Humanitarian Journal

US Army Centre for Military History

2009-05-04T20:28:00.001-07:00

http://www.history.army.mil/

Statecraft.org

2009-05-04T20:23:00.001-07:00

http://www.statecraft.org/

Centre for Security Policy

2009-05-04T00:37:00.001-07:00

http://www.centerforsecuritypolicy.org/index.xml

American investors attempt to spur Iraq’s private sector

2009-04-21T10:13:00.000-07:00

Business in Iraq

It's the economy, stupid
Apr 16th 2009
From The Economist print edition

American investors attempt to spur Iraq’s private sector

Reuters

Out with the tanks, in with the tomatoesIN 2005 on a dusty road in Tuz, Iraq, an American solder was killed by a roadside bomb. His fellow soldiers soon discovered that the assassin was no hardened terrorist, but an unemployed father of six who had been paid $200 to plant the explosive. Such situations are not uncommon in Iraq, where high unemployment spawned many “economic insurgents”—often unideological Iraqis in need of cash, who became easy recruits. It was, in part, in response to examples like this that a trio of former military officers created the Marshall Fund, a private-equity fund making only non-oil investments in smallish firms in Iraq. “Without thriving businesses and the jobs they create, Iraq will never be stable,” says Dan Rice, who founded the fund along with Wayne Culbreth and Andrew Eberhart. Late last year it closed on its first investment, a tomato-processing plant in the northern region of Harir.

http://www.economist.com/business/displayStory.cfm?story_id=13496648&source=hptextfeature

Armed social workers

2009-04-15T08:54:00.000-07:00

Last month, the humanitarian news agency IRIN reported that thousands of people living in refugee camps in southern Somalia have run out of food since UN food aid deliveries ceased due to rising insecurity. In addition to certain UN operations, numerous groups providing critical aid in the East African nation have been forced to suspend activities as humanitarian workers have increasingly come under attack over the last year.

http://us.oneworld.net/article/361700-somalia-political-progress-humanitarian-stalemate

I propose that this is a situation that would benefit from a military - or paramilitary - solution.

US Army War College

2009-04-11T08:44:00.000-07:00

http://www.carlisle.army.mil/

Who Gets a State, and Why?

2009-04-04T04:07:00.000-07:00

http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/64872/stephen-d-krasner/who-gets-a-state-and-why

Leadership and Conflict Resolution

2009-04-04T02:39:00.002-07:00

http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=BAMntG01-lwC&oi=fnd&pg=PA304&dq=%22use+of+force%22&ots=uVsVHLqiTN&sig=ziRbYHnJT0s6MlImewTDTYa46Vg

Violent Entrepreneurs

2009-04-04T02:39:00.001-07:00

http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=lq2aaG29EzYC&oi=fnd&pg=PR9&dq=%22use+of+force%22&ots=4zerOTRG4q&sig=OcaCfjgXdsdymSt3A-HhQa9Hvoo#PPA46,M1

Canadian Military Review

2009-04-04T02:29:00.001-07:00

http://www.journal.forces.gc.ca/

Foreign Exchange

2009-04-01T07:15:00.000-07:00

http://foreignexchange.tv/

Why Poor Countries Are Poor

2009-03-28T05:16:00.000-07:00

http://www.reason.com/news/show/33258.html

Appropedia

2009-03-28T04:19:00.000-07:00

http://www.appropedia.org/Welcome_to_Appropedia

Luttwak on Poverty & Foreign Aid in Africa

2009-03-27T22:38:00.001-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ex4aC5z_XA

Key to COIN

2009-03-21T03:55:00.001-07:00

Be polite;
be professional;
be prepared to kill.

- LtCol Nagl

http://www.comedycentral.com/videos/index.jhtml?videoId=92011

Centre for a New American Security

2009-03-21T02:42:00.000-07:00

http://www.cnas.org/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Center_for_a_New_American_Security

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/vp/29729804#29729804

Col Iron & the Charge of the Knights

2009-03-02T19:36:00.000-08:00

Iron...is an unusual officer. He joined the army in 1975 and graduated from staff college near the top of his year. Two episodes in his career were decisive to his conduct in Basra. As a young captain in the 1980s, he served for two years in Oman. He describes this as the “key experience” since he learned how to speak Arabic and to “respect Arabic culture and the Arab way.” Then in the early years of this decade he was sent to Sierra Leone as an expert military witness for the country’s special court. He spent months in the jungle with the Revolutionary United Front and other ex-guerrillas, learning how insurgency movements think and operate.

http://www.prospect-magazine.co.uk/article_details.php?id=10635

Slightly flawed story - why was Col. Iron, fascinating as he is, pivotal to the success of Operation Charge of the Knights? But a very interesting article nonetheless.

Financial Crisis

2009-02-21T20:47:00.000-08:00

THE global financial crisis is the biggest threat to Kevin Rudd's grand ambition for the new defence white paper, due in late April.

The white paper is in its final drafting stage and is due to go before cabinet's national security committee next month for an endorsement by the Prime Minister and senior ministers.

While Mr Rudd is sticking to his election pledge to lift defence spending by 3 per cent a year in real terms to 2019, the rapidly deteriorating global economy could force the Government to pull back on firm commitments to future multi-billion-dollar defence purchases including warships, submarines and fighter aircraft.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25070989-31477,00.html

Whole of Community Conflict Prevention

2009-02-13T16:53:00.000-08:00

Whole of Community Conflict Prevention by 3D Security

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjatVwtxoP8

The Visa Ad I'd Like to See

2009-02-08T01:52:00.001-08:00

www.theseminal.com/2008/12/06/the-visa-commercial-id-like-to-see/

People of 2008 Finalist: José María Prazeres Pós-de-Mina

2009-01-12T14:50:00.000-08:00

WASHINGTON, Nov 24 (OneWorld) - The mayor of one of Portugal's smallest and poorest municipalities has launched one of the largest green business initiatives in the world, and now he's spearheading an eight-country project to create communities run entirely on renewable energy.

http://us.oneworld.net/perspectives/peopleof2008/358732-jos%C3%A9-mar%C3%ADa-prazeres-p%C3%B3s-de-mina

Small Wars Journal

2009-01-12T14:36:00.000-08:00

http://smallwarsjournal.com/mag/

Does Force Composition Matter?

2009-01-12T14:31:00.000-08:00

The preliminary findings of this policy brief therefore suggest that:

• Increased numbers of peacekeepers from fewer contributing countries
are more effective than fewer peacekeepers from a larger
number of contributing countries.

• The forces in these five cases that consisted of cross-regional
peacekeepers were more effective than those comprised of
peacekeepers from one region.

• The stability of a force seems to be a critical factor. The longer a
peacekeeping force is deployed, the more time it has to establish
itself as an actor in the conflict.

http://www.humansecuritygateway.info/documents/FORD_DoesForceCompositionMatter.pdf

Counterinsurgency Field Manual: Afghanistan Edition

2009-01-12T14:28:00.000-08:00

...

1-3. Although all development is critical in this impoverished country, roads are the single most important path to success in Afghanistan. In Ghazni province last summer, one of us spoke with an Afghan road builder whose shirt was covered in dried blood. He’d been shot by the Taliban a day earlier for working with the coalition, but he was back the next morning with his paving crew because he thought that finishing that road was the best way to bolster security in his village. Indeed, the U.S. general who was critical of U.S. counterinsurgency efforts in Afghanistan pointed at Afghanistan’s ring road from the window of his Black Hawk helicopter, and declared, “Where the road ends, the Taliban begins.”

...

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=4587&page=1

Killology.com

2009-01-04T07:07:00.000-08:00

Lt Col Dave Grossman

killology.com
warriorsciencegroup.com

Hard Power/Soft Power: Peacebuilding at the Pentagon

2008-12-29T17:37:00.001-08:00

Discussion of the new Peacebuilding mandate of the US military:

http://www.aworldofpossibilities.com/details.cfm?id=325

Chaos and massacres overwhelm NE Congo

2008-11-07T00:19:00.000-08:00

Congo

Murder, muddle and panic
Nov 6th 2008 | KINSHASA
From The Economist print edition

As chaos and massacres overwhelm north-eastern Congo, diplomats and peacekeepers are struggling to get a grip

AP
“THE situation is catastrophic,” says a Red Cross man. “There’s no other word.” Tens of thousands of terrified civilians are jamming the roads of Congo’s North Kivu province in a frantic southbound exodus in the hope of self-preservation (see map). General Laurent Nkunda’s mainly Tutsi rebels are poised to grab the eastern city of Goma after capturing most of the smaller towns in the area. Reports of massacres on the night of November 5th in Kiwanja, a small town north of Goma, have increased the panic. An officer in General Nkunda’s force said that his men had “neutralised” men in civilian clothes there who, he said, covertly belonged to the so-called Mai-Mai militias; they, along with the Congolese army and others, have been fighting the Tutsi rebels. A local clergyman said at least 180 civilians had been killed during the night.

http://www.economist.com/world/mideast-africa/displaystory.cfm?story_id=12573363

10 Lessons of Occupation

2008-11-06T22:35:00.000-08:00

http://fora.tv/2008/09/24/Lydia_Khalil-Iraq_Afghanistan_A_Comparative_View

Critical Terrorism Studies

2008-09-21T21:48:00.000-07:00

ABC Radio National - The Religion Report

http://www.abc.net.au/rn/religionreport/stories/2008/2366575.htm#transcript

Food Force

2008-09-10T22:23:00.000-07:00

http://www.food-force.com/

Feed the refugees and rebuild the country.

A Force More Powerful

2008-09-10T22:18:00.000-07:00

Run your own nonviolent insurrection.

http://www.aforcemorepowerful.org/game/index.php

Gapminder

2008-09-06T16:47:00.000-07:00

http://www.gapminder.org/

Thomas PM Barnett

2008-09-06T15:39:00.000-07:00

American military geostrategist.

Two books:

The Pentagon's New Map The

Blueprint for Action: A Future Worth Creating

http://www.thomaspmbarnett.com/projects/newrulesset/nrs_index.html

A Thousand Hills: Rwanda's Rebirth and the Man Who Dreamed It

2008-09-01T18:40:00.000-07:00

SHORT of ghosting his autobiography, Stephen Kinzer could not have done more for the man who now rules Rwanda, Paul Kagame. “A Thousand Hills” reads like an extended interview. But even as hagiography, it tells a remarkable tale about a remarkable man.

http://www.economist.com/books/PrinterFriendly.cfm?story_id=11959125

A witness and victim of the conflict in Darfur finds a voice

2008-09-01T18:38:00.000-07:00

Until now, the voices of the Darfuris themselves, apart from the baroque and often tendentious pronouncements of the various rebel groups, have largely gone unheard. “Tears of the Desert” is a welcome attempt to try to fill that gap.

http://www.economist.com/books/PrinterFriendly.cfm?story_id=11919269

Office of the Coordinator for Reconstruction and Stabilization

2008-08-30T18:41:00.000-07:00

http://www.crs.state.gov/index.cfm?fuseaction=public.display&shortcut=4QRB

Crisis States Research Centre

2008-08-30T18:40:00.001-07:00

http://www.crisisstates.com/

Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People

2008-08-28T20:41:00.000-07:00

Regarding the recent recognition by Russia of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, the most sensible thing was said by, of all people, the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People:

Mustafa Cemilev, the Chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People stated that recognition by Russia was a dangerous precedent, even for Russia itself, since there are many pro-independence moves inside the Russian Federation, including movements in Chechnya, Tatarstan and Bashkortostan. He expressed misgiving that the same situation could be repeated by Russia in Crimea (an autonomous republic within Ukraine) if Ukrainian authorities continue to be only a spectator.

Is military force the best means to defeat terrorist groups?

2008-08-23T01:08:00.000-07:00

Counter-terrorism

Taking on terrorists
Aug 16th 2008
From Economist.com

Is military force the best means to defeat terrorist groups?

AFP

MANY studies have asked how terrorist groups are born; relatively few have described how such groups are best put out of business.

...

RAND concludes that police sleuthing and more intelligence work are often more useful methods when tackling smaller groups and organisations—perhaps including al-Qaeda—that operate in the shadows. Of the 268 terrorist organisations that folded, the most common reason was a change of method in favour of a political process. This happened in 43% of cases and was mainly possible where groups had specific goals that might be accommodated. A similar number of groups—some 40%—were dismantled with the help of police and intelligence work.

http://www.economist.com/world/international/displayStory.cfm?story_id=11950796&source=features_box_main

The Previous Superpower

2008-08-08T23:31:00.000-07:00

Review: A HISTORY OF BRITAIN, The Fate of Empire, 1776-2000." By Simon Schama. Illustrated. 576 pp. New York: Miramax Books/Hyperion. $40.

"In 1896 a young Winston Churchill arrived in Bangalore, India, as a junior officer of the Fourth Queen's Own Hussars, searching -- as ever -- for action, excitement and glory. He was a staunch believer in the British Empire. He gloried in its power but believed that it was different from all past empires, blessed with a historic civilizing mission. Britain was the bastion of liberty, destined to spread its values through backward lands. The empire's purpose, he wrote, was to ''give peace to warring tribes, to administer justice where all was violence, to strike the chains off the slave, to plant the seeds of commerce and learning.'' ''What more beautiful idea,'' he asked, ''can inspire human effort?''

And yet, Simon Schama writes, in the third and final volume of his ''History of Britain,'' ''There was an awful lot of hanging around in the club, pending the accomplishment of these great goals.''"

http://www.fareedzakaria.com/articles/nyt/072703.html

'An End to Evil': Showing Them Who's Boss

2008-08-08T23:16:00.000-07:00

Review: AN END TO EVIL How to Win the War on Terror, by David Frum and Richard Perle. 284 pp. New York: Random House. $25.95

"Moreover, the impression the authors give is that they and their confederates were outraged by Clinton's (weak-kneed) efforts against Al Qaeda. In fact neoconservatives were silent about Al Qaeda during the 1990's. One searches vainly through the archives of the Project for the New American Century, the main neoconservative advocacy group, for a single report on Al Qaeda or a letter urging action against it before 9/11. (There are dozens on the China threat, national missile defenses and Saddam Hussein's weapons.) Clinton may merely have lobbed missiles at terrorists, but the neoconservatives did not even launch a blast fax."

http://www.fareedzakaria.com/articles/nyt/nytreview020804.html

'Disarming Iraq': Lack of Evidence

2008-08-08T23:05:00.000-07:00

Review of DISARMING IRAQ, by Hans Blix. 285 pp. New York: Pantheon Books. $24.

"Every country -- yes, even France -- was coming around to the view that the inspections needed to go on for only another month or two, that benchmarks could have been established, and if the Iraqis failed these tests the Security Council would authorize war. But in a fashion that is almost reminiscent of World War I, the Pentagon's military timetables drove American diplomacy. The weather had become more important than international legitimacy."

http://www.fareedzakaria.com/articles/nyt/nytreview041104.html

How Terrorist Groups End

2008-08-08T21:43:00.000-07:00

from Outspun by the Taliban

Most interesting:

Global policy experts at the Santa Monica-based RAND Corporation have made an exhaustive study of the forces that determined the fate of almost 650 terrorist groups which operated between 1968 and 2006. Their objective was to examine how terrorist groups come to an end. The findings are sober reading. The most common demise for such groups - in 43 per cent of cases - was a transition to the political process. Effective police work defeated another 40 per cent and 10 per cent dissolved after emerging victorious.

Just 7 per cent were defeated militarily. For all the military effort directed at fighting terrorism, the overall scorecard is dismal.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/outspun-by-the-taliban/2008/08/08/1218139078215.html?page=2

Anthony Cordesman

2008-08-08T17:43:00.000-07:00

Professor Anthony H. Cordesman holds the Arleigh A. Burke Chair in Strategy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and is an analyst for ABC News on a number of global conflicts. He has occasionally criticized the Bush Administration's efforts in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

Cordesman has authored a "wide range of studies of US security policy, energy policy, and Middle East policy." He is a former National Security Assistant to Senator John McCain...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Cordesman

http://www.csis.org/component/option,com_csis_experts/task,view/id,3/

'France played major role in Rwanda genocide'

2008-08-05T19:01:00.000-07:00

Rwanda governemnt report, definitely not authoritative.

"The release of the report comes against a backdrop of tense relations between France and Rwanda.

In November 2006, Kigali severed diplomatic ties with France after French investigating magistrate Jean-Louis Bruguiere accused Kagame of involvement in the death of the then president, Juvenal Habyarimana, a Hutu."

http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/france-played-major-role-in-rwanda-genocide/2008/08/06/1217702077638.html

Death of Syrian general escalates tensions

2008-08-05T18:54:00.000-07:00

Brigadier General Mohammed Suleiman was little known in Western or Israeli intelligence circles until he was killed by a sniper in a Syrian port on Saturday.

"He was taken out by a sniper, which is the last in a long list of ways to assassinate someone. It's very dangerous and could easily lead to a catastrophic failure."

"He was a man who knew a lot, probably too much. We have seen people like him taken out in Syria before. When you know where all the bodies are buried, you will eventually join them."

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24134285-2703,00.html

Senate committee recommends White Paper on peacekeeping

2008-08-04T04:11:00.001-07:00

It also says the ADF and Australian Federal Police should develop effective inter-operability strategies, after troubles in the field caused by different work cultures.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24111976-31477,00.html

Reality of collateral damage

2008-08-04T03:57:00.000-07:00

This is an edited extract from Running the War in Iraq: An Australian General, 300,000 Troops, the Bloodiest Conflict of Our Time, by major-general Jim Molan (HarperCollins, $32.99).

We did everything we could to avoid killing innocents. The coalition did not fight just for the sake of fighting. The coalition commander, US general George Casey, and his field commanders did not want to aggravate an already difficult situation, and their first guiding principle was often expressed as the old medical dictum: "First, do no harm."

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24041644-31477,00.html

Downside of the Petraeus Strategy

2008-08-04T03:27:00.000-07:00

They did not save the small American combat outpost at the village of Wanat in the Weygal valley. Two days after it was built, just after the 4.15am call to prayer on July 13th, intense gunfire streaked into the base from the village. Insurgents breached the defences. In fierce fighting, nine American soldiers were killed, more than in any single battle since 2005. Another 15 Americans and four Afghans were injured, out of a garrison of 45 Americans and 25 Afghans. The attackers were beaten back, and reportedly also took heavy casualties. But the “temporary” outpost has since been abandoned to the Taliban.

Such tiny combat outposts are an innovation of the past couple of years. They are designed to put American troops—sometimes just a few dozen—among the populace, usually alongside Afghan forces. The aim is to extend American influence outward from larger bases, which can provide artillery support. However, they are vulnerable to surprise attacks. At Wanat the defences had barely been finished, and the insurgents brought in several hundred fighters—a rogues’ gallery, say local officials, of Taliban, al-Qaeda and others.

http://www.economist.com/world/asia/displaystory.cfm?story_id=11751374

Crisis States Research Centre

2008-08-03T02:21:00.001-07:00

http://www.crisisstates.com/

'The World is Flat': The Wealth of Yet More Nations

2008-08-03T02:18:00.000-07:00

On the nature and consequences of the global level playing field, by Fareed Zakaria.

http://www.fareedzakaria.com/articles/nyt/nytreview050105.html

Regime Change in Iraq: Clinton the Author

2008-08-03T02:05:00.000-07:00

Regime change in Iraq became a stated goal of United States foreign policy when Public Law 105-338 (the "Iraq Liberation Act") was signed into law by U.S. President Bill Clinton. The act directed that:

"It should be the policy of the United States to support efforts to remove the regime headed by Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq and to promote the emergence of a democratic government to replace that regime."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regime_change

'The Assassins' Gate': Occupational Hazards

2008-08-03T02:02:00.000-07:00

Review by Fareed Zakaria of "The Assassins' Gate," by George Packer.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/30/books/review/30zakaria.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1

Obama Abroad

2008-08-03T01:46:00.001-07:00

http://www.fareedzakaria.com/articles/articles.html

Fareed Zakaria

2008-08-03T01:27:00.000-07:00

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fareed_Zakaria

Big Guns: The world's biggest arms exporters

2008-08-03T01:19:00.000-07:00

http://www.economist.com/daily/chartgallery/displayStory.cfm?source=most_read&story_id=11825721

The Post-American World

2008-08-03T01:16:00.000-07:00

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Post-American_World

Using Evolution to Defeat Disease

2008-05-13T00:35:00.000-07:00

Paul Ewald describes how we can approach disease management so as to use evolution against disease, by providing evolutionary incentives to reduce virulence or ...

e.g. Mosquito-proofing houses can reduce or eliminate malaria.

http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/259

Centre for Global Development

2008-04-27T01:25:00.000-07:00

CGD is an independent think tank that works to reduce global poverty and inequality by encouraging policy change in the U.S. and other rich countries through rigorous research and active engagement with the policy community.

http://www.cgdev.org/content/expert/detail/2720/

Asian Rice Crisis Puts 10 Million or More at Risk

2008-04-27T01:03:00.001-07:00

http://us.oneworld.net/external/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cgdev.org%2Fcontent%2Fopinion%2Fdetail%2F15820%2F

Refugees International

2008-04-27T00:58:00.000-07:00

Refugees International generates lifesaving humanitarian assistance and protection for displaced people around the world and works to end the conditions that create displacement.

http://www.refugeesinternational.org/

Militias Growing through 'Humanitarian' Work

2008-04-27T00:52:00.000-07:00

During a mission inside Iraq, researchers for Refugees International found that the Sadrist movement had become "Iraq's largest 'humanitarian' organization" by providing large quantities of food, clothing, oil and other basic resources. As a result of the provision of goods and security, civilians, including displaced Iraqis, are joining militias at a rapid pace.

www.refugeesinternational.org

Darfur: Another WFP Driver Killed

2008-04-27T00:50:00.000-07:00

So far this year 60 WFP-contracted trucks have been hijacked in Darfur, with 39 trucks still missing and 26 drivers unaccounted for. Another driver was killed while transporting food in South Darfur on 24 March.

The attacks have meant that WFP deliveries have dropped to less than 900 tons per day. Normally, around this time of year, the agency's trucks should be delivering 1,800 metric tons of food daily to supply warehouses ahead of the rainy season, due to begin next month.

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=26442&Cr=darfur&Cr1=

Introduction

2008-04-27T00:48:00.000-07:00

This blog is a central repository for humanitarian news.