There was a small black shape with a swastica on it. “The Fatherland,” he said, beaming.

He pointed to a small green area. “Great Britain…of course you know we’re at war with them.”

His hand swept to one side of the map, over a large blue area. “That’s North America.”

Her eyes grew large. “We’re fighting them too?” she asked.

The general gave a knowing nod, enjoying her awe, then made a broad gesture to a huge red area on the other side of the map. “And that’s the Soviet Union. We’re at war with them now as well.”

The woman studied the map silently for a moment, her gaze going from tiny Germany to the colossal regions he’d indicated, her brow furling with increasing concern. Finally she shook her head in disbelief. “You must show this map to the Fuhrer right away!”

I’ve always been disturbed by the idea of private military contractors–mercenaries. They remind me of lawyers, arms merchants, and public relations firms, they’ll fight for either side. Mercenary forces have been around for a long time (the ancient Greeks used them and they were common in medieval and renaissance warfare) and they have had a huge influence on history, not usually a benign one.

But I suspect in a world of vast multinational corporations, the declining influence of the nation-state, and an obsession with “security”, we may be seeing a new form of international institution arising: the armed corporate state. And like all private organizations with no political or ideological commitments, the need to stay in business will eventually migrate them from participating in conflicts to provoking them.

Places like Africa, with their endless conflicts, are a goldmine for outfits like this, and their own survival and prosperity does not provide any incentive for private armies to disband quietly after establishing a peace. They act as a fomenter of further conflict not only through direct participation, but also by establishing and training local forces (even a small mercenary presence can set in motion a lot of violence without getting its hands dirty in actual combat).

There are also dirty little wars were major governments prefer to prosecute through proxies, and quasi-mercenary forces. There were several European countries besides France who had Foreign Legions, (the “foreign” refers to the nationality of the legionnaires, not their overseas assignment). They are military forces which can be committed to difficult missions without the nation risking any of its own citizens.

Its easy to romanticize these people, or admire them for their competence, but they are not nice folks at all, they are brutal conscienceless killers for hire.

Reasons they lost are numerous. Offhand, I think Hitlers meddling in military strategy may have balanced out the natural conservatism of the military. The blind pig theory, he may have won them European domination early on, but he bungled badly in the Russian campaign. He should have taken Moscow when he had the opportunity, he should have passed up Stalingrad in favor of the Caucasus oil.

Atrocities against the Russian civilians cost them the role of liberator from the hated Stalin.

Better diplomacy might have won them an early truce with Britain and better coordination with Japan could have pinned Russian reserves in Siberia.

Executive Outcomes initially trained and later fought on behalf of the Angolan government against UNITA after UNITA refused to accept the election results in 1992, Assuming the Cubans support the Angolan government, I suppose they fought along side the Cubans, or at least for the same cause.

In their 9 year existence EO fought in Angola and Sierra Leon at the invitation of the “legitimate” government with phenomenal effectiveness until ordered out by the respective governments, under pressure from the UN/international community. Situations always deteriorated after their departure.

P.S. I had no idea that PMC’s play such a giant role in Afghanistan.

The 2009 surge of 30,000 extra U.S. troops into Afghanistan may have been accompanied by a surge of “26,000 to 56,000″ contractors. This would expand the presence of personnel from the U.S. private sector in Afghanistan “to anywhere from 130,000 to 160,000″.

The PMC’s we have employed, have nothing like the performance record of EO.

The spice must flow.