Reference: The Global Democratic Revolution Anew

07 Other Atrocities, 08 Wild Cards, 09 Justice, 11 Society, Analysis, Articles & Chapters, Civil Society, Collective Intelligence, Counter-Oppression/Counter-Dictatorship Practices, Cultural Intelligence, Government, Military, Peace Intelligence, Reform

The great events in tthe Arab world are part of a wider hidtorical process of worldwide democrativ advance.But the distrous events of the post-9/11 decade have made it far slower and more conflictual than needed, says Martin Shaw*

EXTRACT:  “…everywhere, the unifying thread is opposition to authoritarianism and aspiration to democratic rule; and the sense of a psychological break with the dictatorial past is unmistakable.”

* Martin Shaw is professorial fellow in international relations and human rights at Roehampton University, London, and an honorary research professor of international relations at the University of Sussex. His books include War and Genocide: Organised Killing in Modern Society (Polity, 2003); The New Western Way of War: Risk-Transfer War and its Crisis in Iraq (Polity, 2005); and What is Genocide? (Polity, 2007).

Read complete analytic offering….

Phi Beta Iota: One of the most concise, thoughtful, and inspiring summaries of both the present prospects and the recent failed past, all in the context of the past half century.

Reference: Speech by Secretary of Defense

DoD
Marcus Aurelius Recommends

Extraordinary for its candid focus on what is wrong with the US Army:

“And on top of the repeat deployments, there is the garrison mindset and personnel bureaucracy that awaits them back home – often cited as primary factors causing promising officers to leave the Army just as they are best positioned to have a positive impact on the institution.”

“Men and women in the prime of their professional lives, who may have been responsible for the lives of scores or hundreds of troops, or millions of dollars in assistance, or engaging in reconciling warring tribes, they may find themselves in a cube all day re-formatting power point slides, preparing quarterly training briefs, or assigned an ever expanding array of clerical duties.  The consequences of this terrify me.”

This is certainly rampant in the Pentagon.  Not long ago — just a very few months — there was a office I passed through frequently where a significant number, say 30 (I didn't count the cubes)  of principally field grade officers sat updating PowerPoint slides for the next day's brief.  Not far away was an other office of about 20 or so doing very similar stuff.

Speech

United States Military Academy (West Point, NY)
As Delivered by Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates, West Point, NY, Friday, February 25, 2011

Blog Wisdom: A Linchpin Hierarchy

Blog Wisdom
Seth Godin Home

A linchpin hierarchy (Rising)

  1. Do exactly what the boss says.
  2. Ask the boss hard questions.
  3. Tell the boss what your best choice among the available options is. Insist.
  4. Have co-workers and bosses ask you hard questions.
  5. Invent a whole new way to do things, something that wasn't on the list.
  6. Push and encourage and lead your co-workers to do ever better work.
  7. Insist that they push and encourage you.

Reference: Spengler @ Asia Times Online

Articles & Chapters, Blog Wisdom

20110226 The Complete Spengler Single posting of all past posts with links.

Selected posts:

20110215 The Internet bubble in Middle East politics

20090418 And Spengler is …[David P. Goldman]

20090209 Who are the ‘extraordinary' Muslims?

2009 Save less, breed more

20090330 The gods are stupid

Phi Beta Iota: “Spengler” is channeled by David P Goldman, associate editor of First Things.  Routinely cited by Contributing Editor Chuck Spinney, Spengler is a gifted analyst with a very large lance for popping intellectual and moral bubbles in Western discourse.