zenpundit.com

Top Billing! MountainRunner –  Principles of Strategic Communication (Updated)  and  A Theory of Strategic Communication: ‘like an orchestra producing harmony’

I suspect that Matt has a strategic communications book in him in the near future. If not, well then he should.

Complexity and Social Networks Blog – Regulating the madness of crowds… and Honest Signals

The second post is about a very intriguing book of the same name.

CTLab (Dr. Charli ) –  Autonomous Weapons and Asymmetric Conflict

A good read.

Presentation Zen – Is education killing creativity?

Garr Reynolds highlights an interview with Sir Ken Robinson

Kent’s Imperative – Glimpses into agent psychology

Odd that KI did not mention the real-life contemporaries of John Le Carre who did so much to shatter the Anglo-American intel community; Kim Philby and the rest of the Cambridge Five.

HNN – Andreas Umland – The Rise of Fascist Rhetoric in Russia

That’s it!

Special Dual Top Billing!!:

CTLab – From the Lake of Fire: Responsible Technology

Tim Stevens invokes Milton, philosophy, physics and the Singularity in discussing the future of cyberspace.

Kotare – The Strategist – A letter to the leaders of small states

How can the few stand against the many ? And thrive? The Strategist explains how.

Now for the best of the rest:

Small Wars Journal – The Manoeuvre Warfare Fraud (Full PDF Article) by Wilf Owen.

Wilf managed to provoke a very robust debate with this jeremiad ( a debate that I regret not having been able to join) against Manuver Warfare generally and concepts articulated by William Lind and John Boyd in particular. In turn, Col. Eric Walters posted a strong rebuttal to Owen at SWJ Blog entitled “Fraud or Fuzziness? Dissecting William Owen’s Critique of Maneuver Warfare” and then entered into a debate/discussion with Owen and other members at the Small Wars Council.

Brad DeLong – Understanding the Three Ways of Dealing with Financial Crises

My personal experience with DeLong was in long past H-Diplo discussions where he impressed me as quite bright and reasonable whether we were on the same side of a question or not. A partisan guy but also a first rate economist. Hat tip to Glittering Eye.

Global Guerillas –  JOURNAL: The Weaknesses of Highly Optimized Systems

John Robb was generally en fuego this week. Analytically speaking, he lives for times like these.

Pundita – North Korea and the Russia Card (UPDATED 12:50 PM ET)

Miss Pundita postulates a tie between North Korean antics and the Russo-Georgian War.  A reasonable possibility for a friendless regime and an irritated Muscovite psuedo-Tsar.

Robert Kagan – “The September 12 Paradigm”

Kagan, in this article for Foreign Affairs,  attempts to define ( or redefine) his times

NewScientist.com – Invention: Muscle Fatigue Blocker

Our future soldiers and athletes will have cocktails of exotic nutriceuticals running through their veins

Pajamas Media – Live From Blogworld: The Political Blogosphere in Transition by Rick Moran

Rick actually lives not too far up the road from me and does a radio show as well as blogging. We had a beer together once, along with Dave Schuler, in an odd little rural roadside bar being encroached upon by creeping suburbia.

Democracy Journal – “Picking a President” by Joseph Nye

On leadership ( registration required)

That’s it!

Top Billing! Presentation Zen – John McCain’s background visuals and Obama delivers speech like a symphony

Garr Reynolds analyzes the visual and staging  atmospherics and structural presentations ( not the content) of the convention acceptance speeches and makes suggestions for improvement.

Wizards of Oz – LHC: Game On!

After the U.S. Congress moronically killed off the half-finished Superconducting Super Collider in the 90’s to save a few billion that they promptly spent filling in the giant tunnel again, the LHC represents the largest experimental step forward in investigating particle physics that we are likely to see for years.

Valdis Krebs –  How do good practices spread and become transformative?

Michael Scheuer – Playing With Fire: Pakistan’s Unintended Strategic Challenge in India’s Homeland

Claremont Institute – There He Goes Again: A Review of The Age of Reagan

Foreign Policy –Seven Questions: Reading the Tea Leaves in Pyongyang

That’s it!

Better late than never. Overwhelmed with papers and projects.

Top Billing! The New Atlanticist Policy and Analysis Blog has been rolled out by The Atlantic Council and features James Joyner as managing editor and Nick Gvosdev of the Naval War College as a contributor. With such talent and strong institutional backing, New Atlanticist could become a force to be reckoned with in the blogosopheric marketplace of ideas.

Hat tip to Dave Schuler.

Global Guerillas – RESILIENT COMMUNITY: Fabrication Networks

Threatswatch.org – Al-Qaeda’s Progression On Pakistan’s Demise

William Lind – On War #273: Defending the Baltics

CTLab Review – Insurgency and Counterinsurgency Franchisees

Interact – Chrome Review

Attention futurists, geeks and gamers: A Superstruct Bonnanza Follows…..

Open The Future – Heads Down, Thumbs Up

Discover – Forecasting the Future May Be a Matter of Fun and Games

Kent’s Imperative – Forecasting through games

Smartmobs – Superstruct: Alternate Reality Gaming Meets Future Forecasting

That’s it!

A long, hot, afternoon doing family-type activities at a suburban “Fest” until the tempers of all were frayed. Here’s the recommended reading:

Top Billing!:  Lexington Green – “Let the media do the dirty work.”

Great call out  by Lex ! While part of me is aghast at McCain’s Veep choice on the same substantive grounds that cause me to argue that Barack Obama is, aside from being a leftist ideologue, totally unqualified to be President, I have to acknowledge that in terms of pure politics, picking Palin was a brilliant move. The reactive frenzy occurring on the Left over Gov. Palin is one of pure, running in circles, panic. So much so that the Lefty bloggers are already libeling Palin’s children – sad, despicable and more than a little sick.

Catholicgauze – “Georgia-Russia War in Cartoon Maps

Cool examples of retro propaganda visuals.

Coming Anarchy –  The Russian Gauntlet is Thrown Down,  To Punish or rehabilitate Russia?, Contemplating Georgia, Part 4, Contemplating Georgia, Part 3, Contemplating Georgia, Part 2, Contemplating Georgia, Part I.

A fine series and related posts on the wider geopolitical implications of the Russo-Georgian War by the gents at Coming Anarchy.

Ideas  – “Who is Against Evolution?”

Libertarian economist David Friedman points out that accepting Darwinian evolution squares poorly with dogmatic acceptance of PC beliefs.

Thomas P.M. Barnett – Still deeply but closely divided

Swedish Meatballs Confidential – Brewskies for a Georgia Downed

Secrecy News – Anxious Governments React to Google Earth

Russia Blog – Russia and the West Are Entering the Danger Zone

Wolf Pangloss –  Appreciating Solzhenitsyn: The 1978 Harvard Graduation Speech

Registan (Foust) – Coming Clean with Imperfect Information

An IO post using often bitterly disputed Afghan casualty figures as a crux of the discussiuon. At times, Josh has been known to rattle cages but the discussion he raises here is an important one to be considered. How should USG spokesmen handle such questions that are rife with uncertainty yet demand fast response and protection of credibility ? Speed, accuracy, message  shaping, credibility and OpSec are variables at odds with one another.

That’s it!