Whenever the objective has been to disrupt, sabotage, rescue, gather intelligence, combat irregular enemy forces, etc. Special forces have always played a key role throughout the history of warfare. Top of mind commando forces include Britain's Special Air Service (SAS) and, in the United States, the Green Berets, Rangers and Delta Force. In the case... Continue Reading →
The Ratification of the Treaty of Münster, 15 May 1648 by Gerard ter Borch "The real difficulty is that through history the use of force in statecraft has had different meanings, and if this is so, the sources, causes, or correlates of war in one period cannot be easily transferred to another." - Kalevi J.... Continue Reading →
Naval diplomacy, the peaceful use of the possibility of force... "Naval diplomacy is about what navies actually do, rather than what they train for.” - Kevin Rowlands Naval diplomacy, a maritime, non-violent state’s activity that pursuits the national interest; an old practice, even observed by Thucydides’ when accounting of the power of the Athenian Fleet... Continue Reading →
Coalition partners and security force members aim towards the location of concealed opponents during a drill on navigating difficult terrain during military training in Erbil, Iraq, Jan. 23, 2018. (Photo Credit: U.S. Army photo by Pfc. Anthony Zendejas IV) “Insurgents tend to ride and manipulate a social wave of grievances, often legitimate ones, and they... Continue Reading →
A computer simulation grab, shows the Avangard hypersonic vehicle being released from booster rockets. Source: RU-RTR Russian Television via AP. "The Avangard is absolutely invulnerable to any air or missile defense system." - Vladimir Putin Recently, the Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu informed President Vladimir Putin that the first Russian missile unit equipped with the... Continue Reading →
Test shot of the French M51 strategic ballistic missile on July 1, 2016 "The US tactical nuclear weapons are in Europe, let us not forget this. Does it mean that the US has occupied Germany or that the US never stopped the occupation after WWII and only transformed that occupation troops into the NATO forces?"... Continue Reading →
A Syrian forces' artillery observer looks through a scope as smoke plumes rise on the horizon, near the town of Qumhanah in the countryside of the central province of Hama, on April 1, 2017. Photo: STRINGER/AFP/Getty Images. Bottom line: this book is interesting. John Vasquez affirms that around 70% of wars happen because of territorial... Continue Reading →
This is a well-organized and elegant work, however, It lacks a condensing theory, though. The main argument of this work is that domestic politics are the main elements that predetermine the result of an inter-state armed conflict. This is not a new idea; however, it is a novelty in the sense that it challenges presuppositions of... Continue Reading →
The German military is looking for new recruits. But, where to find them? How to seduce them? Marketing the army was never so difficult as it is today. Becoming a soldier is not a popular career option at this moment in the most successful country of the European Union... The German government has set up... Continue Reading →
"Anybody who's studying the detail of this knows that the moment you leave on the 31st January you then go into the next Brexit negotiation which, by the way, is going to be much tougher than the last one." - Tony Blair The U.K. A positive example for the world... The U.K. has been a... Continue Reading →
Grande stratégie 