ISSN 2562-9948
A court hearing is underway to determine the sentence for Don Michael Ayala, the U.S. mercenary who was employed by the Human Terrain System, the program that also hired the army reservist and anthropologist, Paula Loyd, set on fire by Abdul Salam in Chehel Gazi, Kandahar Province, Afghanistan on 04 November 2008, and dying from […]
Read More…This is sure to bother those most closely associated with the U.S. Army’s Human Terrain System: some statistics on what web users find when they do searches for “human terrain system.” What is revealed is: the news arena is heavily dominated by our good friend, John Stanton, far beyond any other writing on the human […]
Read More…Briefly, Part One of a series by Adam Geller, writing for the Associated Press, on the Human Terrain System was just published a few hours ago (07 March 2009) — see: “1 man’s odyssey from campus to combat.” Note the following contradictory statements regarding whether Michael Bhatia, the first scholar-victim, was to be put in […]
Read More…No, this is not an (anti-imperialist) “rant” as one conservative blogger recently wrote in characterizing this blog, but rather the conclusion arrived at by a Major in the United States Marine Corps, Benn Connable, writing in the latest issue of the Military Review: Connable, Ben. (2009). All our eggs in a broken basket: How the […]
Read More…I am very happy to report that the second of three new volumes about the human terrain system to be published this year has just been released for pre-order. It is The Counter-Counterinsurgency Manual, by the Network of Concerned Anthropologists. It features contributions by Catherine Besteman, Andrew Bickford, Greg Feldman, Roberto J. González, Hugh Gusterson, […]
Read More…Referring to Pakistan (because apparently no cultural knowledge of Afghanistan is available, or, the geographic displacement allows the writers to malign and stereotype a related culture without endangering their relations with Afghans), the website of the U.S. Army’s Human Terrain System states the following: “Similar attacks have been carried out in Pakistan against women working […]
Read More…The interview below was reproduced with the permission of Dr. David Price, from CounterPunch (03 February 2009). In connection with this post, see also: AMERICAN COUNTERINSURGENCY, by Roberto J. González (U. Chicago Press, 2009) Counterinsurgency, Anthropology and Disciplinary Complicity By DAVID PRICE During the spring and summer of 2007 word began circulating of a new military […]
Read More…The latest item of military travel writing from Afghanistan is from Robert Young Pelton (photo), who spent some weeks in Afghanistan getting to know the work of Human Terrain Teams. The article is titled, “Afghanistan: The New War for Hearts and Minds,” and was published on January 21, 2009, in Men’s Journal. The article must […]
Read More…Thanks to Tim Stevens for noting this new article: Got No Culture: Anthropology confronts Counterinsurgency Kurt Jacobsen. Logos: A Journal of Modern Society & Culture, Vol. 7, No. 2. ‘Lethal effects targeting’ Harry Feldman. Leftwrites. 26 December 2008 [interesting notes on relevant developments concerning the Australian portion of occupation forces in Afghanistan] When Elizabeth Redden […]
Read More…In spite of the few articles that raise any kinds of questions or criticisms about the U.S. Army’s Human Terrain System (HTS), such as the latest by John Stanton, and to a lesser extent the article in Nature News by Sharon Weinberger, the past month has seen a few pieces in the media that distinguish […]
Read More…Sharon Weinberger’s article in Nature is behind a pay wall. I will provide some extracts and summaries below. The title of the article is “Military Research: The Pentagon’s Culture Wars” and was published online in Nature News on October 1, 2008 (complete details can be found on the Bibliography page). ••••••• Weinberger’s article, like so […]
Read More…The third in a series of articles by John Stanton on the follies and failures of the U.S. Army’s Human Terrain System has just been released. The previous two articles can be seen here, and here. ••••••• US Army’s Human Terrain System: Madness, Mayhem and Troughs of Cash* by John Stanton *Part III of the […]
Read More…David Price has an interesting exposé in: Price, David H. (2008). Payback time: The student who decided not to be a spook. Counterpunch, 15 (15), 1-15 September: 6-8. It involves the case of Nicolas Flattes, an anthropology student at the University of Hawai’i, who was awarded a Boren Scholarship from the National Security Education Program […]
Read More…The intention of the links and extracts to follow is to show the spread of the U.S. military’s intention to build on the Human Terrain System in penetrating local cultures and intervening in local societies across the planet. Of course anthropology is singled out for “special mention,” now that in the minds of the state […]
Read More…“Militarizing the Social Sciences” is a very effective overview essay written by Tom Burghardt of Antifascist Calling, and published by Global Research.ca on August 6, 2008. Burghardt covers the Minerva Research Initiative and the Human Terrain System, placing these within the context of a fairly well established tradition of coopting social sciences for national security […]
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ZERO ANTHROPOLOGY 