This incident has the potential to raise the stakes in the contest between the CJNG and the Mexican state following what is essentially tantamount to a CJNG declaration of war.
Journal
Journal Articles are typically longer works with more more analysis than the news and short commentary in the SWJ Blog.
We accept contributed content from serious voices across the small wars community, then publish it here as quickly as we can, per our Editorial Policy, to help fuel timely, thoughtful, and unvarnished discussion of the diverse and complex issues inherent in small wars.
Edited by Richard Kolb, this book is the VFWs’ contribution to the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War.
The “Grozny model” promises security and prosperity to the loyal Syrian enclaves, if they accept the distinct features of “Chechenization”.
Voices of resentment and marginalization are loud and clear, the participants seem determined to have their voices heard. Can this protest prove be an eye-opener for the Pakistani elite?
While western hostages around the world easily make headlines, the local prisoners in conflicts are less reported on and even less often identified.
Africa matters because an unstable Africa is not in the world’s best interest. To keep Africa stable will require a long-term international effort.
America lacks both serious consideration about the ends America seeks in deploying its sons and daughters across the globe and the way it is achieving our stated ends.
This article is a continuation of the research published in the author's previous paper, ‘United Nations Peacekeeping Offensive Operations: Theory and Doctrine’.
There are many competing factors involved in this crisis which could create challenges to regional security should diplomatic tools fail to solve their differences.
Top Threat to Business, National Security and the American Dream: Detailing the New Global Competitive Model Based on Cyber and Asymmetrical Hybrid Warfare
Military planning can incorporate gender related factors to promote peacebuilding and mitigate the effects of conflict and can be applied to ongoing operations or in post-conflict situations.
This essay provides the perspective of a Foreign Service Officer who was involved in Vietnam in several capacities, including Civil Operations and Revolutionary Development Support.
The problem can be summarized as follows: allied troops are better trained and equipped, while local forces enjoy a greater familiarity with the terrain, including above all the population.
War, of any kind, is the ultimate failure of mankind. Yet, in the course of human endeavors, we have found another way in which to wage global war.
Our leaders do not seem to understand insurgencies. Most of our approaches are ineffective, if not counterproductive. Too many lives have been lost due to ignorance and carelessness.
From wine swilling Greek hoplites to tweaked out NAZI’s on speed, drugs and alcohol have been the most essential psychological weapons in the history of human warfare.
The Marines had the fastest rifles in the village of Binh Nghia. It wasn't long until the second fastest belonged to their comrades-in-arms, the Popular Forces.
Washington ought to study the re-emergence of Russian “active measures” less as a manifestation of newfound strength, more as a long-fostered sense vulnerability on full display.
The policy of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) has facilitated political warfare, against the United States, by foreign interests.
The “Bamarization” and militarization of the Burmese government gave rise to a proliferation of insurgent ethnic armed organizations and continuous conflicts.
The constraints and weaknesses imposed on China by the conscription policy likely restricts China’s options in the event of a crisis.
The Casemate Short History series. "Guerrilla Warfare: Kings of Revolution" is a compendium of prominent guerilla leaders including George Washington, Simon Bolivar, Mao Zedong and King Ibn Saud.
There is a fleeting opportunity to build upon the stability created by a defeated ISIS, stable Iraq, recovering Syria, strengthened ties with Lebanon and Jordan, and cooperative regional partners.
This paper argues that fast-moving trends across the DIME spheres are rapidly changing all aspects of society and human life, including the very character of warfare.
Although hacking has been part of espionage since at least 1989 nation-state sponsored attacks have grown dramatically throughout the past decade.
The social contract has been breached in many Mexican states. Instead of rule of law, impunity reigns. Crimes go unreported, uninvestigated, and unpunished.
Due to political volatility, economic uncertainty, and social norms, the Republic of Yemen's current supply of fresh water is not sustainable.
Third Generation Gangs Strategic Note No. 9: Concerns About Potential Gang (PCC-Primeiro Comando da Capital & CV-Comando Vermelho) Influence on Upcoming Brazilian Elections
What we fail to understand is that it is the mode of conveyance, its ubiquity and simultaneity, that legitimates the extremism ideology and community.
The nature of narcotics trafficking in North Africa and the Sahel has changed in recent years in significant ways.
An understanding of society is integral to the human enterprise of armed conflict. This is why the US military has synthesized its tactics with social science research in post-9/11 operations.
A national catastrophe embroiling Yemen’s neighbors and a microcosm of the problems existing throughout the greater Middle East.
The Case of Rio de Janeiro: Context, Confrontation Issues and Implications for Brazilian Public Security.
Are we witnessing a time when the US is regretting bringing the Baltics into the transatlantic community?
Culture analysis may be the key that wins wars, not just terminate fighting. This analysis is complex, time consuming, and often not conducted.
What is a protest by the Iranian people against the oppressive fundamentalist regime, has a much more diversified group of world actors.
The recent acclaimed Burns-Novik documentary on Vietnam is great cinematic art but poor history. Unfortunately, it will be generally judged as THE history.
Third Generation Gangs Strategic Note No. 8: Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) Links to Occult Rituals and Santa Muerte Veneration or Worship
An intimate insight into the operating environment of the Army’s largest commissioning source.
The decision by the Navy to place these men on trial will open a Pandora’s Box of the law of unintended consequences. History indicates the outcome will be virtually all bad.
With new aircraft, at-home training, maintenance practices, and a new generation of eager pilots and aircrew, it will be possible to begin to turn the tide at all levels of the Afghan war.
Common sense and cool heads are required to bring the current new Cold War atmosphere back into a safer zone of dialogue and engagement.
The purpose of this short review is to present a different concept of deception - that it should be viewed as a pervasive and elemental force in operations.
The purpose of this essay is to generate discussion regarding a new way to incorporate near-peer Electronic Warfare threats into the operations planning process.
Ken Burns and Lynn Novick’s epic, 18-hour television series on the war in Vietnam left me feeling the same way that the war did: sad, depressed, disillusioned, and ready for it to end.
The evolving power of cryptocurrency, the threat behaviors enabled by the technology, and some ways to counter threat activity while preserving the possibilities for healthy innovation.
Organizational survival is an intrinsic goal of ISIS and thus as the caliphate shrinks, the group will seek to intensify its operations in other portions of the globe to remain relevant.
This essay examines the military campaign plan designed to destroy the Islamic State caliphate through the lens of the Clausewitz’s center of gravity.
ISAF may provide a new model of counterinsurgency – de facto multilateral – based on classical doctrines and tenets, yet organizationally and operationally different.
The U.S. military needs to maintain a global presence; dominate locally; be able to sustain stability operations; and be able to concentrate forces to meet more robust threats.