2007 BOYD CONFERENCE
Excellent! Thanks to the kind offices of Dr. Chet Richards, I’ll be attending the Boyd Conference come July. Looks to be a stellar program of presenters on the ideas of Colonel John Boyd and 4GW theory, from whom I expect to learn a great deal.
RECOMMENDED READING
Starting off as an ” on the ground” edition.
Top Billing!: Steve DeAngelis blogs from Kurdistan “An Overview of Kurdistan ” and “Resilience in Kurdistan“. Steve’s observations of ” the other Iraq” mesh well with similar firsthand reports from Chirol who recently spent an extended time in Northeastern Turkey, Iraqi Kurdistan and the Caucasus ( yea, verily, up to the very border of Iran).
SWJ Blog has LTC. Dave Kilcullen on “Religion and Insurgency” and Bing West’s response “A Quick Note on Religion and Insurgency” ( Note: West is a former Reagan administration Assist. SecDef and correspondent for The Atlantic Monthly, recently returned from Iraq. Dr. Kilcullen is a State Department official, Australian counterinsurgency expert and an adviser to General Petraeus).
Also from SWJ Blog, blogfriend Josh Manchester (formerly of “The Adventures of Chester” and TCS) has his first post up “The Strategic Corporal vs. The Strategic Cameraman“.
Fabius Maximus at DNI has started a new series “What if bin Laden were smart, like Dr. No or Ernest Blofeld? or 28 Articles: a guide to a successful insurgency against America“
It’s not so much that Bin Laden is a dope, clearly he isn’t; it’s that he and his insular cohorts have no real grasp on America, beyond what they read on the internet and get from American Islamists in al Qaida ( who converted because they were alientated and rootless individuals, seeking a lodestone by which to organize their lives). Bin Laden understands the U.S. almost as poorly as Bush officials understand intra-Islamic divisions.
Nezavisimaya Gazeta – “Russia: anti-Americanism stake might fail“
That’s it !
SINISTER WISDOM
Carl Schmitt was one of those brilliant German intellectuals who, in the anti-democratic traditions of elite European authoritarianism and illiberalism, lent their prestige and moral authority to Fascism. Like his contemporary, the philosopher Martin Heidegger, Schmitt became an enthusiastic Nazi and an academic bully. Unlike Heidegger, who in his malice or dotage fellated the radical New Left, Schmitt never recanted his National Socialist past.
That being said, Schmitt’s deep learning and insights about the state, the struggle for power and war should not be ignored lightly because of his wicked politics any more than we should eschew learning from the writings of Mao ZeDong, Franz Fanon or Sayyid Qtub. Only a fool ignores the ideas of the enemy.
With that caveat, I recommend Schmitt’s “ The Theory of The Partisan“.
A major hat tip to my friend and fellow blogger Marc Schulman who I suspect unearthed this link in his own research into Alexandre Kojeve.
CURRENTLY READING…
Ok, just started the first chapter in each, so I have little to say – but here they are!
They have reinvigorated my interest in a currently moribund collaborative project with Dr.Von (hmmm…his blog seems a touch moribund as well- political office must be eating up all his time LOL!) Perhaps, if I can get some serious momentum going on it this summer, he’ll hop back on the bandwagon.
IT’S A RARE AUTHOR OF MIL BOOKS WHO CAN BRING THOMAS BARNETT AND WILLIAM LIND TOGETHER
John succeeded though, garnering thoughtful reviews of Brave New War from Dr. Barnett and ” The Father of Fourth Generation Warfare”, William Lind, both of whom lauded Robb’s work ( albeit from starkly different perspectives).
ADDENDUM:
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