Category Archives: Strategy

Securitization of post-heroic America. From organized crime to low intensity conflict and from the liberal state to the “post-modern” state? (part 2)

Elites, Geopolitics, Strategy
George Scallion Future Map
George Scallion Future Map

By Alexander Perepechko

Published on December 30, 2015

From Organized Crime to Low Intensity Conflict? (continued)

Together with small families and mammismo, changes in governmental regulations pertaining to legitimate and other types of societal activities partially explain why Americans do not want to fight and die in wars. In spite of this unheroic realism, the Middle East slowly but surely exports low intensity conflict (LIC) to American state territory. Also, proper American organized crime might evolve into LIC by coalescing along religious, racial, political, and socio-economic lines and merge with foreign-born LIC…

Based on an analysis of temporal patterns of radical Islamic terror attacks in the United States, I suggested in my previous research essay that the hierarchically organized bureaucratic security and intelligence agencies created after September 11, 2001 might not be up to the task of fighting radical Islam. Indeed jihadists change strategy and tactics very often and operate efficiently. American security and intelligence agencies operate according to governmental regulations which frame their strategy. How good is this strategy?

Before we look at governmental regulations pertaining to illicit activities and activities regulated by classified legal procedures, we need to analyze one more interesting pattern – a geographic pattern of radical Islamic terror attacks in the United States.
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Securitization of post-heroic America. From organized crime to low intensity conflict and from the liberal state to the “post-modern” state? (part 1)

Elites, Strategy
Reginald Mitchell Jr. The Matrix
Reginald Mitchell Jr. The Matrix

By Alexander Perepechko

Published on November 27, 2015

The Kurginyan Matrix

Compared to earlier stages of Modernity, Late Modernity in the West is less “heroic.” Americans and Europeans do not want to go to war and fight. Together with small families and mammismo, changes in governmental regulations pertaining to illegal activities, illicit activities, and activities regulated by classified legal procedures partially explain this unheroic realism. What are these activities about? When did governmental regulations change for these activities? Why did these changes occur?

As a matter of fact, Modernity (and we live in Late Modernity), like any other epoch (except post-modernity), is about regulations. Regulations can be viewed in a variety of ways. We know that secular law is a key regulator in the epoch of Modernity. In the West, most of societal life is located within the domain of legal activities.

But this is not the only domain where societal life can be found in western societies. The elitologist from Russia Sergey Kurginyan (2007: 42-46, 52), l’enfant terrible of the methodological school of Georgy Shchedrovitsky, uses a normative matrix to define legitimate and other types of societal activities in the West. According to this matrix, there are 4 types of activities relating to legality: 1) legal activities; 2) illegal activities; 3) activities regulated by classified legal procedures; and 4) illicit activities authorized by powers. The first diagonal of this matrix is (legal activities) + (illegal activities) and the second diagonal is (activities regulated by classified legal procedures) + (illicit activities authorized by powers). Figure 13 depicts these two diagonals.
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Can mammismo stop America’s next foreign war?

Elites, Geopolitics, Strategy
Ruth Coleman. Mother and Sons
Ruth Coleman. Mother and Sons

By Alexander Perepechko

Published on October 20, 2015

Along with small families and refusal to tolerate combat casualties, antiwar protests demonstrate why Americans and Europeans do not want to fight and die in foreign wars. In this research essay I will investigate one of the forms of these protests – mammismo (can be translated a momism from Italian).

The term mammismo was coined in 1952 by the Italian intellectual Corrado Alvaro (1952). He was looking for reasons for Italy’s poor performance in the two world wars. According to Alvaro, poor mothering was the root cause of many of the shortcomings of Italian men and therefore of Italian society. He blamed Italian mothers for being unable to rise above animal instinct and for bringing up immature sons lacking civic responsibility and high moral qualities. Primitive Italian mothers emasculate, devour, and make dependent male children, he said. Alvaro (1952: 186) criticized Italian society for simultaneously exalting mothers and depriving them of sons sent “inexperienced and unprepared …to desperate and reckless wars.” Therefore, mammismo initially meant that in the case of war nobody loves sons as much as their mothers. Loss, nostalgia, and guilt are keys to mothers’ primary concern for sons. Italian historian Maria D’Amelio (2005) located the beginning of the exclusive mother-son bond in the period of Risorgimento (1750-1870) and traced its development through the two world wars.

Luttwak (2001: 52) modified and applied the concept of mammismo onto warfare in the postindustrial period. Since Italian and other western societies have very low birthrates, mothers in the West view the wounding or death of their only son or daughter in war as an outrageous scandal rather than an occupational hazard. Luttwak argues that today this attitude has enormous impact and powerfully constrains the use of the force in Europe, North America, and other postindustrial regions. How plausible is this generalization?
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Combat specialties, new immigrants, and old political elites

Elites, Strategy
Alexander Perepechko. New Immigrants in America
Alexander Perepechko. New Immigrants in America

By Alexander Perepechko

Published on September 13, 2015

Limitations of the Gurkha and Foreign Legion Models

We continue investigating an unheroic realism in America during Late Modernity. In my two previous research essays, I showed how small families and refusal to tolerate combat casualties impact the securitization of the West. It was conjectured that the Gurkha model of the British army and the foreign legion model of the French army can potentially be copied by Americans to circumvent the intolerance of casualties. Both models have, however, drawbacks and consequences.

A segmented labor market is part and parcel of life in western societies. Segmentation can result in different groups, for example foreigners and native born, receiving different wages, benefits, and privileges. Gurkha veterans continue fighting for equal pensions with the British soldiers they serve alongside (Who are, 2010). In 2007, these veterans won a partial victory when pension rules were changed to give serving Gurkha soldiers equal pension rights with other service personnel in the United Kingdom. Nevertheless, the British Gurkha Welfare Society claimed that about twenty-five thousand men, who had retired before July 1st, 1997, were denied the opportunity to transfer into UK armed forces pension schemes. This organization stated that the government had acted unlawfully by paying Gurkha veterans only a third of the income of UK-based soldiers.
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Who will fight and die for post-heroic America?

Strategy
Alexander Perepechko. Lonely Cannon
Alexander Perepechko. Lonely Cannon

By Alexander Perepechko

Published on August 8, 2015

In my previous research essay I demonstrated that during Late Modernity low death rates, very low birth rates, and slow population decrease in the western countries are irreversible. One result is small families. Parents with one or two children are not willing to send their son or daughter into a potential combat situation. Western ruling elites are able to overcome this attitude only sometimes and in part. Moreover, there is a breakdown in family structure. In fact, the western family as we know it is dying as an institution. The Christian family is losing its central role in the reproduction of the population. The share of families with one parent and the share of nontraditional families quickly increase (figure 8).

These days, many leftist, neoliberal, and postmodernist leaders and activist networks, who gravitate primarily toward the Democratic Party, are working on antinatalist policies and revision of the traditional family. At the same time, these politicians and campaigners are not creating any new basic social units that could at least partially compensate for decreased population reproductive capacities of the decaying traditional family. Do these politicians, activists, and their sponsors rely on new migrants from different civilizations as the core of military and security services?
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