There has been a series of graphic photos circulating lately (below), started by Iraqi social media, showing a man who has caught a 60mm mortar round through his shoulder. It is being hailed as an example of the bravery and hardness of the Shi'a militias and Iraqi Security Forces as they battle against ISIS. Looks like one hard dude, doesn't it? This is the … [Read more...] about The ISIS Crisis™: Don’t Believe Everything You See
A few of us, notably influenced by the work of John Robb and Robert Bunker, have begun to suspect that there is in fact a sort of 'global insurgency' underway. It isn't new; not necessarily. Nor is it necessarily monolithic. So, first of all, what the global insurgency is not: It is not Hydra, Cobra, SPECTRE, or KAOS. It is not the Illuminati fomenting chaos so that they can … [Read more...] about Global Insurgency: What It Is, What It Isn’t
I usually try to stay out of this kind of drama, especially when it involves the SEAL community. That's not my community, and Recon Marines have a longstanding rivalry with SEALs in the first place. But when a hit piece aimed at Brandon Webb starts circulating, with plenty of cues that indicate it's coming from the same people who attacked The Warfighter Foundation earlier this … [Read more...] about More Trailer Park Drama in the Special Operations Community
On Friday, May 22, the FARC announced the end of its unilateral ceasefire with the Colombian government. The end of the ceasefire was announced after an air raid in Guapi, Cauca Department, killed 26 of the FARC guerrillas. The FARC declared the ceasefire in December of 2014, and have been urging the government to do the same ever since. The Colombian government did suspend … [Read more...] about Ceasefire Ends, Fighting in Colombia Resumes
"Water shapes its course according to the nature of the ground over which it flows; the soldier works out his victory in relation to the foe whom he is facing."—Sun Tzu Especially over the past 10 years, we have shown a singular disregard for this truth. The SOF-CF dichotomy is emblematic of the problem. 'Special' warfare is a relatively new concept. The tactics employed … [Read more...] about Is the SOF / Conventional Forces Dichotomy Obsolete?
While there is such a thing as 'narcocultura,' this article is not about that. This is going deeper, and farther back in history. Our own Coriolanus has already touched on this before. There's a lot more to the narco-insurgency in Mexico than just drugs and crime. While greed certainly plays a large role (Hint: it plays a large role in any conflict, whether ethnic, … [Read more...] about Folk Culture and Cocaine: What Shapes the Mexican Drug War
Not a great deal has been written or said in the U.S. media about the Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion. However, especially in light of events over the past month, the cartel has begun to emerge as the foremost paramilitary force in Mexico. The cartel itself appears to have arisen from the disintegration of the Sinaloan capo Ignacio Coronel's network in southern Mexico … [Read more...] about The Narco Insurgency Heats up in Jalisco
Foreign Policy recently ran an article titled "There's No Such Thing As Peacetime." The article makes some quite salient points, the most notable in the title itself. There has been a great deal of political discussion over the threat of 'perpetual war', as though there has ever really been a time when the U.S. (or any military power) has not had troops in danger, if not … [Read more...] about War Is a Force of Human Nature
On April 15, in Cauca province in the southwest of Colombia, FARC rebels ambushed a patrol of Colombian soldiers with explosives, grenades, and small arms, killing 10. Little detail on the exact events on the ground has been forthcoming in open sources, except that the patrol was attacked in the hamlet of La Esperanza, and afterward, a single body was found wearing black and … [Read more...] about Columbian Government – FARC Ceasefire Weakens
Right out of the gate, let's get one thing straight: Iran is our enemy. There are many reasons for this, from our own shortsighted, capricious treatment of allies, to the hard-line 'revolutionary' ideology of the Islamic Republic, to the simple need of a repressive regime to have an external enemy. (Hint: the last one is the most important.) But crap like this … [Read more...] about The Iranian Boogeyman
Following the fall of Sana'a to the Houthis, President Hadi relocated to Aden, the southern port city of Yemen and the center of the Southern Mobility Movement. Deciding that, since part of the agreement with the Houthis that led to Hadi's abdication as president (followed by his entire cabinet) had been violated, the entire agreement was void. Hadi relocated to Aden and … [Read more...] about The Disintegration of Yemen
There is a wealth of information, printed and electronic, now available on just about every conflict, trouble spot, and threat matrix around the world. Much of this flood of information can lead to a vetting problem; there is always something taken out of context or twisted to fit an agenda. The other problem, when doing research on threats and longstanding conflicts, is … [Read more...] about When Specialization Turns Into Blinders
