Small Wars Journal
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    -- David Kilcullen
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"Small wars are operations undertaken under executive authority, wherein military force is combined with diplomatic pressure in the internal or external affairs of another state whose government is unstable, inadequate, or unsatisfactory for the preservation of life and of such interests as are determined by the foreign policy of our Nation."

-- Small Wars Manual, 1940

Small Wars Journal publishes original works from authentic voices across the spectrum of stakeholders in small wars. We also link you to relevant goings on elsewhere.  Login with your SWJ Username to comment, or Register, it's free. You can start your own threads in the Small Wars Council discussion board, but note that the board requires a separate Council Username. Follow SWJ on Twitter @smallwars.

Journal

by Richard McManamon | Sun, 12/13/2020 - 9:34pm | 0 comments
Since taking office, President Trump has challenged the global order with his “America First” approach. He has questioned the role of the US and its Allies within NATO, exited the Paris Climate Accord, and entered into a trade battle with China. At the same time, the Trump administration has positioned both Russia and China as strategic rivals to the US and the new rise to great power competition. In the last decade, the US has witnessed aggressive actions by both countries in an effort to carve out new spheres of influence.
by Kaman Lykins | Sun, 12/13/2020 - 9:15pm | 0 comments
War is one of the oldest and most terrible of human endeavors and Large Scale Combat Operations (LSCO) is war at its conventional zenith. Of course, most would agree that reducing the effects of war to a simple calculus of blood and treasure is crass and callous. Yet these two cursory measurements can shed light upon the sheer devastation war can, and has repeatedly, wrought.
by Jonathan F. Lancelot | Sun, 12/13/2020 - 9:07pm | 0 comments
On November 10th, 2020, the Secretary-General of the United Nations reported, "massacres by non-state armed groups in several villages in northern Mozambique's Cabo Delgado province including the reported beheading and kidnapping of women and children" (United Nations). The news of these crimes against humanity broadcasted worldwide via the internet. The ability of information on crimes like these to potentially end up in front of hundreds of thousands if not millions of human beings is a glimpse of a future where humanity can quickly react to and mitigate a slaughter.
by Alex Plotkin | Sun, 12/13/2020 - 8:45pm | 0 comments
This is one of the books every new Special Operations soldier should read when they start their journey into the world of Unconventional Warfare. Gene Sharp could have titled this book the “Doctrine of (Nonviolent) Unconventional Warfare” to Free the Oppressed, or Create Order from Chaos, or even to Persuade, Change, or Influence (the three mottos of the US Army’s Special Operations Branches).
by Benjamin Arbitter | Sun, 12/13/2020 - 8:38pm | 0 comments
In the early 1990s, interviews with former Soviet pilots and access to Soviet archives revealed that “Soviet pilots covertly participated in air-to-air combat with American pilots during the Korean War for two years.” Subsequently and arguably more surprisingly, declassified U.S. intelligence documents revealed that U.S. officials not only knew of this intervention but actively sought to keep the Soviet intervention secret.
by Alma Keshavarz, by Robert Bunker | Fri, 12/11/2020 - 3:59pm | 1 comment
This note looks at developments in Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) capabilities. In this initial note, a new naval carrier, new drones, helicopters, and speed boats. This series will look at IRGC strategic, operational, and tactical developments.
by Robert Bunker, by John P. Sullivan, by Alma Keshavarz | Fri, 12/11/2020 - 3:00pm | 0 comments
The ongoing Cártel Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG) offensive into Michoacán has been met by the creation of defensive trenches dug across multiple state highways/roads in mid-November 2020.  These anti-improvised armored fighting vehicle (IAFV) trenches were created by Los Viagras, Carteles Unidos, and/or local community self-defense groups (autodefensas) in an apparent co-ordinated effort to obstruct CJNG commando unit—consisting of IAFVs, monstruos (monster trucks), narcotanques (narco-tanks), and soft-skinned vehicles and gun trucks with mounted infantry elements—access to towns under their control.
by Justin Baumann | Wed, 12/09/2020 - 9:16pm | 1 comment
This article details the advantages the US military can gain by developing an experimental joint airborne division for use in current or future hybrid conflicts while simultaneously countering emerging proxy threats during Great Power Competition. It highlights the current capability gap in our airborne formations between conventional and irregular airborne units and provides a plan to address this issue with the creation of an experimental joint airborne division led by the Army and staffed by additional joint personnel.
by Mahmut Cengiz | Wed, 12/09/2020 - 9:03pm | 3 comments
The Arab world had hoped to see more democratic regimes when the Arab Spring struck many authoritarian regimes in the Middle East. Arab countries witnessed a series of anti-government protests, uprisings, and armed rebellions in the early 2010s. Responding to oppressive regimes and a low standard of living, Tunisians were on the streets to protest government corruption. The unrest spread to Libya, Egypt, Bahrain, Yemen, and Syria. Protesters were successful in overthrowing long-serving authoritarian regimes in Tunisia, Libya, Yemen, and Egypt.
by Patricia H. Escamilla-Hamm | Tue, 12/08/2020 - 11:00pm | 0 comments
After months of political debate, the Guardia Nacional (National Guard) proposed by Mexicos new President Andrés Manuel López Obrador was formalized on 27 May 2019.[ ] However, it remains a source of heated controversy. Some critics claim that it was unnecessary since Mexico already had a Policia Federal (Federal Police - PF). Human rights advocates and some security specialists argue that its military traits exacerbate the risk of abusive use of force and the militarization that prevailed during the Felipe Calderón (2006-2012) and Enrique Peña (2012-2018) Administrations. The purpose of this essay is to examine why a new law enforcement institution was created and designed as a civilian-military institution.

Blog Posts

by Dave Maxwell | Sun, 12/13/2020 - 10:56am | 0 comments
A roundup of the day's news.
by Dave Maxwell | Sun, 12/13/2020 - 10:45am | 0 comments
A roundup of the day's news.
by Dave Maxwell | Fri, 12/11/2020 - 11:30am | 0 comments
A roundup of the day's news.
by Dave Maxwell | Fri, 12/11/2020 - 10:40am | 0 comments
A roundup of the day's news.
by SWJ Editors | Wed, 12/09/2020 - 10:13pm | 1 comment

This piece is available in full at USIP.org.

Full Article: https://www.usip.org/publications/2020/11/ethiopias-problems-will-not-end-military-victory

By Aly Verjee

by Dave Maxwell | Tue, 12/08/2020 - 1:12pm | 0 comments
A roundup of the day's news.
by Dave Maxwell | Tue, 12/08/2020 - 11:44am | 1 comment
A roundup of the day's news.
by SWJ Editors | Mon, 12/07/2020 - 7:59pm | 1 comment

This piece published in full at USIP.org.

Full Article: https://www.usip.org/publications/2020/12/mozambiques-crisis-requires-new-playbook-fight-extremism

By Leanne Erdberg Steadman; Bethany L. McGann; Colin Thomas-Jensen

by SWJ Editors | Mon, 12/07/2020 - 3:44pm | 0 comments
Small Wars Journal is pleased to announce the release of Mexican Drug Violence: Hybrid Warfare, Predatory Capitalism and the Logic of Cruelty. This new Small Wars Journal–El Centro book by Dr. Teun A. Voeten examines the violence in Mexico’s drug war.
by Dave Maxwell | Mon, 12/07/2020 - 1:25pm | 0 comments
A roundup of the day's news.
by Dave Maxwell | Mon, 12/07/2020 - 9:24am | 0 comments
A roundup of the day's news.
by Dave Maxwell | Sun, 12/06/2020 - 12:54pm | 0 comments
A roundup of the day's news.
by Dave Maxwell | Sun, 12/06/2020 - 12:37pm | 0 comments
A roundup of the day's news
by Dave Maxwell | Sat, 12/05/2020 - 2:27pm | 0 comments
A roundup of security
by Dave Maxwell | Sat, 12/05/2020 - 2:10pm | 0 comments
A roundup of the day's news