Chuck Spinney: An American Sun Tzu — John Boyd

Cultural Intelligence, Ethics, Strategy
Chuck Spinney
Chuck Spinney

Most readers of this list should be familiar with the name, if not the ideas, of the late American strategist Col John R. Boyd (USAF ret).  Boyd was my mentor and closest friend, and I am deeply indebted to him for the knowledge he so generously bestowed on me.  While no short essay can capture the entirety of Boyd's thinking, attached below is an excellent introduction to what some might call John Boyd's art of war.  It is written by my friend and colleague Bill Lind, a leading contributor to the Military Reform Movement in the 1980s.  Of particular importance is Bill's concluding point about ‘open systems.'  But you need to understand Boyd's work to understand the centrality of this point in strategy and grand strategy.

Lind's essay is very timely, given that Republicans and Democrats alike have driven America into a grand-strategic cul de sac that is weakening our position abroad, while wrecking our democracy at home.  IMO, this grand-strategic trap is a self-inflicted wound and is well summarized by Lind. (Boyd's criteria for a sensible grand strategy can be found here.)  Hopefully, Lind's essay will tweak your interest in Boyd's important work.
Exiting America's grand strategic mess will not be easy because the Military – Industrial – Congressional Complex and its wholly owned subsidiaries in academia, the thinktanks, the pol-mil apparat, and the mass media have a vested interest in continuing down what has become a clearly a self-destructive evolutionary pathway.  A parasitical “faction” is now exploiting the interplay of chance and necessity to benefit itself at the expense of the “whole.”  Boyd's ideas — particularly those relating to his moral design for grand strategy — offer a way to begin thinking about how to get off this pathway and return to one where the interplay of chance of necessity leads more naturally to salutary growth at home and abroad.
If you are not familiar with Boyd and his ideas, my advice is to start with Robert Coram's superb biography, (about 100,000 sold and still in print).  It is by far the best general introduction to the man and his work.  Those interested in heavier lifting can dive into James Fallows'Chet Richards,' and Franz Ozinga's analyses of Boyd's strategic thought.  For the truly masochistic, a complete compendium of Boyd's briefings slides can be downloaded from this link.  But beware, these briefings are long, albeit highly condensed, idiosyncratic, and a bit didactical.  Nevertheless, determined readers will find their study to be infinitely rewarding, because like the writing of Sun Tzu, their essence is one of ever expanding timelessness.
Chuck Spinney
Cannes, France

John Boyd’s Art of War

Why our greatest military theorist only made colonel.

By WILLIAM S. LIND, The American Conservative, August 16, 2013

Lee Camp: YouTube (9:03) MONEY – What Is It Really?

Cultural Intelligence, Ethics, YouTube

This is Episode 5 of the critically feared Moment of Clarity SHOW by Lee Camp and Coalition Films. This episode also features creator of the Zeitgeist Movement Peter Joseph! This week we discuss money – what is it really? Why does it seem we never have enough? How do we rethink it? (And Henry does not have a Twitter account.)

1) For more on Coalition Films go to www.CoalitionFilms.com

2) The MOC rants and podcast come out twice a week. Go to LeeCamp.net for more.

Esam Al-Amin: Egypt’s Shameful Day — Bloodbath on the Nile

02 Diplomacy, 03 Economy, 05 Civil War, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Wild Cards, 09 Justice, 10 Security, 11 Society, Civil Society, Corruption, Ethics, Government, Law Enforcement, Military
Esam Al-Amin
Esam Al-Amin

Esam Al-Amin is the author of  The Arab Awakening Unveiled: Understanding Transformations and Revolutions in the Middle EastHe can be contacted at alamin1919@gmail.com. follow him on Twitter: @al_arian1919.

COUNTERPUNCH

August 15, 2013

Egypt’s Shameful Day

Bloodbath on the Nile

In June 1967, it took Israeli forces only six hours to rout the Egyptian military and devastate its air force, inflicting the most humiliating defeat on the Arab world in the last half century. In the 1973 October war, the Egyptian army killed 2600 Israeli soldiers in 20 days of combat. Nearly forty years later, the Egyptian military turned its guns on its own citizens to much devastation: on August 14, it took the combined forces of Egypt’s army and police twelve hours to disperse tense of thousands of unarmed peaceful protesters in two sit-in camps in the eastern and western suburbs of Cairo. It was a determined effort by the July 3 coup leaders to not only defeat their political opponents, but also to strike a decisive blow to democracy and the rule of law in Egypt and across the Arab world.

Since June 28, Islamists led by the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) have been camped out at these two sites, initially as a show of support to President Mohammad Morsi as he was being challenged by the opposition. But since he was deposed on July 3, the protesters have been demanding his return, the restoration of the suspended constitution, and the reinstatement of the dissolved parliament. For 48 days, the sit-ins and demonstrations across Egypt attracted millions of Morsi supporters as well as pro-democracy groups, who protested the coup’s nullification of their presidential and parliamentary votes and their ratification of the referendum on the new constitution.

An Obstinate Military Enabled by Liberal and Secular Forces and Western Powers

Continue reading “Esam Al-Amin: Egypt's Shameful Day — Bloodbath on the Nile”

Berto Jongman: Cover-Up on Iraqui Birth Defects Continues — World Health Organization Under Scrutiny

07 Health, 08 Wild Cards, 11 Society, Earth Intelligence, Ethics, Government, Military, Non-Governmental
Berto Jongman
Berto Jongman

The WHO must release report on Iraqi birth defects now

The indefinite postponement of the World Health Organisation's report is alarming scientists and activists

Al Jazeera, 11 Aug 2013 13:28

Mozhgan Savabieasfahani

Dr Mozhgan Savabieasfahani, a native of Iran, is an environmental toxicologist based in Michigan. She is the author of over two dozen peer reviewed articles and the book, Pollution and Reproductive Damage (DVM 2009).

Click on Image to Enlarge
Click on Image to Enlarge

Large parts of the Middle East are now contaminated with war pollutants.

In Iraq, war debris continues to wear away and erode populated cities. Such debris includes the wreckage of tanks and armoured vehicles, trucks and abandoned military ammunitions, as well as the remains of bombs and bullets. Left unabated, the debris will act as dangerous toxic reservoirs; releasing harmful chemicals into the environment and poisoning people who live nearby.

Today, increasing numbers of birth defects are surfacing in many Iraqi cities, including Mosul, Najaf, Fallujah, Basra, Hawijah, Nineveh, and Baghdad. In some provinces, the rate of cancers is also increasing. Sterility, repeated miscarriages, stillbirths and severe birth defects – some never described in any medical books – are weighing heavily on Iraqi families.

Continue reading “Berto Jongman: Cover-Up on Iraqui Birth Defects Continues — World Health Organization Under Scrutiny”

Anthony Judge: “Big Brother” Crying “Wolf”?

Ethics, Officers Call
Anthony Judge
Anthony Judge

“Big Brother” Crying “Wolf”?

But them “wolves” are a-changin' — them's becomin' “werewolves”!

Introduction
Big Brother crying “wolf”?
Erosion of credibility of authority
Trust, confidence, and credibility under a regime of total insecurity
Appreciating the Emperor's new clothes — as designed by NSA
Clues for an existential turnaround?
Questionable “existence” of Al-Qaida
Questionable “existence” NSA/PRISM
Cultivation of “terror”, “terrorism” and “terrific”
Ambiguity of “democratic oversight”: institutionalisation of negligence?
Fear of change: engaging otherwise with “werewolves”
Embodying “malware” transformatively: No Security Anywhere (NSA)?
Paradoxical correspondences and complementarity
References

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David Swanson: Jody Williams, Vermont Girl & Nobel Laureate Who Led World to Ban Landmines

Ethics, Peace Intelligence
David Swanson
David Swanson

Her Name Is Jody Williams

Jody Williams' new book is called My Name Is Jody Williams: A Vermont Girl's Winding Path to the Nobel Peace Prize, and it's a remarkable story by a remarkable person.  It's also a very well-told autobiography, including in the early childhood chapters in which there are few hints of the activism to come.

. . . . . . .

What strikes me most about the first half or so of Williams' book is how hard we always make it for anyone who wants to work for a better world to find appropriate employment.  We dump billions into recruiting young people into the military or into business careers.  Imagine if young people had to find those paths on their own.  Imagine if television ads and video games and movies and spectacles at big sporting events were all used to recruit young people into nonviolent activism for peace or justice.  Williams and many others could have found their way more quickly.  [Emphasis added.]

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