Umění války - Jak Západ přivedl Ukrajinu k pohromě – Baud Jacques (2026)

This Czech-language book by geopolitical analyst and former intelligence officer Jacques Baud offers a detailed strategic and military-political analysis of the war in Ukraine, with particular emphasis on 2023, when, according to the author, the conflict effectively ended for Ukraine as a strategic defeat after the unsuccessful summer counteroffensive. Baud does not seek to make a moral judgment about the parties involved, but to explain their actions, objectives, and limitations. He traces the development of the conflict since 2014, examines Ukraine’s role in the American strategy of weakening Russia, and discusses the failure of diplomatic solutions. He argues that the Russian operation was focused primarily on the Donbas from the outset rather than on capturing Kyiv, and that Western media and political experts repeatedly misinterpreted key military actions. The book’s central thesis is that the West systematically misinterprets the conflict by projecting its own way of thinking onto Russian strategy and underestimating its operational logic. Particular attention is given to information warfare, propaganda, and the concept of the centre of gravity, through which Baud illustrates differences between Russian and Ukrainian, or Western, approaches to conducting war. He concludes that illusions, sanctions, and the West’s escalation-oriented approach contributed to Ukraine bearing the main burden of the strategic failure. Jacques Baud is a former member of Swiss strategic intelligence and has held positions involving UN peacekeeping doctrine, peace research for the African Union, and combating the proliferation of small arms within NATO. In these institutions, he worked on civilian protection, mediation in armed conflicts, the fight against anti-personnel mines and arms trafficking, and adherence to the rule of law. He is an internationally recognised expert in geopolitical analysis and the author of several books on intelligence services, war, and terrorism.