Introduction

Continuing his series of expert interviews on the Russia-Ukraine War, Jim talks again with Samo Burja about the state of the Russian advance one month in... Continuing his series of expert interviews on the Russia-Ukraine War, Jim talks again with Samo Burja about the state of the Russian advance one month in. They discuss Putin's maximum acceptable atrocity level, the complex relationship between public opinion and intervention, Russia's need for a symbolic victory, meaning & impact of the West's surprisingly coherent network counterattack, importance of the white-collar bureaucratic class's Twitter addiction, conditions that might move the situation toward settlement, a never-ending ceasefire, the symmetry of Russian and Ukrainian forces, what might happen if Zelensky were killed, the Russian failure to engage in 5G warfare, whether the balance between offense and defense has shifted, whether collective network response might become an effective war deterrent, what China & other nations are taking away from the conflict so far, and much more. Episode Transcript JRS Currents 054: Samo Burja on the Russia-Ukraine War Institute for the Study of War Report - "Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, March 23" Samo Burja is the founder and President of Bismarck Analysis, a consulting firm that specializes in institutional analysis for clients in North America and Europe. Bismarck uses the foundational sociological research that Samo and his team have conducted over the past decade to deliver unique insights to clients about institutional design and strategy. Samo’s studies focus on the social and material technologies that provide the foundation for healthy human societies, with an eye to engineering and restoring the structures that produce functional institutions. He has authored articles and papers on his findings. His manuscript, Great Founder Theory, is available online. He is also a Research Fellow at the Long Now Foundation and Senior Research Fellow in Political Science at the Foresight Institute. Samo has spoken about his findings at the World Economic Forum at Davos, Y Combinator’s YC 120 conference, the Reboot American Innovation conference in Washington, D.C., and elsewhere. He spends most of his time in California and his native Slovenia.