Crowdfunding Peace in the Ukraine

Can the Digital Age Stop Kinetic War?

Nov 19, 2024

Introduction

As Russia’s brutal aggression against the country of Ukraine grinds through its third year, governments around the world have imposed sanctions against Russia, seized the assets of their wealthiest and most influential oligarchs, and supplied the Ukrainian resistance with weapons, supplies, and intelligence. Yet despite all of this, it seems that Ukraine’s would-be conqueror is still hellbent on seizing control of their neighbor to the west, even if it means turning the former breadbasket of the Soviet Union into raven-infested wasteland of smoldering ruins and sun-bleached bones in the process. Over the course of the conflict, warfare has reduced the Balkan state of 40 million people to a hellscape. Many of their cities are reduced to ruins. Demolished Russian tanks and other destroyed war materiel are scattered throughout, and the countryside is riven with networks of trenches. The introduction of North Korean troops and increased U.S. backing for Ukraine threatens to turn the conflict into greater global struggle for supremacy.

Throughout this conflict, we have learned that the old ways of dealing with state aggression have either lost their potency or are outright obsolete. The soft-power approach, that of imposing sanctions against aggressive powers in the hopes that they could not endure prolonged economic exile, has proven ineffectual, at least in the short term. Rather, the West’s decision to cut ties with the Russian economy only exacerbated its own budding economic woes, most notably the oil crunch Americans felt across the country until hostilities erupted in Israel in late 2023. The more brazen tactic of deploying direct military aid was relegated to the annals of history the moment the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. Given the inability of even the combined might of a coalition of major powers to prevent conflicts such as Putin’s 19th-century-style war of conquest, what could anyone do to prevent a future rife with wars of aggression –or more appropriately termed, a future dominated by psychopaths in high places committing organized mass murder on a grand scale?

Perhaps we are underplaying our greatest advantage. The silver lining of the Russo-Ukrainian War is that it gave a hint of the extent of the public’s ability to take effective action in opposition to aggression. Hacking the Kremlin’s databases, crowd-funding humanitarian relief efforts, breaking through Moscow’s propaganda wall, mass boycotts of Russian goods and services, and the arrival of thousands of foreign volunteers in defense of Ukraine showed that both the activistic trend in Western culture and the digital age have ushered in an era where a united public opposition can stifle aggressive action as well as any established government. Yet the burning question remains –is our greatest potential still waiting to be tapped?

Increased ability to penetrate the aggressor’s propaganda wall

Perhaps the most impactful way to punish the Russian Bear for its transgressions is the internet’s novel ability to breach Moscow’s propaganda wall. An autocratic regime through and through, Putin’s government relies upon its monopoly of the information that the Russian people can access. A free press is unknown there; traditional news sources such as newspapers and evening reports are strictly state-run. Moscow also takes a hands-on approach to what the Russian people can find on the internet. Imprisoning journalists, or anyone for that matter, who criticize the government is a well-known and uncontroversial practice for the former USSR. Russia’s crackdown on dissent only intensified following their widely condemned military venture, whereby the Kremlin shuttered access to several websites. In March of 2022, Putin signed even more draconian measures into legislation, ensuring that any individuals caught so much as referring to the Ukrainian invasion as a “war” would face fifteen years of imprisonment.^[1]

This oppressive approach may have worked even ten years ago, but today, such moves are as archaic as they are futile. From tactics as simple as sending links to Russian citizens via text messages and the utilization of short-wave radio, to breeching Russian databases and capitalizing on military information leaks, modern technology has demonstrated its worth as a means of dismantling Moscow’s beguiling narrative.^[2]

Such efforts have only grown more sophisticated as the war rages on. Online hacker groups, such as Cyber Regiment, have consolidated the previously disparate hacktivist landscape into a more formidable force against the Russian incursion. As an active group, details of their ongoing operations are minimal; however, some activities include hosting contests to gather information on Russian Intelligence officers and probing for weaknesses in Russia’s systems. The group has successfully partnered with various governments, with whom they share their information. And this group is not the only one. Other outfits include IT Army, Hack Your Mom, Cyber.Unit Tech, and InformNapalm, among reportedly dozen of others.^[3]

So far, hacking efforts have proven to be little more than a persistent nuisance for the Kremlin. As of now, it sustains its invasion of Ukraine, apparently unabated. However, the potential of a cybernetic offensive has not been truly realized, and it continues to expand in both numbers and formidability. A dramatic uptick in the frequency and intensity of attacks could very well spell the end of Putin’s invasion. Strikes against vital infrastructures such as pipelines, energy grids, defense programs, or railways could prove lethal to the continued functioning of the Russian country, as force Putin to halt his invasion, lest he witness the imminent collapse of his dominion.

Increased ability for the public to fund defenders and provide humanitarian support

Historically, refugee support and humanitarian efforts struggle to gain appropriate attention. Such matters jockey with other urgent aspects of conflict, namely in developing a peaceful solution to the conflict. Neutralizing the source of hardship often wins priority over the alleviation of its consequences in terms of the international response to crises.

The rise of online crowdfunding could change all of that. Today, everyday people can donate funds aimed at humanitarian relief with the click of a button. And if the famous “Epstein didn’t kill himself” meme campaign proves anything, it’s that invested users can prolong interest in a cause far beyond what was previously possible. As of July, 27, 2023, Ukraine has received a total $225 million in private donations from cryptocurrency alone.^[4] This means that defending nations don’t need to rely solely upon government funds, if only a significant margin of the population mobilized its monetary resources for the cause. Today, Ukraine gathers currency from around the world to arm and supply its defenders, taking advantage of the global weapons market to slowly but surely even the odds against its invaders. If this seems implausible, the 1948 Arab-Israeli war provides a perfect example of how foreign aid helped Israel turn the tide against the coalition of Arab adversaries within a few months.^[5] If this could be accomplished then without current technology, the swift pace of online transactions and communication can only accelerate this process.

Public boycotting of aggressive powers/ integrated economy

Today’s integrated economy has made it nearly impossible for a country to transgress the parameters of international law and consensus without suffering from economic penalties. Russia is learning that such invasions will no longer be waged without the implementation of both government sanctions and corporate boycotts. As of January 9^th, 2024, over 1,000 companies have curtailed operations in Russia beyond sanction requirements.^[6] If Russia continues its invasion long enough, it may find itself mostly, if not completely, cut off from the majority of the largest economies in the world. This pressure is mainly applied by large companies, as individual buying power would likely only make minute changes to the overall effect. However, it stands to reason that the combined choice of hundreds of millions of individual buyers choosing not to engage in the Russian economy can at least make enough of a dent to show that unprovoked military aggression will not be tolerated.

Increase in foreign volunteers

Finally, the rise of foreign volunteers in regional conflicts in recent decades should sent a chill up the spines of any would-be aggressors. Mercenaries, defense contractors, and armed volunteers of all stripes are nothing new in warfare. In fact, history proves that whether ideologically motivated or cash-driven, foreign combatants are a historical constant. What has changed, is the increased information access and ability for potential volunteers to coordinate, organize, and develop a viable strategy. Conflicts as recent as the Arab Spring, the ongoing Syrian Civil War, and the conflict in Ukraine, demonstrate the new and enhanced capabilities of motivated individuals to build groups, develop strategies, or join foreign legion battalion, as exemplified by Zelensky’s swiftly manned foreign battalion, and more recently, Israel’s Mahal program is actively recruiting non-Israeli Jews into the IDF to support their own war effort in Gaza.^[7]

The extent to which the current tempo of arriving volunteers will alter the course of the war in Russia’s favor.[8] But it does show that beefing up the ranks with foreign nationals from around the globe is both valued and viable. It also suggests the possibility of an increasingly active and armed civilian global population hostile to state aggression. If the willingness to face down state aggression reached a fever pitch, invading armies could soon find themselves bogged down in quagmires fighting endless hordes of armed adversaries of unknown origin.

Like civilian cyberattacks, influxes of non-state militias effectively circumvent the limitations placed upon state interventions following the advent of the nuclear age. The possibility of nuclear war and the mutually assured destruction it promises does not factor in when the resistance is prosecuted, not by an accountable government with a designated territory that can be accosted, but by numbers of combatants flowing more or less evenly throughout the free world, unsupported an unendorsed by any government. Without a clear target to bomb, invaders are sinking their treasuries, supplies, manpower and patience into an endless game of whack-a-mole against angry armed activists that blend into the population and seemingly come out of the woodwork. If our recent wars in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan prove anything, this scenario alone amounts to an endless nightmare for any conventional military.

Summary

If we take this evidence into consideration and choose, as a people, to act upon it, the days of organized state murder can successfully be brought to an end. On its face, this appears to be a radical idea. After all, what difference could regular people make in the face of massive economies, vast militaries equipped with the world’s most effective weapons and supplies, and headed by the some of the most cold-blooded, vicious, and resolute people on the face of the earth? Could cyber-activism, boycotting, information warfare, and armed volunteers really shove a stick in the gears of the war machine that’s been churning for at least for as long as history began? Separately, probably not. But if we combined these tactics and apply them in a protracted strategy focused on the extinguishment of unjust military invasions and occupations, we have a chance to succeed where World War era governments have failed. Economic boycotts of an aggressive nation can supplement the impact of national sanctions. Sending banned or blocked media through an invader’s propaganda wall can open the eyes of its population and inspire them to oppose their government’s actions, or at least withdraw active support. Cybernetic activism, a potent tool against any institution that relies on digital technology, can be employed to disrupt an endless list of national system and stifle even essential functions. Pumping adequate funding into refugee and defense can both ease the defending nation’s hardships as they resist, along with giving them the necessary funds to continue their struggle against the invader. Lastly, the introduction of unprecedented waves of armed foreign volunteers can turn any criminal military venture into an unbearable tactical and political error for the opposing force, taking completely off the aggressor’s table.

This is not an inevitability. Such a future necessitates the faith and efforts of people on a global scale. But it is possible. Our recent advances in technology have imbued the citizens of the world with unprecedented power to alter the course of history for the better. We need only recognize this, and act upon it.

The Human Animal

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