Media releases

• How Ukraine’s small missiles help defend against a bigger invader

  Wednesday, March 09, 2022 | By Brock University

  MEDIA RELEASE: 8 March 2022 – R0030

  When Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told the world last month, “I need ammunition, not a ride,” the ammo he especially wanted was anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles. Since then, countries around the world have energetically responded, sending shipments that include Javelin anti-tank missiles and Strela anti-aircraft missiles.

  Brock University Associate Professor of Operations Research Michael Armstrong says Zelenskyy’s request, and the international response, reflect how these missiles are particularly effective for defensive fighting and “asymmetric” warfare.

  “The missiles are primarily defensive because the technology works best when used by stationary infantry against targets moving nearby,” says Armstrong, a faculty member with Brock’s Goodman School of Business whose research has examined naval missile warfare and Israel’s Iron Dome rocket interceptor systems.

  He says some of the smaller versions resemble Second World War bazookas. Soldiers might fire the anti-tank missiles at vehicles driving past them along a road, and the anti-aircraft missiles at jet fighters flying overhead.

  Armstrong says this feature makes it more politically acceptable for governments to send the weapons to Ukraine, which is receiving shipments from NATO members such as Canada, Germany and the U.S., as well as traditionally neutral countries such as Sweden.

  “These small missiles are also well-suited to asymmetric situations, where one side is much weaker than their opponent,” he says. “They are relatively cheap but can destroy tanks and aircraft costing millions of dollars more.”

  This allows Ukraine to counter Russia’s large military hardware advantage and make the odds slightly less uneven. Reports suggest Ukraine is using the weapons very effectively.

  A ‘Saint Javelin of the Ukraine’ image has become an international meme with the images showing a woman dressed in medieval Orthodox robes, but carrying a Javelin anti-tank weapon.

  Ironically, Russia’s predecessor state, the Soviet Union, was a pioneer in developing both missile types. For example, Egypt used Soviet-supplied missiles to inflict heavy losses on Israeli tanks and aircraft during their 1973 war.

  However, the missiles have limitations, Armstrong says. They can help slow down Russian forces advancing toward Ukrainian cities like Kyiv, but they’re less effective at pushing the Russians out once they’ve surrounded cities like Kharkiv. Tanks and warplanes are more useful for that mission. So, even with the missiles, the odds against Ukraine look formidable.

  Brock Associate Professor Michael Armstrong is available for media interviews and can be reached directly at michael.armstrong@brocku.ca

  For more information or for assistance arranging interviews:

  * Dan Dakin, Manager Communications and Media Relations, Brock University ddakin@brocku.ca or 905-347-1970

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  Categories: Media releases

• Brock experts weigh in on impact of Vladimir Putin’s personality on war

  Monday, March 07, 2022 | By Brock University

  MEDIA RELEASE: 7 March 2022 – R0029

  To what extent is the war against Ukraine a reflection of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s personality? A great deal, say Brock University experts Michael Ashton and Tony Volk.

  “The war is a really striking sign that Putin is a ruthless person with an indifference to mass civilian casualties, as we saw during the Chechen war in Grozny, more recently in Syria and now throughout Ukraine,” says Ashton, a Professor of Psychology. “The suffering of ordinary people is just not a consideration for him; it’s all about achieving his goals.”

  Ashton notes how Putin’s persona has flipped in recent days from being a poker-faced, “prudent, calculated type of risk taker” to a more “reckless gambler” who has badly misjudged the consequences of his latest actions.

  Ashton is the co-creator of a personality inventory scale called HEXACO, which measures six major dimensions of personality.

  He discusses details of the scale and its implications in a book he co-authored, The H Factor of Personality: Why Some People are Manipulative, Self-Entitled, Materialistic, and Exploitive—And Why It Matters for Everyone.

  According to the HEXACO scale, Putin would score particularly low in the “Honesty-Humility” and “Emotionality” categories, says Ashton.

  “People who combine low Honesty-Humility with low Emotionality are cold and callous; they don’t feel much empathy or pity, being unmoved by the suffering of others,” he says. “They also have more greed than fear, being willing to take chances in pursuit of wealth and power.”

  Brock Professor of Child and Youth Studies Tony Volk has been studying bullying in children and adults for almost 20 years.

  “Watching the situation in Ukraine unfold, I can’t help but see Russian President Vladimir Putin as a classic schoolyard bully, albeit with access to nuclear weapons,” says Volk in a recent Toronto Star opinion piece.

  He likens Putin’s invasion to a student bullying another for lunch money. In that case, the bully weighs the risk of being detained by the teacher to the benefit gained by their action: a free lunch.

  “Putin has determined that seizing Ukraine is worth the economic sanctions imposed by the global community,” says Volk.

  Also, like the school bully, Putin has targeted a relatively weak victim; those who would step up to defend the one being bullied, in this case, NATO, is still monitoring the situation, says Volk.

  “Bullying rarely stops on its own. It almost always ends in one of two ways: either the bully realizes the benefits of co-operation, or someone stops the bully,” he says.

  But just like in the schoolyard, there may be high costs to stopping the bully, says Volk, and in this case that means the possibility of cyberattacks or even nuclear warfare.

  Volk and his research team define bullying as “aggressive, goal-directed behaviour that harms another within the context of a power imbalance.”

  He says that if Putin is a selfish and cold but calculating bully, then strong economic sanctions against Russia should help make the consequences of Putin’s war greater than the benefits he’ll receive by waging war.

  “What remains to be seen is how much his ego weighs into these calculations, in which innocent lives will pay the balance,” says Volk.

  Brock University Professor of Psychology Michael Ashton and Professor of Child and Youth Studies Tony Volk are available for media interviews.

  For more information or for assistance arranging interviews: 

  * Dan Dakin, Manager Communications and Media Relations, Brock University ddakin@brocku.ca or 905-347-1970

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  Categories: Media releases