Bush path to self-destruction: Charles Taylor and the Revolutionary United Front

This article explains the demise of Sierra Leone's Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebellion. It argues that the main cause of this fate was the group's relationship with its primary sponsor, Charles Taylor. The RUF's dependency on Taylor's patronage, coupled with the rebellion's weak organisational endowments harmed the group's prospects of success. Based on original research, the article shows how Taylor used the RUF as a strategic instrument for his own regional interests, which led to the group's unravelling. More broadly, the article speaks about proxy warfare in Africa and how the relationship between resource flows and rebellion are not always beneficial to rebels as one might expect.     

Boko Haram’s increasingly sophisticated military threat

ABSTRACT

This paper evaluates Boko Haram’s military capabilities and details the process of how its standing army, driven by these capabilities, came to pose a phased threat between 2013 and 2015 in particular. This was a period when military fighting dominated the insurgency in north-east Nigeria. Whereas there is an abundance of literature on Boko Haram’s histories and the impact of its insurgency on north-east Nigeria, analysis of Boko Haram’s military campaigning is still deficient. Attempting to fill this gap, this paper uses field findings and battlefield case studies from north-east Nigeria to highlight how Boko Haram’s overt front – its standing army – came to supplant its guerrilla operations as the main security threat to the frontier area.

This pivot towards military fighting, for a group initially composed of a few ragtag combatants, on the surface might seem surprising. Yet, whereas Boko Haram may lack the popular support required for ‘people’s war’, classic insurgency theories nevertheless hold some explanatory power for this deliberate shift: away from guerrilla warfare as the expedient of the weaker side, and towards the use of a large standing army of locals to swarm, and sometimes successfully overrun, state forces.     

关于信息化作战装备保障的思考

提出并分析了信息化作战装备保障的概念、标志及主要特征。其中主要特征为:能力要求是基于信息系统的一体化综合保障能力;力量体系是基于保障单元的多功能集成体系;保障方式是基于智能化保障手段的精确保障;保障方法是基于信息化作战行动的多样化保障。指出信息化作战保障的实现,需要智能化的保障手段提供技术基础,知识化的保障队伍提供智力基础,配套完善的机制提供制度基础,一体化保障环境提供外部条件;提出了建设信息化作战装备保障的方法途径。     

面向未来作战需求的装备保障训练问题研究

未来作战对新时期装备保障训练提出了新要求。以信息化战争为参照系,探讨了适应未来作战需要的装备保障训练思路、内容体系、方式方法、效果评估、训练保障等关键环节问题,为促进装备保障训练发展提供理论支持,增强装备保障训练工作实践的有效性和针对性。     

"千年挑战2002"启示

介绍了美军刚刚结束的规模最大的一次联合作战演习“千年挑战 2 0 0 2”的概况和仿真能力 ,分析了其特点 ,最后给出了作者的一些思考。     

基于作战仿真的指令分析研究

分析研究的主要内容是基于作战仿真的各种指挥指令,比较了实际军用文书与仿真指令之间存在的异同,分析了作战仿真系统中指令的类型以及内容结构,列举典型真实军事命令语言,进行便于仿真系统使用的格式化,重点论述实际军事命令等文书在作战仿真系统中如何被准确、高效地识别与运用,提出了两个适用于作战仿真系统的指令格式——基本指令格式和拓展指令格式,并归纳出指令格式的回字架构,为仿真指令在仿真系统中的应用提供支撑。     

Putin's Wars: The Rise of Russia's New Imperialism

ABSTRACT

This article discusses the Rhodesian Front regime propaganda warfare strategy during Zimbabwe’s war of liberation. It uses the case of the Chilonga area of Chiredzi located in the south-east of Zimbabwe to demonstrate that propaganda warfare was introduced as a measure to counter guerrilla infiltration and civilian cooperation with them. Drawing on ideas of military anthropology vis-à-vis the importance of cultural awareness in counterinsurgency, the paper argues that the efforts of the Rhodesian Front regime to use propaganda were fruitless. This is because they mostly ignored the culture of the Shangani, local people. Despite that, there were other reasons for the failure of the Rhodesian Front’s propaganda strategy, including the lack of conformity between politics and military action.     

基于复杂网络的作战网络分析

分布式网络化作战是网络中心战的基础,而分布式作战网络的构建是网络化作战的重要前提。首先,运用复杂网络的相关参数分析了多种不同的网络,选择了BA非标度网络作为分布式作战网络的最优表现形式;其次,以BA非标度网络为基础提出了一个适合军事上动态鲁棒性分析的模型DCNCE;最后,仿真结果表明,在以网络效能值为测度的对比下,分布式作战网络在介数毁伤策略下更脆弱,为构建并改进现有的作战网络提供了理论依据。     

MEASURING UN SECURITY COUNCIL ACTION AND INACTION IN THE 1990S

Although Africa is host to the vast majority (and the most deadly) of conflicts in the world, it would appear that there is a distinct lack of genuine interest in African affairs shown by the UN Security Council and its key members. This paper proposes a 10-level scale of response system to measure the seriousness of the Council in dealing with conflicts. By comparing the Council response with the size and severity of each individual conflict, the scale attempts to assess the Council performance in the fulfilment of its duty to restore international peace and security. The results show that Africa has been (and remains) marginalized in the Council work.     

连续信息空间中的信息泄漏问题研究

在联邦式作战仿真平台中,互相通信的主体在进行通信的同时还需要保护其私有的信息。讨论了基于线性方程组“无穷解”条件下的连续信息空间的信息泄漏和保护问题,包括该模型的基本特性和防止泄漏的方法,指出了存在信息的部分泄漏问题,并给出了检测部分泄漏的方法,为提高计算性能,可指定检测子空间,最后,讨论了信息动态改变对信息泄漏的影响。