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Money for Mayhem: Mercenaries, Private Military Companies, Drones, and the Future of War
Gazes into the crystal ball to forecast what the future of war looks like in a world dominated by private armies.
The way war is waged is evolving quickly—igniting the rapid rise of private military contractors who offer military-style services as part of their core business model. When private actors take up state security, their incentives are not to end war and conflict but to manage the threat only enough to remain relevant. Arduino unpacks the tradeoffs involved when conflict is increasingly waged by professional outfits that thrive on chaos rather than national armies. This book charts the rise of private military actors from Russia, China, and the Middle East using primary source data, in-person interviews, and field research amongst operations in conflict zones around the world. Individual stories narrated by mercenaries, military trainers, security entrepreneurs, hackers, and drone pilots are used to introduce themes throughout. Arduino concludes by considering today’s trajectories in the deployment of mercenaries by states, corporations, or even terrorist organizations and what it will mean for the future of conflict.
The book follows private security contractors that take on missions in different countries with a variety of challenges. First-hand data and intimate knowledge of the actors involved in the market for force allow a fully grounded narrative with personal input. Through this prism, readers will gain a better understanding of the human, security, and political risks that are part of this industry. The book specifically reveals the risk that unaccountable mercenaries pose in increasing the threshold for conflict, the threat to traditional military forces, the corruption in political circles, and the rising threat of proxy conflicts in the US rivalry with China and Russia.
The way war is waged is evolving quickly—igniting the rapid rise of private military contractors who offer military-style services as part of their core business model. When private actors take up state security, their incentives are not to end war and conflict but to manage the threat only enough to remain relevant. Arduino unpacks the tradeoffs involved when conflict is increasingly waged by professional outfits that thrive on chaos rather than national armies. This book charts the rise of private military actors from Russia, China, and the Middle East using primary source data, in-person interviews, and field research amongst operations in conflict zones around the world. Individual stories narrated by mercenaries, military trainers, security entrepreneurs, hackers, and drone pilots are used to introduce themes throughout. Arduino concludes by considering today’s trajectories in the deployment of mercenaries by states, corporations, or even terrorist organizations and what it will mean for the future of conflict.
The book follows private security contractors that take on missions in different countries with a variety of challenges. First-hand data and intimate knowledge of the actors involved in the market for force allow a fully grounded narrative with personal input. Through this prism, readers will gain a better understanding of the human, security, and political risks that are part of this industry. The book specifically reveals the risk that unaccountable mercenaries pose in increasing the threshold for conflict, the threat to traditional military forces, the corruption in political circles, and the rising threat of proxy conflicts in the US rivalry with China and Russia.
295 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 15, 2023
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May 2, 2024
Money for Mayhem book
Geez this is really right about on the 3.5 star line. MAYBE 3.75 stars. So, being the first reviewer, I’ll bump it up. (I also note that, contra Goodreads, this comes in a hardback as well as Kindle and ebook, as that’s what I read.)
I came to this book via a recommend, and I think a brief interview on his site, “The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer,” by James Dorsey, who teaches at multiple non-US universities and, on Middle East/North Africa, or MENA, issues, or even more, the “Islamosphere,” thinks a modicum or two outside the Western box, though somewhat less so on Israel. One particular item mentioned in Dorsey’s blurband/or interview was the evolving world of drone warfare, and specifically the mention of Turkey as arguably the leading producer in “mid-level” drones.
We dig in.
On “militia-type groups,” author distinguishes between private military groups, or PMGs (think Wagner) and private security groups or PSGs (China’s current focus). Distinguishes between PMCs and mercenaries full-on, with the basis of that being that a PMC is still under a nation-state’s control more, while yet (theoretically) giving said nation-state some plausible deniability. In the US, the company formerly known as Blackwater was more a PSG, but at times, ventured into PMG work.
Sounds good, but then a stumble.
I realized we were at 4 stars, then maybe at 3, in chapter 3. First, Bellingcat gets cited. Second, Viktor Bout demonized, while the author ignores that, years ago, the US judge who sentenced him thought the sentence was too long, but she was constrained by mandatory minimums. Already before then, I thought Arduino came off as a bit too wired into standard Western Nat-Sec Nutsack™ narratives.
This continues in chapter 4, discussing the Russia-Ukraine war. Russian casualties and “body bags” mentioned; Ukraine’s not. Azov gets mentioned once (not listed in index) and not discussed as being a quasi-private military group itself. Yes, it’s been partially incorporated into the Ukrainian National Guard. But not totally.
Discussion gets better starting with chapter 5. Details of China’s PMC world and how it differs from Russia’s are generally good. Early on in the book, Arduino notes that PMCs are technically illegal in Russia, while PSCs, and to the degree it has PMCs, are both legal in China with China also signing onto international accords on both. Here again, though, little discussion of the West, and whether or not, with China still focused on PSCs, and a population as in decline as Russia’s if not more so, whether the US in general is maybe not over-worried.
Gets better after that discussing Turkey as a leading manufacturer of “mid-level” drones, as noted above. Related to that is Turkey selling the ammo and servicing as well as the drones themselves.
Then discusses how higher-level drones essentially require “service contracts” or similar along with the equipment itself.
Then discusses 3D printing of drones and AI control or partial control of them. And, yes, AI is often overhyped; to a lesser degree, so is 3D printing. But, we shouldn’t ignore them entirely.
Possibility of using old, aging airplanes as aerial drone control centers.
Then comes cyber-mercenaries, along with cyber-PSGs. PMC hostage negotiators moving into ransomware work and negotiation. “Hacking as a Service” subchapter riffing on “Sales as a Service,” obviously.
Mercenaries as cost-effective rather than full time troops, but problematic with time on their hands, also gets mentioned.
Missing also is any discussion of what two other countries may (or may not) be doing in drone warfare: India and North Korea. Also, India, with its still growing population, isn’t mentioned as either a source of potential mercenary troops or a country that could start developing more of its own. That led me to go back to 3 stars on the review.
Geez this is really right about on the 3.5 star line. MAYBE 3.75 stars. So, being the first reviewer, I’ll bump it up. (I also note that, contra Goodreads, this comes in a hardback as well as Kindle and ebook, as that’s what I read.)
I came to this book via a recommend, and I think a brief interview on his site, “The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer,” by James Dorsey, who teaches at multiple non-US universities and, on Middle East/North Africa, or MENA, issues, or even more, the “Islamosphere,” thinks a modicum or two outside the Western box, though somewhat less so on Israel. One particular item mentioned in Dorsey’s blurband/or interview was the evolving world of drone warfare, and specifically the mention of Turkey as arguably the leading producer in “mid-level” drones.
We dig in.
On “militia-type groups,” author distinguishes between private military groups, or PMGs (think Wagner) and private security groups or PSGs (China’s current focus). Distinguishes between PMCs and mercenaries full-on, with the basis of that being that a PMC is still under a nation-state’s control more, while yet (theoretically) giving said nation-state some plausible deniability. In the US, the company formerly known as Blackwater was more a PSG, but at times, ventured into PMG work.
Sounds good, but then a stumble.
I realized we were at 4 stars, then maybe at 3, in chapter 3. First, Bellingcat gets cited. Second, Viktor Bout demonized, while the author ignores that, years ago, the US judge who sentenced him thought the sentence was too long, but she was constrained by mandatory minimums. Already before then, I thought Arduino came off as a bit too wired into standard Western Nat-Sec Nutsack™ narratives.
This continues in chapter 4, discussing the Russia-Ukraine war. Russian casualties and “body bags” mentioned; Ukraine’s not. Azov gets mentioned once (not listed in index) and not discussed as being a quasi-private military group itself. Yes, it’s been partially incorporated into the Ukrainian National Guard. But not totally.
Discussion gets better starting with chapter 5. Details of China’s PMC world and how it differs from Russia’s are generally good. Early on in the book, Arduino notes that PMCs are technically illegal in Russia, while PSCs, and to the degree it has PMCs, are both legal in China with China also signing onto international accords on both. Here again, though, little discussion of the West, and whether or not, with China still focused on PSCs, and a population as in decline as Russia’s if not more so, whether the US in general is maybe not over-worried.
Gets better after that discussing Turkey as a leading manufacturer of “mid-level” drones, as noted above. Related to that is Turkey selling the ammo and servicing as well as the drones themselves.
Then discusses how higher-level drones essentially require “service contracts” or similar along with the equipment itself.
Then discusses 3D printing of drones and AI control or partial control of them. And, yes, AI is often overhyped; to a lesser degree, so is 3D printing. But, we shouldn’t ignore them entirely.
Possibility of using old, aging airplanes as aerial drone control centers.
Then comes cyber-mercenaries, along with cyber-PSGs. PMC hostage negotiators moving into ransomware work and negotiation. “Hacking as a Service” subchapter riffing on “Sales as a Service,” obviously.
Mercenaries as cost-effective rather than full time troops, but problematic with time on their hands, also gets mentioned.
Missing also is any discussion of what two other countries may (or may not) be doing in drone warfare: India and North Korea. Also, India, with its still growing population, isn’t mentioned as either a source of potential mercenary troops or a country that could start developing more of its own. That led me to go back to 3 stars on the review.
Displaying 1 of 1 review