Despite the 2007 shooting in Nisour Square and other similarly tragic incidents, private military contractors (PMCs) continue to operate in a largely unregulated and unaccountable fashion. Michael Alter discusses the history of “security contracting” and examines the growth of the PMC industry.
The scene on the ground in Libya today is one that few intended when they first took up arms against the Gaddafi regime in 2011. What went wrong?
Earlier this week, the small nation of Tunisia held its first round of democratic elections under its new constitution. Michael Alter recounts Tunisia’s transition from dictatorship to constitutional democracy, and argues that the future is bright.
Even as American forces seek to wind down the mission in Afghanistan, a renewed campaign in Iraq grows in intensity. With Iraq returning to civil war, Chris Newton contemplates whether Afghanistan, after 13 years of foreign intervention, will meet the same fate.
This Wednesday, four former Blackwater agents were sentenced for various counts of voluntary and attempted manslaughter with a count of murder for their role in the 2007 shootings in Baghdad that killed 17 Iraqis and wounded nearly 20 others. According to Kwame Newton, private military contractors should be subject to the same legal standards as American troops.
Noah Tulsky considers the unique structure of the Israeli government, using a theoretical stature formed of Barak and Owen’s essays on the subject to duscuss the interplay of civic and military bodies in governmental functions.
Empowering the Kurds to export their own oil could slow their preparations for independence without compromising the fight against ISIL.
Without a new or revised AUMF, the US government will continue to use an outdated congressional authorization to justify new military operations in the Middle East.
Continue reading Authorizing America’s Next War in the Middle East
If Afghan farmers are to have a chance of escaping the Taliban-controlled informal economy, the U.S. and its NATO allies must incorporate them into a legitimate supply chain.
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