Folks here may be interested in his comments on the media; Somalia; Yemen; and of course Iraq-Afghan-Pakistan.
http://bellum.stanfordreview.org/?p=348
Printable View
Folks here may be interested in his comments on the media; Somalia; Yemen; and of course Iraq-Afghan-Pakistan.
http://bellum.stanfordreview.org/?p=348
Found via jihadica a new site that comments on events in the Yemen:
http://islamandinsurgencyinyemen.blogspot.com/
Not a place I watch much, so will leave others to judge how useful.
davidbfpo
The blogsite www.afghanistanshrugged.com has been cited before here, but one of their articles has appeared on a South Asian website: http://www.himalmag.com/In-the-shade...ey_nw2885.html
The South Asian website (based in Nepal), not seen before, has a review of the Taliban by a NWFP journalist, different: http://www.himalmag.com/In-the-shade...ey_nw2885.html
davidbfpo
http://borderviolenceanalysis.typepad.com/
"Mexico's Drug War - An ongoing analysis of southwest border violence issues by an experienced intelligence professional."
http://intelligencenews.wordpress.com/
http://spybusters.blogspot.com/ - Kevin's Security ScapbookQuote:
This project is a joint effort by two intelligence experts, Dr. Joseph Fitsanakis and Ian Allen. Both specialists in the field of espionage and intelligence, Fitsanakis and Allen filter through the melodrama and sensationalism of the daily news to bring to the surface intelligence-related developments that rarely make news headlines. They then elaborate on these developments by posting occasional, carefully researched and crafted commentaries and analyses, which bring together the various news items relating to a particular story or subject.
I would be remiss if I didn't highlight the COIN Center blog and the Combined Arms Center's family of blogs. :D
I started a new site/blog focused on applying social and behavioral science research - with a particular focus on criminology - to preserve global security and to understand, prevent, and mitigate armed conflict and violent extremism.
If you're interested, you can find it HERE.
Thanks for the tip....I have read your stuff man. Bryan V. (cain't ever spell his last name) helped me a problem once or twice too.
Bryan Vossekuil ... a great friend and extraordinary thinker on risk related issues.
Thanks for posting the thread and link - which I have quickly scanned. Plus one of the links: http://redteamjournal.com/ which may interest readers.
davidbfpo
hat tip to Entropy: http://www.armscontrolwonk.com/ A quick look suggests not Small Wars, may provide context for crisis - like NKorean A-bomb test.
davidbfpo
Modern Day Pirate Tales - "Notes on the world of piracy from journalist Daniel Sekulich."
Came across this via a UK academic conference: http://legalift.wordpress.com/ or Legal Issues in the Fight against Terrorism.
What makes it interesting, hopefully not only to JMM, is that it is the website of the Finnish lawyer, Martin Schenin, the UN Rapporteur on the Protection of Human Rights whilst countering terrorism (UN site: http://www2.ohchr.org/english/issues...teur/srchr.htm )
davidbfpo
Weblink page, CV and a 2008 course, which covered what we discuss here:
If I knew him (and I don't), I'd invite him over.Quote:
Legal Issues in National, European and International Action against Terrorism
....
23 October 2008
Is the fight against terrorism a war? The applicability and interaction of international humanitarian law and of human rights law in the fight against terrorism.
I've been following a blog about maritime piracy: http://piracy-watch.blogspot.com, it's amazing how the attacks around the Indian ocean have increased over the last 12 months.
your interest in piracy (shared by many here) is admirable. Please introduce yourself. Thank you.
http://warisboring.com/ is a good site, its run by freelance journalist David Axe and provides some interesting insights into low intensity and irregular conflict from an extremely engaging perspective. Axe tends to stray from the beaten path and has taken personal trips to locations such as Chad, Sudan, Darfur, Kenya, and Somalia. Axe has also reported from Iraq, Israel, Lebanon and has a trip planned to Afghanistan quite soon.
Also for anybody interested in the Navy's role in COIN and "soft power" operations Axe and his contributors have quite a few articles about recent soft power operations undertaken by the US Navy in both South America and East Africa.
Found this Canadian human security site, which focusses on Afghanistan: http://www.afghanconflictmonitor.org/ . Nothing spectacular in the press 'Monitor', but has interesting factual links.
davidbfpo
Richard Dowden, the Director of the Royal African Society, has started an online blog on the RAS homepage. This week Richard writes on China's recent $950 million 'aid' to Zimbabwe. Next week Richard will write from Ghana, on President Obama's first trip to Africa as President. Please visit www.royalafricansociety.org
davidbfpo
A previously unheard of academic centre at LSE, London devoted to studying states in crisis: http://www.crisisstates.com/ An interesting range of papers and a focus on places SWJ will like in particular Dr Antonio Giustozzi: http://www2.lse.ac.uk/researchAndExp...ozzi@lse.ac.uk
davidbfpo
Within a posting today in SWJ Blog and put here to help: http://davidmansfield.org/index.php
Lots of reports on eradication and other counter-narcotic policies (mainly in Afghanistan) on a quick visit.
davidbfpo
http://jarretbrachman.net/
Quote:
About
DR JARRET BRACHMAN is an internationally recognized al-Qa`ida specialist. The Associated Press has called him an “information warrior.” Al-Qaida’s supporters have called him the “excrement from Satan’s butt.” Even Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri, the deputy director of al-Qaida, has cursed him by name on multiple occassions.
Brachman routinely advises local, state and federal law enforcement, intelligence, military agencies and the private sector on al-Qa`ida. Brachman has testified before the House Armed Services Committee and the British House of Lords and his research is regularly covered in the press. After spending four years as the Director of Research of the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point, Brachman returned to the Midwest where he directs NDSU’s Center for Transportation Security (UGPTI) and advises clients on terrorism challenges.
Jarret’s recent book, Global Jihadism: Theory and Practice, is now available through Routledge Press.
Ink Spots
Quote:
Ink Spots is a blog dedicated to the discussion of counterinsurgency, stability operations, post-conflict environments, and whatever other security issues we deem worthy of comment. Our contributors are security professionals - from think tanks, government, consulting, and nonprofit work. We hope this site will be not merely a soap box for the five of us, but a forum for discussion and debate on those issues that matter to us all.
Found just: http://san-pips.com/index.php and they are:
Not read any product yet.Quote:
The Pak Institute for Peace Studies (PIPS) is an independent, not-for-profit non governmental research and advocacy think-tank. An initiative of leading Pakistani scholars, researchers and journalists, PIPS conducts wide-ranging research and analysis of political, social and religious conflicts that have a direct bearing on both national and international security.
davidbfpo
Below are my defense related subscriptions in Google Reader. I don't have time to read all the blogs out there, so I have tried to concentrate on ones that a) Break new thoughts (SWJ), b) give me thought provoking insights (Abu M, Walt, Ricks, Packer), c) keep me up to date in the defense community (Danger Room, Attackerman, Defense Tech) or d) provide news I can't find elsewhere (Free Range International, Long War Journal). The list below provides about 100 posts a day, and usually link to my non subscribed 2d tier blogs when they have good posts.
Abu Muqawama http://www.cnas.org/blogs/abumuqawama
Everyone knows Abu M. 'Nuff Said.
ATTACKERMAN http://attackerman.firedoglake.com
I guestblogged for Spencer, opinionated yet often relevant insights into defense politics
Free Range International http://blog.freerangeinternational.com/
Pithy yet excellent Afghanistan insight you won't find elsewhere
Information Dissemination http://informationdissemination.blogspot.com
Navy blog I like a lot, good thoughts
Interesting Times (George Packer) http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/georgepacker/
Interesting, but sparse postings
Stephen M. Walt http://walt.foreignpolicy.com
Love him or hate him, he always gets me thinking
Danger Room http://www.wired.com/dangerroom
Noah does an awesome job keeping up with DoD for WIRED
Defense Tech http://www.defensetech.org
Same as above
USA and USMC Counterinsurgency Center Blog http://usacac.army.mil/BLOG/blogs/coin/
Hey, it's my old blog!
The Long War Journal http://www.longwarjournal.org
News I can't find elsewhere on GWOT
The Best Defense (Tom Ricks) http://ricks.foreignpolicy.com/
Tom drives a lot of discussion and makes interesting points
And of course: SWJ Blog!
For my non-mil reading I keep up with Lifehacker, Consumerist, The Daily Dish, Ars Technica, and the always hilarious FAIL Blog.
So, which high payoff blogs am I missing?
www.cimicweb.org came to light in this thread by a new SWC member explains this NATO facility (in the USA): http://council.smallwarsjournal.com/...ead.php?t=7947
If your focus is Afghanistan and / or the Horn of Africa worth a visit - on my quick skim.
davidbfpo
This probably sounds like I'm being a wiseguy - I'm not. What "thought provoking insights" have you ever gotten from Tom Ricks? Just recently, I'm thinking of his flimsy criticisms of 2-503 at Wanat and his recommendation to shut down West Point. I'm sure he has a lot of insights derived from hanging around with influential folks, but I have never seen any conveyed on his blog. Again - not being a wiseguy - I'm just curious.
Below is a copy and paste of my bookmarks (which is a work-in-progress). I omitted those that I already saw mentioned on this thread. I do not necessarily agree with most of what is written at all of these. Rather, they seem like a good cross-section of views and/or good selection of news that I am not likely to see in the newspaper.
-All Things Pakistan
-The Arabist
-Counterterrorism Blog
-Iran in the Gulf
-Michael J. Totten
-Middle East Perspectives
-Middle East Strategy at Harvard
-Oil and Glory
-Russia Blog
-Registan
-Sandbox
-Syria Comment
-Turkey and the Kurdish Question
-Uskowi on Iran
-USNI Blog
I would also add a non-blog to the mix: Mosaic - News form the Middle East, which is a daily program from Link TV that provides English translation of Mideast news outlets. 30 minutes a day - good to have in the background while making breakfast.
I like Tom's blog for a number of reasons.
1) He often raises issues we all know but don't/can't talk about in the "family" i.e relief of officers, counterproductive policies.
2) About once a month he breaks something truly interesting I haven't seen before. Like the draft CSI report on Wanat.
3) He's a good barometer of the civilian military pundit community.
Ref Wanat: I actually thought he did a service by airing his AAR, errors and all, because the Army sure hadn't done it in a year and a half since the incident. His posts drive discussion and action at several levels. Love or hate him, agree or disagree, if you don't follow him you'll miss some interesting stuff.
Not mentioned so far but ones I keep a watching brief on are:
Afghan NGO Security Organisation - the situation according to the non-military actors.
UN Assistance Mission Afghanistan - blindingly obvious, but a good source of reports.
International Council on Security and Development - on the ground reporting and looks specifically at the intersections of security, development, counter-narcotics and public health issues.
RR
Blog sites I regularly frequent and can highly recommend (for what its worth);
www.dprkstudies.org
blogs.law.harvard.edu/mesh/ (Middle East Strategy at Harvard)
www.islam-watch.org
www.informationdissemination.net/
www.longwarjournal.org/
http://violenceprehistory.blogspot.com/
counterterrorismblog.org/
www.cominganarchy.com
and last but not least, the excellent
defenceoftherealm.blogspot.com/
A very good blog following international criminal organizations
Friends Of Ours
http://www.quattozone.com/
Blog by
Tadd Sholtis
An Air Force public affairs officer for 15 years, the views expressed here are my own and (sometimes sadly, sometimes mercifully) not those of the U.S. Government, Department of Defense or Air Force.
Currently in Afghanistan, and much more interesting than a public affairs release.
Mark Grimsley, an associate professor of history at The Ohio State University, has a nice blog at Blog Them Out of the Stone Age. This blog may be particularly useful to those interested in the historiography of war and the teaching of military history in the Ivory Tower.
Journalists for The Economist have blogs here.
Formed in Berlin in May 2009 and just id'd (hat tip to 'Red Rat'), The Afghanistan Analysts Network: http://www.aan-afghanistan.org/index.asp?id=1
davidbfpo
For me, the trick is figuring out not just what to read, but how, and when. Getting the division right between RSS reader, podcasts, radio, blog-browsing, twitter, and email is a work-in-progress.
My breakdown...
Audio Podcasts (at the gym, as well as going to and from, and running)
- The Ethicist
- Harvard Business Review
- CSIS
- Economist
- Martin Wolf
- Mars Hill Church
- Walk in the Word
- Insight for Living
- InTouch Broadcast
Video Podcasts (in the kitchen)
- Mosaic: News from the Mideast
- BusinessWeek - Mandel on Economics
- Reason.tv
- al-Jazeera (Fault Lines, Riz Khan)
- Fareed Zakaria (not a fan of his, but he has great guests)
Stitcher (iPhone/Blackberry app that plays audio podcasts; usually listen to during commute)
- Economist "The World Next Week"
- Wall Street Journal "What's News"
- Cato Daily Podcast (more political, but not left v right)
- Stratfor Daily Podcast
RSS Reader (whenever - laptop or iPhone)
- The Daily Star (Lebanon)
- The Jerusalem Post
- al-Arabiya (Pan-Arab)
- New York Times
- Washington Post
- Sabah (Turkey)
- Moscow Times
- The Australian
- Financial Times
- UK Telegraph
- Wall Street Journal
Email lists (usually read on iPhone while in the slower-than-death elevator in my apartment building and other random moments of waiting for stuff)
- Af-Pak channel
- FP Morning Brief
- Stratfor
- Gulf in the Media
Random browsing
- Stuff in my blogroll (already listed elsewhere in this thread)
- Twitter - I've found that twitter is ideal for following blogs that I read and of very little value for following major news outlets; it's handy to see when a blog or other site is updated (SWJ, Registan, Michael Yon, etc), but I don't need 20 random alerts every day from XYZ newspaper. I also don't understand how anyone can really "follow" hundreds of people on twitter. I follow 24 people on twitter and I still miss stuff.
- Facebook - I'm a newcomer to Facebook; is this purely a social medium or do people use it for news-related stuff?
I'm sorry I missed it until today.
I can't wait to read her thesis.
I only recently discovered this Australian lady had a blogsite and then overlooked posting it here. More careful thought than the proliferation of "expertise" elsewhere and worth checking weekly.
davidbfpo
This one just started this month...
http://www.raceforiran.com/
Also may be of interest to some, Twitter just implemented its lists (Beta) function. Here is one that I'm working on...
http://twitter.com/SchmedlapDotCom/thelongwar
Waq al-Waq
Copied here from a Yemen thread.Quote:
This blog was started for a few reasons. We both have been studying Yemen for years, and as the country has risen in importance, the quality of discussion has declined. We wanted to contradict some other individuals, blogs and commentators who have no experience in Yemen or with Arabic, and who turn the facts to fit their opinions. We feel that presenting a thoughtful and nuanced discussion of Yemeni affairs, based in knowledge of its history and culture is in the best interest of all. That said, this is not an academic blog, and provides a lighter tone than our other publications, and also allows us to indulge our unhealthy interests in medieval swords and mysterious islands that color Yemeni history.
Enjoy.
A new blogsite:http://www.pakistanconflictmonitor.org/ and introduction says:Recommended by Steve Coll: http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/stevecoll/#ReplayQuote:
an initiative of the Human Security Report Project at the School for International Studies at Simon Fraser University.
davidbfpo
Thanks to Professor Borum. He has id'd a website monitoring events in Sudan (not just the South): http://www.smallarmssurvey.org/files...dan/sudan.html and there is a list of other websites.
Each year the World Bank puts out a book-length publication on an aspect of international development, called the World Development Report. Recent WDRs have, for example, focused on youth (2007), agricultural development (2008), changing economic geography (2009), and the environment (2010). The 2011 edition will focus on conflict and development:
As part of the process, the 2011 WDR team has set up a blog, which may be of interest to the SWJ community: http://blogs.worldbank.org/conflict/Quote:
Violent conflict is a major development challenge: conflict causes human misery, destroys communities and infrastructure, and can cripple economic prospects. Poverty rates in conflict-affected countries are averaging 54 percent, compared with 22 percent for low-income countries as a whole. The goal of this World Development Report is to contribute concrete, practical suggestions to the debate on how to address and overcome violent conflict and fragility.
I'm sure they would welcome input and feedback--especially with regard to where they should best focus their attention. While the WDR is the primary output of the project, there is also scope for other ongoing contributions, products, and outputs.
Hat tip to Leah who recommends this experienced UK reporter's Nick Fielding's blogsite:http://circlingthelionsden.blogspot.com/
Some items I'd seen before, others not and would be worth checking for those immersed in things Afghan.
Here is the UK general in charge of MND-South on MG Flynn's report:In:http://circlingthelionsden.blogspot....on-please.htmlQuote:
What we're dealing with in Afghanistan is not just purely enemy matters. It's what's often called the white picture; it's understanding the politics, the governance dynamics, the tribal dynamics, the anthropological issues. It's those issues which don't strictly come under the definition of intelligence but are none the less the information environment, which if you don't understand it and you don't work out how to corral it you simply won't make the sort of progress we were describing.
Re-discovery as another had found this and absorbing what is on offer: http://www.tribalanalysiscenter.com
The focus is on Af-Pak and there are a variety of PPTs available. The 'Who are we' explanation indicates experience, ex-US government analysts.Quote:
Traditional anthropological research conducted among tribes inhabiting remote areas where insurgents and criminals operate has become increasingly difficult to implement. Studies carried out among people living in small-scale societies now are nearly impossible due to the physical dangers associated with the civil and religious unrest found in those areas. Swat, for example, has become so dangerous that Frederick Barth’s studies only could be repeated at the risk of the investigator’s life. Similar research is not feasible among Burma’s Rohinga tribes located on both sides of the border with Bangladesh, as well as with the Pashtuns in Afghanistan’s interior and within Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas, where even Pakistan’s army enters with reluctance.
Given the difficulties of conducting direct fieldwork in conflictive areas, the Tribal Analysis Center utilizes an indirect approach. Using multidisciplinary research, we seek to collect and analyze data obtained from a wide variety of sources, both current and historical. In the absence of new ethnographic fieldwork to update our base of knowledge, the Tribal Analysis Center compiles and summarizes existing research and documents on tribal societies, combining this material with contemporary press reports and articles. We assume that much can be gleaned from well-informed observers who are not anthropologists, ranging from journalists and travelers to government officials.
Judge yourself.
This blog is an extension of the Joint Irregular Warfare Wargamming that is currently underway. All thoughts and input are wanted. Spread the word, the more participation equates to more scholarly driven content.
http://jointirregularwarfare.blogspot.com/
This might be of interest:
A list of "Afghanistan Blogs":
http://afghanistan-analyst.org/blogs.aspx
Future Crimes: Anticipating Tomorrow's Crimes Today
Quote:
About
Future Crimes is a futurist-oriented group dedicated to studying and discussing the effects of scientific and technological progress on crime, policing and the criminal justice system.
Criminals have always been quick to adopt new technologies with the police often trailing behind. The unprecedented rapid rate of scientific progress is creating new opportunities for transnational criminal organizations to exploit these technological advancements for unintended nefarious purposes.
While many are focused on the common cyber crimes of today, this group will adopt a futurist’s approach that looks beyond today’s cyber crimes in anticipation of the next generations of criminality. Initially, the group will have a noted emphasis on virtual world crime, augmented / mixed reality crime, criminal MMORPG’s, robotic crime, nanotechnology crime, artificial intelligence/automated criminality, criminal justice implications of cloud computing and bio/genome related crimes.
Welcome to Future!
A close friend turned me on to this blog several months ago. I recommend it to all. Mr. Wing does a great job in analyzing open source reports, better than many professionals I have known and far better than most think tank denizens.
For an example, see:
Best,Quote:
Iraqi Officials Claim 80% Or More Of Sons Of Iraq Integrated
In August 2010 two Iraqi officials claimed that 80% or more of the Sons of Iraq (SOI) had been integrated. First, on August 12, Zuhair Chalabi, head of the National Reconciliation Committee, said that 80% of the SOI in Baghdad had been given jobs, with 9,418 joining the Interior Ministry. He stated that around 12,000 in the province still needed to find public employment, and that would happen after security improved. Later in the month, the chief of the Tribal Affairs Department in the Interior Ministry was recorded as saying that 20% of all the SOI had been given jobs in the Interior and Defense Ministries, and 75% were in other government agencies. If these two reports are true, than the Iraqi government would finally be close to its commitment to integrate 20% of the SOI into the security forces, and the other 80% in other government positions.
There are several problems about the officials’ remarks. First, hiring of the SOI has been on hold since the end of 2009 because of arguments over the budget and the security situation. At the end of July, the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR) noted that only 41,000 out of 94,000 SOI, 45% of the total, had been offered jobs. If now 80-85% of the SOI had been integrated, 75,200-79,900 fighters, than that would mean 34,200-38,900 were given jobs in just one month. That seems far above the capacity of the Iraqi government. It should also be noted that the SIGIR has undermined Baghdad’s previous claims because it found that the Iraqi authorities count offering a job to an SOI as integration, whether they take it or not. Given that track record, its hard to believe what the National Reconciliation and Tribal Affairs chiefs said.
Tom