Category Archives: militaries

On Battleship Hill

Posted on 19 February 2015 by Laleh Khalili

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 2015 Trip, militaries, political economy, readings, war | Leave a comment

The Logistics of War

Posted on 7 January 2015 by Laleh Khalili

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 | Leave a comment

Dangers of crewing an oil tanker

Posted on 5 January 2015 by Laleh Khalili

Associated Press reports that jets belonging to the Libyan government bombed a Greek-owned tanker, killing two crew members: A military spokesman for Libya’s internationally recognised government says its fighter jets bombed a Greek-owned tanker ship because it had no prior … Continue reading →

Posted in Middle East, militaries, oil, political economy, transport, war | Leave a comment

From detention to logistics

Posted on 11 December 2014 by Laleh Khalili

As I wrote earlier, one of the most amazing sections of Deb Cowen’s amazing book is about how after its closure, Camp Bucca was transformed into Basra Logistics City.  Today, yet another article has come out about how Camp Bucca … Continue reading →

Posted in logistics, Middle East, militaries, war | 1 Comment

From Tegart forts to shipping containers

Posted on 2 December 2014 by Laleh Khalili

Christian Science Monitor reports that the British are building watchtowers along the Lebanese-Syrian border: “A lonely fortified watchtower built from stacked metal shipping containers, topped by a bullet-proofed observation booth, and protected from shrapnel and assaults by 18-foot-high walls of … Continue reading →

Posted in construction, infrastructure, militaries, war | Leave a comment

Oil and logistics

Posted on 16 October 2014 by Laleh Khalili

Fascinating piece from Guernica magazine about how more and more ex-soldiers and military logistics firms are going into the oil business: This concentration of former service members owes partly to the fact that military training makes many uniquely suited for … Continue reading →

Posted in capital accumulation, infrastructure, logistics, militaries, oil, political economy, transport | Leave a comment

The Bloody Business of War

Posted on 30 September 2014 by Laleh Khalili

I discovered something interesting that somehow I had managed to miss all those years ago about the massacre at Karantina… Years ago, I wrote in my first book (which was based on my PhD research) which also included stories about … Continue reading →

Posted in capital accumulation, infrastructure, labour, logistics, Middle East, militaries, ports, shipping conditions, transport, war | Leave a comment

How the (closure of the) Suez Canal changed the world

Posted on 31 August 2014 by Laleh Khalili

The segment of my January/February container-ship journey I am most anticipating is passing through the Suez Canal.  Here is what Horatio Clare writes about his passage through Suez: Unfinished wars lie under all our horizons.  The chart on which Chris plotted our … Continue reading →

Posted in infrastructure, Middle East, militaries, political economy, ports, shipping conditions, ships, transport, war | 4 Comments

Hitching a lift on a US aircraft carrier

Posted on 9 August 2014 by Laleh Khalili

The Super Hornet bombers that dropped 8 500-pound JDAM bombs on Islamic State forces in Iraq had flown from the aircraft carrier USS George H W Bush, afloat in the Persian Gulf.  It is one among at least 5 Navy ships and 3 ships … Continue reading →

Posted in Middle East, militaries, readings, ships, war | Leave a comment

“…for rivers and seas are not to be regarded as disjoining, but as uniting”

Posted on 4 June 2014 by Laleh Khalili

From Hegel through Schmitt to Foucault and onwards, there is a way of thinking about sea and land not as inert backdrop but as factors determining politics, history and the transformation of the world. Hegel’s The Philosophy of History is geographically deterministic … Continue reading →

Posted in empire, imperialism & colonialism, militaries, ports, readings, seafaring, the sea, war | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment