US Interventionism

A brief overview of some of the major impacts on Haiti as a result of the USA's invasion and subsequent occupation of Haiti from 1915 until 1934. Specifically, the American control of Haitian businesses and institutions and, the changing of socio-economic hierarchies.

Military intervention in internal conflicts represents a recurrent practice in international history. This thesis provides a theoretical framework for the study of the political and sociological processes that lead political elites to militarily intervene in internal conflicts. Following the renewed interest in political elites both in Sociology and International Relations, the thesis draws on Elite Theory to address the dual nature of political elites as both domestic and international actors. In doing so, it develops a framework for the study of military intervention centred on political elites that overcomes the limits of existing contributions on the subject. In particular, the thesis highlights how interventionary policies are shaped by three overlapping causal antecedents: elites’ contending ideological claims; elites’ struggle for both domestic and international power; and the relationship established by the intervener’s elite with elite and counter- elite groups in the target state. The thesis tests the plausibility of the proposed framework by examining US decisions in three cases: US intervention in the Cuban War of Independence (1898-1902); US intervention in the Russian Civil War (1918-1920); and US non-intervention in the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). This analysis highlights three elements. First, ideological considerations set significant limits to US cooperation with leaders in the target country despite the strategic rationale for cooperation against common enemies. Second, the interplay between international and domestic political considerations represented a fundamental ‘push factor’, shaping the objectives US elites sought. Third, foreign elite groups played a crucial role in ‘pulling’ US interventions, both by representing local allies instrumental to Washington’s objectives and by directly accessing and influencing US decision-making processes. For the same reasons, the lack of these push and pull factors are key to explaining US non-intervention in the Spanish case. Overall, the thesis offers a twofold contribution to the study of military intervention. First, it explores how military intervention permits decision- makers to affect the ‘circulation of elites’ in both their own societies and in other societies. Second, it indicates how military intervention affects the international system by altering ideological homogeneity, international alliances and hierarchical relations between elites.

Hybrid Wars : The Indirect Adaptive Approach To Regime Change by Andrew Korybko
A Review by dAvE@whenthenewsstops

This insightful book examines the theoretical framework behind the concept of 'Fourth Generation Warfare'. This centres around the utilisation of 'net centric' means to avoid a large scale direct deployment of troops in a 'regime change' intervention in a desired target State. 

Those familiar with the concept of Proxy Warfare, will recall how the use of sophisticated remote weaponry such as drone technology, the deployment of small scale special forces units, the use of Private Security Military Contractors, augmented with the training and arming of local militias specialising in guerrilla tactics against targeted governments, has been a staple of covert warfare for protecting U.S. regional interests for a number of years. This form of Indirect Warfare has been proven to be largely effective in advancing Atlanticist hegemony through the doctrine of 'Organised Chaos', by applying Unconventional Warfare to devastating effect.

"What is integral to remember is that Unconventional Warfare is indirect warfare. They are one and the same and cannot be separated from one another. Although Unconventional Warfare does at times incorporate conventional methods, it is primarily unconventional to the core.  It is non-linear, dynamic, and chaotic, presenting an ever-changing mix of tactics that is designed to throw the authorities off balance."

Hybrid Warfare represents a two stage application of this strategy, transitioning from Colour Revolution into Unconventional War, towards the goal of regime change in the targeted states. The broader goal is one of preventing the rise of larger strategic threats on the world stage, such as those presented by the Russian Federation and its allies, China and Iran. 

The inheritor to the British Empire, presented in the military power house of the United States, has long sought to maintain its global power-base, and the methods it uses in this effort have become increasingly underhanded, as the author demonstrates through this analysis of the concept of Hybrid Warfare.

"The connection between Colour Revolutions, Unconventional Warfare, US regime change objectives, and non-state actors provides yet more proof confirming the Hybrid War theory."

This clandestine technique, utilises the strategy of 'lead from behind', to initially destabilise target states through the implementation of 'colour revolutions'. These exploit pre-existing political and sectarian divides within the target nation.  In short, these divisions are agitated through the use of NGOs and Intelligence Agency networks, to establish core supporters of the cause, who are largely witting, trained to maximise their effectiveness (usually outside of the target nation), and who can spread the desired ideological opposition to the incumbent government through a largely unwitting public. The target public are unaware of the foreign agitation which is guiding their momentum.  This form of decentralised opposition largely seems to become successful at the Colour Revolution stage, as long as the unseen hand of foreign backing remains hidden.

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A brief overview of three key conflicts between the United Fruit Company and Latin American countries which hosted their enterprises (Costa Rica, Colombia, and Guatemala), relating each to contemporary US foreign policy and military doctrine. Also discussed is a history of United Fruit's origins and practices.

Military intervention in internal conflicts represents a recurrent practice in international history. This thesis provides a theoretical framework for the study of the political and sociological processes that lead political elites to militarily intervene in internal conflicts. Following the renewed interest in political elites both in Sociology and International Relations, the thesis draws on Elite Theory to address the dual nature of political elites as both domestic and international actors. In doing so, it develops a framework for the study of military intervention centred on political elites that overcomes the limits of existing contributions on the subject. In particular, the thesis highlights how interventionary policies are shaped by three overlapping causal antecedents: elites’ contending ideological claims; elites’ struggle for both domestic and international power; and the relationship established by the intervener’s elite with elite and counter- elite groups in the target state. The thesis tests the plausibility of the proposed framework by examining US decisions in three cases: US intervention in the Cuban War of Independence (1898-1902); US intervention in the Russian Civil War (1918-1920); and US non-intervention in the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). This analysis highlights three elements. First, ideological considerations set significant limits to US cooperation with leaders in the target country despite the strategic rationale for cooperation against common enemies. Second, the interplay between international and domestic political considerations represented a fundamental ‘push factor’, shaping the objectives US elites sought. Third, foreign elite groups played a crucial role in ‘pulling’ US interventions, both by representing local allies instrumental to Washington’s objectives and by directly accessing and influencing US decision-making processes. For the same reasons, the lack of these push and pull factors are key to explaining US non-intervention in the Spanish case. Overall, the thesis offers a twofold contribution to the study of military intervention. First, it explores how military intervention permits decision- makers to affect the ‘circulation of elites’ in both their own societies and in other societies. Second, it indicates how military intervention affects the international system by altering ideological homogeneity, international alliances and hierarchical relations between elites.

Este ensayo examina los múltiples intentos realizados por el gobierno estadounidense a lo largo del siglo XX para mejorar sus relaciones con América Latina. La mayoría de estos fueron causados por factores externos como guerras o conflictos con otras potencias. Aunque sinceras, estas iniciativas fracasaron ante las prioridades geopolíticas y económicas de la política exterior estadounidense. Elementos raciales y, principalmente, la ignorancia de los policy makers estadounidenses en asuntos latinoamericanos también determinaron el poco éxito de tales iniciativas. Concluimos que las buenas intenciones no son suficientes para que una potencia mundial logre comportarse como un buen vecino. Palabras clave: intervencionismo, intereses económicos, intereses geopolíticos, determinismo ideológico, racismo.

This essay examines the US government's attempts throughout the 20 th century to improve its relations with Latin America. It shows that most of these efforts were motivated by external factors such as wars or conflicts with other world powers.

Durante la primera década del siglo la mayoría de los estadounidenses mantenían una gran indiferencia hacia su vecino. En consecuencia, sólo los intereses de las elites en Estados Unidos influían desproporcionadamente en la política exterior de Estados Unidos. Algunas minorías capitalistas vieron en el Porfiriato una oportunidad para extender su poder económico sobre el continente y acrecentar su riqueza. La disciplina con la que México se había conducido durante casi tres décadas facilitó la expansión de la influencia política y económica estadounidense, con base a la Doctrina Monroe. El bienestar de los ciudadanos y propiedades estadounidenses fueron el argumento con que se justificó una postura intervencionista; siendo el más claro ejemplo el reconocimiento condicionado que Washington extendió a los gobiernos continentales. El reconocimiento o el desconocimiento a la legitimidad de un gobier- no fue la estrategia con la que los Estados Unidos se desenvolvió ante el coro internacional de naciones. Por lo tanto, los gobiernos que resultaron incómodos o que no satisficieron la idea de democracia estadounidense fueron rechazados, desconocidos y en ocasiones objeto de una interven- ción militar. Mientras que las naciones reconocidas habían pasado por un proceso de negociación y adaptación a las condicionantes impuestas por los mercados y círculos políticos pro-capitalistas.  México pasó por un proceso similar que fue del reconocimiento al porfiriato, al rechazo y ruptura de relaciones como consecuencia del derrocamiento de Madero de la presidencia. Desde entonces los distintos gobiernos revolucionarios pasaron por un proceso tenso de relaciones con Washington, pues se les negó cualquier tipo de reconocimiento pues ninguno pareció satisfacer los intereses de los grupos de presión estadounidenses. Rompiendo con la posición de sus antecesores, el presidente Álvaro  Obregón estuvo dispuesto a negociar la aplicación del artículo 27 y establecer una Comisión para atender los daños a la revo- lución, ambos gestos parecían contravenir al nacionalismo revolucionario plasmado de la Constitución. A cambio de estas negociaciones la propia revolución se legitimó mediante el reconocimiento y la inclusión en el coro internacional de naciones de la mano de la Casa Blanca.

This article examines multicultural citizenship and counternarcotics policing in Nicaragua as two contradictory forms of postrevolutionary governmentality directed at Afro-descendant peoples from the Atlantic Coast region. While multiculturalism represents a modality of governance and political activism that holds new possibilities for the recognition and valorization of racial and cultural difference, counternar-cotics policing relies on technologies of control that code racial difference, particularly blackness, as negative and threatening to the mestizo body politic. The political effects of these coemergent governance strategies are profound, serving to simultaneously empower, stigmatize, and radicalize multicultural activism and resistance within Afro-descendant communities. Such effects support the central argument here that in order to understand how postrevolutionary multiculturalism operates politically, we must look beyond overtly multicultural initiatives to examine other tactics of government that implicate multicultural subjects.

One of the presumed components of liberal democracy is the principle of pluralism. This principle is presumably premised on the idea that political power in society is dispersed, that it is not concentrated in one group or class, that relationship among groups -regardless of size --is constantly shifting, that the citizenry make choices freely, that citizens from all walks of life and from all sectors of society participate openly and responsibly, and that the outcome of the electoral contest is legitimate and valid. This paper tests these assumptions and arrives at quite different, often opposite, set of conclusions. By deploying the concept of "demonstration elections" originally used by Edward Herman and Frank Brodhead in a 1984 book of the same title, this paper finds that, in the cases examined herein, pluralism often means elite-led for it is the elites -social, economic, and military -that have the most resources and, therefore, the most at stake in the outcome of the political contest.

El litio es un mineral estratégico que se ha convertido en una prioridad para las empresas tecnológicas de los EEUU y China. Se obtiene de salmueras o vetas de minas y tiene múltiples aplicaciones (aeroespacial, energética, telecomunicaciones, electrónica, y transportación).

Venezuela cuenta con las reservas comprobadas más grandes del planeta; y ha estrechado las alianzas económicas con Rusia y China. EEUU se disputa el control de los hidrocarburos frente al avance de China y Rusia.  Este artículo presenta algunas claves de la geopolítica y la geoeconomía: la reestructuración de la oferta del petróleo en EEUU;  el desafío al régimen de los petrodólares; la geoestrategia del control de la producción
y comercialización del petróleo a través de los viaductos de hidrocarburos y los corredores energéticos en Asia y Europa; y la embestida contra Venezuela y PDVSA. En el conflicto de Venezuela nos jugamos el futuro mundial de la geopolítica y la geoeconomía de los hidrocarburos así como de la integración de nuestra región.

When will US ground troops leave Afghanistan? Why the uncertainty? Logistical problems are not a principal cause, as often claimed. Instead, the vacillation and uncertainty is due to an ongoing, but troubled US effort to shape Afghanistan's future using the presence of US ground troops as leverage.

Eight years after NATO’s intervention in Libya, the region has yet to stabilize amidst civil war and regional conflict. After a review of NATO operations during this period, the evidence implicates the use of the Right To Protect principle as a pretext for regime change during the Arab Spring. The Western media reports of the Libyan crisis under Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 enabled NATO to the narrative of genocide that R2P seeks to protect civilians against. The result of the intervention includes violent religious extremism and clashing tribal identities which in turn accelerated further destabilization in the region. This paper examines how NATO was able to frame their intervention as a model usage of the R2P rather than a pretext for regime change. Their employment of R2P yielded the same large-scale mortality rates and regional upheaval that intervention was claimed to prevent.

The existence of non-state actors at the international level has always been viewed within the liberalist and
constructivist perspectives. However, despite being a major international organization, the UN’s role and decisions
are influenced by super-powers such as the United States (US). This article examines the continuing significance of
the United Nations’ (UN) inability to resolve the conflict between Israel and Palestine from the neorealist
perspective. It delineates the weaknesses embedded in the UN and highlights the interventionist role played by the
US. The method adopted was mainly qualitative, using a process tracing approach of secondary data to address
events and key findings of the UN’s weaknesses and of the US’s intervention timeline. The findings revealed that
the US influence was significant in that it instigated continuous violence in the Palestine-Israel conflict. The “what
is” context in this study was further analyzed into a theoretical discussion the central argument of which was to
explicate the neorealist approach, including the concepts of international systems and hegemony. It examined the
state as the main actor in maximizing its capabilities to influence and dominate the international system. The role of
the UN is now in question but the significance of its existence remains relevant to the international system because
of state recognition besides humanitarian aids, development programmes and other member benefits. As this study
demonstrates the result is that the state continues to be the most important factor driving the international system.

This essay aims to articulate how attunement as a method functions in my proposed notion of 'poetic forensics' as investigative art practice. Described as "palpable and sensory, yet imaginary and uncontained" by K. Stewart (2011:445)—whose influence I will often return to in this paper.

I experiment with the idea that there can be a referential dynamic, through attunement between body, alluding to the corporeal body, a disappeared body or even a body of land and history; peoples referring to the peoples of the land; and land broadly entailing nature and, in my work the nonhuman. Attunement is situated within the emergent field of non-representational theory (Thrift, 2007), and with attunement, things matter, as Stewart (2011:445) writes "not because of how they are represented but because they have qualities, rhythms, forces, relations, and movements." Nagatomo (1992) has used the term attunement to discuss the relationship between our sensuous, diverse world and the multidimensional self, body, energy and mind. Attunement emerged as an experimental method to engage both in my practice process of performative interventions¹ and in my practice documentation, or registers of the project.

Typically in a family visit, the families gather in the same place at the same time. Appropriating this traditional activity, I 'assemble' my family, using large images and performative interventions near US memorials. Within a context of political disappearance, this paper and accompanying artwork play with semiotics related to family portraits.

'The Family Visits' hints at connectivities between who and what has been made-disappeared by political oppression while intercepting notions of time, portraiture, performance, place and affect. In turn, this activity comments on US interventionism and related political disappearances in Latin America. The performative interventions are at once a protest and a poem.

U.S. invasions of insurgency-held Iraqi cities in 2004-2005 were not designed to restore order; they were, instead, intended to prevent the consolidation of a very orderly anti-American status quo in a constantly expanding set of "liberated" areas ruled by locally insurgent groups. These invasions underscore the larger contradictions in American policy in Iraq: that the chaos American leaders kept claiming to end involved creating chaos in stable areas, a chaos that became chronic if the U.S. military forces succeeded in destroying these nascent city-states. This process is illustrated by examining the development of the Sadrist-led regime in Sadr City, Baghdad.

Durante a Segunda Guerra Mundial um grupo de trabalho liderado por Max Horkheimer [1895-1973] identificou várias componentes de caráter psicopatológico do autoritarismo: convencionalismo (adesão aos valores e padrões convencionais de comportamento da classe média); submissão autoritária (veneração acrítica dos superiores); agressão autoritária (condenação violenta e exacerbada de quem viola os deveres convencionais); subserviência (com os superiores) e prepotência (com os subordinados); anti-introspecção (antissentimentalismo, antissubjetivismo, antirromantismo); superstição e rigidez mental; espírito de destruição e cinismo; catastrofismo e dureza; puritanismo e intolerância sexual