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In July 2014, the Ukrainian President, Petro Poroshenko, claimed that Ukraine wasn’t fighting a civil war in the east of the country but rather was “defending its territory from foreign mercenaries.” Conversely, rumours abounded earlier in the year that Academi, the firm formerly known as Blackwater, were operating in support of the Ukrainian government (which Academi strongly denied). What is interesting is not simply whether these claims are true, but also their rhetorical force. Being a mercenary and using mercenaries is seen as one of the worst moral failings in a conflict.

Regardless of the accuracy of the claims and counterclaims about their use in Ukraine, the increased use of mercenaries or ‘private military and security companies’ is one of the most significant transformations of military force in recent times. In short, states now rely heavily on private military and security companies to wage wars. In the First Gulf War, there was a ratio of roughly one contractor to every 100 soldiers; by 2008 in the Second Gulf War, that ratio had risen to roughly one to one. In Afghanistan, the ratio was even higher, peaking at 1.6 US-employed contractors per soldier. The total number of Department of Defense contractors (including logistical contractors) reached approximately 163,000 in Iraq in September 2008 and approximately 117,000 in Afghanistan in March 2012. A lot of the media attention surrounding the use of private military and security companies has been on the use of armed foreign contractors in conflict zones, such as Blackwater in Iraq. But the vast majority of the industry provides much more mundane logistical services, such as cleaning and providing food for regular soldiers.

Does this help to remove the pejorative mercenary tag? The private military and security industry has certainly made a concerted effort to attempt to rid itself of the tag, given its rhetorical force. Industry proponents claim private military and security companies are different to mercenaries because of their increased range of services, their alleged professionalism, their close links to employing states, and their corporate image. None of these alleged differences, however, provides a clear—i.e. an analytically necessary—distinction between mercenaries, and private military and security companies. After all, mercenaries could offer more services, could be professional, could have close links to states, and could have a flashy corporate image. Despite the proclamations of industry proponents, private military and security companies might still then be mercenaries.

But what, if anything, is morally wrong with being a mercenary or a private contractor? Could one be an ethical mercenary? In short, yes. To see this, suppose that you go to fight for a state that is trying to defend itself against attack from a genocidal rebel group, which is intent on killing thousands of innocent civilians. You get paid handsomely for this, but this is not the reason why you agree to fight—you just want to save lives. If fighting as a private contractor will, in fact, save lives, and any use of force will only be against those who are liable, is it morally permissible to be a contractor? I think so, given the import of saving lives. As such, mercenaries/private contractors might behave ethically sometimes.

Does this mean that we are incorrect to view mercenaries/private contractors as morally tainted? This would be too quick. We need to keep in mind that, although the occasional mercenary/private contractor might be fully ethical, it seems unlikely that they will be in general. There are at least two reasons to be sceptical of this. First, although there may be exceptions, it seems that financial considerations will often play a greater role in the decision for mercenaries/private contractors to take up arms than for regular soldiers. And, if we think that individuals should be motivated by concern for others rather than self-interest (manifest through the concern for financial gain), we should worry about the increased propensity for mercenary motives. Second, although it may be morally acceptable to be a mercenary/private contractor when considered in isolation, there is a broader worry about upholding and contributing to the general practice of mercenarism and the private military and security industry. One should be wary about contributing to a general practice that is morally problematic, such as mercenarism.

To elaborate, the central ethical problems surrounding private military force do not concern the employees, but rather the employers of these firms. The worries include the following:

1. that governments can employ private military and security companies to circumvent many of the constitutional and parliamentary—and ultimately democratic—constraints on the decision to send troops into action;
2. that it is questionable whether these firms are likely to be effective in the theatre, because, for instance, contractors and the firms can more easily choose not to undertake certain operations; and
3. that there is an abrogation of a state’s responsibility of care for those fighting on its behalf (private contractors generally don’t receive the same level of support after conflict as regular soldiers since political leaders are often less concerned about the deaths of private contractors).

There are also some more general worries about the effects on market for private force on the international system. It makes it harder to maintain the current formal constraints (e.g. current international laws) on the frequency and awfulness of warfare that are designed for the statist use of force. And a market for force can be expected to increase international instability by enabling more wars and unilateralism, as well as by increasing the ability of state and nonstate actors to use military force.

These are the major problems of mercanarism and the increased use of private military force. To that extent, I think that behind the rhetorical force of the claims about mercenaries in Ukraine, there are good reasons to be worried about their use, if not in Ukraine (where the facts are still to be ascertained), but more generally elsewhere. Despite the increased use of private military and security companies and the claims that they differ to mercenaries, we should be wary of the use of private military and security companies as well.

The post The ethics of a mercenary appeared first on OUPblog.

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Did you know you can have a chat room of your own on your site or blog for free? Most of us have had an IM (instant message) talk with a friend real time and if you have been to a chat room talking with many people at once then you might like a chat room of your own.

Though chat room talks are in real time like in IM that is where the similarity ends. With a chat room you can hold group chats with co-workers, group members, interviews with authors, webinars, discuss your genre or techniques, have authors chat with their readers. With some chat room applications you can hold large discussions with up to one hundred people, which might be a little crazy, but you get the idea.

Some of the chat rooms, also called chat rolls and chat boxes, are free and along with a blog posting board were you can add content for an event, such as a writing chat where a number of authors write a story together, you can have an hour or two or more of fun.

How can you do this you ask?
If you have a website that has more than one page you can add a private chat room to one of the pages and do not list that page on the navigation bar.
For the blog you would make another, separate blog to use as the chat room that you set for privacy!
For instance, on Blogger (Blogspot) under SETTINGS go to BASIC and then to ADD YOUR BLOG TO OUR LISTING and choice NO. Then at LET SEARCH ENGINES FIND YOUR BLOG select NO again and finally click SAVE SETTINGS!
If Blogger isn’t your blog provider you will need to take a look at your blog providers privacy settings to see if it could be done there.

Some of the free chat room sites that I looked at are; xat, chat roll, chat-form, spin chat and parachat. To find out what else is out there you can Google and Bing search to see what other chat rooms services there are available.

Of course, like most site on the internet where you have to join the community, chat room or chat roll sites are no different. You sign up for an account at one of these sites and you place the HTML code they provide on your blog or site. If you don’t know how to place HTML codes you will need to learn how or have someone do it for you. Then the only way someone can get to your chat room is if they have the url which you provide.
Also with some of the chat communities your guest will have to sign up at their site to participate in you chat room as well. You can even have more security by setting the blog settings so that your guest or members must sign in to your blog too.

To see what chat rooms are all about, one place you can visit is the writers and artists site Minds-Eye. http://minds-eye.ning.com/
That’s Using A Private Chatroom: In A Nut Shell.
Happy Chatting!
2009 JD Holiday

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Amos N. Guiora is a Professor of Law at the S. J. Quinney College of Law, University of Utah, where he teaches criminal law, global perspectives on counterterrorism, religion and terrorism, and national security law. He served for nineteen years in the Israel Defense Forces.  Recently he testified before the House of Representatives Homeland Security Subcommitee about the importance of sharing information in preventing terrorism.  You can watch the video here and download the transcript here.

On May 15, 2008 I testified before the House Of Representatives Homeland Security Subcommittee on Intelligence, Information Sharing and Terrorism Risk Assessment. The Subcommittee, chaired by Congresswoman Jane Harman (D-Cal) was particularly interested in the subject of resilience—that is whether government and business alike are prepared for a terrorist attack on two different levels: preparing for an attack and ensuring continuity in the aftermath of the attack.

The two issues—before and after—are the essence of counter-terrorism preparation. For them to be truly implementable, government must engage in information sharing on all three levels (state, local and federal) and also with the business community. While the idea of information sharing with the business community raises important –and legitimate—questions within the law enforcement community, it is an absolute requirement.

During the course of my testimony, the Members of the Subcommittee were particularly interested in the difference between the American and Israeli cultures—in particular how Israelis respond to terrorism and understand that attacks are, in a sense, inevitable and how that understanding enables society to more quickly “rebound” in the aftermath of an attack. Furthermore, Members inquired as to the nature of the information sharing relationships and whether this did not raise important legal and constitutional issues.

To ensure a resilient homeland in a post-9/11 society, the United States must have a homeland security strategy that (1) understands the threat, (2) effectively counters the threat while preserving American values, (3) establishes a system of accountability, and (4) creates public-private and federal-state partnerships facilitating intelligence sharing and the continuity of society in the aftermath of an attack.

It is necessary to work with clear definitions of the terms and concepts that frame this strategy for resiliency. As I have previously articulated, “one of the greatest hindrances to a cogent discussion of terrorism and counterterrorism has been that the terms lack clear, universal definitions.” For this reason, I provide clear, concrete definitions of terrorism, counterterrorism, homeland security, effectiveness, accountability, and resiliency—the key terms in articulating the strategy for a resilient homeland. In addition to these definitions, I include two critical matrices for: Determining Effectiveness and Implementing Accountability.

The central focus of this testimony examines the dire consequences of the break-down in communications following both 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina, which suggests that in order to realize resiliency in the future, it is paramount that there is clear cooperation and coordination between the public sector and the private sector. Effective resiliency will ultimately be tied to establishing public-private partnerships.

In establishing these partnerships, they must be based upon three critical components: (1) clearly defined roles and responsibilities; (2) articulating a coordinated prevention-response plan; and (3) repeated training and/or simulation exercises using the prevention-response plan against realistic disaster/terror scenarios. By strategically strengthening security, sharing intelligence, and creating plans for post-attack procedures (such as evacuation plans, transportation plans, establishing places of refuge, and having basic supplies available to aid first-responders) private partners become the key to a secure and resilient homeland.

The importance of information before, during and after a disaster or attack is vital to resilience. Information sharing is, perhaps, the single most important aspect of successful resilience. Information sharing requires government agencies (federal, state and local) to share information both amongst themselves and with the private sector. Furthermore, it requires that the private sector—subject to existing legal and constitutional limits—share information with the public sector. Successful information sharing requires cooperation and coordination both internally (within sectors) and cross sectors (between public-private entities).

The lessons of 9/11 and Katrina speak for themselves. Resilience in the aftermath of either disaster or attack requires federal, state and local government agencies to understand that information sharing is vital to the nation’s homeland security. That information sharing process must include the private sector. Otherwise, the mistakes of yesterday will inevitably re-occur.

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This is my new book wagon! I'm so jazzed. Moral of this blog: Hot librarians need hot accessories.

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