War, Peace, and Everything in Between

The Privatisation of War: PMC Wagner When talking of Privatisation of warfare, usually American groups come to mind, most prominently the Blackwater group. For those unaware about Blackwater (now called ‘Academi’), it is a(n) (in)famous Private Military Company (PMC), which is believed to operate in countries like Yemen and Iraq, at the behest of US and its regional allies. It gained notoriety in 2007, for the Nissour Square Massacre , where Blackwater personnel reportedly killed 14 Iraqi civilians and injured 20 others. However, this article addresses a relatively lesser-known private military group, Russia’s Wagner Group. Wagner PMC first rose to prominence in 2014, when Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula, after a hotly disputed rebellion and referendum in favour of Russia by the local population. The controversial element of this event was the presence of the ‘Little Green Men’, i.e., masked soldiers, in green uniform with no identifying insignia, who a...

Coronavirus and the Great Game Independence of India, 15/08/1947 US Capture of Japanese Island of Iwo Jima, 23/02/1945 Nuclear bombing of Nagasaki, 9/08/1945 Final Lowering of the Soviet Flag, 26/12/1991 nCoV-19 The above set of images all reference landmark moments in world history, with the Coronavirus being the latest one to inevitably go down in history, seeing the scope of the devastation it has caused. However, what is common among these images other than them being historical? Indian Independence —Signifies the loss of Britain’s most important colony, marking the beginning of the sunset of the British Empire. Taking of Iwo Jima —One of many landmark events revolving around the USA in World War II, which finally led to it becoming the global superpower we know today. Nuclear Bombing of Nagasaki —One of the two most devastating man-made disasters in history, causing the Japanese Empire to finally capitulate,...