Recommended Reading
Top Billing! Chirol -“Deterrence and Missile Shield“
Great combo of history, theory and contemporary analysis by Chirol. Well done!
Thomas P.M. Barnett -“Wrong choice on missile defense v. NATO expansion”
Tom weighs in as grand strategist and finds that NATO expansion beats missile defense in Eastern Europe in terms of national interests.
Jeremy Young -“The AHA Should Aid Bloggers, Not Control Them“
Aside from the history aspect, Jeremy’s excellent post illustrates how large, established, professional organizations are plagued with legacy thinking as they struggle to retain ” gatekeeper” status in the advent of Web 2.0. Sound recommendations on Young’s part.
Eide Neurolearning Blog – “Fluid Reasoning from the Right Brain: Children vs. Adults”
More research on the development of analogical/metaphorical reasoning – a critical spark plug for the generation of insights.
No Quarter -“The Chicago Three: Obama, Ayers & Rezko”
Sure, Larry Johnson supports Hillary Clinton but there are few figures on the Democratic Left are more morally questionable than unrepentant Weatherman Underground terrorist – and longtime Obama friend and political backer – Bill Ayers. What was the attraction for Obama to keep counsel with a radically anti-American nut, exactly ?
Given that the Clintons exited the White House with a bushel of free pass pardons to unrepentant and (unlike Ayers) still dangerous FALN members against DOJ and FBI recommendations, a more appropriate question would be to ask why the Left-wing of the Democratic Party has a “terrorist problem”? Why does the undemocratic Left get it’s phone calls returned by liberal Democratic pols like Obama, Clinton, Luis Guiterrez and others?
DNI – “The Art of Non-learning in the Real World”
Boyd associate Chuck Spinney analyzes the Bush administration in light of grand strategy and history.
That’s it.
April 20th, 2008 at 6:46 pm
Appreciate the link. After a long pause, I’m back in the game.
April 20th, 2008 at 7:53 pm
[…] Chuck Spinney reflects on the grand strategic failures of the Bush prosecution of the War on Terror. Hat tip: Mark Safranski […]
April 21st, 2008 at 12:29 am
You ask: What was the attraction for Obama to keep counsel with a radically anti-American nut, exactly ?
The nut was his neighbor if I’m not mistaken. Could be a example of tolerance and good character, his ability to get along with others whose views he does not share. These are qualities I’d want to see in a President. (And, don’t forget, Clinton’s husband pardoned several Weatherman, seems a bit worse than keeping good neighbors with a local nut.)
April 21st, 2008 at 3:20 am
Hi Diodotus,
Clinton criticism of Obama on this score is cynical and hypocritical, no argument. The underlying issue remains, however.
Let’s say, hypothetically, that John McCain has a neigbor who happens to be a former Grand Wizard in the Ku Klux Klan and that this neighbor still holds Klan-like views regarding black Americans, Jews and so on but McCain maintains the friendship and even allows the neighbor to work on his campaigns for office.
Evidence of tolerance and good character or of poor judgment at best, sympathy for such views at worst ?
April 21st, 2008 at 2:21 pm
"a more appropriate question would be to ask why the Left-wing of the Democratic Party has a “terrorist problem”?"
Isn’t this a bit overdramatic? According to the Wiki, Ayers turned himself in in 1981, went on to acquire several advanced degress, and has written several books and participated in many public panels and symposia. He’s been active in local community and philanthropic activities. He has an active blog, for goodness sake. This man is not some public menace due to his actions 40 years ago.
Maybe we should talk about Luis Posada Carriles and why the US government is protecting a known airplane bomber from extradition to face court charges of his terrorist-related actions. Or is "anti-Castro" terrorism okay for the Republican party, much like "anti-Sandinista" terrorism was okay in the 1980s?
April 21st, 2008 at 3:14 pm
Hi Jason,
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I agree with you that Ayers is both a smart man and no longer a threat, having become sort of a bourgeois academic radical in his middle age. His views remain, however, substantively much the same as he outlined in his memoir – the man is not a small "d" democrat and neither is Bernadine Dohrn who has recast her public image without recanting her views.
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Some ( certainly not all) segments of the Democratic Left, and this would seem to include Obama, have an unusual tolerance for very authoritarian Left ideologues that is highly inconsistent with the values of liberalism or of the Democratic Party. Far more tolerance than they show for conservatives or Republicans who actually share the same democratic Constitutional premises as do Democrats and liberals.
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As to your questions: Anti-Castro terrorism isn’t ok and the proper move would be to prosecute Carriles here since a fair trial is impossible in Cuba. Support for the Contras otoh, was justifiable given the efforts of Managua to support the FMLN in neighboring El Salvador and ally with the Soviet Union. They weren’t peaceful non-interventonist Leftists but players on the other side of the Cold War.