private military contractors
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Blackwater is in Donbass with the Azov battalion
The phone call between President Biden and Ukrainian President Zelensky “did not go well”, CNN headlines: while “Biden warned that a Russian invasion is practically certain in February, when the frozen ground makes it possible for tanks to pass through”, Zelensky “asked Biden to lower his tone, arguing that the Russian threat is still ambiguous”.… Continue reading
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What kind of “Peace” are Britain’s Private Military Companies Bringing to the Middle East?
The US government, with the UK hot on its heels, has long viewed the Middle East as a region where the presence of its army is indispensable not only because there are energy resources there, but due to the opportunity to control vast territories under the guise of “spreading democracy”. Therefore, American and British private… Continue reading
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The globalization of special forces By Manlio Dinucci
The Special Forces of the U.S. army were created to use their military skills with a focus on conducting unconventional warfare operations, mainly by fomenting riots or assassinating political opponents. Washington secretly deploys them in 78 countries, while denying their existence, even though the budget for their missions exceeds 10 billion dollars annually. The proliferation… Continue reading
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Video: Mercenaries and Private Security Companies on Contract with UN By grtv
Former Chairperson of the UN Working Group on the use of mercenaries, José L. Gómez del Prado, explains how private military and security companies have created an association to counter the regulations called for by his working group. Continue reading
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Haitians will defend their sovereignty Pt.3
Ronald Charles: Private armies continue to defend the interest of Haitian elite Continue reading
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The Rise of Mercenary Armies: A Threat to Global Security By Sherwood Ross
The growing use of private armies not only subjects target populations to savage warfare but makes it easier for the White House to subvert domestic public opinion and wage wars. Continue reading
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US Still Paying Blackwater Millions By Jeremy Scahill
Just days before two former Blackwater employees alleged in sworn statements filed in federal court that the company’s owner, Erik Prince, ‘views himself as a Christian crusader tasked with eliminating Muslims and the Islamic faith from the globe,’ the Obama administration extended a contract with Blackwater for more than $20 million for ‘security services’ in… Continue reading
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Video: Blackwater and other misdeeds of Empire
Jeremy Scahill, author of Blackwater: The Rise of the Worlds Most Powerful Mercenary Army, discusses the dwindling ranks of antiwar Democrats in Congress, the cruise missile liberals that support war in Darfur without questioning the aims of U.S. imperialism, the mercenary surge accompanying the troop surge in Afghanistan, the history of bipartisan executive assassination programs… Continue reading
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Will Obama Vacate Iraq? By Nasir Khan
The United States should be held accountable to pay reparations for the damage it caused and pay compensation to the victims of aggression. We should demand that the International Criminal Court takes steps to indict the alleged war criminals. Continue reading
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Cost And Scope Of Iraq Contract Operations Escalates
According to a recent government audit, first reported in The New York Times, at least 310 PSCs from around the world have received contracts from U.S. agencies to protect American and Iraqi officials, installations, convoys and other entities in Iraq since 2003, at a cost of about $6 billion. Continue reading
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Tony Blair’s Pet Bulldog? The Curious Case of Colonel Tim Spicer By William Bowles
20 May 2006 Tim Spicer (right) is an ex-soldier from the Scots Guards, an elite unit of the British Army, a veteran of Northern Ireland (where he got his OBE) and the Falklands, and he also served in Bosnia-Herzegovina in the 1990s. Spicer’s (defunct) company, Sandline International took over from Executive Outcomes (EO) which was Continue reading
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Mind Your Language! By William Bowles
The issue of who is an actual fighting soldier has been thrown into sharp relief by the enormous numbers of ‘private military contractors’ or PMCs hired to do the work of the state-employed soldier in Iraq, the former Yugoslavia and in Afghanistan. Continue reading
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Soldiers of misfortune: One story, two takes By William Bowles
So went the headline in the Independent on 1 April 2004 and the story (penned by ‘anti-war’ journalist Robert Fisk) occupied the entire front page and ran onto page 2. The four Americans, described by Fisk in the article as “contractors” were actually mercenaries or Private Military Contractors who worked for Blackwater Security Consulting and… Continue reading