Alessandro Arduino

Topic of the book is very interesting but content is rather difficult to read.

Reasons are multiple.

First too many acronyms (TMA) that sometime get written differently (i.e TMA or TOMA or TMAC) and in general just create mayhem while reading (MWR) because you need to refer to the acronym listing at the beginning of the book (ATBoB) to figure out what is going on.

Second, chapters are repetitive. Author knows the subject and it shows but entire book seems to be collection of papers and show more presentations and not [I am sorry for the use of this word but I do not know how to say it better] well articulated book. For me this was sort of a killjoy.

Third, this is not reading materiel for general readers but for academia and (I assume) professionals in the field. Some of the definitions are as easy to grasp as legal terms in the law-books.

It is clear that author would like to see PSC/PMSC organizations better defined and with legal backing and more sophisticated than they are today. But in my opinion main problem with all private armed organizations is that at the end they come down to group(s) of people that are armed and trained to conduct direct actions and are always under the state control (we have to agree that employing Academi by China without any meddling from US end (either by rejecting the idea or using it as an infiltration option) is impossibility). I mean you can talk about sophisticated drones and aerial surveillance but in the end armed response is armed response - when so called crisis mitigation loses all the magic dust and actual life threatening crisis takes place in the field [after all attempts to mitigate it - and lets be honest, we cannot exclude surprise and unexpected events] what everybody wants to have are familiar faces around them because they can trust them. This brings me to another element which is author's constant push to diversification of personnel - which in my opinion does not make sense.

If PSC/PMSC is hired by client that can destroy it utterly and completely in case they step out of their role (as US and general Western countries can, including chasing everyone around the world, declaring them villains etc) of course that it will be well disciplined whether it employs high level personnel or low level personnel - internal discipline will be maintained. But that same PSC/PMSC when hired by other country (that does not pose the same level of threat to it [PSC/PMSC]) will be more loose in applications of discipline and thus cause additional escalations. This is why foreign PSC/PMSC organizations should then be only seen as sources of knowledge but not as directly involved personnel. Reasons are (a) at the whim of the third party they can be scattered to the winds (say US decides that PSC/PMSC needs to make itself scarce when working with client X), (b) used against the client (covertly or by creating lots of bumps in the road, for same reason as above, and media will always make them heroes for fighting the "evil") and (c) just be unreliable (i.e. packing up and leaving if encountering say paramilitaries backed up by force that can dismantle the respective PSC/PMSC). And lets not forget all the various laws and institutions that apply to "them" but not to "us" (because "we" have immunity and therefore "we" can dismantle this "other" private armed organizations and outlaw them). Growing domestic PSC/PMSC organizations (answerable to the domestic government) is the only way to get to the stable, reliable and professional force. To do anything else in current climate is to expose one's belly to the whims of powers to be and lose private contractors at the first escalation. If this happens with economical measures and blockades are we to expect that foreign PSC/PMSC organizations will willingly do their contractual obligations in spite of their motherland demands? Really?

Also talks about Chinese PSC/PMSC having many former members of China's security and military is such a silly note that I am not sure what is expected - them to be formed by farmers or supermarket CEOs? No PSC/PMSC was ever created by anyone outside security services and military. Anywhere in the world (unless you count bands and brigands in warlord private armies in Golden Triangle or war torn parts of Africa as professionals?).

That being said, level of security China will require is exquisite, terrifying actually, covering everything from land, sea and air forces. This will definitely make them more involved in the given areas (otherwise, entire "New Silk Road" initiative does not make sense) and will open them to harassment and crisis escalation from the other nations - local incidents and turmoil not withstanding, after witnessing events in the last few years it is not so difficult to imagine West (since they are on collision course with China in general and they constantly declare it) creating conflict areas in the Belt Road areas just to cause problems for China.

As current war has shown all private armed organizations are just extensions of their states. They can work with others only with the state blessings and without it they will soon leave their client. To think that master-servant relations have changed from time eternal is to accept stupidity instead of facts. And this is what makes private armed forces dangerous (and why they will never be fully legally defined because their niche is and always will be the gray area). As long PSC/PMSC organizations have to have their base of operations in state territory and their contractors dont start coming from their own fiefdom, but depend on the goodwill of state to allow its veterans to join PSC/PMSC organization, they will be susceptible to pressure and never independent. That is why hiring foreigners can backfire very fast. Only true independent PMSC was South African EO but look at how they ended and how are they seen now - vilified and forced to be disbanded.

Interesting, albeit difficult, read. Recommended to anyone interested in the private armies/security and challenges awaiting China with protecting their investments and Belt Road Initiative. show less

read to complement my update on banking by adding the Sovereign Wealth Funds with something relevant also to my cultural/language learning, while it is the shortest book in my industry update, it is packed with information

this book written in Italian by a citizen living in China contains a (somewhat chaotic) introduction on SWFs and their history, but then it is quite interesting not just the analysis (business and organization) of CIC, but also the history of banking development in China, show more from the Song Dinasty (960-1279) up to current (2008) events

A further value added of the book is a short but clear series of biographies of key people within the banking industry in China (including the CBRC), as well as a short history of the development of the legal framework, mirrored by social developments within the country

suggested joint reading: Het Andere Oosten, from a Dutch journalist living in China https://www.librarything.com/work/4301089/book/79660389 show less