COMMENTARIES
A selection of articles and essays with a a few of my choice words.
“The Long Small War: Indigenous Forces For Counterinsurgency” by Robert M. Cassidy in PARAMETERS.
In this Bobbitt-influenced article, the use of loyalist paramilitaries – in a variety of formations and roles to encourage evolution and adaptability – is examined as a critical tool for the War on Terror. Examples drawn from classic French and American examples in Vietnam, Algeria and the Philippines.
“Al-Qaeda Doctrine: The Eventual Need for Semi-Conventional Forces ” by Dr. Michael Scheuer in The Jamestown Foundation
Dr. Scheuer, since having left the CIA, continues his steady output of analysis and commentary related to Islamist terrorism. Here he shows al Qaida cribbing military theory from General Giap and planning for an Islamist ” post-conflict stabilization” of Iraq.
“Taking Aim at Scientific Journals” at SEED
Legislation sponsored by Senator Joe Lieberman would put approximately 65,000 peer-reviewed, scientific, papers that have been funded in part by Federal dollars, online to be easily accessed by the public.
”Somalia’s Tangled Web Becomes Contorted” by Dr. Michael A. Weinstein at PINR
Weinstein untangles the ” hyper-complexity” of the Islamist vs. Clan warlord conflict raging in Somalia.
“Robot hand controlled by thought alone” at Newscientist.com
Self-explanatory title. Is there any reason this couldn’t be done with a robot that was a thousand miles away from its controller ?
“ The First Installment: Diary of Anatoly Sergeevich Chernyaev” (PDF, 177 pages)at The National Security Archive.
Anatoly Chernyaev, a former top adviser to Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev is having the first installment of his diary translated into English, shedding much light into foreign policy making at the uppermost reaches of the CPSU in 1985. A significant addition to historical knowledge in terms of U.S.-Soviet relations during the late Cold War and early Glasnost period.
May 30th, 2006 at 3:49 am
Legislation sponsored by Senator Joe Lieberman would put approximately 65,000 peer-reviewed, scientific, papers that have been funded in part by Federal dollars, online to be easily accessed by the public.
Can Lieberman be any more cooler?
May 30th, 2006 at 4:11 am
It is a move that only rebounds to the public good and only harms those who get off on maintaining some kind of knowledge -rentier status.
Naturally, wingnuts of all kinds will oppose.
May 30th, 2006 at 7:47 am
Mark,
In reference to the Parameters article: The development of indigenous forces is a crucial ingredient in any COIN campaign, however, as what happens when the local forces become just one more armed faction in the sectarian conflict as is happening in Iraq today? There’s always the potential that we would have to clean up after the guys that we armed and trained.
May 30th, 2006 at 2:23 pm
“There’s always the potential that we would have to clean up after the guys that we armed and trained.”
Yup. An assumed risk.
The most effective paramilitaries will have a self-sustaining political center of gravity that provides the psychological motivation to fight.
How ” out-of-control” thse units will get will depend on how decentralized they are and the environmental oportunities to morph into something else ( merge with transnational organized crime like narco-traffickers)