Marc | December 24, 2008
A recent report by the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission has been something of a hot potato for Canadian (and US) troops lately. Entitled From Hope to Fear: An Afghan Perspective on Operations of Pro-Government Forces in Afghanistan, the report highlights two central types of operations that are extremely problematic:
AIHRC is concerned that lack of [...]
Marc | August 17, 2008
[this is the final post in this series]
Topologies of competition
In the previous post, I identified two classes of battlespace topologies: perceptual and technological. While the two classes have common dimensions, it is analytically useful to treat them as if they were separate. Social groups (and individuals) operate across a multiplicity of battlespaces (“workspaces” [...]
Marc | August 14, 2008
[This continues from the previous post]
Linking battle/workspaces into perceptual topologies
In a recent article, Raphaël Baeriswyl, drawing heavily on the work of Jacques Baud, argues that there are six distinct “battlespaces”: topographic space (land, sea), airspace, electromagnetic space, cyberspace, infospace, and human space. Each of these battlespaces has emerged as technological advances has shifted the [...]
Marc | August 13, 2008
[Note: I am in the process of putting together a journal article on asymmetric warfare and I will be using the next few posts to help me think abut it.]
Competition appears to be an inevitable consequence of our natural (read biological) state. Darwin termed this “natural selection”. But, as with most species, we [...]
Marc | August 9, 2008
In case you are wondering why I put the term “theologian” in quotation marks, it’s simple: the quotation marks are used to indicate a verbal tonality, in this case, dripping sarcasm (the red text is used to indicate “Danger”). I use the term “theologian” to indicate a person who is, as Dawkins might say, [...]
Marc | July 26, 2008
The word “theory” has an interesting effect on different people. I’ve noticed that many of my undergraduate students, upon hearing the word and learning that they are sitting in a course on “theory”, start to get the same look in their eyes as deer have caught in the headlights of a car. For [...]
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