JRL NEWSWATCH: “In Ukraine, Technology Only Thickens the Fog of War” – Bloomberg

“The deluge of satellite imagery, drone footage, social media and smart phones has generated enough information to support any story you want to tell about what’s happening on the ground.”

“… [T]wo relatively new contributions to the transparency of the Russo-Ukrainian conflict are widely available satellite imagery and social network posts. … [S]atellite data from private Western providers has lent Ukraine a powerful advantage … [helping make] Russian troop movements … completely transparent. Russia, with about 200 observation satellites compared with 350 for U.S. private companies alone, has had much lower visibility into Ukrainian movements and facilities. The gift of satellite intelligence keeps on giving for Ukraine … now … receiving missiles with a progressively longer range … [and] target[ing] them efficiently. For OSINT analysts, too, they’re useful in locating specific Russian units and equipment types. But this transparency only works one way, mainly because no Western satellite data providers or OSINT analysts are willing openly to help Russia. … [Yet] [a]s they did almost 200 years ago, the general, the spy, the analyst and the journalist still need the kind of genius Clausewitz described to find grains of truth in the flood of speculation, emotion and deception. … [R]ather than lifting the fog of war, technological development has in many ways just added another layer.”

Click here for: “In Ukraine, Technology Only Thickens the Fog of War; The deluge of satellite imagery, drone footage, social media and smart phones has generated enough information to support any story you want to tell about what’s happening on the ground.” – Bloomberg/ Leonid Bershidsky