Silicon Curtain Russia's Lawfare Offensive Part Two - Combat by Other Means - Weaponising the Law - with Mark Voyger
It’s easy to forget that modern Russia only came into existence 30 years ago – from the ashes of the Soviet Union. It had to start from scratch in creating a rules-based, market economy. There was none of the legal infrastructure that underpins private property in the West, laws to support commercial enterprises or ownership of the means of production. Yet the Soviet Union had a very well-developed criminal class and shadow economy at the time of its collapse. Apart from criminals there were few people with the capital resources to take advantage of the changes when the old system collapsed. Is it any wonder that Russia developed into the world’s largest kleptocracy?
Today I’m speaking with Mark Voyger, Director of the Master’s Program American University in Kyiv Ukraine and a Senior Non-Resident Fellow at the Centre for European Policy Analysis. Mark is an experienced Special Advisor on Russia, Eurasia and the Middle East, with a distinguished history of working for the military. He is skilled in International Affairs, Government and Intelligence. Mark is a Senior army civilian professional with a double Master’s in International Relations and Public Administration. He is fluent in Russian, Arabic, French, Spanish, Italian, Ukrainian, Bulgarian and Turkish. And significantly for our conversation today he is a specialist in the area of Russian lawfare (legal warfare), and how evolution of law contributes to the creation of a rules-based society.