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Jeremy Young, primus inter pares of Progressive Historians , had breakfast with noted military writer, Iraq war critic and professor, Colonel Andrew Bacevich and has a a review of Bacevich’s lecture at Indiana University:

Generally, one doesn’t think of columnists as being engaging speakers, so I was pleasantly surprised when Bacevich proved the exception to the rule. He held forth for about forty-five minutes before a crowd of about 200 people, packed into a room that seated about 75. Bacevich’s main argument was that in the aftermath of 9/11, the administration had developed what he termed the “freedom agenda,” which rested on three assumptions: that American military power was invincible, that the greater Middle East was ripe for transformation, and that it was possible for Americans to instill democracy in the region at a minimal cost. Subsequent events, of course, have proved all three of these assumptions wrong. Today, Bacevich argued, America’s military and foreign policy strategy has failed — and worse, the Bush Administration has no comprehensive, moral strategy to replace it.

….I asked Bacevich what he thought our future defense spending priorities should be. His response was that we should focus on beefing up our navy, and secondarily on maintaining our air superiority, while cutting budgets for the army and marines. For those of you who read this blog, that’s suggesting a combined 2GW/3GW force to meet a 4GW threat — a clear no-no in strategic theory. When one of my fellow grad students pressed Bacevich on the navy question, he admitted to being a Mahanian and said we needed a strong navy to deter pirates!

Read the rest here.

Bacevich has a sense of humor. Multibillion dollar platforms to take out jerry-rigged Somali and Indonesian gunboats manned by illiterate tribesmen?

Jeremy Young, a.k.a. “Nonpartisan“, the founder and editor the respected and popular, left-wing, history group blog, Progressive Historians, had some kind words for me when he was interviewed by Scott McLemee, for an article  for Inside Higher Ed.com:

“I’m a liberal,” Young says. “ZenPundit” (Mark Safranski) is a conservative. So what? His history blog is one of the most best reads on the ‘Net. Whether he’s discussing small wars theory, political history, or Jack Kerouac, he’s unfailingly thorough and offers a unique, insightful perspective on every issue he covers.”

That was darn nice of Jeremy to offer up ( incidentally, Young has an article online over at HNN, “A Historian Against Obama“, arguing that progressive hopes for a Barack Obama administration may be misplaced), particularly in a venue where readers were not likely to have heard of Zenpundit. I think much the same way about visiting Progressive Historians where Young has a stable of  talented contributors, mostly younger scholars, digging into a wide range of historical and political issues and frequently engaging in vigorous debate. Despite my being on the conservative side of the spectrum I’ve never been made to feel anything but welcome in the comments section despite a wide divergence in political and economic views ( very wide, in some instances, as many Progressive Historian bloggers are well to the Left of Young, to say nothing of me).

This is how the blogosphere ought to be more often. Thanks Jeremy, much appreciated!

MEANWHILE…BACK AT THE BLOG

I have a number of posts in the works but professional and personal committments are sharply reducing blogging time. Should have some new posts up either later this evening or early tomorrow. Things should hopefully lighten up around Tuesday.

However, I did help spark a cross-blog conversation on 5GW and generations of war theory between ProgressiveHistorians and Dreaming 5GW. Pundita was also kind enough to feature a few remarks of mine that I sent via email. Check out the discussions.

Finally, congrats to A.E. of Simulated Laughter for being the latest to join the impressive stable of writers that Curtis has given a home to at Dreaming 5GW.

Going offline now….over and out!

BELATED RESPONSE: “8 RANDOM FACTS MEME” GAME

Nonpartisan at ProgressiveHistorians deigned to tag me with this viral post while I was away. Here are the rules:

“Players start with 8 random facts about themselves.

Players should tag 8 other people and notify them they have been tagged“

Now for the random facts regarding me:

8. I’ll drive many extra miles for a good Italian beef sandwich with hot peppers.

7. I’m a crack shot with a rifle; pretty fair with a pistol. Poor with a shotgun.

6. My first car as a teenager – a 1979 Chrysler Cordoba with ” real Corinthian leather” – had an engine that sporadically caught fire. Red tape served as a brake light cover.

5. I now have two dogs after long vowing to never have any. One of them is a furry jerk, but my Firstborn loves the dog, so we’ve kept it.

4. I once had a conversation with William Rehnquist about the French Revolution.

3. Came close to meeting Mikhail Gorbachev once but too many people were milling about. He’s shorter than you expect.

2. You know that line that runs across the width of your palm ? The one that fortune tellers read? I ripped that open back in college while deadlifting 500 lbs for the first time.

1. I sing like a cross between a tomcat and a dying whale.

I officially tag the following bloggers:

CKR
Younghusband
Dave
eerie
Lexington Green
Subadei
Kobayashi Maru
Dr. Dan

Good luck!

THINKING BLOGGER AWARD

Nonpartisan, the genteel founder of ProgressiveHistorians, was kind enough to “tag” me, along with four others, with the ” Thinking Blogger Award“. I thank NP for his gracious nomination, all the more pleasant as it comes from across the political aisle. I’ve always felt very welcome joining in the discussion over at ProgressiveHistorians and that kind of civility and serious intellectual engagement is a quality that far, far, bigger bloggers could emulate more often.

With the award comes the solemn responsibility to pass the torch to five new nominees., according to the hallowed rules as handed down by the thinking blog:

“1. If, and only if, you get tagged, write a post with links to 5 blogs that make you think

2. Link to this post so that people can easily find the exact origin of the meme

3. Optional: Proudly display the ‘Thinking Blogger Award’ with a link to the post that you wrote (here is an alternative silver version if gold doesn’t fit your blog).”

I gave the matter some serious thought. There are a number of blogs within my ” koinon“, certainly more than five, who make think on a regular basis and are duly rewarded with frequent links and commentary. A number of these bloggers have become my friends, yea, even unto the real world. Aside from not wishing to have to choose amongst friends, I would like to use this opportunity to highlight some blogs outside of the political-historical-foreign affairs-military-intel genre that figures so heavily here. It’s a little more objective too as I have no personal connection to the following nominees beyond reading their posts and leaving the occasional comment:

FIVE BLOGS THAT MAKE ME THINK:

5. Edge Perspectives With John Hagel: Hagel is not a frequent poster but each of his essays are strategically thought out, imply numerous ramifications across domains and are amply linked and sourced. A blog that will put you ahead of the curve.

4. Complexity and Social Networks Blog: This Harvard University-based group blog inhabits the zone between pure academia and making the discussions of networks and complex systems accessible to all intelligent and interested laymen.

3. Ideas: Professor David Friedman, who authors heroic fantasy novels and plays World of Warcraft in his spare time, is “an academic economist who teaches at a law school and has never taken a course for credit in either field”. He’s also a libertarian. Needless to say, the posts at Ideas have a certain quirkiness of perspective.

2. Milt’s File: University of Chicago professor and longtime ( I think since the late 1960’s) host of Chicago’s Extension 720 AM radio program, Dr. Milt Rosenberg’s blog. As a blogger, Milt is a linker but you can listen to him as a thinker online by tuning in to his nightly broadcast at his WGN site. A Chicago institution.

1. The Eide Neurolearning Blog: Drs. Fernette and Brock Eide deal in the meta-analysis of peer-reviewed research where most bloggers are offering mere speculation and they back that analysis with insights from their own research and experience as physicians. Expert blogging at its best!

Congratulations to the winners!