186 Journal of the Spanish Institute for Strategic Studies Núm. 13 / 2019 Terrorism and the multiplications of the crisis it provokes are presented as “logical” phenomena of economic, trade and financial globalisation6, insofar as illegal activities are adopted and internationalised at the same (or higher) speed as legal activities. In the Sahel, crime syndicates, drug cartels, failed states and terrorist groups interact, show-casing a perfect adjustment of economic terror politics to global economic politics. Warriors and the postmodern fighting ground Today the proxy wars of former times are being forced to adapt to greater relation-al complexity, a phase of postmodernity that Baumann calls the “interregnum”7 and which is characterised by the growing mutual dependence between the “old” and the “new” global powers. These procurement wars of postmodernity, according to the World Economic Forum8, take on an interstate character9 and are played out in grey areas where mutual dependence is structurally asymmetrical, because this is where they can minimise their effects and reap all the benefits. Today, no-one wants colonies or dominions; competition is for the control of primary resources and supply chains: global balances are determined by the control of cross-connections10. 6 LABÉVIÈRE, Richard. Terrorisme, face cachée de la mondialisation. Paris: Pierre-Guillaume de Roux, 2016. 7 BAUMANN, Zygmund. “Times of Interregnum”, Ethics and Global Politic, vol.5, n.1, 2012, pp.49-56. Available at: https://doi.org/10.3402/egp.v5i1.17200 (consulted on: 2 May 2018). 8 WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM. “International Conflict Top List of Global Risks in 2015”, 15 January 2015. Available at: https://goo.gl/bwSZoM (consulted on: 4 May 2018). 9 Such as those that take place in Ukraine (see MOTYL, Alexander. “Time for a hybrid warfare against Russia”, World Affairs, 25 November 2014. Available at: https://goo.gl/rnS6LE (consulted on: 2 May 2018) or in Syria (see ABUKHAIL, Assad. “The 8 proxy wars going on in Syria right now”, The Huffington Post, 24 November 2014. Available at: https://goo.gl/TPJfAf (consulted on: 13 February 2018). 10 A logic which is apparent both in Ukraine and in the Middle East (with the Syria-Iran axis or between Russia, Iran and India; the tensión in Xinyang because of its eagerness to link up to supply chains; the independance of Kurdistan, or the project of the Afghan oil pipeline that was supposed to connect Turkmenistan to India). The list continues in Albania and Kosovo, which today is a crossroads for jihadism in the vicinity of the TAP (Trans Adriatic Pipeline) which will carry oil from Azerbaijan to the European border (consulted: 2 May 2018, available at: https://goo.gl/JcQUkx), or the prospering of ISIS on the border between Myanmar and China (in the region of Rakhine, where the Islamic minority of the Rohingya ethnic group lives), the site of the oil pipeline that will ensure an alternative connection between the China and Middle Eastern oil via the port of Kyaukpyu. The same logic is repeated in the Sahel with the oil pipeline that runs from Nigeria to Morocco bypassing Algeria (consulted: 2 May 2018, available at: https://goo.gl/GTjVXh) or the one trying to connect South Sudan with Kenya: the “terrorist” threat has reawakened in Algeria, and Al Shaabab is setting its sights on the Chinese “highway” that reaches out of South Sudan, joining up the conflicting interests of the multinational companies Tullow (UK) and Total (French) in Kenya and Uganda. Available at: https:// www.pandorarivista.it/articoli/petrolio-rinnovabili-africa-orientale/ (consulted on: 2 May 2018). Revista del Instituto Español de Estudios Estratégicos n.º 13 - Año: 2019 - Págs.: 181 a 212
Revista_IEEE_13
To see the actual publication please follow the link above