General David H. Petraeus – ZERO ANTHROPOLOGY

Encircling Empire: Report #25 — Remembering Panama

This and previous issues have been archived on a dedicated site—please see: ENCIRCLING EMPIRE. For frequent updates, please “like” our Facebook page and/or follow on Twitter. “Operation Just Cause” “25 Years after US Invasion of Panama, Death Toll Still Unknown,” TeleSur, December 19, 2014: On December 20, 1989, over 27,000 U.S. soldiers invaded the small […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Encircling Empire: Report #19—Militainment

Encircling Empire Reports is a selection of essays, blog posts, and news reports covering a given time period, providing links and representative extracts or key passages from each resource, usually focusing on certain countries/continents and/or processes in each report. The focus of the reports ranges from imperialism discussed in broad strokes, to specific facets of […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM): Commemorating Columbus Day 2010

Readers will appreciate that a tremendous amount of historical research, and interviews with participants, went into this project to present the true history of the voyages of Christopher Columbus to Afghanistan, a history that thus far has been replete with misconceptions, unsubstantiated rumour, and popular myths. Clearly, Columbus and his brothers are to be celebrated […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Encircling Empire: Report #3, 18-23 September 2010

EE: Report #3, 18—23 September 2010 Encircling Empire Reports is a selection of essays, blog posts, and news reports covering a given time period. They are intended to be useful for those interested in: ● contemporary and critical political anthropology ● public anthropology ● imperialism and imperial decline ● militarism/militarization ● the political economy of […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Grace McFate: Anthropology, Avatar, and the Human Terrain System in the Italian Press

In some overdue posts, including this and the next one or two, I draw your attention to how the mass mediated propaganda for the Human Terrain System has spread to elements of the European press. Back on 05 March 2010, one of Italy’s oldest and most prominent–not to mention right wing–dailies, Corriere della Sera, carried […]

by John Stanton

General Petraeus’ Magic Bag: Human Terrain System and Covert Ops

So General David Petraeus is back on the COIN campaign trail arguing that pacifying the Human Terrain (HT) is his number one priority. Petraeus’ model program for converting an indigenous human terrain that is opposed to US occupation to a pliant human terrain has been the troublesome US Army Human Terrain System run out of […]