February 2012
13 posts
1 tag
Act of Valor, SOF, and Strategy
Last week, I saw Act of Valor with Robert Caruso, Dan Trombly, and Alex Olesker in a packed DC cineplex. This is a review-as-analytical essay, commenting not necessarily on the movie itself but the larger nexus of art, strategy, politics, and ten years of war.
First and foremost, Act of Valor is what its makers intended it to be: an operational demonstration of a unique—but...
1 tag
The End of Trust Or The End of Illusions?
The hue and cry over the latest Afghan killing of US troops makes one wonder why media commentators do not recognize that supposedly allied Afghans have been shooting American soldiers for years. Nathan Ross Chapman, the first American soldier to be killed in Afghanistan, died in a 2002 ambush near Khost. His killer? A teenager operating on behalf of a non-Taliban warlord unhappy about Americans...
3 tags
Colonel Nascimento's War
In the Brazilian film Elite Squad: The Enemy Within, the penal system is a microcosm of Rio de Janeiro’s society and power dynamics. But hold your Foucault books, because the lesson of the penal system is not what you might think. As the history professor Fraga explains in a (somewhat portentous) voiceover, the Bangu 1 prison complex—like Rio—is contested and controlled by a...
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R2P and Military Strategy
Anne-Marie Slaughter recently published a New York Times op-ed that laid out an strategic and operational plan for civilian protection in Syria. In short, the plan involves the creation of “no-kill zones” protected by Free Syrian Army (FSA) forces and international special operations forces trainers. Spencer Ackerman wrote a sound critique of the piece, prompting a response from...
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Intervention Podcast, Part 2
Yes. Number 2 has dropped. Robert Caruso, Dan Trombly, Hayes Brown, Rei Tang, and Daniel Solomon talk with me on my couch about liberation technology, the international relations of the Syrian conflict, and Jessica Biel (yes, really).
Here’s the link for Part 2, and be sure to check out Part 1 if you haven’t already.
Future segments will likely be more formalized (akin to the AWACS...
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Intervention Podcast, Part 1
Orchestrated by the one and only Robert Caruso, I sat down with Dan Trombly, Rei Tang, Daniel Solomon, and Hayes Brown to discuss Syria. Rob and Alex Olesker (who is currently traveling) have had an idea for a while about a “mixtape” type series, recorded raw and featuring special strategic content.
At heart, the Intervention series is a bunch of friends who blog, tweet, study, and...
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APT Musings
The concept might actually be useful…
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Strategy and Cliches
Writing blog posts and articles about the nature of strategy can sometimes seem as tedious as rappers rapping about…rapping. If it were not for the need to sometimes clarify, for those not particularly well-versed in the neo-Clausewitzian canon, the structure of strategic relationships I would probably not type “war is a duel” or “remember the policy” as often as I do...
2 tags
Hearts and Minds Redux
The concept of “hearts and minds” is fairly controversial within the discussion of counterinsurgency. Let’s lay down a few ground rules.
First, contrary to this recent Kings of War post, the concept of “hearts and minds” is not an eternal aspect of warfare but a recent invention. It cannot be removed from the context of the early Cold War. Military and political...
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The Challenge of Riot Control
I tackle the strategic challenges of riots and crowd power with John P. Sullivan in a new essay for SWJ.
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Guest Post: The Legality of Drones
This post below is from Zachary P. Novetsky. Zach has a legal background and wants to share his take on evolving legal codes and norms about unmanned weapons, non-state actors, and the use of force. Disclaimer: all guest posts do not necessarily reflect my opinion and are offered for commentary, analysis, and education.
The public debate about drones that we apparently are not having reared its...
Admin Note
Changing my Twitter name to AElkus, and my logo. If you’re wondering what the previous account name meant (along with the cyberpunk image), you’ll have to come to one of the frequent occasions that me, Dan Trombly, Robert Caruso, Rei Tang, and Alex Olesker convene in order to talk about strategy and gangster rap at Medaterra.
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Covert Operations And Policy: Pakistan Edition
Robert Caruso and Spencer Ackerman have both offered sharp takes on the issues of classification and secrecy in the drone war over Pakistan. I find Robert’s take especially compelling, as is Dan Trombly’s argument that capabilities like drones for discrete, under-the-table power projection have existed throughout American history and don’t really pose such a threat to democracy...