The Saudi air war in Yemen: A case for coercive success through battlefield denial

The present-day conflict in Yemen is a valuable case study in the coercive use of airpower. The Saudi-led bombing campaign demonstrates the challenges inherent in applying a punishment-based strategy in a civil war, where coercive mechanisms operate differently than in interstate conflict. The audit from Yemen vindicates the effectiveness of a denial-based strategy and offers insights on the relative utility of interdiction and close air support in advancing that strategy. This examination dissects the campaign, assesses its effectiveness, and extracts insights useful both to the analysis of similar conflicts and to the evaluation of U.S. foreign policy alternatives.     

Developing Civil Society in the Non-state Sphere: Welfare and Rights-based Organisations Associated with Ethnic Armed Groups in Myanmar

Armed groups are usually seen as threats to humanitarian action but less attention has been paid where they provide assistance to constituent populations. Ethnic armed groups (EAGs) in Myanmar have developed associated welfare organisations that perform this role. This article argues this is due to EAG social embeddedness and flexibility to changes in sources of funding and support, and the influence of their relations with international humanitarian organisations. This article further contends a subset of advocacy, health and education organisations have evolved to form a nascent civil society within the political and social non-state sphere of some established EAGs.     

The politics of international chemical weapon justice: The case of Syria, 2011–2017

There has been near-universal condemnation of the use of chemical weapons in the Syrian conflict. The international community has nevertheless struggled to make progress on holding the perpetrators to account. This article reviews developments at the international level in terms of Syrian chemical weapon justice between 2011 and 2017. It argues that there have been substantive disagreements between states on the rationale and means of justice in the Syrian case. It also argues that international initiatives have been tightly intertwined with developments in chemical disarmament and conflict resolution processes as well as the broader war. The article describes progress and challenges to chemical weapon justice in a number of distinct formal international mechanisms during the period studied. The analysis concludes by contextualizing international responses—including the U.S. tomahawk strikes against a Syrian airbase—to the Khan Shaykhun chemical attacks of April 2017.     

光纤光栅技术与应用专题讲座(三) 第6讲 光纤光栅传感技术在土木工程中的应用

针对利用光纤光栅进行应变、温度等测量已经在土木工程中较为普遍这一现状,首先对光纤光栅传感技术进行应变、温度等测量的基本原理进行了描述,重点讨论了为满足耐久性、安装方便与温度自动补偿等需求光纤光栅传感器的封装技术,最后介绍了光纤光栅传感器在土木工程中实际应用的现状。     

边防部队反恐怖作战心理训练问题初探

反恐作战心理训练是现代反恐怖作战行动中需要特别研究和解决的问题。阐述公安边防部队实施反恐作战心理训练的意义,分析公安边防部队反恐作战心理训练的基本方式方法,说明实施反恐心理训练必须注意把握的几个关键性问题。     

论体育新闻中军事语言使用应该把握的尺度

从体育比赛的角度,以“体育比赛是战争”这一概念出发,浅谈体育新闻报道军事化倾向及其产生的文化渊源,同时就英汉体育用语军事化程度进行比较,进一步探讨军事化用语应该把握的尺度。     

一种作战实验仿真平台的实现方案

介绍了一种基于DirectX套件和MapInfo的作战实验仿真平台实现方案。该方案使用DirectGraphics实现战场环境的图形仿真,DirectInput实现装备操控数据接口,DirectSound构造战场声音环境,DirectPlay用于实现各节点的互联,战场态势显示则使用MapInfo开发。该实验平台具有低成本、通用性和可扩展性强的特点,可以有效地将基地化训练模式延伸到末端。     

Buy now,pay later: American military intervention and the strategic cost paradox

This paper explores the notion that US efforts to evade the political costs of war paradoxically contribute to the subsequent exacerbation of costs over time. Leaders seek to purchase political capital in the short term by limiting the costs and requirements of military operations, but in doing so cause strategic and political liabilities to mount in the long run. While identification of such behaviour is not new, insufficient attention has been devoted to explaining its causes, dynamics, and manifestations in relation to key decisions on and in war. Evidence derived from studies of recent American discretionary campaigns is analysed to advance an argument with respect to this pattern of self-defeating strategic behaviour.     

National restrictions in multinational military operations: A conceptual framework

Recent scholarship in security studies has started to explore the causes and consequences of various forms of national restrictions in multinational military operations (MMOs). This article makes a conceptual contribution to this literature by developing a theoretical framework of national restrictions in MMOs that distinguishes between structural, procedural, and operational restrictions. I argue that these types of restrictions are governed by different causal mechanisms. Structural restrictions are relatively stable over time and effect deployment decisions irrespective of other factors. Procedural restrictions, on the other hand, can constitute veto points against deployment only in combination with distinct political preferences. Finally, operational restrictions directly affect the rules of engagement of troop contributing countries. The article illustrates the three types of restrictions and their interaction with empirical examples from a range of countries and sketches their impact on MMO deployment decisions and mandates.     

On the roles of free play in army exercises and the Russians

The article outlines the essential role of free play elements in various types of exercises for the development of in-depth and practical military professionalism. It thereafter argues why such use of free play contradicts the military science founded Russian Way of War.