Kevin Limonier & Marlène Laruelle “Beyond “hybrid warfare”: a digital exploration of Russia’s entrepreneurs of influence”

Kevin Limonier & Marlène Laruelle “Beyond “hybrid warfare”: a digital exploration of Russia’s entrepreneurs of influence”

POST-SOVIET AFFAIRS
19 August 2021

Author

Read the article co-authored by Marlène Laruelle and Kévin Limonier “Beyond “hybrid warfare”: a digital exploration of Russia’s entrepreneurs of influence” for Post-Soviet Affairs, Volume 37, Issue 4.

Abstract : “This article argues that to capture Russia’s influence abroad, one needs to comprehend the country’s “gray diplomacy” as a neoliberal realm open to individual initiatives. We define “entrepreneurs of influence” as people who invest their own money or social capital to build influence abroad in hopes of being rewarded by the Kremlin . We test this notion by looking at both famous and unknown entrepreneurs of influence and their digital activities. We divide them into three broad categories based on their degree of proximity to the authorities: the tycoons (Yevgeny Prigozhin and Konstantin Malofeev), the timeservers (Alexander Yonov and Alexander Malkevich), and the frontline pioneers (the Belgian Luc Michel). An analysis of the technical data documenting their online activities shows that some of these initiatives, while inscribed into Moscow’s broad aspirations to great powerness, are based on the specific agendas of their promoters, and thus outlines the inherent limits of Moscow’s endeavors.”

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GEODE researchers in the special issue “From cyberspace to the datasphere: strategic challenges of the digital revolution”

GEODE researchers in the special issue “From cyberspace to the datasphere: strategic challenges of the digital revolution”

Journal of Cyber Policy
17 August 2021

Authors

Take a look at the special issue of the Journal of Cyber Policy which contains a selection of papers published in French by Herodote in June 2020 :

  • “Mapping the spread of Russian and Chinese contents on the French-speaking African web” co-authored by Frédérick Douzet, Kevin Limonier, Selma Mihoubi and Elodie René.
  • “Free and open source software in the new digital public policies in Russia” by Marie-Gabrielle Bertran.
  • “The strategic surprise of Russian information operations on social media in 2016 in the United States: mapping a blind spot”
    by Camille Francois & Herb Lin.
  • “Cryptocurrencies and processing power in Russia: a new strategic territory in eastern Siberia?” by Hugo Estecahandy & Kevin Limonier.
  • “Cyberspace is used, first and foremost, to wage wars: proliferation, security and stability in cyberspace.” by Frédérick Douzet & Aude Gery.
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Charlotte Escorne & Hugo Estecahandy at the IGU’s Commission on Geography of Governance’s Annual Conference

Charlotte Escorne & Hugo Estecahandy at the IGU’s Commission on Geography of Governance’s Annual Conference

IGU
17 August 2021

Authors

On June 24, 2021, Charlotte Escorne and Hugo Estecahandy presented their research at the Commission on Geography of Governance’s Annual Conference.

Hugo Estecahandy spoke in the morning on the topic: “Centralization of power and decentralization technology. Critical analysis of the implementation of blockchain technology in electronic voting solutions in the city of Moscow”.

Charlotte Escorne spoke in the afternoon to present her research on “The deployment of 5G in Africa: a technological lever to improve local development?”.

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Hugo Estecahandy & Kevin Limonier “Cryptocurrencies and processing power in Russia: a new strategic territory in eastern Siberia?”

Hugo Estecahandy & Kevin Limonier “Cryptocurrencies and processing power in Russia: a new strategic territory in eastern Siberia?”

Journal of Cyber Policy
17 August 2021

Authors

Discover the paper co-authored by Hugo Estecahandy and Kevin Limonier on “Cryptocurrencies and processing power in Russia: a new strategic territory in eastern Siberia?”, published by The Chatham House & Tandfonline in the Journal of Cyber Policy !

Abstract : This paper analyses the emerging Russian cryptocurrency mining industry, with a particular focus on eastern Siberia. This major strategic industry provides the region with a growing calculation power and fosters potential innovations – in encryption especially. In fact, the crypto-mining industry has noticeably coalesced in eastern Siberia because the region offers a series of geographic, climatic, economic and technical advantages – the magnitude of which is hard to match anywhere else in the world. This article focuses on the oblast of Irkutsk and shows how crypto-mining has come to encompass both economic and political powers and to involve a number of Russian actors and infrastructures. Ultimately, the local dynamics in eastern Siberia teach us a lot about the fate of the industry nationally.

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Ilan Scialom at the Gulf Information Security Expo & Conference – GISEC

Ilan Scialom at the Gulf Information Security Expo & Conference – GISEC

GISEC
31 May 2021

Author

On the occasion of the GISEC international cybersecurity exhibition, which took place in Dubai from June 31 to 2, 2021, Ilan Scialom presented the geopolitical and cyber impacts of the normalization agreements, known as the Abraham Accords, between Israel and the United Arab Emirates. 

After explaining that cooperation between the two states has existed for many years, he returned to the emergence of cyber and technological partnerships at various levels – state, private. This major trend may in the medium term announce a shift in geopolitical dynamics in the Middle East with major implications for other States in the region.

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