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Archives
Category Archives: militaries
Publication: The Roads to Power: The Infrastructure of Counterinsurgency
It has been years since I posted here, but I am going to quickly provide some links to various publications related to the project here. The first is an article that conjugates my research on transport infrastructures with my counterinsurgency … Continue reading
Logistic Routes and the Détente
Reading an interesting article on the alignment of USSE with Siad Barré’s regime in Somalia from 1969 onwards and it has some interesting tidbits having to do with military logistics and transport. The article by Gary Payton is standard Cold … Continue reading
Posted in logistics, Middle East, militaries, Uncategorized, war
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Playing with trains in the sand: reflections on the MENA Cargo show
GUEST POST BY R.Z. Having spent the last couple of years researching Private Military and Security Companies (PMSCs), attending their industry gatherings and military expos, I was very excited to shift gears to a new project and curious what differences … Continue reading
About Today: Steaming the security seas
10 February 2015 Everything anticipated our entry into what I can only call security seas. There are ships that do not send signals: they turn out to be warships of a sort, small, compact, going only at 7 knots with … Continue reading
Posted in empire, imperialism & colonialism, militaries, piracy, seafaring, transport, Travels, war
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Shim El-Yasmine: Suez Canal
8 February 2015 “the great current of human inclination is to enjoyment.” Karl Marx, Capital Vol. II I want to be more jaded. After all, my nautical venture is an all-expenses-paid research trip – the best of both worlds: doing … Continue reading
Posted in Allan Sekula, Middle East, militaries, readings, transport, Travels
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Une Année Sans Lumiere: Encounters before Suez Canal
7 February 2015 15.00 Last night I was invited by the Filipino crew members to one of the crew members’ birthday party. He is an engine -fitter and he will be turning 40 tomorrow. The crew recreation room unsurprisingly had … Continue reading
Posted in labour, Middle East, militaries, the sea, Travels
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Peace Frog: Conquest by infrastructure
6 February 2015 I have to admit that I prefer Braudel’s longue durée over his histoire événtmentielle: Perhaps his influence runs through all the great historical accounts written since 1949, where explanations and theoretical framings are comfortably married to historiographic … Continue reading
Posted in infrastructure, logistics, militaries, readings, war
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Areia de Salamanca: The Razzia in the 16th century
5 February 2015 I borrowed Braudel’s discussion of the presidios on the North African coast yesterday to reflect on logistics… But as I read on, there was also the counterinsurgency element against the colonials (about which Braudel seems remarkably sanguine; … Continue reading
Posted in empire, imperialism & colonialism, militaries, ports, readings, the sea, war
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On Battleship Hill
Marsaxlokk-Jabal Ali; On Military Logistics in the Age of Philip II 4 February 2015 What becomes clear in reading Braudel’s vol II about war-making is the extent to which your martial power really depends on your economic ability to supply … Continue reading
Posted in militaries, political economy, readings, war
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The Logistics of War
The indispensable National Security Archives has released a memo by Rumsfeld (dated 6 October 2001) that has loads on the logistics of war. The memo covers Rumsfeld’s visit to Saudi Arabia, Oman, Egypt and Central Asia, in preparation for the invasion … Continue reading
Posted in empire, imperialism & colonialism, logistics, Middle East, militaries, war
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