Military deployment and international terrorism: do location and mission type matter?

Extant literature documents a relationship between military deployment and the risk of an international terrorist attack against citizens of the deploying country. It appears that deployment significantly increases the possibility of terrorist actions in the home country. In particular, if country A decides to send troops to nation B, then citizens of the former country are more likely to fall victim of an attack carried out by a terrorist organisation originating from the latter country. Contributing to this line of literature, we further refine this relationship by distinguishing between regions where the troops are sent as well as by introducing differences between types of deployment. Our results indicate that missions to Asia and the Middle East are more dangerous than missions to other regions as reflected by the terrorist threat in the home country. Robustness tests do however show that the significance of the location variable Asia is predominantly attributed to the mission to Afghanistan. As for types of deployment, only ad hoc missions seem to increase the risk of an attack, whereas no significant results are found for other missions such as operations under UN and NATO flag. Leaving out the missions to Iraq and Afghanistan however also increases the danger resulting from missions by fixed coalitions. Our results find however no evidence that ‘wearing a blue helmet’ increases the probability of a terrorist attack at home.     

EASTERN SUDAN INDIGENOUS CONFLICT PREVENTION,MANAGEMENT AND RESOLUTION MECHANISMS

In the wake of heightened media and political pressure about the Darfur humanitarian catastrophe, the African Union (AU) hurriedly deployed its monitors in Darfur, to be augmented later by a protection force to safeguard the monitors, albeit without adequate pre-deployment and logistic assessment. Without doubt, the Darfur crisis has become the AU's major preoccupation for the past year. The deployment of the African Mission in Sudan (AMIS) since June 2004 has presented many challenges to the AU and its partners. A restrictive mandate, inadequate troops to cover Darfur, serious operational, logistical and capacity shortfalls have combined in an inextricable way to present the AU's mission to some observers as spineless and ineffective. The UN and partners have acknowledged the lead role of the AU in Darfur, and have been very supportive with assistance in these critical deficient areas. How the AU will take advantage of this favourable environment and optimise the benefits from its partners will be crucial to its success in Darfur. The article emphasises the need for the AU to strengthen its capacity and expertise at all levels of command through technical cooperation and appropriate assistance from the UN and partners. The entire world is waiting to see how Africa delivers on this critical assignment.     

Early warning,the protection of civilians and United Nations peacekeeping operations

This commentary traces the increasing importance of early warning in United Nations (UN) peacekeeping, an emphasis that has emerged in connection with the evolution of protection of civilians mandates in UN peacekeeping missions. It examines the current and emerging practice of early warning in UN peacekeeping as well as the challenges faced, drawing on case studies from the UN missions in South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The authors also propose a set of basic principles upon which early warning in UN peacekeeping operations might be approached in the future.     

基于排队论的防空兵力部署优化模型

兵力部署优化问题是防空指控系统的重要研究内容之一。针对多型防空武器多层多区段混合部署问题,对异型空袭武器和防空武器基于作战效能标准化处理,基于排队论给出空袭武器的突防概率计算模型,将防空武器系统综合防御效能作为优化目标,建立多型防空武器扇形部署优化模型。仿真实验验证了优化模型的有效性和合理性,可为科学制定兵力部署方案提供参考。     

区域防空兵力需求优化模型研究

区域防空兵力需求是防空作战保障部门实施高效保障的基本依据,也是进行区域防空作战布势的前提和基础。讨论了地面防空兵器和空袭兵器作战效能指数的计算方法,建立了地空对抗条件下的兰切斯特动态方程,得出了满足一定作战效能指标的区域防空各型防空火力单元的数量与规模。     

Military support and transnational terrorism

Analysing the relationship between the provision of military support and the probability of becoming the target of a terrorist attack, this paper contributes to the literature on the causes of transnational terrorism. We find that deployment of military troops of country X in country Y increases the probability of a terrorist attack on citizens of country X by a terrorist group located in country Y. Exporting weapons to country Y seems to increase the probability of being attacked by the terrorists of this country Y as well. Deploying materials, however, does not seem to significantly influence the probability of attack. Including lagged values for our military support variables ensures that the causality direction is from military support to terrorist attacks. Moreover, these results indicate that while the effect of military deployment on the probability of attack lasts for more than 1 year, the effect is rather short-lived.     

Explaining the (il)legality of Uganda's intervention in the current South Sudan conflict

During the night of 15 December 2013, fighting broke out between factions of the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) in Juba, the capital of the Republic of South Sudan. The fighting pitted forces loyal to President Salva Kiir against those loyal to former Vice President Riek Machar. Five days later, Uganda sent troops into South Sudan, advancing a number of reasons for intervention, including that it had been invited by the legitimate government of South Sudan to ensure order; it needed to evacuate Ugandan citizens caught up in the fighting; it had been asked by the United Nations Secretary-General to intervene; and that the regional organisation, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development had sanctioned the intervention. As the conflict escalated, Ugandan troops started fighting on the side of forces loyal to Kiir. The underlying reasons for the intervention were clearly economic, but those advanced were legal. This article discusses both sets of reasons and concludes that the economic reasons are more persuasive. Nevertheless, while some of the legal arguments (such as being invited by the legitimate government of South Sudan) can be asserted, others are clearly dubious. In addition, the participation of Ugandan troops in the fighting on the side of the Kiir government renders the intervention illegal.     

基于作战能力图的兵力部署评估仿真

运用电子地图的发展成果和技术,通过将联合作战兵力转化为具有一定属性值的作战能力像素点,以点阵图形式来显示和研究兵力部署,实现对联合作战兵力部署的评估,为定量化研究联合作战兵力运用提供一种辅助决策的新方法.     

数字化装甲营作战仿真实验室的支撑软件设计

介绍了数字化装甲营作战仿真实验室的支撑软件组成、结构和功能.军事指挥人员(建模人员)利用支撑软件按照自己的意图,快速制定作战想定,兵力、兵器部署的系统模型,通过系统模型的运行,实现战斗进程的逼真模拟,实施人在环、部分实装在环的装甲兵分队作战指挥对抗演习和实验,完成装甲兵分队的战术和技术训练任务,为装甲兵部队作战理论研究,人员训练,装备作战效能评估,技术保障研究和院校各专业技术人才培养提供高技术的软件平台,并且快速确定系统模型的可信度指标,为上级机关决策的合理化提供有力的支持.     

The Nepalese Army: From counterinsurgency to peacekeeping?

Can peacekeeping participation help reform military institutions in democratizing states? Drawing on evidence from Nepal – one of the world's largest troop contributors to UN peacekeeping operations – this essay illustrates that participation in peace missions can sometimes undermine security sector reform and deteriorate civil–military relations. Furthermore, this analysis shows that peacekeeping participation will not necessarily reorient troops away from their conventional internal roles (such as counterinsurgency) or improve civilian control over the armed forces. Hence, civilians can lose control over soldiers just as frequently when they are deployed overseas as when they are at home.     

防空群掩护固定目标兵力区分模型构建

兵力区分是防空兵战斗部署的重要环节。传统的区分方法过于笼统,同时针对性不强。对防空群掩护固定目标时兵力区分的原则、方法和程序进行了探讨,并按照目标重要程度排序空袭兵力需求分析防空兵力需求分析兵力分配的思路建立了防空群兵力区分的数理模型。     

面向决策的一体化建模方法及其在兵力筹划中的应用

在对军事决策问题的主要特点进行分析的基础上,提出从军事概念模型到数学模型再到定性推理模型的一体化建模思想.以空军航空兵遂行直接航空火力支援任务为想定背景,根据EATI模板,利用基于UML的Rose工具依次对想定任务的实体、任务、交互等进行分析;对于兵力筹划中的结构化问题建立了机会约束多目标规划数学模型;对于非结构化问题则构造了推理机,推理机体现了定量与定性相结合的决策分析思想.最后,以一个实例验证文章思路的可行性.     

Neutrino-Based Tools for Nuclear Verification and Diplomacy in North Korea

We present neutrino-based options for verifying that the nuclear reactors at North Korea’s Yongbyon Nuclear Research Center are no longer operating or that they are operating in an agreed manner, precluding weapons production. Neutrino detectors may be a mutually agreeable complement to traditional verification protocols because they do not require access inside reactor buildings, could be installed collaboratively, and provide persistent and specific observations. At Yongbyon, neutrino detectors could passively verify reactor shutdowns or monitor power levels and plutonium contents, all from outside the reactor buildings. The monitoring options presented here build on recent successes in basic particle physics. Following a dedicated design study, these tools could be deployed in as little as one year at a reasonable cost. In North Korea, cooperative deployment of neutrino detectors could help redirect a limited number of scientists and engineers from military applications to peaceful technical work in an international community. Opportunities for scientific collaboration with South Korea are especially strong. We encourage policymakers to consider collaborative neutrino projects within a broader program of action toward stability and security on the Korean Peninsula.     

第三届广西学生军与昆仑关战役

昆仑关战役是抗战相持阶段桂南会战中最大的一次战役,中国军队以惨重代价取得胜利。在战役中,第三届广西学生军发动民众破坏日军补给,保障中国军队战地后勤,协调军民关系,为部队提供情报,进行战地宣传,配合其他武装力量袭击日军,对保证战役胜利起了很大的作用。     

Conflict management in the Central African Republic: making genocide prevention work

This commentary analyses the international response to the crisis that struck the Central African Republic (CAR) in early December 2013. It examines three intertwined dimensions defining the courses of action available to policymakers dealing with pre-genocidal crises: the politics and institutional manoeuvring shaping the United Nations (UN) Security Council's decision to authorise an enforcement mission without deploying ‘blue helmets’ on the ground; the operational complexities involved in launching rapid reaction forces; and the interdependent logics between peacebuilding and atrocity prevention. The author argues that there are three ways for the UN Secretariat to ensure a more effective response to CAR-type situations: generating political will to respond swiftly to deteriorating crises leading to widespread abuses of human rights by advancing the concept of Responsibility to Protect as a core component of states' national interests; developing strategic frameworks for the deployment of multi-plural missions equipped to avert the actual or potential threat of atrocities; and developing joint early warning and scenario planning between peacebuilding and atrocity prevention agencies.     

C3I配合下炮兵间瞄对抗及取胜概率仿真模拟

研究了在各自 C3 I情报系统的配合下 ,红蓝双方炮火间瞄对抗过程的计算机仿真模拟 ,建立了仿真模拟模型 ,给出了作战持续时间 ,双方的取胜概率 ,作战结束时双方的剩余兵力等重要作战数据的仿真模拟算法。通过改变作战系统的初始值 ,可以获得理想的刻画作战系统重要特征的作战数据 ,这在兵力部署与作战运筹中具有十分重要的意义。     

HISTORY REPEATING ITSELF

The response of the UN Security Council to the massive world war in the DRC is characterised by an abundance of rhetoric and a deficit of concrete action. When it has ac ted, its actions have often been clearly inappropriate, with the token deployment of lightly armed peacekeepers into a volatile area of ongoing conflict. In choosing such an option, it has shown how little political will there is for serious engagement, but also how little the Council has learnt from its own history. This paper seeks to analyse the Council's response to the conflict in the DRC, separating the rhetoric and the appearance of action from concrete measures designed at realising some form of conflict resolution.     

‘Fighting for peace’

In Africa, most of the present conflicts are civil, intra-state wars where belligerent groups use guerrilla tactics to achieve various political, economic or ideological objectives. The atrocities and the effect of these on-going wars on innocent civilians, human suffering, poverty and development are beyond comprehension. Not surprisingly, the majority of current peace operations are in Africa, with more than 70 countries contributing forces to these conflict zones. On the continent, South Africa has come to assume a leading role in peace operations and is now a major troop-contributing country to UN and AU missions. In the past 11 years, the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) has taken part in no fewer than 14 peace missions. This article provides a brief background of the conflicts in Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Sudan, the different United Nations (UN) and African Union (AU) mandates under which peacekeepers had to operate as well as their objectives, and the extent of South Africa's involvement in the various missions. In the last section, the major challenges, that these operations have posed are highlighted.     

新时期关于部队会计职业道德教育的思考

新的历史时期 ,部队财务工作面临着新形势、新问题 ,部队会计工作在军事经济中的作用不断加强 ,责任也愈加繁重。部队会计职业道德素质直接影响着部队财务工作的质量。目前 ,部队会计职业道德现状不容盲目乐观 ,制定部队会计职业道德准则 ,加强对部队会计的职业道德教育应予以足够重视     

联合国维和行动的发展及其面临的主要挑战

第二代维和行动维和行动数量剧增,规模变大;维和行动战略从“维持”和平向“建设”和平发展;维和行动由主要处理国与国之间的冲突转为主要处理国内各派别的冲突;维和行动职能由单一转向多元;维和行动部署方式由过去的“线性”变为“非线性”;维和行动的主体增加,维和行动组成日趋混杂。联合国维和行动面临着“强力”维和挑战传统原则;维和行动资源严重短缺;维和人员所承担的安全风险越来越大;维和行动的有效性难有质的提高;单边主义妨碍联合国发挥作用。