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+--- Thread: CCD merc economy jumps last legal hurdle (/thread-190.html)
- Ascendancy - 07-06-2013
The Ascendancy formalizes law which allows the energy industry to maintain extensive armed security forces. This reflects a steady rollback of previous efforts to cut down on the proliferation of private security forces, but may also reflects promising interest in moving into the global private military services industry.
The 2030's saw a massive expansion in the private security sector as well as the emergence of virtual corporate armies. However, since the CCD rise to power, there has been a steady campaign to consolidate and control the non-state security sector. The private security industry, which is worth over $20 billion a year, has far fewer rights to use lethal weapons, while corporate protection services are similarly limited.
However, the energy sector, it should be noted, has traditionally had greater leeway in the CCD, reflecting both its power within the political system and also its need to secure facilities and pipelines which are often remote and sometimes in volatile regions. In 2032, Kremlin-owned companies were allowed to issue lethal weapons to their security personnel. However, the new law will free them of final constraints, including on the scale and use of lethal weaponry to nearly match that of the Armed Forces.
This follows a pattern of a gradual return to the militarization of the economy. Now, the Ascendancy indicates that his government is reversing its previous policy and supports the creation of CCD private military companies — mercenary organizations — as “a way of implementing imperial interests without the direct involvement of the government.”