This article originally appeared in SOLO. On the 15th of October 2007, several hundred armed police officers executed search warrants around New Zealand. They cordoned off Ruatoki, a small Maori village south of Whakatane, seized a number of firearms, and arrested 17 people. The police claimed that the raids, carried out under post 9/11 anti-terror [...]

4GW, Black globalization, Infrastructure, New Zealand, Non-state actors, Police, Terrorism | 7 Comments »

Thomas X. Hammes speculates that a series of large explosions at major ports could effectively “end globalization”. My previous post, “Fourth-generation warfare expert to speak in Wellington on Monday”, generated some interest, and several people have asked me for a report. Well, I guess I did promise you, so here goes… As Shlok said, Hammes [...]

4GW, Black globalization, Catastrophes, Infrastructure, Resilience, Terrorism, Wellington | 9 Comments »

Originally posted on Coming Anarchy. If you would like to comment, please do so there. Lihir gold mine, Papua New Guinea A history of conflict As has been explored in previous Oceania Day posts, conflict in Oceania – particularly in Melanesia – is often related to resources. The prime example is Bougainville, where in 1989 [...]

4GW, Black globalization, Development, Energy, Failed states, Infrastructure, Mercenaries, Non-state actors, Pacific, Resilience | No Comments »

Originally posted on Coming Anarchy. If you would like to comment, please do so there. Home-grown street gangs are a growing threat to Oceania’s island states. In addition, criminal organizations from around the world have taken advantage of the economic vulnerability and weakness of the Pacific islands, using them as bases for money laundering, drug [...]

Black globalization, Failed states, Non-state actors, Pacific | No Comments »

Another guest post for Coming Anarchy. Please check their site if you wish to comment on this post. Thanks! Last week I wrote: But by the 1980s, it was clear that the region was no longer entirely peaceful… Democracy appeared to be weakening, and one academic warned of “Africanisation,” forecasting a dark future for Oceania. [...]

Africa, Black globalization, Culture, Development, Failed states, New Zealand, Pacific | No Comments »

The preface of Edward Luttwak’s classic work on how to overthrow a government reads as follows: AS THE EVENTS in France of May 1968 have shown yet again, insurrection, the classic vehicle of revolution, is obsolete. The security apparatus of the modern state, with its professional personnel, with its diversified means of transport and communications, [...]

4GW, Black globalization, Development, Failed states, Infrastructure, Non-state actors, Technology | 7 Comments »

FOR CENTURIES, the sovereign state has been the dominant form of political organization in the Western world. The most successful variant of the state was the nation-­state, which harnessed the power of nationalism and was eventually exported around the world. Today, there are more than 200 nation-­states. But, as I will argue, the nation­-state is [...]

4GW, Black globalization, Empire, Failed states, Mercenaries, Non-state actors, Politics, Resilience, Terrorism, World | 11 Comments »

PORT MORESBY: Riot police have been sent to a remote mountainous village in Papua New Guinea after a gun battle between police and members of a cult involved in human sacrifices, local media reported. The National newspaper said several people were killed and many injured in the fighting last week in the Finschhafen area of [...]

Black globalization, Culture, Development, Empire, Failed states, Non-state actors, Pacific, Religion | 3 Comments »

For this edition of Linkage I have a roundup of excellent posts from the smaller blogs in the World section of my blogroll, inspired by Hidden Unities’ “Simply The Best” and Strategist’s “Snapshots,” etc. First up is Eddie at Hidden Unities, with posts on child soldiers – Children at War Part I, Part II, and [...]

Africa, Black globalization, Failed states, Linkage, World | 4 Comments »

I believe that drugs should be legal. All drugs. Thats why I was extremely amused by the following drug-smuggling excuse story. It’s ridiculous, but then, drug laws which lock people up for victimless crimes are ridiculous too. An accused New Zealand drug smuggler says he brought ephedrine into Australia not to make illicit drugs but [...]

Black globalization, Police | 11 Comments »