{"id":24636,"date":"2013-07-10T04:06:27","date_gmt":"2013-07-10T04:06:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/zenpundit.com\/?p=24636"},"modified":"2013-07-10T04:10:00","modified_gmt":"2013-07-10T04:10:00","slug":"recommended-reading-100-cyber-free-edition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/?p=24636","title":{"rendered":"Recommended Reading – 100% Cyber Free Edition"},"content":{"rendered":"

[ Mark Safranski<\/strong> – a.k.a “zen<\/strong>“]<\/p>\n

As you may have noted above, starting today I am following Charles, Scott<\/strong> and Lynn<\/strong> in adding my name to my posts. With four bloggers <\/a>here and perhaps more to come in the future, it is becoming too confusing for occasional or new readers for me to continue to leave my posts “unsigned”.<\/p>\n

Going to catch up now with the best of the non-cyber posts and articles of the last few weeks:<\/p>\n

Top Billing! The National Interest (BJ Armstrong) –\u00a0Mahan, the Forgotten Grand Strategist<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Armstrong is also the editor of the newly published 21st Century Mahan: Sound Military Conclusions for the Modern Era.<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

….Before Thomas P.M. Barnett ever introduced international relations theorists and futurists to the idea of the \u201ccore\u201d and the \u201cgap\u201d nations, Mahan was writing about two groups of people in the world. Mahan suggested that advancements in the west \u201chave extended the means whereby prosperity has increased manifold, as have the inequalities in material well-being existing between those within its borders and those without.\u201d This, he believed, would result in conflict. Globalization and the technological development of the West certainly had increased the standard of living of most Americans and Europeans, but Mahan knew that the economic difficulties of the rest of the world were just as important to the international order.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mahan recognized the \u201cinequalities\u201d could cause conflict and he warned that \u201cthose who want will take, if they can \u2026 for the simple reason that they have not, that they desire, and that they are able.\u201d The challenge to international order was something Mahan foresaw, despite the fact that thinkers like Normal Angell were writing that globalization would mean the end of war. Other writers during his time believed that since economic difficulties were shared challenges they would balance one another. Mahan, on the other hand, realized these challenges would be shared unequally, and inequality was only going to add to international instability and stoke the fires of conflict.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

John Hagel<\/strong>–\u00a0Strategy Made Simple – The 3 Core Strategy Questions<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

The ultimate goal of differentiation is to avoid direct confrontation with our competitors.<\/em> In the words of SunTzu and The Art of War, if we have to engage the enemy in battle, then we\u2019ve already lost. If there\u2019s any uncertainty about why we are different, we won\u2019t be able to focus effectively and we\u2019ll be fighting an uphill battle to gain and sustain the attention of our audience.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Of course, differentiation has always been important to success in any environment.\u00a0 What\u2019s different now is that people face an exponentially increasing array of alternatives.<\/em>\u00a0 They have more information and more ability to switch across as larger and larger array of options. In a world of power laws, we\u2019re competing not only with the blockbusters in the head of the power curve, but an ever expanding long tail of options that are able to serve very narrow niches. That\u2019s why it\u2019s more critical than ever to be able to answer this question clearly and compellingly, for ourselves and the people we want to reach.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

War on the Rocks<\/strong> <\/a>has been launched!!!! Congrats to the gents involved.<\/p>\n

War on the Rocks is a web publication that serves as a platform for analysis, commentary, and debate on foreign policy and national security issues through a realist lens. It will feature articles and podcasts produced by an array of writers with deep experience in these matters: top notch scholars who study war, those who have served or worked in war zones, and more than a few who have done it all.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/strong>Some of WotR<\/strong> top stories in their online debut include\u00a0REVIEW BY ADMIRAL STAVRIDIS: THE GUNS AT LAST LIGHT BY RICK ATKINSON<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>and\u00a0PAKISTANI MILITANTS PLAN THEIR OWN PIVOT EAST<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>by Stephen Tankel<\/strong><\/p>\n

Washington Times<\/em> (Brahma Chellaney): Afghanistan’s Looming Partition<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Chellaney is a national security\/strategy eminence grise<\/em> in India<\/strong>. Read this op-ed as Indian elite alarm over America’s pending withdrawal from Afghanistan that might leave Kabul a Taliban dominated, anti-Indian, ISI<\/strong> satrapy. Note a “Greater Pushtunistan” would leave Pakistan<\/strong> a rump Punjabistan plus Sind.<\/p>\n

….Foreign military intervention can effect regime change, but it evidently cannot re-establish order based on centralized government.\u00a0Iraq<\/a>\u00a0has been partitioned in all but name into Shia, Sunni and Kurdish regions, while\u00a0Libya<\/a>\u00a0seems headed toward a similar tripartite, tribal-based territorial arrangement. In\u00a0Afghanistan<\/a>, too, an Iraq-style \u201csoft\u201d partition may be the best possible outcome.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Afghanistan<\/a>\u2019s large ethnic-minority groups already enjoy de facto autonomy, which they secured after their\u00a0Northern Alliance<\/a>\u00a0played a central role in the U.S.-led ouster of the\u00a0Taliban<\/a>\u00a0from power in late 2001. Having enjoyed virtual self-rule since then, they will fiercely resist falling back under the sway of the Pashtuns, who ruled the country for most of its history.<\/strong><\/p>\n

For their part, the Pashtuns, despite their tribal divisions, will not be content with control of a rump\u00a0Afghanistan<\/a>\u00a0consisting of its current eastern and southeastern provinces. They will eventually seek integration with fellow Pushtuns in\u00a0Pakistan<\/a>, across the British-drawn Durand Line \u2014 a border that\u00a0Afghanistan<\/a>\u00a0has never recognized. The demand for a \u201cGreater Pashtunistan\u201d would then challenge the territorial integrity of\u00a0Pakistan<\/a>\u00a0(itself another artificial imperial construct).<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Dr. Tdaxp –Review of \u201cAmerica 3.0: Rebooting American Prosperity in the 21st Century-Why America\u2019s Greatest Days Are Yet to Come ,\u201d by James Bennett and Michael Lotus<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

….What keeps America 3.0 from being simply an economic-determinist, however, is Jim Bennett\u2019s focus on the Anglosphere, and particularly Lotus\u2019 and Bennett\u2019s theory of what makes English-speaking countries nearly unique in the world: the \u201cAbsolute Nuclear Family<\/a>\u201d and the Common Law. According to America 3.0, this style of family is shared between English speaking countries, and some areas of Denmark and the Netherlands where the Anglo-Saxon-Jute peoples were active fifteen centuries ago. The Common Law, a result of the eradication of Roman Law and subsequent British hostility to the re-imposition of the Roman-based Laws latter (partially as a result for how Roman Law conflicts with the Absolute Nuclear Family type), also creates a difference.<\/strong><\/p>\n

….The standard economic-determinist answer to the important of economic foundation is \u201ca whole lot.\u201d This makes sense to me. We\u2019re still a way from a scientific study of history \u2014 a\u00a0cliodynamical<\/a>\u00a0analysis of the role of steam, say, in American history \u2014 but all-in-all I found this part of the book to be insightful and non-controversial. Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Roosevelt, John Kennedy all differed on many things, but all agreed on the importance of economies of scale, which were themselves clearly enabled by steam.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Maggie’s Farm –What could have beens in Vietnam<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

SWJ –\u00a0Economic and Religious Influencers in the Era of Population-centric Warfare<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

America 3.0 Are Breitbart.com\u2019s Standards Falling Down?<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Not the Singularity – Then they Came for your Snail Mail<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Ribbonfarm –Players versus Spectators<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Slightly East of New –\u00a0New Edition of the Origins of Boyd\u2019s Discourse<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Scholar’s Stage – Rise of the West: Asking the Right Questions<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Slouching Toward Columbia –\u00a0On Reappraising the Civil War<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Glittering Eye –Defining Genocide Down<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Campaign Reboot –Constraining Creativity<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

The American Thinker- The Fall of the Humanities<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[ Mark Safranski – a.k.a “zen“] As you may have noted above, starting today I am following Charles, Scott and Lynn in adding my name to my posts. With four bloggers here and perhaps more to come in the future, it is becoming too confusing for occasional or new readers for me to continue to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24636","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-recommended-reading"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24636","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24636"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24636\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24651,"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24636\/revisions\/24651"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24636"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24636"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24636"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}