zenpundit.com

THE WEBLOG AWARDS -ZENPUNDIT APPRECIATION

Thanks to your support Zenpundit made a respectable 4th place showing in the 2005 Weblog Awards !

Special thanks to:

Dave Schuler of The Glittering Eye for nominating me.

Dan of tdaxp, Austin Bay, Coming Anarchy, Simon , The ( newly expanded)American Future, Interact, Live from the FDNF, and The Small Wars Council for their active endorsements.

To Dr. Ralph Luker of Cliopatria for the nomination mention.

To blogging and non-blogging personal friends and colleagues Joel, Judy, Larry, Nick, Lara, Tammie, Mike, Allison, Sereen, Julie, Jeff, Jacob H., Bruce Kesler, Geitner Simmons, Nadezhda, Myke Cole, Lt. Brian Anderson, Dr. Clare Spark, Dr. Doug Macdonald, Dr. Judith Klinghoffer, Dr. Von , Dr. Barnett and others who took the time to vote early and often. Your support was very much appreciated by me.

As Cubs fans like to say…wait ’till next year !! :o)

A GORDIAN KNOT OF CHRISTMAS LIGHTS

Decorated the tree this afternoon with the kids who are now finally at an age where they can actually hang more ornaments than they break. Dad here had the usual frustrating Xmas light string experience and while I might have wanted to hack the goddamned tree into small pieces with a broadsword at one point, in the spirit of Christmas I refrained.

Ho ho ho.

RECOMMENDED READING

I have a ” mega-blogging” session scheduled for Sunday as I have some committments today that are going to preclude writing anything weighty but I will try to put a few items up throughout the day. I come out of a U.S.-Soviet diplo history and econ history background and as such, following economic, ideological and intel developments were always critical to trying to understand the big picture.

There are profound, revolutionary, changes going on in the world right now. Globally, it is 1789, 1848 and 1945 rolled into one. I can’t recall a time period, except perhaps from the “ Benning Revolution” to Hiroshima where U.S. military doctrine and structure needed to undergo ( and went through) such a dramatic shift. And I fear I am understating.

Well, with that in mind, here are some things to ponder:

Dr. Von on “ A Step Toward Quantum Computing“. This is a critical breakthrough technology.

Kobayashi Maru on the little known routing of electronic communications in light of the NSA story.

Dr. Lubos Motl on the concept of Sustainability.

The Drs. Eide on the neuroscience of visual media communication. Want to craft a global, universal, message ?

Disturbing news from GlobalSecurity.org that the U.S. military is just starting to fundamentally invest in building and organizing a first-class counterintelligence information system. All I can say here is, WTF ? Better late than never, I suppose.

Ad hoc design is not strategic policy.

That’s it.

THE GLACIAL PACE OF CRISIS DIPLOMACY WITH NORTH KOREA

This short PDF file from The National Security Archive is a good primer for understanding the underlying international dynamics of the nuclear proliferation standoff with North Korea have changed little in three administrations – until, it must be fairly said – George W. Bush came into office.

ANOTHER VIEW OF THE PNM-GLOBAL GUERILLAS DICHOTOMY

There is a brand new blog by an anonymous defense analyst called Opposed System Design that is well worth checking out – so much so that I have blogrolled it already. This post ” DoD 3000 and Global Guerilla Thinking” is a winner:

“Both men are identifying the same dynamics. They just come to the discussion from opposite directions. Robb approaches the discussion from the GG perspective, asking “how can I disrupt this?” Barnett approaches the discussion from the Core (aka good globalization) perspective. His thinking focuses on “how do I keep this going?” Both men recognize that firewalling is not an option. Global Guerillas are a thinking adversary with powerful tactics at their disposal. No attempt to passively armor ourselves will succeed. Resiliency is our goal, not invulnerability.”

YES ! This is a guy who ” gets it”. Dr. Barnett’s systemic perspective is ” constructive” and
” synthesizing” which is why he frequently is described as a ” visionary”. PNM theory is a grand strategy to build something new, in Boydian terms it provides a moral vision to inspire as well as pursue. John Robb’s systemic perspective is ” destructive” and analytical – a tactical and grand tactical approach to break the societal machine into isolated and demoralized components. Here’s more:

“Barnett’s focus on the scale of grand strategy makes him talk about the long-term sustainable solution: shrink the Gap. Resiliency is the near-term tactic we use to survive until the Gap is shrunk and the threat is reduced. Robb’s focus on the tactical level makes him cognizant of the challenge we face in shrinking the Gap. In the near term, we face GGs who are intent on shrinking the Core. More failed states and TAZs mean more and bigger markets for black globalization. Robb recognizes the power of the decentralized networks GG use. Therefore he is critical of Barnett’s focus on bureaucratic reforms (such as DoD 3000) because decentralized networks will always overwhelm sclerotic bureaucatic structures. Furthermore, Robb questions the accuracy of Barnett’s grand vision of global peace through a Fukuyama-esque “end of history.”

Go read the whole thing: