ISSN 2562-9948
This was a year of giant losses, especially with the passing of monumental figures such as Hugo Chávez (March 5) and then Nelson Mandela exactly nine months later (December 5). While Chávez’s successor seems to have rebounded successfully, lengthening his electoral lead in what is already the second election victory for Venezuela’s ruling PSUV since […]
Read More…This is the second in a two part series on recent examples of the Human Terrain System in the military’s own media, and in military-embedded media. The first was “The Many Faces of the Human Terrain System in Iraq.” Much more remarkable, and coming from a supposedly professional journalist who embedded with the U.S. Army […]
Read More…The following items were extracted from Wikileaks’ newly released Afghan War Diary. The files were downloaded from the raw HTML dump, and then searched using “HTT” –there were no results when using HTS or HTAT as search words. While we reserve commentary and analysis for an upcoming post, we welcome readers to not only copy […]
Read More…Iraqi Insurgents Capture Human Terrain Team Member: Issa T. Salomi by John Stanton Sunday, 07 February 2010 Steve Fondacaro and Montgomery Carlough, senior program management of the US Army’s Human Terrain System (HTS), were warned as early as 2007 that Human Terrain Team members in Iraq and Afghanistan would become prey for insurgent groups. They were […]
Read More…Anthropology, Human Terrain’s Prehistory, and the Role of Culture in Wars Waged by Robots: From “Gentle Pursuasion” to “Better Killing” David Price CounterPunch, vol. 16, no. 17, Oct. 1-15, 2009, pages 1, 4-6. In the current print edition of CounterPunch, distributed to subscribers, David Price provides us with a very valuable in-depth look at the […]
Read More…Today, a serial-killing rapist passed several women during his noon hour lunch break, and he thought to himself, “there are some that should really get it.” He did not act on his thoughts. He was safeguarding the welfare and safety of those women. A shoplifter greedily eyed the expensive items in the store’s electronics section. […]
Read More…Is it a surprise any more, that Paula Loyd should be resurrected for one more promotional tour for the U.S. Army’s Human Terrain System? I am referring here specifically to the piece by Amy Yee, in the June 2009 issue of The Progressive, conveniently titled “A Friend Falls in Afghanistan” (thanks to a commentator on […]
Read More…Yes, indeed, as predicted a movie is now out featuring the dead “cultural warrior,” the scholar in military uniform, the applied social scientist deep in the trenches of Afghanistan. He may be dead, but he’s back, and he’s coming right at you, over and over again in… No, that is not the movie (which does […]
Read More…REVISED & UPDATED (Sat. 09 May 2009) Is there any surprise to how American “justice” works when it comes to American war criminals? Have there not been enough minor sentences, and enough kangaroo courts of foreign detainees, to establish this fact? Following John Stanton, who was present for the sentencing of Ayala at the Eastern […]
Read More…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…This is the newest article from John Stanton (reproduced with his permission), following up on the article for 26 February that was posted here and generated such intense discussion, with 182 comments: “Some Breaking News on the Human Terrain System: Death Threats Against Female Colleagues.” John Stanton’s earlier articles on the Human Terrain System are […]
Read More…Thanks to another anthro blog for a link to the new (2004) translation of Frantz Fanon’s The Wretched of the Earth (published in 1961 as Les damnés de la terre). The first chapter of the 1963 translation was posted here on this blog. In the new translation by Richard Philcox, we also find a foreword […]
Read More…Perhaps one should rejoice at the sudden, refreshing change where the crowd of “milbloggers” (military bloggers, counter-bloggers, and militarist cheerleaders) has gone silent. What makes the moment difficult to celebrate is that they have chosen to go silent at this time and on this issue — I am referring specifically to this piece: Some Breaking […]
Read More…Thanks to John Stanton for forwarding an advance copy of his latest article moments ago. This is very alarming news about how the lives of female Human Terrain team members are put at risk by those who are putatively on the same side as them. It makes for very grim reading. John Stanton’s earlier articles […]
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ZERO ANTHROPOLOGY 