Two TED Talks: Stavridis and van Uhm
[ by Charles Cameron — talking across the military / civilian divide ]
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Adm. Stavridis' rheostat
I thought these two TED talks — one given in Amsterdam by Gen. Petrus J.M. “Peter” van Uhm, current Chief of the Netherlands Defence Staff, the other by Adm. James Stavridis, current Commander, U.S. European Command (USEUCOM) and NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) — were interesting in terms of the speaker-audience combination in each case, and the topics the two speakers chose to present.
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First, Adm. Stavridis, speaking to A Navy Admiral’s thoughts on global security:
I’m particularly intrigued by the sub vs raft image, and by the admiral’s hard and soft power rheostat (image above) — I hope we’ll get to discuss that image.
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Then Gen. van Uhm, speaking to Why I chose a gun:
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Stavridis is the guy who says:
We are excellent at launching Tomahawk missiles … we need to get better at launching ideas.
and told his audience at National Defense University convocation:
in the end, 21st-century security is about brain on-brain warfare.
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There’s some interesting bridge-building going on here — from military speakers to civilian audiences. I welcome your comments.
July 27th, 2012 at 8:36 pm
Hi Charles,
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The US Navy could use more flag officers like Stavridis. Thanks for sharing.
July 28th, 2012 at 1:10 pm
Interesting talk by Admiral Stavridis, all about a galaxy of threats and countering them with new thinking. To just take one example the trade in narcotics / drugs to supply demand in the USA. Yes some supply is intercepted and he used a picture of a semi-submersible; when the bulk of cocaine arrives by commercial air traffic.
For once some good points in the comments that followed, notably about Wikileaks.