Modern Adventurers in War Zones; war correspondents and mercenaries

[johndallman]

Originally Posted by Icelander

Does anyone else that isn't a cinematic organisation looking for henchmen hire such people? What kind of army, PMC or other organisation has psychological screening loose enough so that someone with the right skills, but the wrong Disadvantages for most organisations that have to function in a civilised society, could get through?

I suspect that the work is mostly short-term freelancing. For an example of a group of such people, pulled together in a hurry, and less competent than they believe themselves to be, see Christopher Brookmyre's novel One Fine Day in the Middle of the Night. It's dark grey comedy, but it feels pretty plausible in its characterisations.

[Sword-dancer]

Local Guys, Nepali with Nasty Knives for example or other third world Country, Cooks, Laundry...

NGOs,

You will also find a few german Reporters,

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by Sword-dancer

Local Guys, Nepali with Nasty Knives for example or other third world Country, Cooks, Laundry...

I found a lot of information about TCNs working for PMCs and PSCs, mostly in service roles, but also as security professionals. What I did not find is information on less-respectable PMC/PSC that would do work for criminal organisations.

If an Afghan poppy grower wants to travel abroad, say to the UAE, for example, but still wants his personal security to be extensive, experienced and armed with fully-automatic weapons, can he hire anyone for that?

Are there real-world Private Security Companies that work for criminals and would be persuaded to turn a blind eye to their criminal activities?

Those are the kinds of companies my entirely-innocent-NPCs need to be recruiting their personal security from. And I'm wondering if they really exist or not.

Originally Posted by Sword-dancer

NGOs,

That's an interesting idea. What are the effects on NGOs when the United States Forces - Iraq leave?

What are NGOs mostly doing in Iraq?

Who oversees their work?

If one happened to be, for example, a front for antiquities thievery, smuggling and even less savoury things, who would find out and how?

Originally Posted by Sword-dancer

You will also find a few german Reporters,

What about Polish? Would there be any Polish-language news organisations buying articles from Iraq?

Or French? Aside from AFP, which news organisations are most likely to buy articles in French on Iraq?

[vicky_molokh]

Originally Posted by Icelander

Or French? Aside from AFP, which news organisations are most likely to buy articles in French on Iraq?

I thought French is reasonably common as a third or even second language in the near-Arabic world. That might indicate people can just happen to know Broken/Accented French.

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by vicky_molokh

I thought French is reasonably common as a third or even second language in the near-Arabic world. That might indicate people can just happen to know Broken/Accented French.

Just so.

On the other hand, I don't know French even at Broken, so I don't know the names of any news organisations other than AFP to drop as someone who has bought stories from a freelancer NPC.*

So I need to know what French newspapers, magazines and other publications would be likely to buy articles and publish them from a freelancer in Iraq. Who does their own foreign reporting these days?

Most news organisations just repost, translating if necessary, stuff that other media has already reported. This applies especially with foreign news. It's only the biggest and most image-conscious news outlets that would even consider the outlay that it involved with gathering their own news from foreign locations.

Which news organisations are these, in the French-speaking world?

I know Icelandic and English-speaking media well enough to be plausible when inventing stuff about them, but I don't know anything about French media.

*When the PCs have his background investigated, perhaps, because they are skeptical that he is just a journalist.

[acrosome]

Originally Posted by Icelander

Just so.

On the other hand, I don't know French even at Broken, so I don't know the names of any news organisations other than AFP to drop as someone who has bought stories from a freelancer NPC.*

So I need to know what French newspapers, magazines and other publications would be likely to buy articles and publish them from a freelancer in Iraq. Who does their own foreign reporting these days?
[/SIZE]

Agence France Presse

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by acrosome

Agence France Presse

How viable is it to write feature articles of substantial length for them? I mean, obviously the character in question will send in as often as he can some short and concise news reports meant to be distributed through many individual media outlets, but he'd also like to be able to write the occasional human interest, investigative or analytic piece.

I've found that Le Monde and Le Point have been buying articles from war correspondents in Iraq. Interestingly, a real journalist from Poland had several articles published in Le Monde, which suggests that my fictional French-speaking Polish journalist will do the same.

[Sword-dancer]

Originally Posted by Icelander

Are there real-world Private Security Companies that work for criminals and would be persuaded to turn a blind eye to their criminal activities??

would somebody to surprised if Blackwater did it or members of the US Forces.

Wasn´t that that the case with drug smuggling in Nam?

That's an interesting idea. What are the effects on NGOs when the United States Forces - Iraq leave?

What are NGOs mostly doing in Iraq?

Who oversees their work?

http://council.smallwarsjournal.com/

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by Sword-dancer

would somebody to surprised if Blackwater did it or members of the US Forces.

Wasn´t that that the case with drug smuggling in Nam?

There's no such thing as Blackwater at the time the game is set, in 2011. And Academi, the successor company, doesn't really have much of a presence in Iraq at that time, either.

The United States Forces - Iraq are leaving and the security for the State Department is mostly done by Triple Canopy.

And, yes, it would be a considerable surprise if serving members of the armed forces of any Western country contrived to be absent from their duties while on deployment in a war zone, for months, while they served as the private mercenaries of a criminal organisation.

Any high-profile PMC or PSC is also subject to far too much oversight for that to be plausible. If a shooting incident involving a couple of employees can cause an international incident, it's pretty clear that it's not possible for such companies to conceal the existence of a dozen or more employees who openly commit hundreds of crimes over a period of months, without it becoming the sort of scandal that leads to corporate ruin.

I did find an interesting publication SALW and Private Security Companies in South Eastern Europe: A Cause or Effect of Instability, which suggests that Bulgarian and Serbian PSC might be able to do that sort of thing on an international scale and that Albanian, Bosnian, Moldovan and companies from several other countries could do it inside their own borders.

I'll continue looking, see which other countries in the world have poor regulation over their PSC or PMC sector and where connections to organised crime might plausibly exist.

Originally Posted by Sword-dancer

http://council.smallwarsjournal.com/

Thank you. That's great.

[Sword-dancer]

Originally Posted by Icelander

There's no such thing as Blackwater at the time the game is set, in 2011.

that was meant as an metaphoric example.