Why would anyone drawn to this blog - or this particular corner of the blogsphere - be tired of COIN? Although, I kind of wonder about all the commenters to the blog this past fall and summer, and then the drop-off in commenting. Were people really interested in Afghanistan, or was it just political blog herd-following? Like this place was some kind of ultimate window into upper echelon decision-making? Well, whatever. I do plenty of political blog herd-following myself, so who am I to say anything?
Hey, the whole CNAS-India initiative stuff looks interesting. But, like, whoever is involved: are you going to talk to organizations or groups who speak for, or take the pulse of, everyday people in the Indian American community? And not just the "elites" mentioned in the CNAS blurb? Just wondering....
Comment by Madhuon January 25, 2010 - 8:09pm
"Over the course of 2010, the CNAS U.S.-India Initiative will convene high-level bipartisan discussions with policymakers and members of the private sector and produce a series of papers – including a major report authored by Armitage and Burns – that will help lay out a strategic framework for the future of the U.S.-India relationship."
So good for all of you and everything, but if CNAS is going to develop this particular area seriously, as scholars of a think tank, then maybe a more considered study of the diaspora and how members participate in American society might be useful, sometime? In the future? Just a suggestion; and, not I don't mean in a "look at the scary Indian-American lobby" way....
Again, just a suggestion which may or not be appropriate to the project....
Comment by Feral Jundion January 26, 2010 - 6:27am
Interesting little report. I especially enjoyed the sections about the 2006 Lebanon war and the rise of hybrid warfare as a threat to the various commons. It also reminds me why I am increasingly drawn to websites like Global Guerrillas, who discuss interesting and new ways of warfare.
I guess my only hit on this report, is that it made no mention on how private industry will be able to help out the US and world in maintaining the Global Commons. There was no mention of the private security escorts used in the Malacca Straights either, and the report was also pretty light when it came to historical references to protecting the commons over the centuries of it's use.
It seems like they purposely would not go back further than WW2 for any reference. I think the lessons learned on dealing with maritime commons ever since the first merchant vessel set sail on the sea, can certainly be applied in one way or another to the air, space, and cyber commons today? Other than that, excellent stuff.
Comment by Elfon January 26, 2010 - 6:30am
Gee Madhu, if you want DC and our US "elites" to take a good look at the diaspora (we can probably exempt CNAS):
* you are no longer Madhu. Please refer to yourself as "Buffy", or "Alison" ..etc...
* Name your kids Muffy and Chad.
* Die their hair near albino blond.
* See Micheal Jackson's dermatologist. The paler you look, the better. As you know the darker the skin or the more weathered the lower in caste. Better classes stay indoors.
* Stop being serious and act vacuous and earnest at the same time.
* Adopt said earnest, gentile manner ...kind of like the old ladies who go to Methodist services, just mention trendy causes that have stood the test of slightly longer than 15 minutes time...but don't for goodness sakes mention God as if you actually think she exists.
* At all costs do forget any language of the locals. We can't have people in our ranks who speak the language.
* Needless to say, learn the Ivy League networking game of privilege. They need to start regurgitate by rote the PC banalities of their teachers back at them, do learn this in grade school please. Remember to end each sura with "speak truth to power". Throw in lot's of references to Gaia, please pepper recitals with "inculcate" whenever it looks like it might fit.
* We've had a couple of Indian/American insider trading scandals. Good marks. Now please progress to having an Indian Nobel Prize winner for Economics involved in taking down a major industry at least, as a followup have him crash an entire economy and hobble it's recovery for a generation. See P.K.
* Remember shame is retrograde. It can be assumed temporarily but only under the close supervision of public relations agents.
* Don't do anything of a non-monetary nature to make restitution for offenses. Just check into rehab.
* All your faults are addictions. It's a disease.
* If you get into a real jam: come out as Gay. Our great former Governor of NJ - McGreevey - was a master of shamelessness and it took him far. Also see Barney Frank.
* On above: I repeat - shame is retrograde.
Comment by Year Zeroon January 26, 2010 - 6:33am
"It seems like they purposely would not go back further than WW2 for any reference."
History begins in 1945.
Comment by Madhuon January 26, 2010 - 8:43am
" So good for all of you and everything, but if CNAS is going to develop this particular area seriously, as scholars of a think tank, then maybe a more considered study of the diaspora and how members participate in American society might be useful, sometime?" (Yes, I am highlighting my own comment, above... .) That didn't come out quite right. Sorry! I just meant that it would be interesting to survey a wider group of people at some point. And no, I definitely was not volunteering myself! There are plenty of organizations out there to help!
Elf: I don't mean to be rude, but what?
Comment by elfon January 27, 2010 - 8:20am
@Madhu,
The joke is at DC's expense, not yours or any particular community.
Try and remember the Irish have a congenital defect making it difficult for them to state things directly and without sarcasm. This is reinforced because the latter approach has gotten historically better results.
I am sarcastically saying they (USG) don't want or don't know how to use immigrant or diaspora communities to leverage ties, insights, the use of the languages - which of course is not just speaking and writing but slang, inflection, understanding local or regional issues - for diplomatic , intel or other purposes.
NYPD does a good job of leveraging for intel - it really should serve as a model not just for national intel but diplomatic, commerce, policing, community ties. "Securing The City" by Christopher Dickey.
On commerce I am sure a better job is done because 1) there's money involved and 2) the Security clearance weenies aren't involved. As has been noted many times many places they have a problem with the local ties that non Wonder Bread people may have, those being of course exactly what's lacking. It's not racist. It's security paranoia and bureaucratic pigheadedness. That and the fact that the clearance process is a backlogged paperwork nightmare.
Look at that fiasco with the jihadi suicide bomber in Pakistan and look at the public names of the fallen. If we were running a COIN/CT operation in Ireland or Scotland we'd have the right names.
In fact (back to sarcasm) if somehow an second global insurgency of the IRA going global occurred in some alternative universe, Agent McElf would be posted to Pakistan while Agent Madhu would be in Belfast. If we could get a budget and we had a Congressperson with us as his own pet committee to oversee us, otherwise we'd be stuck pending approval - see HIG.
Comment by Elf back on threadon January 27, 2010 - 8:22am
In other news if you're tired of COIN and actually think we still kill enemies on the Battlefield, you're relieved of Command.
Whatever the intention this space is now in the hit piece business.
Better win.
Comment by Madhuon January 27, 2010 - 5:55pm
Oh, I get it now Elf!
No, I wasn't bringing up the diaspora angle for any kind of application to intelligence work, merely saying the population represents another interesting data set when regarding larger questions of strategy :)
Comment by David Suttonon January 28, 2010 - 12:29am
Gents - even if we were tired of COIN, could we ever tire of the witty repartee.
I like elf's suggestion about NYPD style leveraging. It strikes me as weird that cultural eduction gets such a bad wrap, you would think that knowing your enemy would allow you to A: better understand them, and B: make it easier to get to know those ones that want to help you.
Comment by Elf the grammar guyon January 29, 2010 - 4:01pm
@David,
"eduction" ?
Dude, I mock not. I think you have coined a new word, came you or someone come up with a definition?
Why would anyone drawn to this blog - or this particular corner of the blogsphere - be tired of COIN? Although, I kind of wonder about all the commenters to the blog this past fall and summer, and then the drop-off in commenting. Were people really interested in Afghanistan, or was it just political blog herd-following? Like this place was some kind of ultimate window into upper echelon decision-making? Well, whatever. I do plenty of political blog herd-following myself, so who am I to say anything?
Hey, the whole CNAS-India initiative stuff looks interesting. But, like, whoever is involved: are you going to talk to organizations or groups who speak for, or take the pulse of, everyday people in the Indian American community? And not just the "elites" mentioned in the CNAS blurb? Just wondering....
"Over the course of 2010, the CNAS U.S.-India Initiative will convene high-level bipartisan discussions with policymakers and members of the private sector and produce a series of papers – including a major report authored by Armitage and Burns – that will help lay out a strategic framework for the future of the U.S.-India relationship."
So good for all of you and everything, but if CNAS is going to develop this particular area seriously, as scholars of a think tank, then maybe a more considered study of the diaspora and how members participate in American society might be useful, sometime? In the future? Just a suggestion; and, not I don't mean in a "look at the scary Indian-American lobby" way....
Again, just a suggestion which may or not be appropriate to the project....
Interesting little report. I especially enjoyed the sections about the 2006 Lebanon war and the rise of hybrid warfare as a threat to the various commons. It also reminds me why I am increasingly drawn to websites like Global Guerrillas, who discuss interesting and new ways of warfare.
I guess my only hit on this report, is that it made no mention on how private industry will be able to help out the US and world in maintaining the Global Commons. There was no mention of the private security escorts used in the Malacca Straights either, and the report was also pretty light when it came to historical references to protecting the commons over the centuries of it's use.
It seems like they purposely would not go back further than WW2 for any reference. I think the lessons learned on dealing with maritime commons ever since the first merchant vessel set sail on the sea, can certainly be applied in one way or another to the air, space, and cyber commons today? Other than that, excellent stuff.
Gee Madhu, if you want DC and our US "elites" to take a good look at the diaspora (we can probably exempt CNAS):
* you are no longer Madhu. Please refer to yourself as "Buffy", or "Alison" ..etc...
* Name your kids Muffy and Chad.
* Die their hair near albino blond.
* See Micheal Jackson's dermatologist. The paler you look, the better. As you know the darker the skin or the more weathered the lower in caste. Better classes stay indoors.
* Stop being serious and act vacuous and earnest at the same time.
* Adopt said earnest, gentile manner ...kind of like the old ladies who go to Methodist services, just mention trendy causes that have stood the test of slightly longer than 15 minutes time...but don't for goodness sakes mention God as if you actually think she exists.
* At all costs do forget any language of the locals. We can't have people in our ranks who speak the language.
* Needless to say, learn the Ivy League networking game of privilege. They need to start regurgitate by rote the PC banalities of their teachers back at them, do learn this in grade school please. Remember to end each sura with "speak truth to power". Throw in lot's of references to Gaia, please pepper recitals with "inculcate" whenever it looks like it might fit.
* We've had a couple of Indian/American insider trading scandals. Good marks. Now please progress to having an Indian Nobel Prize winner for Economics involved in taking down a major industry at least, as a followup have him crash an entire economy and hobble it's recovery for a generation. See P.K.
* Remember shame is retrograde. It can be assumed temporarily but only under the close supervision of public relations agents.
* Don't do anything of a non-monetary nature to make restitution for offenses. Just check into rehab.
* All your faults are addictions. It's a disease.
* If you get into a real jam: come out as Gay. Our great former Governor of NJ - McGreevey - was a master of shamelessness and it took him far. Also see Barney Frank.
* On above: I repeat - shame is retrograde.
"It seems like they purposely would not go back further than WW2 for any reference."
History begins in 1945.
" So good for all of you and everything, but if CNAS is going to develop this particular area seriously, as scholars of a think tank, then maybe a more considered study of the diaspora and how members participate in American society might be useful, sometime?" (Yes, I am highlighting my own comment, above... .) That didn't come out quite right. Sorry! I just meant that it would be interesting to survey a wider group of people at some point. And no, I definitely was not volunteering myself! There are plenty of organizations out there to help!
Elf: I don't mean to be rude, but what?
@Madhu,
The joke is at DC's expense, not yours or any particular community.
Try and remember the Irish have a congenital defect making it difficult for them to state things directly and without sarcasm. This is reinforced because the latter approach has gotten historically better results.
I am sarcastically saying they (USG) don't want or don't know how to use immigrant or diaspora communities to leverage ties, insights, the use of the languages - which of course is not just speaking and writing but slang, inflection, understanding local or regional issues - for diplomatic , intel or other purposes.
NYPD does a good job of leveraging for intel - it really should serve as a model not just for national intel but diplomatic, commerce, policing, community ties. "Securing The City" by Christopher Dickey.
On commerce I am sure a better job is done because 1) there's money involved and 2) the Security clearance weenies aren't involved. As has been noted many times many places they have a problem with the local ties that non Wonder Bread people may have, those being of course exactly what's lacking. It's not racist. It's security paranoia and bureaucratic pigheadedness. That and the fact that the clearance process is a backlogged paperwork nightmare.
Look at that fiasco with the jihadi suicide bomber in Pakistan and look at the public names of the fallen. If we were running a COIN/CT operation in Ireland or Scotland we'd have the right names.
In fact (back to sarcasm) if somehow an second global insurgency of the IRA going global occurred in some alternative universe, Agent McElf would be posted to Pakistan while Agent Madhu would be in Belfast. If we could get a budget and we had a Congressperson with us as his own pet committee to oversee us, otherwise we'd be stuck pending approval - see HIG.
In other news if you're tired of COIN and actually think we still kill enemies on the Battlefield, you're relieved of Command.
http://www.fayobserver.com/Articles/2010/01/22/970220
Whatever the intention this space is now in the hit piece business.
Better win.
Oh, I get it now Elf!
No, I wasn't bringing up the diaspora angle for any kind of application to intelligence work, merely saying the population represents another interesting data set when regarding larger questions of strategy :)
Gents - even if we were tired of COIN, could we ever tire of the witty repartee.
I like elf's suggestion about NYPD style leveraging. It strikes me as weird that cultural eduction gets such a bad wrap, you would think that knowing your enemy would allow you to A: better understand them, and B: make it easier to get to know those ones that want to help you.
@David,
"eduction" ?
Dude, I mock not. I think you have coined a new word, came you or someone come up with a definition?
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