CIAO DATE: 05/2013
Volume: 11, Issue: 1-2
Fall and Winter 2008/2009
James F. Keeley, John R. Ferris
Welcome to this double issue (Issue 1 and 2 of Volume 11) of The Journal of Military and Strategic Studies.
Modern Naval Diplomacy - A Practitioner's View (PDF)
Rear-Admiral Bob Davidson
On 29 February 2008, the Minister of National Defence, the Hon. Peter MacKay, announced that Canada would lead Combined Task Force 150 (CTF 150), a naval coalition force operating in the Middle East. The Canadian contribution of three Canadian warships, HMC Ships Iroquois, Calgary and Protecteur, with embarked Flag- Officer level command staff, and supporting elements, collectively known as Task Force Arabian Sea, proceeded to the waters surrounding the Arabian Peninsula and the coasts of Pakistan and Somalia. The designated Task Force Commander, I had the honour to lead this fourth rotation of Operation Altair, Canada’s ongoing maritime commitment to Operation Enduring Freedom.
The American Foreign Policy Transition: Barack Obama in Power (PDF)
Stephen J. Randall
On the eve of the inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States and with some uncertainty remaining about key appointments to his administration, one might conclude that it is premature to attempt an analysis of the directions in which his administration’s foreign policies may take the United States. Yet, the presidential campaign was an unusually lengthy and vigorously contested one, and there have been extensive discussions by both the candidates and commentators on their global perspectives, with the result that there is a reasonable basis on which to offer an informed, though perhaps speculative, analysis of the likely foreign policy directions of an Obama administration. The picture that emerges is to some extent ambiguous, since clarity is often the first victim of political campaigns. Part of the dilemma of course is that Obama’s foreign policy is what he and his cabinet appointees claim it to be, until such time as they take their first significant actions. Events always impact even the best plans, and both the U.S. and international financial crisis which emerged in the month prior to the election and the Israeli incursion into Gaza early in 2009 will certainly have significant consequences for the new administration.
Confronting Reality: President Obama's Two War Inheritance (PDF)
Terry Terriff
On 20 January 2008 Barak Obama enters the White House to face a wide array of very daunting domestic and foreign challenges. Domestically, he is confronted with a dire situation: a financial meltdown, a US economy sinking ever deeper into recession, rapidly rising unemployment, a housing market in near free fall, dysfunctional health- care, energy and infrastructure systems, and a budget deficit which looks to exceed a trillion dollars. Internationally, he assumes responsibility for two land wars, a global struggle against Islamist terrorist elements, the prospect of nuclear-armed rogue states (especially Iran), diminishing American influence and power, an international financial system in crisis, and, very recently, the intense fighting between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, among a range of other security issues. Obama's world is one full of problems and troubles.
Advantage Democrats: What the 2008 Elections Mean for U.S. Politics (PDF)
Frank Towers
Barack Obama's inauguration marks a moment of profound change in U.S. politics. Not only is Obama the first African-American President, he and the incoming Democratic Congress end fourteen years when Republicans controlled at least one, and for six years all, of the branches of the federal legislature. Whether the coming years will be ones of Democratic dominance remains to be seen, but based on the results of the 2008 elections Democrats have a better chance of retaining their majority than Republicans have of quickly returning to power.
New Missions and Roles of the Military Forces: The Blurring of Military and Police Roles in Nigeria (PDF)
Emmanuel O. Ojo
No doubt, the existence of the military is a sine qua non to the continuing existence of the polity. But when not properly managed or deployed to perform functions that are alien to its constitutional and traditional responsibilities, the outcome is usually telling, that is the thrust of this paper. Using two case studies of circumstances when the military was deployed to perform police duties more so, in a democratic dispensation - Odi and Zaki-Biam massacre - the paper chronicles the damage done as a result of the over militarization of the civil polity. The paper infers that it is not the best for the country to blur both the military and police functions in critical moments. The paper is a modest contribution to the debate on civil military relations in Nigeria.
Grenada: Preemptive Strike (PDF)
Richard C. Thornton
The U.S. invasion of Grenada in October 1983 was one of the most important, yet least understood, events of the Cold War. Its genesis lay surprisingly in the U.S.-Soviet INF arms control negotiations. The Soviets threatened to make an "analogous" deployment against the United States, if Washington proceeded with the deployment of the Pershing II missile to West Germany. Grenada was seen to be the probable location of such a deployment. President Reagan hoped to negate the possibility of a Soviet deployment to Grenada by improving relations with the Grenadian government of Maurice Bishop, but Bishop's overthrow left him with no choice but to invade and preempt a Soviet move.
Martial Qi in China: Courage and Spirit in Thought and Military Practice (PDF)
Ralph D. Sawyer
Conscious study of the problems of motivating men for combat and ensuring their effective performance on the battlefield has a long history in China. The earliest writings, both philosophical and military, framed the issue in terms of courage and a psycho-physical entity known as qi, pondering the latter’s nature as well as the means for stimulating and controlling it. Contemporary PRC military science continues to regard “combat spirit” as a core determinant of battlefield performance and one of the means for overcoming technologically and materially superior enemies. Recent years have therefore seen numerous focal articles on the psychology of combat spirit which meld Marxist and modern behavioral insights with traditional Chinese theoretical perceptions, resulting in a new pseudo-science of combat motivation.
The Forgotten Front of the Oka Crisis: Operation Feather/Akwesasne (PDF)
Timothy C. Winegard
The Oka Crisis is viewed by many as a definitive moment in Native-Canadian relations. However, the deployment of 4,500 personnel of the Canadian Forces (CF) to Kanesatake and Kahnawake during Operation SALON overshadowed the deployment of the CF to Akwesasne over three months earlier under Operation FEATHER/AKWESASNE. Using a variety of sources, the majority of which were secured through the Access to Information Act, and personal interviews, this article examines not only Operation FEATHER/AKWESASNE itself, but its direct relationship to the events at Kahnawake and Kanesatake during the Oka Crisis while highlighting the differences of Canada's complex internal security legislations. The CF operation at Akwesasne, lasting seven months (1 May to 5 December 1990), has been wholly neglected by scholars in its own context but also in the historiography of the "Indian Summer" of 1990. It is the forgotten front of the Oka Crisis.
James D. Campbell
Barın Kayaoğlu
Mark Zuehlke