The security sector and the plunder of Zimbabwe’s Chiadzwa alluvial diamonds: the ‘goat mentality’ in practice

While the human rights impact of the deployment of state security agencies in the Chiadzwa diamond fields has been explored, it is important to continue to expose the increasing tendency within the sector to take public resources that should be protected by the state and used for the benefit of the people and channel them for personal gain. The security sector stranglehold of President Robert Mugabe and the ruling political party, the Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF), has facilitated the siphoning of Chiadzwa diamond revenue into the pockets of individual security personnel. The unfolding sociopolitical crisis in Zimbabwe has also meant that these security personnel have been deployed beyond conflict zones and into traditionally civilian domains, with dire consequences for the public purse. With this in mind, it is asserted that these issues have driven state security agencies to enrich themselves through what is termed in this article as a ‘goat mentality’. The article thus explores the ways in which state security agencies have been deployed and gone on to promote personal enrichment in the Chiadzwa diamond fields.     

无人舰艇技术及军事应用研究

随着无人飞机的大量研发和广泛应用,无人化智能武器越来越受到世界各国的重视。在海洋争端愈演愈烈的今天,世界军事强国又纷纷把目光投向海上无人作战舰艇,无人舰艇技术得到突飞猛进的发展。近期,美国高调宣布将在中国南海打造以"无人飞机"和"无人舰艇"为骨干的"无人军团",以期全面遏制我海军的行动,加强无人舰艇技术研究已迫在眉睫。从世界无人舰艇发展历程出发,详细阐述了无人舰艇的技术特点和应用前景,重点分析了我军无人舰艇发展应用对策。研究表明,无人舰艇作为未来海航作战中不可忽视的力量,必将走俏未来战场,深度改变战争格局。     

基于支持向量机的多分类军事目标识别应用

针对现代战场信息化程度的不断提高,电磁环境日趋复杂,侦查目标难以准确地识别情况,提出了运用支持向量机多分类器对军事侦查目标进行有效识别.结构风险最小化地支持向量机分类方法是小样本情况下统计机器学习的经典,具有速度快、泛化能力强等特点.用该算法建模军事目标的识别问题,达到了较高的识别准确率.所以应用在对侦查目标的识别上具有良好的效果,在军事应用上有较广阔的前景.     

论文化革命与文化建设

“文化革命”一词是列宁在晚年提出的，在中国的实践可以追溯至新民主主义革命时期，但“文化革命”在中国的实践不仅没能达到其原本的目标，反而给整个社会带来了巨大的灾难。从“文化革命”到“文化建没”，是文化发展史上的一个进步。现阶段．建设中国特色社会主义文化，应在中国特色社会主义理论体系的指导下，吸收继承我国传统文化，发展创新现代文化，同时学习借鉴团外优秀文化。     

构建我国军事赔偿法律制度的基本思路

我国军事法学界应当吸收《国家赔偿法》修订的理论成果,将军事赔偿法律制度构建成为一项独立的、科学的权利保障型法律制度,为国家的军事赔偿立法铺平道路。     

关于军事征用基本原则的思考

军事征用的基本原则是军事征用制度中的一个基本理论问题。军事征用的基本原则应当包括：依法征用原则、比例原则、正当程序原则、补偿原则。     

Glimpse into an army at its peak: notes on the Somali National Army in the 1960–80s

ABSTRACT

Bagayoko, Hutchful, and Luckham correctly argue that the structures, characteristics, and operating methods of official security institutions in Africa have been somewhat neglected, with a lack of much recent research. The Somali National Army (SNA) sits among these lacunae. Its formal structures can be used as a skeletal starting point and springboard to start to draw the network diagrams that chart informal linkages. This is why recent declassification decisions by U.S. intelligence bodies, coupled with period documents released to the UK National Archives, hold significance in helping us understand early hierarchical SNA arrangements. They show the steady build-up in size of the force, to 1987, to about the time the civil war began to fragment the state.     

Asia-Pacific Demand for Military Expenditure: Spatial Panel and SUR Estimates

This article investigates the demand for military expenditure for a sample of key Asia-Pacific countries. Spatial panel demand estimates are presented for three joined spatial units using a fixed-coefficient spatial lag model based on a two-step efficient GMM estimator. Spatial autoregression estimates are next presented for 1991–2015, founded on alternative kinds of country connectivities, such as contiguity, inverse distance, discrete distance, and power-projection considerations. Finally, 11 select countries’ demands for defense equations are estimated using seemingly unrelated regressions. From alternative perspectives, these estimated models indicate how Asia-Pacific countries respond to the defense spending of other countries. In the spatial runs, free riding is prevalent despite the growing military might of China, which apparently is not generally viewed as a threat. For the sample period, the projection of Chinese or American power is a relevant spatial factor. The main threat is reflected in non-U.S. allies’ reaction to U.S. allies’ defense spending during 1991–2015 and to Chinese defense spending after 2002.     

近期美国海军南海地区活动态势分析

随着南海地区力量结构和美对华战略的转变，南海地区成为中美战略博弈的焦点。为围堵遏制中国的崛起，美国针对中国在南海实施了一系列海上挑衅行为。美国海军作为美国军事干预的主要力量，从兵力部署、演习演训、“航行自由”行动等着手，积极拉拢域内外盟友，展开并强化了在南海地区的军事活动。这些军事活动表现出极强的针对性和实战性，致使中美海上摩擦和竞争加剧。未来，美国为维护主导的全球秩序，将进一步提升美国海军在南海地区的威慑力。美国海军会借助并增加域内盟友的军事力量，继续维持高强度的装备平台活动及“航行自由”行动，推动海上力量合作。     

Memory,magic and militias: Cora Indian participation in Mexico’s wars,from the reforma to the revolution (1854-1920)

ABSTRACT

Mexico’s Cora Indians have played an outsized role in national history, thanks to their skilful use of guerrilla tactics and success in forging strategic alliances with outside forces in defence of their cultural, territorial and political autonomy. Cora participation in elite struggles between Liberals and Conservatives (1850–73), and subsequently in the Mexican Revolution (1910–20), helped to shape the way that both conflicts played out in Western Mexico. Such participation also allowed Cora communities to keep hold of traditional landholdings in the face of political and economic reform, while sowing the seeds for the foundation of the Mexican state of Nayarit.