could rip 'ol Carl von C. to shreds if she got angry.
Fortunately we have only seen hints of Izzy in Terminator mode while on the other hand we have:
The Softer Side Of Clausewitz