Nigeria achieved independence from the UK in October, 1960. It has seen little but strife ever since. This is in large part due to the fact that the British laid out the boundaries of the most populous country in Africa without regard to anything but geography. Nigeria might be a country, but it is not a nation. There are over two hundred fifty different ethnic groups in … [Read more...] about Boko Haram, Biafra, and the fiction that is Nigeria
There’s a lot of talk, in all branches of the military and the defense/firearms industry, about situational awareness, and appropriately so. If you don’t know what’s going on around you, you can’t react appropriately to an emergency. But there are elements of situational awareness that haven’t been cultivated, especially in the military, to the detriment of both troops and … [Read more...] about Situational awareness and unconventional warfare
In light of the increased scrutiny of media and the Special Operations community, the ethos that elite units follow bears repeating. For the vast majority of Rangers, Special Forces, PJs, Recon Marines, CSOs, and SEALs, these creeds really are the guides they follow. Those who have violated them, and stained the honor of the United States and their brothers-in-arms, would have … [Read more...] about Importance of ethos within Special Operations
In an earlier post, I examined some of the cartel diversification (not all of it was new by any means) that would sharply limit attempts to combat the cartels by way of marijuana legalization. Here, we're going to narrow the focus to a few players and incidents, as an illustration of just how complicated the situation in Mexico really is, as well as how looking at the situation … [Read more...] about Drugs are just the tip of the iceberg
In light of the increased scrutiny of media and the Special Operations community, the ethos that elite units follow bears repeating. For the vast majority of Rangers, Special Forces, PJs, Recon Marines, CSOs, and SEALs, these creeds really are the guides they follow. Those who have violated them, and stained the honor of the United States and their brothers-in-arms, would have … [Read more...] about The Importance of Ethos Within Special Operations
Note: This is part of a series examining the 1999 PLA white paper "Unrestricted Warfare." Parts one and two can be read here. Picking up where we left off, Qiao and Wang introduce the idea of "Weapons of New Concepts and New Concepts of Weapons." They open by arguing that most of what we term "new weapons" are, in fact, not really that new. They may be some kind of … [Read more...] about China’s Unrestricted Warfare (Pt. 3)
It looks very much like the shooting of four Marines at the Navy Marine Corps Reserve Center in Chattanooga, Tennessee on July 16 was motivated by radical Islam. The shooter, Mohammod Yousef Abdulazeez, reportedly posted on his short-lived blog on Islam two posts referring to preparing for death through Islam. He praised the Sahaba (the followers of Muhammed) for waging jihad. … [Read more...] about Chattanooga and the Reality of Open-Source Warfare
Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzmán's second stint in prison lasted just over 16 months. Captured in Sinaloa in February 2014, El Chapo was the crowning achievement in a "kingpin" strategy that the Mexican government has been pursuing against the cartels. According to the "kingpin" strategy, taking out the leaders of the cartels is supposed to reduce their effectiveness and erode them … [Read more...] about “El Chapo” Back At Large
The Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion (Jalisco New Generation Cartel) has risen to prominence over the last few months, apparently coming out of the blue with their sudden offensive in Jalisco that was highlighted by the shoot-down of a Mexican Army helicopter, the first such shoot-down in the Mexican drug war. The truth is, the cartel was growing behind the scenes, masking … [Read more...] about Threat Profile: Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion
This article is part of a series on the PLA white paper "Unrestricted Warfare" from 1999. You can read part one here. Part one of this series dealt largely with the framework through which we are going to examine "Unrestricted Warfare," as well as going through the preface, which laid out what Qiao and Wang were aiming to address. Now we get into the meat with part … [Read more...] about China’s Unrestricted Warfare (Pt. 2)
The recent OPM hack has highlighted (again) Chinese strategic opposition to the United States. While the Chinese use of cyber and economic warfare is no surprise to anyone who has been paying attention, it may well be worthwhile to look into some of the literature the Chinese People's Liberation Army has produced on the subject. As our own Coriolanus has pointed out, the … [Read more...] about China’s Unrestricted Warfare (Pt. 1)
In April, it was reported that March had been the bloodiest month in a decade in El Salvador, with a reported 481 homicides during the month. May has topped it, clocking in 622, with 16 killed on May 31st. That makes May the bloodiest month in the small Central American country since its civil war, which raged from 1979 to 1992. The first half of 2015 has been marked by … [Read more...] about Violence Escalating in El Salvador
