An Alternative Containment Strategy: How to Counter China’s Maritime Silk Road Initiative

SINGAPORE (June 1, 2018) Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis delivers remarks during the first plenary session of the Shangri-La Dialogue 2018 June 2. The Shangri-La Dialogue, held annually by the independent think tank, the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), is an inter-governmental security forum which is attended by defense ministers and delegates from more … Continue reading An Alternative Containment Strategy: How to Counter China’s Maritime Silk Road Initiative

The Logic of Pseudo-Operations: Lessons from the Rhodesian Bush War

By: Xander Causwell, Columnist Photo by: theselousscouts.com During the Rhodesian Bush War (1964-1979) the white minority-controlled Rhodesian government carried out a remarkably successful counterinsurgency campaign against insurgent groups representing the disenfranchised black majority by relying heavily on the use of pseudo-operations. Pseudo-operations constitute a set of tactics government-controlled paramilitary units use to infiltrate insurgent-controlled territory … Continue reading The Logic of Pseudo-Operations: Lessons from the Rhodesian Bush War

Speculative Terrorism: Preparing Capital Markets for Financial Warfare

By: Xander Causwell, Columnist Photo by: Newsweek The United States’ financial system is vulnerable to a form of financial warfare campaign in which non-state actors employ kinetic or electronic attacks to manipulate capital markets for profit. In April of 2017, Sergei Wenergold bombed the team bus of German football club Borussia Dortmund in an apparent … Continue reading Speculative Terrorism: Preparing Capital Markets for Financial Warfare

Islamist Militancy in Trinidad & Tobago: The Incubation of Terror

By: Xander Causwell, Columnist Photo by: The Guardian Violent Islamist extremism in Trinidad & Tobago (T&T) has endured despite improbable odds and ineffectual domestic militant operations. Nonetheless, T&T extremist groups will likely continue supporting foreign jihadist operations until the former are dismantled. In 2017 the international community intensified scrutiny of the Republic of T&T’s security … Continue reading Islamist Militancy in Trinidad & Tobago: The Incubation of Terror