A 4GW FESTIVAL OF RECOMMENDED READING
A hot topic, broadly defined, in the blogosphere these past few days.
Fabius Maximus at DNI has offered up some geopolitical predictions. An interesting piece – I found myself both nodding in agreement as well as disagreeing throughout. Fabius has a nice spread of geographic regions and topics in a relatively brief article.
LTC Dr. Thomas P. Odom has a great article in the new edition of The Small Wars Journal entitled “Guerrillas From the Mist: A Defense Attaché Watches the Rwandan Patriotic Front Transform from Insurgent to Counter Insurgent. Dr. Odom is not only an interesting writer and sharp debater, as the article shows, he’s put his boots in some of the world’s more hellish places.
The Grand Strategist reaches out to the Global Guerilla and the Global Guerilla reaches back.
Speaking of which….
John Robb had a strategic assessment of the terrorist bombing in Mumbai. Then, Lexington Green of Chicago Boyz disputed Robb’s interpretation, essentially pointing to the Strategic Bombing Survey that, as in the case of the Third Reich, a system’s resiliency is too easily underestimated. Then Tom Barnett weighed in, arguing that while Robb is correct that terrorists are pursuing “systempunkt” in the end “Terrorism is a strategy of the weak, and it earns them only what the powerful decide they no longer want.” I tend to agree; 4GW movements that remain locked into a 4GW mindset degenerate into nihilism, unless they can make the cognitive jump to becoming a constructive force that articulates what Colonel John Boyd called a “ theme for vitality and growth“.
Finally, to blow my own horn, the thread at the Small Wars Council, Theory & Practice , that became a guest post at the invitation of Bruce Kesler at Democracy Project, was placed by Eddie of Live From the FDNF at Mudville Gazette and picked up, again courtesy of Mr. Kesler, by Military.com. Nice !
Evidently, asking a question and getting the hell out of the way while smart folks respond is a good blogging strategy for me. Much thanks to Bruce as well as to Dave Dilegge and Eddie. A team effort from start to finish !
That’s it!
UPDATE:
John Robb offers rebuttal and clarification to Lex and Tom
