Nothing fails like success: The London Ambassadors’ Conference and the coming of the First World War

During the July Crisis Britain’s foreign secretary, Sir Edward Grey, focused on organising a conference through which differences could be reconciled. After the war, he maintained that Germany’s unwillingness to join this conference was one of the immediate causes of war. This essay disputes Grey’s contention, arguing that his plans for a conference, based on a misleading analogy to the previous Balkan Crises, actually helped facilitate the outbreak of war in 1914 by sanctioning inaction in the first phase of the crisis (28 June–22 July) and by tacitly encouraging Russian mobilisation in the second phase (23 July–4 August).     

Waging the inchoate war: Defining,fighting, and second-guessing the ‘Long War’

Abstract

This article answers three questions: What is the nature of the Long War? How is progress (or lack thereof) to be assessed? Where is it likely to go next? An appreciation of Clausewitz shows that practical centers of gravity exist for the Long War, and that the conflict pivots upon the ability to persuasively link ideology to events via a strategic narrative. A close examination of an illustrative case study, the interaction between the US and the late Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in Iraq 2004 – 2006, shows that Al Qaeda has suffered a severe setback, but also that the nature of the war is set to shift yet again. Further tangible progress for the US requires waging the Long War as a global counterinsurgency based on a strategy of ‘selective identification’ (versus pure ‘disaggregation’) as well as an understanding of how to more effectively craft a strategic narrative.     

‘Stay-Behind’ in France: Much ado about nothing?

Stay-behind networks in France were set up starting in 1948 and were aimed at responding to the possibility of a Soviet armed attack into Western Europe. Participants were identified, and arms and explosives cached, to be activated in case of hostilities. This activity became folded into a multilateral effort under the Allied Coordination Committee (ACC) of NATO. In France, the network was run as a highly compartmented activity under the French external intelligence service (DGSE). As the Soviet threat receded, the stay-behind activity became more and more dormant, and in 1990 it was quietly disbanded, immediately after the P-2 scandal broke in Italy.     

CIVIL SOCIETY AND VIOLENCE—HOW TO MANAGE IN THE TOWNSHIPS WITHOUT THE ARMY

This article discusses the validity of national security threats in Botswana and whether they justified the creation of the Directorate of Intelligence and Security Services (DISS), which has been controversial since its formation. Since its inception in 2008, the DISS has been accused of many human rights violations and politicisation. Without fully deliberating on the basis for its creation, some discourses have focused on the politicised operations without relation to what the DISS is supposed to be doing. The author works under the assumption that debates should be shaped by whether it was necessary to create the DISS, and, if so, how we can shape and steer debates on its oversight, management, reform and operations. This article argues that despite the politicisation of the DISS, Botswana's national security threats are both real and imagined; and that domestic threats to national security have moved from the conceptual ‘imagined’ category to the ‘real’. However, that in itself did not warrant the design and mandate of the DISS, and the article argues that it was external threats that really warranted the creation of a civilian intelligence agency. The article concludes that Botswana faces a plethora of external security threats – traditional and non-traditional – that warranted the creation and continuance of the DISS.     

含有p-Laplacian算子的非齐次边值问题正解的存在性

研究非齐次边界条件下,含有p-Laplacian算子的微分方程的可解性,在Banach空间中应用Krasnoselskii不动点定理,得到了边值问题正解存在性结果。     

半穿甲导弹性能的攻角效应数值分析

利用LS—DYNA软件分析弹体攻角和目标运动对穿甲过程中装药安定性、弹体剩余速度及弹头姿态的影响。在穿甲过程中,弹体速度为300m／s,攻角分别为0°,10°和20°,弹体和目标板选择了考虑应变、应变率和温度效应的Johnson—cook材料模型。结果表明：随攻角的增大,装药局部受力显著增大,弹体剩余速度下降,弹头发生偏转;目标运动使穿甲能力减弱,但目标运动会使装药受到的外力在一定程度上减少。     

岗位评价技术在公安边防部队干部量化考评中的应用初探

岗位评价是人力资源管理中的重点技术之一,是解决组织内岗位间相对公平性的重要工具。采用工作要素评分法,对边防检查站中层领导岗位进行了岗位评价实例操作,确定了岗位能级系数,推导出绩效考评综合评价计算公式,为岗位评价技术在边防部队干部量化考评中的应用提供了参考依据。     

部队国有资产管理问题与对策研究

近年来,随着国家和地方政府对部队经费投入的不断增长,部队国有资产在数量、质量以及结构上都有了很大的改善。如何建立健全部队国有资产的管理制度,保证部队国有资产的安全完整和有效使用,防止国有资产流失,是当前部队资产管理和使用人员必须思考的现实问题。     

和谐警民关系构建过程中的不良因素规避

构建和谐警民关系在当前公安工作中具有全局性意义。在和谐社会建设正成为时代精神精华的背景下,和谐警民关系的构建不仅具有历史逻辑的可能性,而且具有改善社会关系、化解各种矛盾、维护社会公平正义、全面促进社会和谐的根本意义和现实需求。面对队伍建设的新情况、新局面,和谐警民关系的构建应立足现状,分析局面,寻求对策,以利公安工作和队伍建设再上新台阶。     

谈消防特勤队伍的建设与训练

通过系统地论述消防特勤队伍在队伍建设与训练中存在的不足以及应对措施,从而提高专业队伍的抢险救援能力。