blackwater – ZERO ANTHROPOLOGY

A Desperate Empire Crashes in Venezuela

The April 30, 2019, coup attempt in Venezuela has come and gone. The coup has failed. “Failed state” theory just got a lot more complicated. No longer can the “failed state” designation apply only to those states targeted for recolonization after a prolonged period of destabilization and foreign intervention. Now “failed state” theory has to […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Mercenary Humanism

What an extraordinary piece of twisted thinking this ad represents — it belongs in genocide museums. This advertisement from mid-2007 was prominently featured in the opening pages of the Journal for International Peace Operations (JIPO), a journal of the International Peace Operations Association (IPOA) — “The Association of the Stability Operations Industry” — which is […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Spectroscopic Survey of Imperial (De)formations: A Wholly Dispassionate and Disinterested Report from the Links

Breaking down the White Light of Empire, This report starts at the big blue end of the spectrum: Afghanistan, Iraq, held low under the high water of 1492, By an oversized 227 year old man of war. A down swinging empire of rising fear, meets its boomerang, With the lies told abroad only believed at […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

In the world of the mercenary, colonialism is past, present, and future

On one day alone, three top news stories appear in the Associated Press and on the cover page of Yahoo! that deal with mercenaries: U.S., Iraqis discuss Blackwater’s status BAGHDAD – U.S. and Iraqi officials are negotiating Baghdad’s demand that security company Blackwater USA be expelled from the country within six months, and American diplomats appear […]