Category Archives: war

Of Ballast and Land Reclamation

Posted on 25 April 2017 by

That extraordinary image is from some time in the 1970s, and the container-ship steaming so serenely in Hudson River is a Jugolinija ship belonging to the Yugoslav national shipping line.  What is of course poignant about the image is that … Continue reading →

Posted in capital accumulation, construction, environment, imperialism & colonialism, infrastructure, political economy, transport, Uncategorized, war | 1 Comment

The Multivalence of Infrastructures II – Rail

Posted on 28 March 2017 by

I am reading a fascinating article about colonial engineering. Canay Ozden’s fabulous “Pontifex Minimus” is about the British engineer of the Low (or old) Aswan Dam, and the article just drips with all sorts of wonderful quotable sections.  For example, … Continue reading →

Posted in empire, empire, imperialism & colonialism, environment, imperialism & colonialism, infrastructure, Uncategorized, war | Leave a comment

The Multivalence of Infrastructure I – Roads

Posted on 28 March 2017 by

As always Paul Rabinow’s French Modern is an extraordinary reminder of how transport infrastructures serve functions at once military and commercial – and in fact “war, commerce, and transit” (in Paul Nizan’s memorable phrase) cannot be prised apart. Here is Rabinow … Continue reading →

Posted in empire, empire, imperialism & colonialism, imperialism & colonialism, infrastructure, transport, Uncategorized, war | Leave a comment

Logistic Routes and the Détente

Posted on 28 March 2017 by

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 | Leave a comment

Shooting the animals

Posted on 3 May 2015 by

This post does not strictly have to do with shipping but it is fascinating and it has taken me on a tangent (and I love these tangents that end up weaving the world together).  I am reading the memoirs of Violet … Continue reading →

Posted in empire, ports, war | Leave a comment

About Today: Steaming the security seas

Posted on 1 March 2015 by

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 | Leave a comment

Peace Frog: Conquest by infrastructure

Posted on 22 February 2015 by

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 | Leave a comment