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BOYD 2007 LINKS

Looking forward to this conference. A few links in the spirit of the event.

Patterns of Conflict (PDF)

The Strategic Game of ? and ? (PDF)

FMFM 1-A Fourth Generation War (PDF)

OODA LOOP

KEEPING SOME FAST COMPANY

Picked up the recent issue of Fast Company at the airport, which represents the first time I’ve actually looked at the actual magazine and not a stray blog link to one of their articles. Have to say that I enjoyed it enough to contemplate ordering a subscription. The cover article on Al Gore, while hagiographic in a mildly sycophantic way, was nonetheless, very informative. The whole tone, while geared toward business, is accented by techno-futurism and looking across domains. I ended up reading the issue straight through.

I still have a delight in magazines retained from the pre-internet era where getting the new issue in the mailbox represented a small pleasure. Currently, I subscribe to The Smithsonian, Edutopia, Esquire, The Atlantic Monthly and GQ. Formerly, I did so with The Wilson Quarterly, Foreign Affairs, National Geographic, Foreign Policy, Men’s Fitness, Playboy ( strictly for the articles), Muscle & Fitness, Men’s Health, Newsweek, The Columbia Journalism Review, Time, U.S. News & World Report, National Review and several local newspapers. My tendency was for the periodical pile to steadily grow to epic proportions until backlogged and unread material threatened to collapse the coffee table.

The internet has rendered such an excess of dead tree text superfluous and I no longer have the free time to even entertain trying to keep up with that kind of deluge. However, I still pick up some of those at the bookstore, along with magazines to which I’ve never subscribed, like Scientific American, The Economist, The New Republic , The Nation and The National Interest. The change in point of view or subject matter always does me some good.

What do you read ? Or not read ?

RECOMMENDED READING

I return, fairly sunburnt and weary, from the wedding of a close friend but, now, it is time to blog ! Starting with recommended reading:

RealClear Politics – “The Return of Authoritarian Great Powers“

H-Diplo Op-Ed “Whither Iraq? A Commentary for Americans” by Dr. Sally Marks

Edge Perspectives – “Unanswered Questions at Supernova 2007“

Thoughts Illustrated – “Trust Metrics for Social Networks “

Thomas P.M. Barnett – “Army America needs versus the wars Americans prefer to wage“

Pre-Boyd 2007 picks:

John Robb -“A PRIVATE SECTOR WAR IN IRAQ?” and “JOURNAL: Corporate Armies in Russia“

Dan of tdaxp – “The Importance of 5GW” and “Describing the Military-Industrial-Sysadmin-Complex: How We Will Win the 5GW to Shrink the Gap“

Armchair Generalist – “Overplaying The Bioterrorist Threat“

While I do not agree with AG’s politics, his blog is excellent, particularly on CBW issues.

SWJ Blog – Josh Manchester’s “Counterinsurgents Should Consider A “Fabrication Cell” and Bing West’s “Insurgent Media vs. The Strongest Tribe“.

Small Wars Journal publisher Bill Nagl has also issued a call for papers. I think we should take this seriously; there are many excellent ideas kicked around in rough form on listservs, on SWC threads and on blogs that are never carried downfield and get developed into a peer-reviewed or policy journal level of quality. That’s a shame.

Admittedly, I’m as guilty of this as anyone else, but let us, in the aftermath of Boyd 2007, try to give back by making a formal submission in the arena of ideas. If our work doesn’t make the cut, fine, at least we tried to give something back. Consider it.

That’s it

BACK

Catching up on a flood of email and phone calls. Will be blogging later today.

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed, by their Creator, with certain Inalienable 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 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.”

Have a happy and safe holiday!