Expendable soldiers

Foreign Legions in the generic sense have evolved in ways that would surprise Beau Geste. Not only are more foreigners or recent immigrants enlisting in Western military forces, but also the post-Cold War era has seen the revival of warlord militias and Private Military Companies. Western militaries, in particular that of the United States, have also sought to increase their strategic reach through security assistance to regional military forces. While there have been some successes, security assistance has proven to have its limitations, not to mention unintended consequences for civil military relations, democracy promotion, and military efficiency.     

Detecting Problems in Military Expenditure Data Using Digital Analysis

The UN asks governments to report key figures of their annual military budgets with the aim of creating trust among member states. This goal can only be achieved if the data reported is accurate. However, although there are many reasons for governments to falsify data, the UN does not check for manipulation. In this paper, we apply Benford’s law to the military expenditure data of 27 states taken from the UN register. Our analysis of the first digits shows that the states with the greatest deviations from the expected Benford distribution and therefore the lowest data quality are the USA and the UK.     

INCOMPLETE ROHLFS–SULLIVAN ANALYSIS OF THE COST-EFFECTIVENESS OF ARMORED TACTICAL WHEELED VEHICLES FOR OVERSEAS US ARMY OPERATIONS

This comment addresses the Rohlfs–Sullivan analysis titled: ‘The Cost-Effectiveness of Armored Tactical Wheeled Vehicles [TWVs] for Overseas US Army Operations.’ The analysis evaluated policies to replace Type 1 and 2 TWVs with Type 3s. There is no evidence the analysis factored in fatality causes, fatality relationships to vehicles, or compared survivability of vehicles. Furthermore, it did not note when Type 3 TWVs were requested, when they impacted fatalities, or TWV use policies. It also assumed Type 3 TWVs prompted negative unit behaviors while discounting evidence of positive behaviors. In summary, the analysis is incomplete and should be revised.     

Police Corruption: Towards a Working Definition

According to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) publication Interpretive Guidance on the Notion of Direct Participation in Hostilities under International Humanitarian Law, all civilians (including child soldiers) lose their immunity from direct targeting ‘for so long as’ their actions amount to direct participation in hostilities. All civilians can, however, access the revolving door of protection and return to their civilian activities – complete with full immunity from direct targeting – provided the nature of their direct participation was spontaneous and disorganised. Once it can be ascertained that their participation in hostilities amounts to continuous combative functions, they relinquish their access to the revolving door of protection, and can be targeted at all times until they abandon their formal or functional membership of the belligerent group. This piece analyses how the revolving door phenomenon and the notion of continuous combative functions apply in instances where civilian child soldiers are directly participating in hostilities.     

INTRODUCTION: THE DYNAMICS OF NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT

Decisionmaking processes leading to the acquisition of nuclear weapons by democratic states have served as the basis for theories about nuclear proliferation. In contrast, less is known about how a totalitarian regime responds to immense external pressure to abolish unconventional weapons it considers crucial for its security and survival. This article will analyze how we can explain Iraq's behavior after the passing of Resolution 1441 and during the United Nations inspections in 2002–2003.     

联合作战目标武器弹药匹配模型

本文分析了联合作战目标—弹药匹配问题,从作战目的复杂性、武器弹药多样性、毁伤要求易变性、作战过程协同性四个方面提出了对联合作战目标—弹药匹配模型的军事需求,基于规划理论对问题进行描述并给出基本的数学模型,结合需求,对规划的目标和约束进一步细致的分析,对模型进行扩展,使其能体现联合作战的特点,方便了在不同军事上下文中有针对性地进行使用。     

The Battle of Mirbat: turning point in the Omani Dhofar rebellion

On 19 July 1972, the pivotal battle of the Dhofar rebellion occurred when over 250 communist guerillas, called adoos,1 ?1. ‘Enemy’ in Arabic. attacked the coastal garrison town of Mirbat2 ?2. Sometimes spelled Marbat. where nine men of the British 22nd Special Air Service Regiment were stationed. Their decisive defense of Mirbat led to decorations three years after the battle, the beginning of the end of the rebellion, and calls for the awarding of Britain's highest honor, the Victoria Cross. The Battle of Mirbat, let alone the Dhofar rebellion are little known outside the UK due3 ?3. Other than papers written for military staff colleges, there is no American written account of the battle. to the covert nature of the SAS deployment, the then Labour government's obsession with secrecy, and the remoteness of the area of operations. Nonetheless, of all the proxy wars of the Cold War this one had the most significance, because had the communist adoos won, Oman and its Musandam Peninsula, which sticks out like a dagger into the Straits of Hormuz and abuts the United Arab Emirates, would have fallen into the communist orbit; threatening the West's oil supply. This is the story of the pivotal battle that was won by Britain and Oman against a communist insurgency.     

US warfare in Somalia and the trade-off between casualty-aversion and civilian protection

This article examines the ways in which the two normative concerns of casualty-aversion and civilian protection influenced US military strategy in the particular context of the asymmetric conflict in Somalia in the early 1990s. The article critically evaluates US military operations through the prism of international humanitarian law and examines whether American forces started prioritizing casualty-aversion over the safeguarding of Somali civilians. Finally, by drawing on emerging moral guidelines (such as Michael Walzer's idea of ‘due care’), the article examines whether lower numbers of Somali civilian deaths could have been achieved if marginal increases to the risks faced by US soldiers had been accepted.