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last updated 22-Apr-2011
 
 
  Private Military Ecology, hosted by Blogger, is our main blog space. At Private Military Ecology we explore unfolding trends and alternative futures for the use and understanding of PMCs and PSCs as well as summarize related news items. Find below a selection of past posts.  
PRIVATE MILITARY ECOLOGY
 
 

 

libya migration exodus

The fear of mass migration from Libya (and North Africa) into Europe, 22 April 2011

Human rights violations? Yes, that’s part of the reason. A little about oil reserves within close proximity of Europe? OK, probably that is part of the reason too. Moreover, there are also psychological connotations attached to the behavior of PM Cameron and President Sarkozy. However, there is a powerful issue that might help to explain better (and continue to guide) the European response to the Libyan crisis: the fear and longer term implications of mass emigration of Libyans, and Northern Africans broadly, into Europe.

 

revolution grafitti image

The Coming Global Revolution and Private Security, 1 March 2011

The events unfolding in the Middle East and North Africa and more demonstrations and social unrest spreading throughout the developed and developing world show some of the trends that make a global revolution, more than an academic idea, an unfolding reality.

 

those little private military angels?

UK calls for private military code of conduct, 25 April 2009

The reasons appear to be threefold. Firstly, the growing importance of the Montreux Document; secondly, the personal ambitions of David Miliband; and thirdly, it is cheap.

 

 

G20 or G12

G20 security: London Olympics 2012 security field practice, 13 March 2009

The G20 Summit and the Finance Ministers meeting are also early rehearsals, basic security tests, on how the UK is likely to run security during the 2012 London Olympics. Some commentators (and London residents) dread that the Olympics, and security measures attached, will paralyze London.

 

 

flying pig

Sharpen your sense of fairness, 29 February 2009

it is becoming of little concern if some highly-qualified private military and security personnel make more money than regular servicemen or police officers as long as they do their job. Rest assured you would never hear of any Private Military Company been rescued by government and its former CEO handed a publicly-funded golden parachute worth $870,000 per year for life.

 

 

A silver lining under Obama?

2009 Global Security Outlook: the Obama Turn, 21 January 2009

For large and possibly international disturbances, police will not be enough. You should think about the Great Depression social upheavals and activism circa 1968 combined together and enhanced by digital communications. Using armies, on the other hand, would send the wrong message to people.

 

Hugo Chavez supports Barack Obama

Development and security but no free trade, 15 October 2008

The third debate between Barack Obama and John McCain converged to free trade. The elephant in the room was NAFTA. McCain might choose to downplay Canada and Mexico as important free-trade markets in favor of Colombia, but Obama’s policies undermine development and security aspirations south of the border altogether.

 

Military-industria McCain

McCain, the military-industrial complex, and contractors, 2 October 2008

Senator McCain was twenty-five years old when Eisenhower issued his warning. Assimilating this knowledge during his formation years, he tends to see PMCs as a logical extension of an expanded defense sector and the military-industrial complex.

 

 

Obama and Biden

Obama, contractors, and private force, 23 August 2008

The challenge is to enact flexible modes of control that evolve alongside military renewal. Obama does not seem to offer a way forward by simply qualifying it as the erosion of “how accountability is structured”.

 

mercenary magic

War Plc or let me 'borrow' your scholarship, 30 July 2008

At the outset, there are too many legal and theoretical connotations attached to ‘war’ to argue a clear association between it and PMCs. Have you realized that the Iraq conflict, which largely feeds your book, does not fulfil the requirements of a war? Probably not.

 

sarkozy and blair

The French (PMCs) are coming, 23 June 2008

We all know the bitter meaning job cuts has in France, add to that the military establishment and words such as modernization and you have the ingredients for what in the periphery of the world would be enough to unleash a bloody coup d’état.

 

UK map

Britain’s phoney debate about security contractors and terrorism, 28 May 2008

Perhaps the unnatural preoccupation of the UK government and its client state with social engineering has got in the way of the serious debate about PMCs and contemporary terror.

wise monkeys

Foreign Policy in Narrow Bandwidths and Sound Bites, 1 April 2008

The question of where Senator Obama, Senator Clinton, and Senator McCain stand now on the debate about Iraq and security contractors?

 

Clinton does Obama and Obama does Clinton, 2 March 2008

It that made Barack Obama look more centre ground than he ever intended and Hillary Clinton more to the left than her team ever planned. Where was Bill when Hillary decided to do an Obama number?

 

President Bush swan song

Ten to watch in 2008: actors, events, issues, and trends in the private military world, 1 January 2008

We have heard rumours about an olive branch concerning security contractors in Iraq to be handed by President Bush to critics of his administration in the second half of the year – or to soft the ground for the Republican nominee. (...) tune yourself in for an unforgettable swan song.

 

Garda World and BearingPoint

Finding a silver lining in an otherwise uncomfortable sense of detachment?, 9 December 2007

Because the current news traffic about the hostages is largely due to the release of a video demanding the withdrawal of British forces from Iraq by the kidnappers, the headline message sold by Number 10 was not carefully articulated, at best.

 

Do not forget the Missing Five, 9 December 2007

At noon on 29 May 2007, five British security guards from GardaWorld, a Canadian-owned security company, and a computer specialist working for BearingPoint, the US-based management consultancy firm, were kidnapped at gunpoint in Iraq.

 

private soldier poppy

Another summer in Afghanistan’s Helmand province, 23 September 2007

Do not be wrong, they deserve the same attention and respect as servicemen. Whereas we need to honour our soldiers, we need to at least acknowledge in the light they deserve our private military personnel

 

welcoming private soldiers

Transition assistance programs: incorporating the private military industry into the equation

(...) a good strategy is for the US to examine and amalgamate into TurboTAP SaBRE’s experience, and all the way round. The result could be a more robust service that is informative and useful to both returning veterans and the communities they are rejoining.

 

blackwater killer bees

Scahill’s take on security contractors: ‘killer bees’ for the Google generation, 8 July 2007

This is not a defense of the firm in question, but an invitation to anyone who believes has learned about PMCs/PSCs solely from this book to broaden his/her horizons and examine the vast scholarship available on the topic before reaching ‘horrifying’ conclusions.

 

supporting security contractors

Supporting Britain’s Public and Private Security Personnel, 10 June 2007

(...) how long will it take for someone to propose the same for fully-fledged PSCs/PMCs such as Blackwater and Aegis. Indeed, this is the realm of speculations about alternative and surreal futures. However, are not we converging into that realm rapidly?

 

private blue helmets

The UN is in need of a Private Military Company footprint, 29 May 2007

That way, UNPK can guarantee the unity of command, the promotion of integration efforts, and the enhancement of operational capacities it endeavours in its reform plans. Yet this highly-trained composite of PMC personnel can act as a much needed force and technological enhancer when amalgamated with blue helmets properly.

 

climate change and terrorism

Climate change and terrorism, 18 April 2007

The basic premise that adverse conditions, be them caused by any factor, in this case climate change, contributes to terrorism is both overarching and too basic to lead to productive strategies.

 

green defense

The Greening of the arms industry?, 2 April 2007

(...) how long will it take for someone to propose the same for fully-fledged PSCs/PMCs such as Blackwater and Aegis. Indeed, this is the realm of speculations about alternative and surreal futures. However, are not we converging into that realm rapidly?

 

follow the rabbit

Security Contractors 101 has moved, 1 April 2007

Security Contractors 101 was an interactive feature introducing Private Military.org’s resources to a young audience. Adopting a very colloquial tone, the aim was simply to expose them to the dedicated research published so far and encourage them to read more before jumping to fantastic conclusions at blog speed.
 

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