Eeben Barlow's Military and Security Blog

I thoroughly enjoy discussions on conflicts, insurgencies and wars and the countering of these actions, regardless if I agree with them or...

The age of colonialism and the subsequent decolonisation of Africa along with the Cold War has long past and despite the geographical tr...

The phrase “If we don’t know where we are going, we can be sure we will never know how to get there” essentially refers to an absence of ...

As has become quite usual and an almost daily occurrence, rebel forces throughout central Africa have gained momentum and succeeded in de...

Threat prediction is a vital pre-requisite of strategy development. It can, however, be a difficult and problematic task if the intelligenc...

Considering the manner in which organised gangs and insurgents, be they political, criminal, religious or militant choose to conduct their t...

In a world of war and conflict, why is it that we continue to be so reactive? Is it because we do not develop decent, workable strategies ba...

Whereas there can be no doubt that Rules of Engagement (RoE) are important in determining how, when, where and against who armed force shall...

When Sun Tzu wrote “ The supreme act of war is to subdue the enemy without a fight ” approximately 25 centuries ago, did he see the neutrali...

Counter Insurgency (COIN) is a topic that is currently the subject of hot debate. Its leap to prominence stems from the hard lessons current...

I have had countless mails from numerous visitors asking for books I would recommend on military, intelligence and other related issues. Whe...

One of the key principles of strategy is to “select and maintain the aim or objective”. This principle is furthermore found in the principle...

An insurgency is the result of an ideology that violently opposes a government’s policies with a vastly different politico-ideology set. Tha...

Insurgencies are nothing new. History is littered with examples of insurgencies and counter insurgency operations - some successful, some no...