DISPATCHES
FROM THE FRONTLINES OF PEACE
Dispatches
"Instead of looking how different Afghanistan was ..., I tried to look for similarities ..."
(Leaving Theatre, 2014)
Experiences from varying environments provides a basis for comparative insights. Deployments in a few theatres of operations and countries in crisis has provided new perspectives to understanding the real dynamics underlying political, economic and legal institutions. In fact, one has been more surprised by the similarities of how the world works in both more and less stable regions than by the differences. These experiences have informed research on the relationships between politics and corporate law as well:
"My experiences have convinced me that the political environment must be introduced
into qualitative economic and legal models related to
defining and understanding the dynamics of business enterprise"
(Dissertation, 2016).
These "Dispatches" provide commentary based on experiences and observations from past deployments.
Publications
The Political Analyst's Field Guide to Finland (Klaus Ilmonen & Panu Moilanen, eds.): Field Guide to Finland, Jyväskylä University Reports 10/2021
Klaus Ilmonen: Leaving Theatre (2014)
Leaving Theatre - War, Politics and Intelligence on Campaign in Afghanistan (PQR, 2014).
Charly Salonius Pasternak & Klaus Ilmonen: Finland succeeded in Afghanistan (FIIA Comment 15/2019): Suomi onnistui Afganistanissa
Klaus Ilmonen: UNIFIL - Goals and Political Reality (Ulkopolitist, September 2021): UNIFIL - Poliittinen todellisuus
Klaus Ilmonen: Dispatches from the Frontlines of Peace (The "Updates" section includes commentary based on experiences from past deployments): Updates
LEAVING THEATRE -
WAR, POLITICS AND INTELLIGENCE
ON CAMPAIGN IN AFGHANISTAN
"The author provides a personal account behind public rhetoric on the reality of war, politics and intelligence in Afghanistan"
“Complex Attack, Kabul, 15 April 2012”
"One Sunday in mid-April 2012, reports started to come in on our screens from both public media and other sources that insurgents were mounting a series of complex attacks in Kabul. Insurgents had again been able to infiltrate the heavily guarded capital city and had initiated multiple attacks within the city center. Fighters were attacking key government and ISAF-sites possibly with bombs, small arms fire and RPGs from positions inside the city center. There was a firefight outside the parliament building, and the gate guards at some of the central ISAF and embassy compounds were exchanging fire with groups of insurgents. There were reports of casualties, buildings on fire and heavy fighting in key locations in downtown Kabul. The city went into lock-down; bases were closed and people were taking cover in shelters. The insurgents had also mounted simultaneous attacks in three provinces outside the capital causing several casualties. Bombs had gone off, and a governor’s residence was attacked with RPGs."
...
"These attacks were part of the political dialogue in Afghanistan. The attackers had managed to demonstrate that even Kabul was vulnerable, and that they could still conduct coordinated and sophisticated attacks. This was, in my opinion, a message to the political players in Kabul that the insurgents were a constituency that would be a relevant political force in the post-ISAF Afghanistan, and that they were going to be taken seriously in future political dealings. This might even have been an effort to tell the incumbent political decision makers that it was time to talk again. In summary, this was just politics Afghan-style."
