Major General Patrick Cammaert: “Being a woman in modern wars seems more challenging than being a soldier.”

By J. Uwineza, 20 May 2011 (published 5 July 2011)

The Conflict in Eastern DR Congo has boosted an old weapon named rape and sexual violence. Considering that parties in this conflict have different objectives, the mental element (mens rea) may differ from one group to another but the objective element, (actus reus) is common to all of them. This means that the victims of rape and sexual violence experience the same suffering regardless the specific intent of the perpetrator or the group/army in which he belongs. As you are reading, women and girls are being raped to compensate soldiers, to punish, humiliate the victims for supporting opponent combatants, and for many other reasons.

By Pankaj Singh - As insecurity and violence in Afghanistan intensify, and the policymakers in the U.S. struggle with the right strategy — counter-insurgency or counter-terrorism — New Delhi has indicated a strategic shift in thinking from a military to political solution to the Afghan war. In an interview to The Wall Street Journal on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna said India did not believe that war can solve any problem and that applies to Afghanistan too.

By Erik Meijer - Amidst the ongoing economic crisis the British government has issued a Green Paper on the future of the British armed forces, intended to set out the questions to be posed for the Strategic Defence Review (‘SDR’) later this year. It will most certainly take a very critical look at several high profile and expensive acquisition programs among which are the UK’s planned two new aircraft carriers, high tech and high-priced air defence destroyers and the replacement of Britain’s nuclear deterrent, currently vested in nuclear ballistic missile submarines. With the upcoming SDR, all options are on the table as the other two branches of Britain’s armed forces are vying for precious space in the defence budget. This article focuses on the potential consequences for British naval power by looking at Britain’s role in future maritime conflict.

By Johannes Visser - On Februari 22nd, Marco Hekkens provided a presentation to the JASON Institute and its invitees about his personal and highly ambitious study into the Future Urban Extreme Littoral Land (FUEL-L) environment. This study, which – among other things – aims to paint an all-encompassing picture of future security challenges in urbanized areas near the sea, has the potential to yield a rich and useful account on the subject – if it manages to keep a clear overview of the many interrelated facets that typify these highly complex areas.

By Damon Golriz - One of the main questions of the international political community at this moment seems to be: how can we stop Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons? One approach aims to ‘change the behavior’ of Tehran by using the containment-doctrine1, which has previously been used to seek a balance of power between Iran and Iraq in order to contain whichever nation seemed to present the greatest threat at the time.

By Colonel Marco Hekkens - A ‘curtain raiser’ about a multi-disciplinary study into future military/civil engagement in (mega) coastal conglomerations. ¹ This article is a brief introduction into this complex operating environment: speaking in military terms it should be seen as the 'orientation phase' of any operational planning process. It is aimed to spark debate on the role of the future military (in a joint & combined, interagency setting); define future force structure and training and equipments requirements; and crucial ‘enabling mechanisms’. Project FUEL-L is very much 'work in progress’ and the interaction with respondents and insights gained will be most valuable for the research; and building a network of 'co-thinkers'.

By Marcel de Haas - In August 2008 Russia fought and won a five-day war against Georgia. This short conflict fits into Moscow’s increasing assertive security policy of recent years. Under President Vladimir Putin, Russia unfolded an anti-Western stance, condemning NATO expansion, unilateral and dominating policies and the deployment of a missile shield. Furthermore, Moscow wants to remove the ‘Cold War vestiges’ of the current European security architecture and has suspended the Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) Treaty.