On June 12, 2022, Admiral Chris Parry (UK, ret.) delivered a talk on “What have we Learned from the War in Ukraine (so far)?”
Abstract: Admiral Parry talked about the pretexts and contexts that underlay the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the military response of the free world and the continuities and changes which are shaping the character of warfare.
Biography for Rear Admiral Dr Chris Parry CBE PhD:
After reading Modern History at Jesus College Oxford, Chris Parry spent 36 enjoyable, rewarding years in the Royal Navy as an aviator and warfare officer. He commanded the destroyer HMS GLOUCESTER, the Amphibious Assault Ship HMS FEARLESS, the UK's Amphibious Task Group and the Maritime Warfare Centre. He was also Director Operational Capability and Director General, Development, Concepts and Doctrine as well as holding three other senior Joint and UK Ministry of Defence appointments, with responsibility for the strategic development, nuclear and conventional policy, effectiveness, and operational deployment of all 3 UK armed forces.
As well as sailing every sea, he experienced regular operational tours and combat operations in Northern Ireland, the Gulf and the Falklands, where he rescued 16 SAS troopers from a glacier during a hurricane in South Georgia and disabled the Argentinian submarine SANTA FE. He was awarded the Guild of Air Pilots and Air Navigators Helicopter Rescue Award in 1983 and his Falklands War diary was published as the best-selling Down South in 2012.
Nowadays, he runs his own strategic forecasting and trouble-shooting company, advising governments, leading commercial companies and financial institutions about geo-political and strategic issues, future global trends and systemic risk. The founding Chair of the UK’s Marine Management Organization, he is an internationally recognized authority on nuclear, military and maritime issues, as well as in countering terrorism, criminality and unconventional conflict.
With a doctorate in organisational psychology, Chris is a visiting Fellow at Churchill College Cambridge and at the University of Reading and presents on strategic issues, geopolitics, and nuclear and military theory at several universities in the UK, the US (Ivy League institutions and the US Naval War College) and elsewhere. He also teaches strategic leadership, risk management and organisational psychology within corporations, at the UK Defence Academy and at various business schools. He appears regularly as a broadcaster and commentator in international and UK media and is an active author, most recently with the authoritative Super Highway: Sea Power in the 21st Century.
Readings:
Keir Giles, "The Day after the War," ares&athena, May 2022, 25-27.
Maj Gen (Ret) Dr Andrew Sharpe, "Russia at War," ares&athena, May 2022, 18-19.
Betina Renz and Kirill Shaniev, "The State of the Russian Military," ares&athena, May 2022, 20-22.
Articles may be found here.