tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8755035051021414780.post6823494683314240686..comments2023-11-17T03:55:40.736-05:00Comments on Ink Spots: Redefining victory doesn't mean not winningLilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18373158801523577733noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8755035051021414780.post-20403347014808442322012-01-11T08:01:36.473-05:002012-01-11T08:01:36.473-05:00The middle IS hard to determine. Good policies and...The middle IS hard to determine. Good policies and good strategy ARE hard to discern and implement. We live in a tough world and real time decision making is not easy. I hope we as a people are in a period of national reflection and hard thinking about our future as a nation. I think that is happening. I choose to remain hopeful and I want to honor that hope by continuing to read, to write, and to stay involved in all of this in some way.<br /><br />(I am tired of being such a negative person all the time around here....)Madhunoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8755035051021414780.post-80714599640666734942012-01-10T09:13:00.277-05:002012-01-10T09:13:00.277-05:00Madhu,
My question of the day is will we finally ...Madhu,<br /><br />My question of the day is will we finally see the decline of both the neo-conservative and neo-liberal thinking and get back toward a balanced, in the middle realist approach?<br /><br />That said, the middle is often hard to determine as one has to sort out if it is the median or the mean, but anything is better than the extremes :).MikeFnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8755035051021414780.post-44292292493175582982012-01-10T09:08:43.378-05:002012-01-10T09:08:43.378-05:00@ MikeF: On the Washginton quote:
One of my favor...@ MikeF: On the Washginton quote:<br /><br />One of my favorites but our own emotional nature as Americans seems to cast the world into black and white - both interventionists and non-interventionists. So too, our idea of alliances based on a mixture of pragmatism and ideological compatibility all as we use a grand rhetoric of democracy.<br /><br />I don't know where I am going with this. A bit non-plussed that the same old DC ideas about "Asia" keep rearing their heads without learning a think over two decades, really, of "afpak".Madhunoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8755035051021414780.post-82639730300905236952012-01-10T04:10:07.398-05:002012-01-10T04:10:07.398-05:00Jason,
I'd encourage you to go back and read ...Jason,<br /><br />I'd encourage you to go back and read Washington's farewell address while you're trying to sort all this out.<br /><br />"Observe good faith and justice towards all nations; cultivate peace and harmony with all. Religion and morality enjoin this conduct; and can it be, that good policy does not equally enjoin it - It will be worthy of a free, enlightened, and at no distant period, a great nation, to give to mankind the magnanimous and too novel example of a people always guided by an exalted justice and benevolence. Who can doubt that, in the course of time and things, the fruits of such a plan would richly repay any temporary advantages which might be lost by a steady adherence to it ? Can it be that Providence has not connected the permanent felicity of a nation with its virtue ? The experiment, at least, is recommended by every sentiment which ennobles human nature. Alas! is it rendered impossible by its vices?<br /><br />In the execution of such a plan, nothing is more essential than that permanent, inveterate antipathies against particular nations, and passionate attachments for others, should be excluded; and that, in place of them, just and amicable feelings towards all should be cultivated. The nation which indulges towards another a habitual hatred or a habitual fondness is in some degree a slave. It is a slave to its animosity or to its affection, either of which is sufficient to lead it astray from its duty and its interest. Antipathy in one nation against another disposes each more readily to offer insult and injury, to lay hold of slight causes of umbrage, and to be haughty and intractable, when accidental or trifling occasions of dispute occur. Hence, frequent collisions, obstinate, envenomed, and bloody contests. The nation, prompted by ill-will and resentment, sometimes impels to war the government, contrary to the best calculations of policy. The government sometimes participates in the national propensity, and adopts through passion what reason would reject; at other times it makes the animosity of the nation subservient to projects of hostility instigated by pride, ambition, and other sinister and pernicious motives. The peace often, sometimes perhaps the liberty, of nations, has been the victim."MikeFnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8755035051021414780.post-75363319098512038252012-01-09T10:58:58.539-05:002012-01-09T10:58:58.539-05:001. Four years ago in a war game exercise, we forec...1. Four years ago in a war game exercise, we forecasted in the next big war, China would be our partner. I think that still holds true.<br /><br />2. A lot of the "shift" for the military will be driven by organizational reforms. One way ahead (most likely I hope), will be a. smaller Divs and Corps and bigger BCTs b. ending RSTAs and returning to 3 INF BNs, BRTs, DIV CAVs, and ACRs, and c. integration of small wars into our basic education and normalized training (back to the 1960s educational system and ending task, condition, and standards). Much of this will be discussed this week at Unified Quest. <br /><br />3. For policy matters, the issue with R2P is much like the issue with modern COIN- trying to "fix" or "control" the world. If we can change our mindset to one of influence (walk softly and carry a big stick?), then we can be much better off.MikeFnoreply@blogger.com