National memory as a weapon in the information war
Authors: Чорномаз Б. Д. 
Published: February 2020

We can observe signs of development of civilization processes in Ukraine everywhere on a daily basis. Such achievements of mankind as computers, smart phones, digital photography, tablets, etc. are becoming common and natural. Along with the positive signs of the development of civilization, we see many achievements that are difficult to grasp by the mind of an ordinary person. In particular, along with the positive achievements of mankind, we must learn to recognize and counter the new inventions used by some states to wage aggression in time.The article highlights the visible aspects of a new type of modern war, which the state of Russia, is waging against its neighbors, including Ukraine, whenever it is convenient to them. These are the so-called «hybrid wars», which Russia is testing on the neighboring countries.In the article it is pointed out, that Russia never starts aggression openly; it always covers its intentions with «peaceful» rhetoric. As usual, Russia’s victims are those neighboring countries that are unable to show power and information confrontation. It has become a tendency that when the time comes, the Russian leaders begin aggression, and their armed forces act according to a motto deduced by Machiavelli and later applied by the Bolsheviks in the 1920s: «You’re either with us, or against us». Starting aggression, Russia continues to declare tales about friendship and peace to the whole world.In the main part of the article, the author emphasizes that all the wars that Russia is embarking on with neighboring countries have a common feature - the geographic location of these states, easily accessible to the Russian armed forces. The author of the article implicitly emphasizes the aggressive features of the historical path of Russia, in particular, the period when it began to transform from Muscovy to Russia. In the article, the author emphasizes that Russia by its behavior, in fact, convinces many prescient people that it is the heir to the robbery mind, which it adopted back in the XIII century from the Golden Horde. Actually, the Russian leadership inherited the habit of stealing another’s living space and another’s territory from Batu Khan’s Horde. This habit gradually gained importance of the national feature of the Russians.One of the most dangerous methods that precedes Russia’s use of firearms is intensification of the war in the information space. As usual, Russia’s aggression against the nations it has sacrificed is a sign of interference with the humanitarian sphere of these peoples’ lives. In other words, in the Russian version, information war is a mandatory prelude to the start of an actual war.An example of one of the anti-Ukrainian special operations of information war against Ukraine is given in an article by a famous historian from Ukraine, Serhii Terno, in which he reveals the purpose of an information war, which became quite evident after analyzing the content of a class book for fifth grade students recently published in Ukraine. Serhiy Terno convincingly, by demonstrating examples and evidence, proves that the information war that Russia is imposing on Ukraine has a final goal - the complete assimilation of the Ukrainian ethnos and the transformation of the Ukrainian living space into a «Russian dimension». Usually, such behavior in Russia precedes an armed attack, and it always happens if the victim of Russian aggression refuses to obey Russia’s orders.In the article, the author indirectly helps the reader to recognize that there are new and improved old methods of waging war in the modern evolutionary development of world civilization processes.Experts specializing in the study of the development of interethnic relations, only after the open military aggression of Russia, which began in 2014, acknowledged that Russia is waging an aggressive war against Ukraine, which political scientists called «hybrid». One of the aspects of “hybrid” war is the war in the information space, and the battle for historical memory is at the forefront of information battles. Revealing this aspect, it would be appropriate to clarify the explanation of the term «historical memory» with an expanded explanation of the right to interpret national history, which we understand with the help of historical knowledge.By way of conclusion, the author cites vivid examples of participation in the information war of the representatives of the aggressor state to emphasize the importance of so called «battles» in the information space. The Ukrainian intellectuals’ struggle for the right of young people for historical memory and justice is described in a convincing and successful way. Much attention is given to the Ukrainian historians’ assessment of the value of research and study of historical memory. The article provides incontrovertible evidence that historical knowledge is a type of information weapon, which in many cases is more effective than a firearm. If we treat «historical memory» as one of the modern information weapons, the article covers examples of the use of these weapons in the context of the information war.Finally, quotes of influential scholars on how they assessed the importance of informational influence on the well-known historical figures are stated in the article: the queen of the Russian Empire, Catherine II and the German propaganda minister, Joseph Goebbels.