Wednesday 10 September 2014

The new Era of Warfare, and the rise of the PMC's



It’s a recurring theme, seen right across the globe, with some of the worlds most powerful nations utilizing the services of private military contractors(PMC’s) to their benefit, and there is many benefits from using such unconventional means.

For me it was during the Iraq and then Afghan war when I started to notice that more and more of the jobs that were normally done by US and British military were slowly being outsourced to PMC’s. The most well known being ‘Blackwater’ which changed its name twice since 2009 to Xe(Zee) and now called ‘Academi’.

Even after ‘Blackwater’ or ‘Academi’ gained notoriety from it’s heinous crimes on the native population of Afghanistan and Iraq, the US establishment continued to sign contracts with the organization, and the pull out of Afghanistan and Iraq by US and Allied troops did not spell the end of the occupation - it marked a beginning of the rise of the PMC.

As stated before ‘Blackwater’ it seemed were the new ‘Land Lords’ for US special forces operations in the country, after a deal was struck worth $22 million with the US establishment to house special forces in a Private Base call 'Camp Integrity’.

‘Academi’ is most notorious for its slaughter of 28 Iraqi civilians in Al-Nisour Square in central Baghdad and again killing and wounding dozens more on September 16th 2007.

Crimes committed by these PMC’s would be subject to long term jail terms for regular soldiers or people, though unlike the conventional armies PMC’s never usually see themselves being held account for their actions.

Statistics in a Congressional report said at the time PMC’s were involved in at least 197 shooting incidents in Iraq shooting first on 165 of those cases

In his book "Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army," Jeremy Scahill described a:
"shadowy mercenary company (employing) some of the most feared professional killers in the world (accustomed) to operating without worry or legal consequences....largely off the congressional radar. (It has) remarkable power and protection within the US war apparatus to practice violence with impunity, including cold-blooded murder of non-combatant civilians."

Plans to pull troops out of Afghanistan and hand over operations to PMC’s was in the pipeline since the decision to pull out was brought up. This is just a small example of the new era of war, from open conflicts fought by troops that are part of a nation’s army, to covert proxy wars being fought by private contractors.

The rise in the use of PMC’s especially over the last decade marked a change in the ‘Elites’ ideology, with the mentality that whatever government can do business can do better. The privatization of war, the privatization of policing operations by contractors instead of police like seen with G4S is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to operations being carried out by PMC’s and ordinary private contractors. It’s a worrying trend seen right across the globe from country to country..

In Ukraine reports since the violence began on Maidan square indicate that PMC’s were in fact operating in the country, namely ‘Academi’,

When the Western Media portrayed what was happening during the sniper shootings in Kiev, they told us that there were snipers both sides, shooting eachother. However, medical examiners have deduced that all the casualties that resulted from said snipers were shot from the same point of origin, with even some of the ballistics matching up.

 It just so happens, that three weeks prior to this awful, awful event, American private military travelled to the area. I do not know under which name they travelled, they have a few to choose from, there's Blackwater, Xe Services, Constellis Holdings (they could potentially use the name of the other companies that are under the umbrella of Constellis) and Academi. It was confirmed that they were there for a covert operation of some sort...

Academi denied its involvement in Ukraine, claiming on its website that “rumors” were posted by “some irresponsible bloggers and online reporters.”
“Such unfounded statements combined with the lack of factual reporting to support them and the lack of context about the company, are nothing more than sensationalistic efforts to create hysteria and headlines in times of genuine crisis,” the US firm stated.

Under who and what these contractors were there for was unclear but we will try and shine a light on who and why they were there.

ASBS (Analizy Systemowe Bartlomiej Sienkiewicz) is a Polish Private Military Organization created by Poland’s interior minister B. Sienkiewicz. This group was brought in by the new illegally established government in Kiev to try and help quell the uprising in the East of the country.

The fighters, who came on the pretext of a university exchange program, were mostly men of around 40; they received a month-long training course in organizing mass protests, erecting barricades, seizing government buildings, street fighting tactics, shooting techniques, including from sniper rifles, etc. The Polish weekly Nie published a photo from Legionowo showing Ukrainian forces dressed in Nazi uniforms alongside their Polish instructors in civilian clothing.

In early April, CIA director John Brennan visited Kiev. The very next day after his visit, the head of the Kiev regime, Turchynov, announced the beginning of “large-scale anti terrorist operations in connection with events in the Southeast” Not only American, but Polish mercenaries showed up for this operation.

This is a worrying trend for anyone who understands the implications of these events and changing dynamics of our society, this is truly a new era of warfare where nations can fight its battles at arms length using proxies. But this is not a new thing, the new thing is the kind of mentality and Ideology behind it, not to mention the major moves being made on the world stage by those that hire these people. The rise of PMC’s is a growing trend and it seems to me that this is the way wars will continue to be fought in the future with conventional troops playing a less prominent role in conflict zones where ever they may be.

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