Nature Of War Research Articles

The Dilemma of Justice: The International Criminal Court’s Political Maneuver

ABSTRACT∞ This article explores the perspectives of Afghan human rights advocates and academics on transitional justice, focused on the conundrum of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate war crimes and crimes against humanity in Afghanistan. As a judicial entity, the ICC operates in a political environment. The tug of war of the ICC concerning what party to investigate is a testiment to this claim. In a recent twist, the new prosecutor, Karim Khan, issued a statement that his office would focus on crimes perpetrated by the Taliban and the Islamic State Khorasan Province, thus deprioritizing other parties, including the Afghan national security forces and the US military, that were determined by his predecessor. The Afghan human rights advocates and academics, while supporting accountability, criticize selective justice. The nature of war, the US–Taliban peace deal in 2020 and the collapse of the Afghan government in 2021 have furthered the dilemma of justice.

Editorial

This editorial was written as ongoing conflicts were unfolding in the Middle East, Ukraine, Sudan and elsewhere. Heavy metal music has previously been considered as an evocative medium through which war and conflict can be conveyed and understood in a range of ways. Here, the authors discuss how several metal music studies have had a role in enabling people to reflect both on the nature of war and on its relationship with lived experience, notions of national identity, music production and scenes.

Modern Battlefield and Necessary Reflection in Military Leader’s Education and Training

The article describes attributes will influence character of modern warfighting and presents the basic approach to prepare commanders and leaders of “new generation”. The operational environment describes determinants and characteristic of today's and future warfighting. Technological development as booster, change the tools and the procedures but not the nature of war. Level of training and leadership quality multiplies combat power. The key findings and recommendations support fundamental idea of ability to lead and manage hybrid systems in volatile multi-dimensional environment, using various tools and sources, appropriate to specific environment and specific tactical level mission, stressed in last chapter as result of this study. The article´s aim is support discussion, which directions we will adapt currently ongoing or newly creating study programs, preparing new generation of warriors – leaders.

The Nature of War

The traditional definition of war given by classical authors is, that war is a violent conflict between sovereigns. This means that war cannot be outlawed by any higher authority, since the sovereign is the uppermost authority upon the lives of the persons that are subject to them. Only the sovereign has the right and the power to forbid the violent resolution of conflicts among their subjects, and as sovereign they are not subject to any higher worldly power, but only to the power of God. The obligations to God are for the most classical authors not of legal nature but constitute the realm of morality. Thus, the main question for the classical authors on war theory is the clarification of the moral conditions that justify a sovereign to wage war against another sovereign, the so-called theory of just war. Since the classical authors subordinate the concept of war under the concept of justice, the theory of just war includes reflections about the proper means of conducting a war from the point of view of justice. In other words, the theory of just war also formulates criteria for such acts that are considered as war crimes. In this essay I will not challenge the theory of just war itself, but the traditional definition of war in terms of exertion of legitimate violence. My alternative definition will be given in the third section of the essay, and relies on the Platonic concept of peace, and on the Aristotelian concepts of privation and analogy. I think that violence is not a constitutive characteristic of war, but the conceptual, i.e., logical consequence of its definition. In other words, the state of war can be declared and persist without any acts of violence. The use of violence is justified by the manifestation of the state of war.

The Origins of Geospheric Thinking and Its Significance for Understanding the Global World.

The article discusses one of the most pressing problems of man – his aggres-sive nature and the permanent state of war in which he lives, but for which, despite all possible attempts, no effective countermeasure has yet been found in the entire history of mankind. In this regard, the author refers to the history of understanding both the nature of war and the possibility of establishing a stable peace, as well as to globalization, which has radically changed the man’s position of on the planet in the last four centuries. In particular, attention is drawn to the fact that the current scale, quality and nature of military operations in the context of multidimensional globalization threaten with a complete destruction of intelligent life on Earth. The article suggests that, although not an absolute, but an unconditional countermeasure to this is the formation of geospheric thinking among, at least, a certain part of the inhabitants of the planet, reflecting the diversity and the way of cognition of the multi-layered global world. It is shown how geospheric consciousness and thinking, which form the basis of the global worldview, have emerged and developed historically. The analysis gives grounds to conclude that people began to think in terms of global spheres only in the nineteenth century and at the verbal level, the geospheric (planetary) thinking became a reality only by the end of the twentieth century. As a result, it is concluded that, progress in the for-mation of geospheric thinking, however slow, can contribute to the prevention of war and the maintenance of peaceful life on Earth.

REPORTING OF INDO-PAK CONFLICTS IN ELITE PRESS: A PEACE JOURNALISM APPROACH

In this study, the researchers have contently analyzed the prevalence of war and peace journalism in the elite press of India, Pakistan and UK on the reporting on three war and three peace events in the past twenty years between India and Pakistan. The data was obtained through lexis-nexus database. The total number of stories in the final sample was 3889. The researchers found that selected press mainly reported the six events through war journalism approach. Interestingly, the three warring events got more war journalism stories as compared to the peace events. Unlike the existing literature, the researchers found the peace events were also reported in war journalism approach. The economic CBMs on the other hand got equal distribution of war and peace journalism. The researcher found that those peace events that occur in highly politicized and elitist environments are also reported in war journalism approach. The study concludes that the nature of war and peace journalism approach is linked with the nature of an event. If an event involves a direct confrontation between rival groups, the national media is bound to produce more war journalism. If the level of intensity of a conflict decreases, opportunity for peace journalism increases.

Military technology and revolutions in warfare: priming the drone debate

ABSTRACT The collection of essays in the special debate tackle the claim that drones deserve their acquired status as a revolutionary technology that has indelibly recast warfare. It is a debate embedded within a long-running and contentious, broader discussion about the role technology plays an independent variable affecting the character and perhaps the nature of war. How far can the introduction of a new technology really alter ways of fighting or radically impact battlefield outcomes? The complexity of the issue is reflected in the diversity of positions and approaches taken by the debaters. The purpose of these papers is not to arrive at a conclusion through a dialectic process; rather, readers are left to form their own views after weighing up the strengths of the arguments presented.

Southern Strategies: Why the Confederacy Failed ed. by Christian B. Keller

Reviewed by: Southern Strategies: Why the Confederacy Failed ed. by Christian B. Keller Earl J. Hess (bio) Southern Strategies: Why the Confederacy Failed. Edited by Christian B. Keller. ( Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2021. Pp. 271. Cloth, $39.95.) Christian B. Keller positions Southern Strategies as the only Civil War anthology written by people "affiliated with the Department of Defense." [End Page 126] Each author is "either … an active-duty Army officer who attended the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, has served as a professor there, or both." The authors represent military science, the study of current military culture, operational theory, strategic concepts, and other issues connected with military systems in contemporary times. Based on the assertion that "the nature of war, as each of the authors knows, is immutable and unchanging, regardless of time or place, even as its character constantly evolves," these authors primarily write about the Civil War by using a concept called DIME, an acronym that refers to the diplomatic, informational, morale, and economic aspects of war making. The primary purpose of the volume is to "offer professional historians and students of the war unaffiliated with the U.S. military a window into how we at the Army War College interpret it" (1–2). Fortunately, none of the contributors is locked into the dogmatic idea that immutable laws have determined the history of war making. They recognize that chance and unique developments play important roles in military history. In a real sense this anthology compels a discussion of the relative value of science versus the humanities in understanding warfare. Military scientists use concepts that lend themselves to acronyms and often replace one with another after the former favorite has run its course. By using DIME, the contributors group the diplomatic, informational, morale, and economic aspects of war making together and assert that any government engaged in war not only has to succeed in each one, but also must coordinate all four to be successful. These are "instruments of power," in Keller's words. Confederate failure to succeed in them, and especially the southern failure to integrate them, is the key to explaining why the Confederacy lost the war according to the DIME model. Keller starts the anthology with an essay on the relationship between Robert E. Lee and Thomas J. Jackson in the spring of 1862. He speculates on what might have happened if Lee had allowed Jackson to raid into Maryland and Pennsylvania that spring instead of bringing his Shenandoah Valley troops to help the Army of Northern Virginia defend Richmond. Eric Johnson follows with a survey of Confederate economic and fiscal policies as an exercise in failure to make DIME work. Kevin E. McCall then discusses Confederate intelligence work in Lee's Maryland campaign. Erik Anderson surveys failed Confederate diplomacy, while Chris Compton writes about Lee's raid into Pennsylvania. The anthology ends with an essay by Michael J. Forsyth on Confederate woes in the trans-Mississippi. Unfortunately, three of the six essays deal only with aspects of Lee's operations. Two others deal with very broad swaths of strategic-level [End Page 127] war management, and the last deals with Confederate fortunes in half the Confederacy. No one can expect full coverage of any topic in an anthology, but this one is too heavily weighted toward developments in the Virginia theater while completely ignoring the vital area between the Appalachian Highlands and the Mississippi River. While Keller asserts that all his contributors use DIME, the truth is it tends to make a slim appearance in most of the essays. Although mentioned by everyone, the concept never really is subject to detailed examination beyond noting that it was important for the Confederacy to have done something it failed to do. I found McCall's essay to be the strongest, in part because it deals with a topic that is little covered by Civil War historians. While we have several good studies of Union intelligence operations, there is far too little on Confederate intelligence work in the literature. McCall does a good job of outlining modern ways of understanding military intelligence and comparing them to Confederate practices, and he tends to examine...

HOW THE INDONESIAN ARMY MAINTAINING ITS SOLDIERS’ READINESS THROUGH SPECIALIZATION AND MISSION-ORIENTED TRAININGS

There are ways, military, are adopting to make sure they are not only big in numbers and advance in technology but also manned by professional and capable soldiers. Hence the Indonesian Army structured its organization to assure the right method of trainings for its soldiers are readily programmed and executed. It is now has become very challenging as the nature of war has evolved to a more sophisticated manner where wars are now engaged non-conventionally and asymmetric battlefield scenarios have become more often to occur. This paper discusses how the Indonesian Army designed its training and education programs to better adapt to the security issues which includes threats, disturbances, obstacles, and challenges (AGHT) in the context of Indonesia where most issues are derived from domestic unrests in the form of vertical and horizontal conflicts. It is imperative for the Indonesian Army to not only have its soldiers to be combat ready but also mission ready. It is because when the Indonesian Army are conducting military operation within the country approaches other than combat are much preferable and effective and such missions involve more humane skills for the soldiers. Therefore, specialization and mission-oriented trainings are critical.

The Literature of Absolute War: Transnationalism and World War II

The Literature of Absolute War: Transnationalism and World War II

Военные науки и наука о войне в понимании российских и австрийских исследователей

The article is a review of the bilingual collective monograph “Military Sciences versus War Science in Austria and Russia (Militärwissenschaften versus Wissenschaft über Krieg in Österreich und Russland)”. The monograph under review is the result of a Russian-Austrian scientific seminar on problems of war and military science. Book consists of two sections. In the first section, the authors of the monograph consider a number of methodological and ideological problems of the war. They give reflections on the essence of military science, the importance of strategy in the implementation of the military-doctrinal provisions of the state. The conceptual understanding of the strategy is considered. Attention is paid to the essence of the concept of «modern war». Particular emphasis in the monograph is placed on the study of the scientific militaryhistorical heritage, the importance of economic, informational, spiritual aspects of the content of modern wars. The trends of «denationalization» of modern wars are shown. The second section of the collective monograph is devoted to applied aspects of modern warfare. In it, the co-authors of the monograph studied the issues of the use of military force in modern society, its use by politics. The problems of the methodology of war are raised, and in particular, the nature of war. Attention is paid to hybridity, consistency, complexity, asymmetry of war. For a better understanding of the essence of war, the concept of “image of war” is introduced into the monograph, characterizing its internal and external manifestations. Considered the idea of developing polemological research in Russia and in the world. Turning to the system of military education in Austria and Germany, the authors postulate the need to preserve the military component in education, which is the basis of the military profession. The publication of such a bilingual joint Russian-Austrian collective monograph should be positively regarded not only from a scientific point of view, but also as a factor in establishing scientific and business contacts in such difficult geopolitical changes in the world.

A Reliable Framework for Secure Communication and Health Assessment of Soldiers in the Battlefield

Wars against the enemy are mandatory for the integrity of a nation. With the passage of time, the nature of war is being changed, to some extent from a conventional war to the network-centric warfare. The rate of soldiers death has increased in modern combat operations. The lack of secure connectivity and the health (mental and physical) of soldiers are among a few major reasons for the increased mortality. Mental health or stress level produces permanent changes in the physiological systems of a soldier and long-term diseases such as asthma, diabetes, and hypertension are activated with chronic stress. Although modern communication technologies may provide huge support in the efficient conduction of combat’s activities but it is at the cost of huge power consumption. The proposed research presents a computationally efficient and low-power framework that not only ensures secure communication but also provides a robust command and control system to monitor the mental stress, injury, and death of soldiers. In the suggested framework, the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) is used for communication that is highly suitable for power constraint devices. A wearable sensor system is suggested that can be embedded in a soldier’s uniform to assist in the recording of real-time stress, injury, and death of soldiers. The system contains a heart-rate monitor to record variations in heartbeats, an EDA sensor for skin conductance, and a respiration sensor for respiration variations along with a holster unit for storage and transmission of biomedical signals. Furthermore, it also provides a mechanism to prevent misuse of soldiers’ communication equipment by the enemy thus ensuring more security. The experimental analysis shows that the proposed mental stress computation module achieved 83.33% accuracy. Moreover, a score-based comparison is performed with the existing techniques and it is found that the proposed mechanism outperformed its counterparts with 37.5% improvements in the features-based analysis. The flexibility, security, efficiency, and reliability of the framework make it appropriate for modern warfare scenarios.

International Law Issues of Cyber Defense

International Law Issues of Cyber Defense

The Cyber Era`s Character of War

The nature of war is often considered unchanged, although in the cyber era the concept of war, weapon, and fighter have become blurred. Instead, the character of war is constantly changing and is always unique. The character of war is not similar at different battle domains or levels of warfare, which complicates the course of war. A serious deviation from a strategic-level perception of war character in relation to an operational or tactical level perception character of war can result in defeat.
 The fog of war has intensified, although the situational awareness of conventional battlefields has clarified due to advances in technology. Technology is a key factor in shaping the war character of the cyber era, depending on the point of view, in 4th or 5th generation warfare. The nature of the next generation warfare and the formation of the character of war may be determined by the Artificial Intelligence or other Emerging and Disruptive Technologies, which itself develops and uses technology or some other technology, not yet known to us.
 This paper seeks to find factors that influence the formation of the cyber era`s war character and its transformation in Western and Russian military thinking. The aim is to describe the opportunities and challenges associated with the use of advanced technology in the military purpose. This review is based on the NATO`s and the Russia`s strategy papers. Theoreticallly, this paper draws on the theory of the character of war, which is applied to the question under study through the theory of strategic culture. An integrative literature analysis has been used as the research method.
 The key findings of the paper are that Russia and the West share the view that a war-like battle is already under way in the cyberspace. That requires an faster and better capacity to utilize advanced technologies as part of or in support of weapons systems. Russia and the West are struggling with the moral, legal, and technical problems associated with the use of advanced technology, but are aware of its necessity in the cyber warfare.
 

People First, Data Second: A Humanitarian Research Framework for Fieldwork with Refugees by War Zones.

War begets crises that are among the most urgent areas requiring help from the international HCI/CSCW community; yet too few scientists address it using context-based, participatory field methods and by engaging in country and regionally based, longitudinal partnerships. Drawing on the author’s ongoing eight-year engagement as a design ethnographer with UNHCR Jordan and region for the Syrian War, this paper discusses Humanitarian Research as a framework for guiding HCI/CSCW research in conflict zones with displaced persons. Based on the principle of “People First, Data Second,” Humanitarian Research is explained with illustrative examples along with the nature of war and UNHCR’s protection mandate, the research challenges and ethical roles of HCI scientists in conflict zones and how these roles entwine with refugee stakeholders, NGOs, country actors, and university IRBs.

Теоретико-ігрові та оптимізаційні моделі і методи підвищення безпеки кіберінфраструктур

Критична інфраструктура взаємозалежних сучасних секторів все більше покладається на кіберсистеми та кіберінфраструктури, які характеризуються зростанням ризиків їх кіберкомпонентів, у тому числі кіберфізичних підсистем. Тому кібербезпека є важливою для захисту критичної інфраструктури. Пошук економічно ефективних шляхів підвищення або підвищення безпеки кіберінфраструктури базується на оптимізаційних моделях і методах стабільності, безпеки та надійності кіберінфраструктури. Ці моделі та методи мають різні сфери застосування та різні напрямки, не обов’язково орієнтовані на стійкість кіберінфраструктури. Зростання ролі інформаційно-комунікаційних технологій вплинуло на концепцію безпеки та характер війни. Багато критичних інфраструктур (аеропорти, лікарні, нафтопроводи) стали потенційно вразливими для організованих кібератак. Сьогодні здійснення головної державної функції оборони і безпеки значною мірою залежить від успішного застосування інформаційно-комунікаційних технологій як сучасних конкурентоспроможних (кінцевих і проміжних) продуктів подвійного призначення, які використовують різні особи з різними цілями. Теорію ігор усе більше застосовують для оцінювання стратегічних взаємодій між нападниками й оборонцями у кіберпросторі. Для дослідження безпеки кіберпростору поєднуються підходи теорії ігор і моделювання. У кіберпросторі арсенал зброї будується шляхом знаходження більшої кількості уразливіших місць у захисті цілі. Вразливість — це слабкість у процедурах безпеки системи, проєкті системи чи його реалізації, а також в організації внутрішнього контролю, якими може скористатися джерело загрози. Динамічний характер вразливостей означає, що вони постійно змінюються з часом. Виявлення вразливості оборонцем знижує ефективність кіберзброї нападника, яка користується даною вразливістю, і підвищує захист цілі. Теорія ігор застосовувалася для вирішення багатьох проблем, включаючи розподіл ресурсів, безпеку мережі, кооперацію осіб. У кіберпросторі часто зустрічається гра розміщення, де нападник і оборонець приймають рішення, куди розподіляти свої відповідні ресурси. Ресурсами оборонця можуть бути інфраструктура безпеки (брандмауери), фінанси, підготовка кадрів. Наприклад, адміністратор мережі може шукати таке розміщення ресурсів, яке мінімізує ризики кібератак (нападів) і водночас витрати захисту від кібератак. Нападник має обмежені ресурси і зазнає ризику бути відстеженим і покараним. Проблему розподілу ресурсів у кіберпросторі можна сформулювати як теоретико-ігрову задачу з урахуванням поняття загального знання і проблеми невизначеної спостережуваності.

ПОЛИТИЧЕСКИЕ ВЫЗОВЫ МЕЖДУНАРОДНОМУ ГУМАНИТАРНОМУ ПРАВУ В НЕТРАДИЦИОННЫХ СОВРЕМЕННЫХ ВОЙНАХ

The article examines the main problems of the application of modern international humanitarian law (the law of armed conflicts) in the political aspect arising from the changing nature of wars. Due to significant gaps in the current legislation in the realities of modern wars, there is no effective mechanism for protecting civilians, political risks constantly arise that affect the system of diplomatic relations. The possibilities of international criminal courts are limited, because not all war crimes can be called to account. The extremely important principle of distinguishing combatants from the civilian population involved in an interstate or internal military conflict is not always respected.

Revolution in military affairs - The operation mole cricket 19 as a case study for the technological race during the cold war

The article reviews the development of the modern idea of Revolution in Military Affairs (RMA) whose buds appeared after the First World War, matured during the Cold War and demonstrated in 1982 in the First Lebanon War by the Israeli Air Force, and in 1991 in the Iraq War by the American Army. After analyzing the essence of RMA, with reference to the concept of both evolution and revolution of military technologies and doctrines, the article suggests that two types of revolutions should be distinguished. The first is a revolution in military affairs in the broadest sense in which a paradigm shift in the nature of war is occurred, and it is possible to apply it mainly by superpowers. The second, is a limited revolution that is essentially an approach of solving a military problem, suitable for small countries. The article examines these ideas and shows that Operation Mole Cricket 19, in which Syrian missile batteries made in the USSR were destroyed by the Israeli Air Force in 1982, is a revolution in military affairs of the second type.

ՌԱԶՄԱԿԱՆ ՆՊԱՏԱԿՆԵՐՈՎ ԱՐՀԵՍՏԱԿԱՆ ԲԱՆԱԿԱՆՈՒԹՅԱՆ ԿԻՐԱՌՄԱՆ ԱՐԴԻ ՄԻՏՈՒՄՆԵՐՆ ՈՒ ՀԵՌԱՆԿԱՐՆԵՐԸ / MODERN TRENDS AND PROSPECTS OF ARTIFICIAL INELLIGENCE APPLICATION FOR MILITARY PURPOSES

One of the biggest challenges of the modern world is the penetration of artificial intelligence into military realm. As a result, the types of weapons and approaches to warfare, as well as the nature of war in general have significantly changed. In connection with these changes, the article substantiates the need to target the guidelines for the maintenance and development of the state’s military potential in this direction. Accordingly, the article presents the universal experience of applying artificial intelligence for military purposes, based on new functional capabilities of weapons or military technologies, which have become available thanks to artificial intelligence.

Monument Lab: Creative Speculations for Philadelphia

Monument Lab: Creative Speculations for Philadelphia