zenpundit.com

FOURTH OF JULY PRESIDENTIAL GUEST BLOGGING

Thomas Jefferson, Spring of 1776:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new guards for their future security “

Abraham Lincoln. July 4, 1863:

“ Fellow-citizens: I am very glad to see you to-night. But yet I will not say I thank you for this call. But I do most sincerely thank Almighty God for the occasion on which you have called. How long ago is it? Eighty odd years since, upon the Fourth day of July, for the first time in the world, a union body of representatives was assembled to declare as a self-evident truth that all men were created equal.

That was the birthday of the United States of America. Since then the fourth day of July has had several very peculiar recognitions. The two most distinguished men who framed and supported that paper, including the particular declaration I have mentioned, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, the one having framed it, and the other sustained it most ably in debate, the only two of the fifty-five or fifty-six who signed it, I believe, who were ever President of the United States, precisely fifty years after they put their hands to that paper it pleased the Almighty God to take away from this stage of action on the Fourth of July. This extraordinary coincidence we can understand to be a dispensation of the Almighty Ruler of Events.

Recent events bring up certain names, gallantly prominent, but I do not want to particularly name them at the expense of others, who are as justly entitled to our gratitude as they. I therefore do not upon this occasion name a single man. And now I have said about as much as I ought to say in this impromptu manner, and if you please, I’ll take the music.”


Zenpundit would like to wish everyone a safe and Happy Fourth of July !

ADDENDUM: Dave at The Glittering Eye has some more on Jefferson and the Fourth…

HNN on the Fourth…

ANNOUNCING H-DEMOCRACY

For those of you readers interested in the policy of democracy promotion, H-Net the highly regarded academic listserv has created H-Democracy to promote scholarly discussion and debate. The discussions are moderated and while posts are not formal papers and list members do not require a Ph.d , the posts have to meet H-Net’s general guidelines for tone and content.

CORRUPTION AS A STRATEGIC VARIABLE IN THE TERROR WAR

A PROTOTYPE DIAGRAM FOR DISCUSSION

The Cold War was pleasantly simple, even when the Communist bloc split and France and the Nonaligned Movement were being obnoxious, the strategic variables were relatively few and were easily recognizable. Risk assessment for U.S. policy makers was an easier task as was communicating the stakes to the general public.

But today, while strategic challenges do not rise to the magnitude of avoiding WWIII they are more complex, interrelated and self-reinforcing.

There is a tendency to see corruption and organized crime strictly in national and law enforcement terms. Due to the tendency for modest levels of corruption to make otherwise inefficient statist economies of various autocratic regimes more humane and responsive, corruption as a strategic phenomenon tends to be overlooked, particularly in times of peace. It is a transaction cost of doing business in not-quite market, not so transparent states. In times of war, the scale of corruption assumes the position of a strategic variable for American policy makers.

There is a remarkable overlap between lists of most corrupt states and those countries considered candidates for State failure on Foreign Policy’s Failed States Index ( subscription required). Those states whose economies appear to be wholly reliant upon oil production, incidentally, seem to be the most corrupt regardless of ethnicity or culture.

Corruption is a connecting variable that links otherwise unrelated networks and, unfortunately, can create a commonality of interests against U.S. policy. It figured decisively in PNM theory discussions about ” Implicit Villains“ in the Core states, to use the phrase of TM Lutas and there relationship with authoritarian “ Gatekeeper” elites in the Gap states like Saddam’s Iraq, Iran’s clerical regime or Zimbabwe’s thuggish dictatorship. Corruption undermines both explicit and implicit Rule-Sets and puts globalization itself at risk by making some New Core/Seam states agents of infection rather than healthy new additions to the Core. What Rule-sets get adopted and actually enforced in economically transitioning great power states like Russia and China matters a great deal.

And in this environmental geoeconomic context, the United States is at war with a transnational Islamist insurgency that draws upon a much larger socio-political extremist movement that numbers in the millions and possesses no central ideological authority or command hierarchy.

So I’m looking for comments on both the representational diagram, does it show an accurate ” correlation of forces” in the strategic situation ? What important variables are missing ? Are my premises here questionable ?

Have at it !

BLOGGING FUEL

Blogging was light yesterday as I had social engagements that included getting together with physicist-blogger-educational innovator Dr. Von who had a very interesting rap on the potential resilience of networks under attack and the expendability of supposedly irreplaceable nodes. I’m hoping he blogs on this topic soon as my recall as to his key points are hampered by the flow of Guinness and Captain Morgan going on at the time.

I have a couple of book reviews in the works, one of which I will try to post later today.

I’m also disturbed to read that Nathan at Registan is having severe difficulties with a boss who appears to be trying to convert the non-profit organization they both work for into a vehicle for Scientology indoctrination. If anyone has the legal expertise to give Nathan advice for this situation or an inclination to hit his tip jar, I’m sure it will be much appreciated. I’m no attorney but it sounds like the potential for a humdinger of a lawsuit exists. ( Hat tip Coming Anarchy)

RECOMMENDED READING

John Robb at Global Guerillas describes “Internet Seminars for Guerillas“.

riting on the wall ( with a new look) on the Iranian election.

Colonel Austin Bay, back from Afghanistan, on ” Why the Long War Must be Won“.

That’s it.