grey dynamics

The Rise of Chinese Military Contractors in Africa

February 24, 2021

Eren Ersozoglu

    Key Findings   With over 200,000 Chinese workers, 10,000 Chinese companies, and the rollout of Belt and Road Initiative projects in Africa, security concerns exist.   Enter the Chinese military contractors in Africa. The People’s Republic of China (PRC) integrated Chinese Private Military and Security Companies (C-PMSCs) to protect Chinese state interests abroad.   Private Chinese security groups were actively involved in the 2012 rescue of 29 kidnapped workers in Sudan. The Dewe Security Group were active in…

British Mercenaries and Colombian Cartels

February 23, 2021

Iñigo Camilleri De Castanedo

British mercenaries arrived twice in Colombia in a 3-year period with the objective of targeting FARC headquarters and Pablo Escobar. Aid from the Medellin Cartel, Colombian Armed Forces and the Cali Cartel provided the sponsorship needed to carry out each task.   The rise of guerrillas like the ELN, FARC or M-19 in Colombia in the 1960’s simultaneously drove the rise of paramilitary defence groups and militias. Organised defence militias were a direct response to a demand for increased security…

The Emergence of the Islamic State in DR Congo

February 21, 2021

Insider Expert

    On the 18th of April 2019, Islamic State (IS) claimed its first attack in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). In its statement IS mentioned the “Central Africa Province” of the “caliphate”, in reference to a potentially new IS front on the continent. This statement is troubling given the province continues to suffer from an ongoing Ebola epidemic and most of eastern DRC is besieged by rising militia violence. The IS claim also comes as a revelation to many after…

The Connection Between Islamic State & ADF

February 17, 2021

Michael Ellmer

        Key Judgements     KJ-1. There is a realistic probability that the ADF maintains some sort of financial connection to ISCAP, although not enough to classify them as a sub-branch of the latter.     KJ-2. It is highly likely the ADF and ISCAP share similar doctrinal beliefs in accordance with the Salafist school of Islamic thought. Furthermore, there is a realistic probability that the ADF does not use Salafism as the primary motivation for their…

United States Citizen Spies
: Valuable Assets or a Modern Stasi Tactic?

February 12, 2021

Michael Ellmer

      “Snitches get Stiches”     In the United States, that phrase is scripture in the canon of the criminal world. In the psyche of the street-hardened, to be labeled a snitch is worse than being labeled a murderer. As counter-intuitive as it sounds, there is indeed a code of honor in the world of crime and turning on one’s peers is the unforgivable sin.     In a similar yet drastically less sinister degree, recent revelations have…

The Montoneros: Hybrid Political-Guerrilla Terrorist Organisation

February 4, 2021

Iñigo Camilleri De Castanedo

The Montoneros was a hybrid political-terrorist organisation that operated in the 1970s and 1980s in Argentina. With ideology as a driver, hierarchical structure with overt and covert capabilities suffered from a logistical change to a clandestine nature.         Why does this matter?     With Juan Domingo Peron in exile in Madrid in 1970, the Montoneros were born as a terrorist-insurgent organisation lobbying for Peron’s return to Argentina. The Montoneros achieved significant attacking and networking capabilities in…