Russian war correspondent Arkady Babchenko presents these amazing images of the war in Ossetia as he travels with Russian soldiers to Gori (hat tip Coming Anarchy). Warning: the photographs on the linked site contain many graphic images of corpses. The photographer did not get too close to the actual fighting, but he got close enough.

4GW, Catastrophes, Europe, Failed states, Firearms, Photos, World | No Comments »

Or should that be “fragmegration”, James Rosenau’s coinage which links fragmentation with the inevitable integration that comes with globalization? Passport reports the latest on Belgium’s political crisis, which threatens to split the bicultural state. Miss Belgium, a Czech immigrant, sparked anger when it was revealed that she could not speak Dutch. Bolivia (Passport again) is [...]

4GW, Americas, Europe, Failed states, New Zealand | No Comments »

Originally posted October 2, 2006. Reprised due to recent events, November 14 2007. When I first posted this essay on the potential for civil conflict in New Zealand’s future – which was picked up by The Free Radical magazine – I had no idea that even as I wrote, a group of “activists” at a [...]

Failed states, New Zealand, Politics, Terrorism | 14 Comments »

I don’t have time to do a full analysis of the situation in Burma, but other people can do it better anyway. So for a late contribution to International Blogger’s Day of Action for Burma I will link to the best information and analysis I have found: General Wikipedia has all the latest news with [...]

Catastrophes, East Asia, Failed states, Mercenaries, World | 7 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 »

This was my first guest post at Coming Anarchy, for the new Oceania Day series. Hopefully this marks the start /#comment-376197of a fruitful collaboration between me, the Strategist, Younghusband, Curzon and Chirol. Cheers guys! The Strategist posted last week on conflict in Melanesia, a region within Oceania alongside Micronesia and Polynesia. To keep this series [...]

Culture, Development, Failed states, New Zealand, Pacific, World | 2 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 »