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America’s Mercenaries: War By Proxy

Author : Major Kevin G. Collins

Publisher : Pickle Partners Publishing

Page : 102 pages

File Size : 14,11 MB

Release : 2014-08-15

Category : History

ISBN : 1782896112

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Book Description

Although the government’s reliance on contractors to support military forces is not a new phenomenon, the degree to which contractors are involved in Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom (OIF) has increased substantially. In OIF in particular, contractors perform a wide range of services in support of stabilization and reconstruction efforts. Perhaps the most controversial and arguably the most troublesome of these contractors are those that are armed and use violence in the course of fulfilling their contractual obligations. This thesis explores whether or not such contractors, herein identified as private security providers (PSPs), have a destabilizing influence on United States political and military objectives. In doing so, the thesis identifies and evaluates the legal environment in which PSPs operate the intersection between PSP activities and critical requirements and vulnerabilities of coalition forces and PSP involvement within logical lines of operation within Iraq. In concluding, the author posits that PSPs have a destabilizing impact on not only the political and military mission, but the United States military as well. Finally, the author provides recommendations for employing PSPs in the present and future conflicts.



America's Mercenaries

Author : Kevin G Collins

Publisher : War College Series

Page : 98 pages

File Size : 13,10 MB

Release : 2015-02-23

Category :

ISBN : 9781297474194

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Book Description

This is a curated and comprehensive collection of the most important works covering matters related to national security, diplomacy, defense, war, strategy, and tactics. The collection spans centuries of thought and experience, and includes the latest analysis of international threats, both conventional and asymmetric. It also includes riveting first person accounts of historic battles and wars.Some of the books in this Series are reproductions of historical works preserved by some of the leading libraries in the world. As with any reproduction of a historical artifact, some of these books contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. We believe these books are essential to this collection and the study of war, and have therefore brought them back into print, despite these imperfections.We hope you enjoy the unmatched breadth and depth of this collection, from the historical to the just-published works.



America's Mercenaries

Author :

Publisher :

Page : 85 pages

File Size : 47,33 MB

Release : 2006

Category : Government contractors

ISBN :

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Book Description

Although the government's reliance on contractors to support military forces is not a new phenomenon, the degree to which contractors are involved in Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom (OIF) has increased substantially. In OIF in particular, contractors perform a wide range of services in support of stabilization and reconstruction efforts. Perhaps the most controversial and arguably the most troublesome of these contractors are those that are armed and use violence in the course of fulfilling their contractual obligations. This thesis explores whether or not such contractors, herein identified as private security providers (PSPs), have a destabilizing influence on United States political and military objectives. In doing so, the thesis identifies and evaluates the legal environment in which PSPs operate the intersection between PSP activities and critical requirements and vulnerabilities of coalition forces and PSP involvement within logical lines of operation within Iraq. In concluding, the author posits that PSPs have a destabilizing impact on not only the political and military mission, but the United States military as well. Finally, the author provides recommendations for employing PSPs in the present and future conflicts.



Cyber Mercenaries

Author : Tim Maurer

Publisher : Cambridge University Press

Page : 267 pages

File Size : 48,58 MB

Release : 2018-01-18

Category : Law

ISBN : 1108580262

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Book Description

Cyber Mercenaries explores the secretive relationships between states and hackers. As cyberspace has emerged as the new frontier for geopolitics, states have become entrepreneurial in their sponsorship, deployment, and exploitation of hackers as proxies to project power. Such modern-day mercenaries and privateers can impose significant harm undermining global security, stability, and human rights. These state-hacker relationships therefore raise important questions about the control, authority, and use of offensive cyber capabilities. While different countries pursue different models for their proxy relationships, they face the common challenge of balancing the benefits of these relationships with their costs and the potential risks of escalation. This book examines case studies in the United States, Iran, Syria, Russia, and China for the purpose of establishing a framework to better understand and manage the impact and risks of cyber proxies on global politics.



Mercenaries and War

Author : National Defense University Press

Publisher :

Page : 56 pages

File Size : 27,46 MB

Release : 2019-12-18

Category : Mercenary troops

ISBN : 9781678665234

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Book Description

Mercenaries are more powerful than experts realize, a grave oversight. Those who assume they are cheap imitations of national armed forces invite disaster because for-profit warriors are a wholly different genus and species of fighter. Private military companies such as the Wagner Group are more like heavily armed multinational corporations than the Marine Corps. Their employees are recruited from different countries, and profitability is everything. Patriotism is unimportant, and sometimes a liability. Unsurprisingly, mercenaries do not fight conventionally, and traditional war strategies used against them may backfire.



Making Sense of Proxy Wars

Author : Michael A. Innes

Publisher : Potomac Books, Inc.

Page : 217 pages

File Size : 40,21 MB

Release : 2012-05-01

Category : Political Science

ISBN : 1597972304

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Book Description

Public debate over surrogate forces and proxy warfare has been largely dormant since the end of the Cold War. The conventional wisdom has been that with the end of the U.S.- Soviet rivalry, state sources of support for proxy guerrilla, insurgent, and terrorist organizations dried up, forcing them to look to criminal activity to survive and precipitating the growth of dangerously independent and well-resourced militants, mercenaries, and warlords. But in the few years since 2001, a wide range of issues raised to prominence by wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere suggest that armed proxies, and the forces that drive and shape their use, are part of a larger dynamic. From the legacies of the wars in the Balkans, Afghanistan, and Kashmir, to the growth of privatized security and military companies, and to increased reliance on intermediaries of all kinds, these surrogate forces bear further study. Making Sense of Proxy Wars is the first book to seriously challenge Cold War assumptions about terrorism and proxy warfare, offering an alternative view of armed surrogates—whether they are private armies, indigenous militias, or unwilling victims—as complex, selfinterested actors on the international stage.



Proxy Warfare

Author : Andrew Mumford

Publisher : John Wiley & Sons

Page : 151 pages

File Size : 18,61 MB

Release : 2013-07-10

Category : Political Science

ISBN : 074567092X

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Book Description

Proxy wars represent a perennial strand in the history of conflict. The appeal of ‘warfare on the cheap’ has proved an irresistible strategic allure for nations through the centuries. However, proxy wars remain a missing link in contemporary war and security studies. In this timely book Andrew Mumford sheds new light on the dynamics and lineage of proxy warfare from the Cold War to the War on Terror, whilst developing a cogent conceptual framework to explain their appeal. Tracing the political and strategic development of proxy wars throughout the last century, they emerge as a dominant characteristic of contemporary conflict. The book ably shows how proxy interventions often prolong existing conflicts given the perpetuity of arms, money and sometimes proxy fighters sponsored by third party donors. Furthermore, it emphasizes why, given the direction of the War on Terror, the rise of China as a global power, and the prominence now achieved by non-state actors in the ‘Arab Spring’, the phenomenon of proxy warfare is increasingly relevant to understandings of contemporary security. Proxy Warfare is an indispensable guide for students and scholars interested in the evolution and potential future direction of war and conflict in the modern world.





My Enemy's Enemy

Author : Geraint Hughes

Publisher : Apollo Books

Page : 254 pages

File Size : 49,95 MB

Release : 2012

Category : History

ISBN : 9781845194499

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Book Description

The topic of proxy war is currently subject to intense debate with reference to US, British and Israeli accusations that Iran is sponsoring subversive and insurgent movements from Lebanon to Afghanistan; contemporary academic and media controversies over the effect of international assistance to the Afghan mujahidin in the subsequent destabilisation of the country; and the contentious circumstances surrounding the Russo-Georgian war of 2008, and the 'independence' of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. While there is no shortage of academic literature dealing with specific cases of proxy warfare, there is no work providing an overarching analysis of the factors which lead to this type of conflict, or the potential consequences for the states concerned, the non-state proxies and their external patrons. Using examples from post-1945 history, and focusing on three case studies (the Afghan war of 1978-1989, Lebanon 1975-1990, Angola 1975-1991), Geraint Hughes offers terminology intended to clarify scholarly understanding of proxy warfare, a framework for understanding why states seek to use proxies (insurgent groups, militias, terrorist movements, mercenaries, and even organised criminal groups) in order to fulfil strategic objectives, and an analysis of the potential impact of such an indirect means of waging war on not only the states that are subjected to this phenomenon, but also the proxies, their sponsors and the wider international community. My Enemy's Enemy has a historical focus, but will be of utility to contemporary security scholars, and those involved in political/military policy.



Surrogate Warfare

Author : Andreas Krieg

Publisher : Georgetown University Press

Page : 257 pages

File Size : 49,16 MB

Release : 2019-06-01

Category : Political Science

ISBN : 1626166781

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Book Description

Surrogate Warfare explores the emerging phenomenon of “surrogate warfare” in twenty-first century conflict. The popular notion of war is that it is fought en masse by the people of one side versus the other. But the reality today is that both state and non-state actors are increasingly looking to shift the burdens of war to surrogates. Surrogate warfare describes a patron's outsourcing of the strategic, operational, or tactical burdens of warfare, in whole or in part, to human and/or technological substitutes in order to minimize the costs of war. This phenomenon ranges from arming rebel groups, to the use of armed drones, to cyber propaganda. Krieg and Rickli bring old, related practices such as war by mercenary or proxy under this new overarching concept. Apart from analyzing the underlying sociopolitical drivers that trigger patrons to substitute or supplement military action, this book looks at the intrinsic trade-offs between substitutions and control that shapes the relationship between patron and surrogate. Surrogate Warfare will be essential reading for anyone studying contemporary conflict.