Two Solid Views on Afghanistan

Right on the heels of the preceding post comes this from this from C.J. Chivers at Esquire.com

Uphill Company B moved through the darkness, step by step gaining elevation on an Afghan ridge. For the officers and soldiers equipped with GPS units and two-way tactical radios, which gave them access to information, the picture was clear enough. Company B, which calls itself Viper, was moving south, climbing a ridge that rose more than nine thousand feet above sea level and towered over the Korangal Valley, near the border with Pakistan. Its mission was to search for arms caches and insurgents and to harass the large but elusive forces that for three years have made the valley the scene of the bitterest infantry fighting in Afghanistan. And it was not alone. In the cold night air that had settled over the valley, beyond earshot, a pair of attack helicopters was flying in wide circles. Farther out, and higher, fixed-wing attack aircraft were on station. Soldiers call these assets, and in the event the soldiers found what they were looking for, either asset was ready to race to the ridgeline and help with the killing. They were also ready to help if things developed along the more typical course of events in Afghanistan — as in, if what Company B was looking for found it instead. Read more C.J. Chivers Walks Taliban Country with the U.S. Army's Elite.

Thomas Barnett writes from the War Room Column at Esquire with seven rules for American to heed in the Afghanistan.

It's been a busy month for the United States in Afghanistan. The deadliest since we had little choice but to chase Al Qaeda and the Taliban regime there in 2001, sure, and a scary one at that — this weekend's video of twenty-three-year-old Bowe Bergdahl sent as many shivers down the collective American spine as our presence in the region is sending to Pakistan. The military's also asked for more money, better prisons, and fewer F-22s this July. But anyone who's looking at Afghanistan in terms of months — as opposed to years, or at least second terms — isn't looking at the lessons of Iraq, much less the realities of a region where nation-building is a helluva lot more important than people-killing. Read more:Seven Rules for America's (Long) Future in Afghanistan.

It's The Schools Stupid!

ADMIRAL MULLEN AND GREG MORTENSON

MORTENSEN OPENING A SCHOOL

AFGHAN GIRLS LEARNING.

The previous posts have been focusing on what is going wrong and whether Afghanistan is worth the effort of thousands of young Americans and the indirect support of the citizens in countries providing help to defeat the Taliban and give the next generation of Afghan children a better future than any of their preceding ancestors could imagine. Today a post by Thomas Barnett helped to answer part of that question, his comments below, introduce an article in the New York Times by THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN.

Nice column.

Old but crude theme of mine: in many places, shrinking the Gap means liberating females and killing the hard line males who stand in the way.

Call it what you want, but it will be done because it's right--and we know it.

Liberating females, killing men who stand in the way

Friedman's column opens by saying the same thing that many Americans are thinking.

I confess, I find it hard to come to Afghanistan and not ask: Why are we here? Who cares about the Taliban? Al Qaeda is gone. And if its leaders come back, well, that’s why God created cruise missiles.

But every time I start writing that column, something stills my hand. This week it was something very powerful. I watched Greg Mortenson, the famed author of “Three Cups of Tea,” open one of his schools for girls in this remote Afghan village in the Hindu Kush mountains. I must say, after witnessing the delight in the faces of those little Afghan girls crowded three to a desk waiting to learn, I found it very hard to write, “Let’s just get out of here.”

When I read the article, I got the same sense to still my pen the next time I questioned the logic of is it worth it and how will it end? After you read this article, see if you can still convince yourself that we should walk away and see these children consigned to to a world where the value of a women is measured in her ability to produce the next generation of warriors and serve her master/husband. If this seems harsh, consider that all of the poverty stricken failed states we hear about today have a legacy built over centuries, of treating women as chattel. Teach a women to read, and she will pass that skill onto her child, boy or girl and the next generation will be more enlightened about their own self-worth and have the basic tools to make a difference in a complex world.

Read more and tell me we can just walk away.

Teacher, Can We Leave Now? No.

I am not being a bleeding heart, trying to correct the ills of an imperfect world. Personally, I think that it is an impossible task to ask one nation, the United States to carry this load. We have allies, but in the face of the mounting losses, even our staunches allies are faltering. 5 Reasons Why Half of Britain Wants Troops out of Afghanistan

.But other's more enlightened than I, have written about the subject of empowering women and their voices can be found in books like those below.

The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries are Failing and What Can Be Done About It by Paul Collier

The White Man's Burden: Why the West's Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Good by William Easterly

Great Powers: America and the World After Bush by Thomas P.M. Barnett

And with Nicholas Kristoff' who writes for the New York Times and blogs as Nick Kristoff blog

Finally Greg Mortenson, the builder of 179 schools for girls in Pakistan and Afghanistan. http://www.gregmortenson.com/

All these pens have written of the importance of empowering women. This is not some women's lib rant, by a group of "girly men." These four voices along with Tom Friedman, Admiral Mullen and Greg Mortenson understand why empowering women will lead to a more connected and ultimately a safer world for everyone.

Three Reads for a Sunday Afternoon.

China as an Island, from strange maps.

The Solomons.

Here are trio of reads that involve islands, not the tropical getaways. so often dreamed of on a lazy Sunday afternoon, but the kind that stimulate reflection and remembrance.

Shannon Love has an interesting post on Chicago Boyz that looks at the celestial empire as An Island People in a Sea of Humanity.

This Forbes article talks about China being an empire, i.e., a polity composed of many different ethnic groups but trying to behave as a nation, i.e., a polity based around a single ethnic group. [h/t Instapundit] This reminded me of a mock map at the very interesting blog Strange Maps.

Next month marks the 67th anniversary of the opening of the Solomons Campaign. This is not a landmark anniversary date, but deserves attention because of a series of posts introducing the campaign has begun over at the United States Naval Institute Blog.

The first in this series introduces the reader to the geography and politics of the region.

Like a broken strand of pearls, the Solomon Islands form an open and extended chain from the Santa Cruz Islands in the south-east to the larger islands of Bougainville and New Britain in the west. Further to the south-east lie the New Hebrides. The islands, primarily volcanic in origin with outer coral barriers, are lushly populated with rain forests and mangrove swamps. Prominent, wide-open and level terrain is rare. What little there is, is densely vegetated. Temperatures tend to the steamy with a prolonged wet season and drier months and “cooler” temperatures in the June through August period. Rainfall on average, is about 120 inches per year.

For the rest and an excellent set of maps.

The Solomons Campaign: Geographical and Political Background

This week the series continues by providing the status of the United States Navy after Midway.

The story is introduced in a look back via a time machine.

If you were to step into the Wayback Machine with Mr. Peabody and Sherman, traveling back to Pearl Harbor on the morning of the 7th of June 1942, to talk to Admiral Nimitz he may have covered several issues including the current status of the fleet, current ops going on in the theater, and current discussions about what to do next. The final issue would be how to seize the initiative causing the Japanese to react to us instead of the Allies reacting to the Japanese.The current status of the Pacific Fleet is looking pretty grim. This morning [7th of June 1942] the radio reports of the torpedoing and loss of the Yorktown would arrive. That only leaves three Allied carriers in the Pacific: USS Enterprise, CV-6; USS Hornet, CV-8; and USS Saratoga, CV-3. The Saratoga is just leaving Mare Island Naval Yard recovering from the torpedo damage she took in late May while in transit from Pearl to the West Coast. In reality the Allies only have two functional carriers deployed any place close to the Japanese fleet.

For the rest of the story. The Solomon’s Campaign: Status of the United States Fleet and Plans After Midway

This series has more than the normal historical interest for me. My father Jay Wade was a member of the crew of the USS Zeilin (AP-9) at Guadalcanal on August 7, 1942. I look forward sharing these posts as they appear.

I Ask Again. Tell Me How This Will End?

British Retreat from Kabul

Lt Col. Tim Karcher and family

Last week I wrote Tell Me How This Ends, Afghan Redux. The subject of the war in Afghanistan continues to resound as keyboards softly click out new posts filling the blogosphere with ideas and discussions that bury the puny MSM soundbites and pontifications of politicians of every stripe.

I do not consider myself a specialized expert in international relations, military science, anthropology, political science or any of the host of specialities that continue to offer counsel and criticism about our strategy and goals in Afghanistan and Iraq. But, I in the words of an old soldier, when called upon a few years back to discuss our national security goals would describe myself as, "a generalist, who if scratched would be skin deep in a specific speciality." In that vein, I would say that my talent lies in facilitating discussion and absorbing ideas as they cross paths here at HG's World. That is why one finds so many introductions and links interspersed with comments designed to draw out your interest and then let your critical skills digest the content.

Understanding Afghanistan and our stated global goals, since late 2001 has become as elusive and unpredictable as springtime weather in the rugged valleys of the Hindu Kush. The following posts and links are some of the best of this week's examples of thoughts on this subject.

Fabius Maximus gets a major hat/tip for this post. As Fab introduces this piece, I would concur 100% with his assessment to take the time to read the whole article.

We slid into the Iraq rapidly and unknowingly, our way greased by lies. Not so in Afghanistan. Our first invasion was in response to 9-11, a fast and bloodless (as such things go) overthrow of al Qaeda’s allies. An object lesson to our enemies, it might even have resulted in a better regime. If we had withdrawn our army, sent them some checks and well wishes (along with threats of death from the sky should al Qaeda re-establish camps), who knows what might have happened?

Instead we attempted nation-building. A usually unsuccessful endeavor, it was grossly under-funded and under-planned. Years later we pour even more resources into it, further exhausting our treasury and our military. Unlike Iraq, we have had wise and eloquent warnings about our folly. Such as this article, which I strongly recommend reading in full.

Read more:

Powerful insights about our war in Afghanistan, part 1

And now:We are warned about Afghanistan, but choose not to listen (part 2)

These powerful essays raise points that deserve deeper study. A few days ago Mark of Zenpundit did a guest post at It's The Tribes Stupid! which I covered in the previous post. He later posted an exchange between himself and Nathan and Josh, the scribes at Registan.net.

Mark begins:

Nathan Hamm, the founder of Registan.net asked some critical questions of me at It’s the Tribes Stupid! and for whatever reason, I have tried multiple times to post a reply and my comment does not appear. Therefore, I emailed it to Nathan and I am replying here so those interested in following the discussion can see it. My apologies for the inconvenience. Here’s the reply, Nathan’s questions are in bold text: Guest Post at It’s the Tribes, Stupid!

The unseen value of this exchange is in the link to Registan.net which offers another insightful view of a part of the world that to most young Americans, aside from soundbites of Afghanistan, is home to Borat Sagdiyev. I would urge readers to visit their site and spend some time educating themselves on the knowledge gained from several years of actually being on the ground in Central Asia.

Another site, often over looked in understanding Afghanistan is Ghosts of Alexander. On the tactical military side, Michael Yon has returned to begin a series of reports from the field in Afghanistan, Searching for Kuchi & Finding Lizards .

Finally, a poignant reminder of the sacrifices of those who serve, this careingbridge update on Lt Col Tim Karcher who was gravely wounded in Iraq.

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/timkarcher

http://op-for.com/2009/07/tim_karcher_unsung_american_he_1.html

This post ends on today on LTC Karcher and his bravery. We have asked thousands of Americans and the sons and daughters of those nations who have joined us to endure similar sacrifices as well as the innocent people of Iraq and Afghanistan. The echo always on our minds will be, How will this end and was it worth it?

UPDATE: Dueling Critiques on Afghanistan

More on War in A Tribal Society

As the war in Afghanistan suddenly begins to resemble Iraq with dozens of IED's killing more soldiers last week than anytime in the past seven years, attention to how to win or as many believe, find an exit strategy, looms like the crags of the Hindu Kush. In a continuing effort to highlight and stimulate thought I have linked a couple of posts that both address the tribal aspect of fighting a war among a group of people who have embraced conflict, revenge and reconciliation in a cycle that has endured since the first two families settled in those rugged valleys and began to feud over the scarce resources and personal honor that is the grist of all tribal societies.

Mark of Zenpundit was invited to write a guest post on Steven Pressfield's blog It's The Tribes Stupid!

Mark begins:

Steven Pressfield invited me to do a guest post here at “Tribes” and give my assessment of the vigorous debate that greeted the entry of “It’s the Tribes, Stupid: War & Reality in Afghanistan” into the blogosphere. Or, at least the corner of the blogosphere that is concerned with COIN, military affairs, foreign policy, terrorism, Afghanistan and Iraq. The following opinion is my own and does not necessarily reflect that of Mr. Pressfield.
This “Tribes” blog attracted an unusual amount of attention for a new blog primarily for three reasons:


For those three reasons and a lot more: The Learning Curve

In a post that calls attention to an article in Foreign Affairs, Thomas Barnett points out that history provides lessons of our own success in "flipping former enemies."

Good stuff, but hardly unique to Afghanistan. Check out your history of wars in general. Lotsa countries/factions/tribes play on both sides before a conflict ends. Native American tribes did it like crazy for decades as European Americans spread westward.
But then again, regional or country experts always want to explain to readers how their situation is so different from anything else we've ever encountered--so "peculiar" in its logic, like wanting to be on the winning side at the end.

Hmmmm, the winning side . . . I like the sound of that.

Read more:
The Taliban--historically--would rather switch than fight

Adding my own thoughts to this growing discussion, I find that historical reflection helps to place the issues in prospective. Armies have relied on the writing of Sun Tzu and the The Art of War for centuries in Chinese history. Western Armies and governments studied Greek, Roman tactics and after the bloody Thirty Years' War were guided by Hugo Grotius's, De jure belli ac pacis libri tres, On The Law of War and Peace. This served to set the principles of conducting war that lasted until World War I. Militarises from around the globe, still study (On War by Carl von Clausewitz among the treaties by hundreds of tacticians and strategists down to this very day.

So as we approach this war which is a throw back to times when men fought for pride and honor in lieu of a national hegemonic strategy to secure a safer world. It is important to study all the factors that come to play and reach far beyond the state on state conflicts that have dominated the past two centuries.

Outside support and a religious cohesiveness and access to modern communications are three of the major factors that make this war in Afghanistan unlike the British experience in the 19th century. In 19th century United States, Native Americans could never organize themselves to be able to coordinate their attacks or unite their fellow tribes in a concerted level of resistance. Outside assistance after the wars of the 18th century, were restricted to traders, who provided modern firearms but limited ammunition.

Therefore it is entirely logical to review all aspects of this war and the experiences of those who have tried and either failed or succeeded in the challenge of conducting war amid a tribal culture. The discussions launched on the blogs offer opportunities for all concerned to voice their opinion and more importantly read and collect ideas that will help feel our way along until the right path is found.

Tell Me How This Ends, Afghan Redux

Afghanistan continues to command our attention as it begins to resemble Iraq in 2006. The tactics have turned to roadside bombs that killed American and coalition soldiers. The bloodiest month of the war in Afghanistan.

Small Wars Journal has up three related reports on the war in Afghanistan.

Time to Move on from Hearts and Minds

A post by brigadier Justin Kelly who questions the conventional wisdom that defeating insurgencies is all about winning Hearts and Minds.

His conclusion in part.

The twin propositions that “there is no military solution” to insurgencies and that “hearts and minds” approaches are the only the way forward are based mostly on wishful thinking. Fighting is unattractive to liberal democracies while good deeds put a song in our hearts. All western countries would rather build a school than raze a village. Unfortunately, building schools is only marginally useful in creating an acceptable peace. The true worth of such actions is only realised after the war—in extending and solidifying a peace that can, invariably, only be achieved by the application of force.

A hearts and minds approach represents a strategy of exhaustion and typically engages one of the insurgent’s principal strengths—time. For the West, strategic exhaustion is a critical vulnerability: “if you”re not winning, you”re losing”. In any event a “heart’s and minds” approach cannot provide security in the first instance, and can’t be fully realised until there is security.

And This Week at War, No. 24 by Robert Haddick

Haddick focuses on the major thrust by 5000 U.S. Marines into southern Helmand province and the very real issue of the lack of support by the ANA.

A week into of the operation, there are now questions about when those Afghan forces, so vital to Nicholson’s planning, will arrive. In an interview with the Pentagon press corps, the brigadier general said that only 650 Afghan soldiers have accompanied the Marines into south Helmand. “I mean, I'm not going to sugarcoat it,” said Nicholson. “The fact of the matter is, I -- we don't have enough Afghan forces, and I'd like more.” Nicholson could not give a specific answer when asked when more might be on the way.

And in response to the shortage of trained Afghanistan forces.

McChrystal to Seek Expansion of Afghan Forces by Greg Jaffe and Karen DeYoung, Washington Post.

Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the newly arrived top commander in Afghanistan, has concluded that Afghan security forces will have to expand far beyond currently planned levels if President Obama's strategy for winning the war there is to succeed, according to senior military officials.
Such an expansion would require additional billions beyond the $7.5 billion the administration has budgeted annually to build up the Afghan army and police over the next several years, and the likely deployment of thousands more US troops as trainers and advisers, officials said.

Adding additional prospective to McChrystal's request to expand the Afghan Army is this recent article by C. J. CHIVERS in the New York Times.

It begins.

The Afghan foot patrol descended a mountain and slipped through a canyon. Then things went wrong. One Afghan soldier insulted another. And there, exposed on dangerous ground, a scuffle erupted.

The soldiers turned on each other with shoves, punches and kicks. One swung an ammunition can in a slow-motion haymaker. The patrol had already been hapless: a display of errant marksmanship, dud ammunition and lackluster technique.

“For months I’ve been telling everyone how proud I am of you,” seethed an American captain, yanking the Afghans apart. “Today you embarrassed me.”

The Obama administration has put a priority on expanding the size and abilities of Afghanistan’s security forces, first to help fight an expanding war and eventually to allow the Pentagon to draw down its troops. The task was inherited from the Bush administration, and the United States has helped to field roughly 170,000 Afghan soldiers and police officers in units created from scratch. In plans now under review, these numbers could double.

Read more:

Erratic Afghan Forces Pose Challenge to U.S. Goals

The smaller trickle of blood and the unnoticed cha-ching of the cost to our treasury has kept Afghanistan out of the minds of most Americans. The uneducated or indoctrinated believe that we only need to bring all the troops home and our domestic and economic problems will be cured as if our elected officials will be given some magic wand to grant every entitlement. Afghanistan will consume our atttention for longer than any of us will desire. The question asked by General Pretraus of Rick Atkinson during the Iraq invasion in 2003 is still in play. "Tell me how this ends."

Thursday Night Reads

Thomas Barnett Leads off tonight with What the Hell Is Really Going Down in Honduras?

Tom presents a fair and balanced review of the facts that seem to have alluded much of our own leadership.

Here is a tease of the full article in this week's War Room at Esquire.com

As the Honduran constitutional crisis moves inexorably toward some endgame (this, the original "banana republic," must eventually come in from the cold), let's go easy on tossing around the term "military coup" and reflexively comparing the situation to Iran's ongoing tumult. According to the country's oddly prescient constitution, it was actually ousted President Manuel "Mel" Zelaya who had crossed the forbidden line. The military, in fact, was merely fulfilling its prescribed duty against Latin America's resurgent threat of continuismo — the tendency of elected leaders to stay beyond their expiration dates, Chavez-style.

Next is Steve DeAngelis of Enterra Solutions writing about Innovation, Inventions, and Investment.

Steve opens with:

As I noted in my post entitled Innovating the Future, more and more headlines are asking where are all the jobs are that were supposed to be created by Congress' trillion-dollar stimulus package? In earlier posts about how to get the U.S. and global economies back on track, I have promoted the notion that the Obama administration and Congress should pay more attention to fostering conditions that will promote innovation and entrepreneurs (see for example, my post entitled Entrepreneurs and Economic Recovery). New York Times' columnist Thomas Friedman is also a believer in the power of innovation ["Invent, Invent, Invent," 27 June 2009]. He reports about a chance meeting he had in St. Petersburg, Russia, with the former chairman of Intel Craig Barrett. He asked Barrett how the U.S. could get itself out of its current economic conundrum and Barrett surprised him by saying that every person who gets a driver's license in the U.S. should have a high school diploma first. His logic was simple: "No diploma — no license. Hey, why would we want to put a kid who can barely add, read or write behind the wheel of a car?" Like Friedman, you might wonder what getting a driver's license has to do with getting the U.S. out of its current recession.

Finally, a post from new blogger, Steve Pressman who hosts It's The Tribes Stupid!

His latest post Horse Sense, or What We Can Learn from a British Cavalry Officer of the 1830s. expands on a 179 year old account of action in Afghanistan.

Here is a tease of Steve's talented pen.

I love this stuff, not just because it’s romantic and swashbuckling (I know, I know, that doesn’t count), but because I believe history has real lessons to teach us. Alexander did the same thing Capt. Trower did—hiring and organizing tribes to fight on his side and not on the enemy’s—as did our Marines in Ramadi and the Sunni tribal belt. It worked.

Can the same trick be pulled off in Afghanistan? Is it possible to duplicate the success of the Anbar Awakening in Iraq? Can tribal self-defense forces like the Afghan Public Protection force, just now being organized by U.S. commanders, serve as a realistic adjunct to NATO forces? Can such units even, on their own on their home turf, achieve the COIN aim of “protecting the people?”

Read and enjoy!

Independence Day 2009

Independence Day 2009, in the blogosphere reveals the scope that the social media has advanced in providing commentary and information to everyone who has access to the Internet.

Back in 1776, word of the adopting and signing of the Declaration of Independence was spread by dispatch riders who would announce the news in each hamlet and town they passed through. Almost every town had a publisher who as a side line to his regular business would publish a pamphlet or newsletter to be read and distributed around the community. These pamphlets would be read aloud in taverns for the benefit of those who could not read as a way of engaging in raucous debate.

After Congress approved the final wording of the Declaration on July 4, a handwritten copy was sent a few blocks away to the printing shop of John Dunlap. Through the night between 150 and 200 copies were made, now known as "Dunlap broadsides". Before long, the Declaration was read to audiences and reprinted in newspapers across the thirteen states. The first official public reading of the document was by John Nixon in the yard of Independence Hall on July 8; public readings also took place on that day in Trenton, New Jersey, and Easton, Pennsylvania.[110] A German translation of the Declaration was published in Philadelphia by July 9.[111]

President of Congress John Hancock sent a broadside to General George Washington, instructing him to have it proclaimed "at the Head of the Army in the way you shall think it most proper".[112] Washington had the Declaration read to his troops in New York City on July 9, with the British forces not far away. Washington and Congress hoped the Declaration would inspire the soldiers, and encourage others to join the army.[113] After hearing the Declaration, crowds in many cities tore down and destroyed signs or statues representing royalty. An equestrian statue of King George in New York City was pulled down and the lead used to make musket balls.[114]

British officials in North America sent copies of the Declaration to Great Britain.[115] It was published in British newspapers beginning in mid-August; translations appeared in European newspapers soon after.[116] The North ministry did not give an official answer to the Declaration, but instead secretly commissioned pamphleteer John Lind to publish a response, which was entitled Answer to the Declaration of the American Congress. [117] Thomas Hutchinson, the former royal governor of Massachusetts, also published a rebuttal.[118] These pamphlets challenged various aspects of the Declaration. Hutchinson argued that the American Revolution was the work of a few conspirators who wanted independence from the outset, and who had finally achieved it by inducing otherwise loyal colonists to rebel.[119] Lind's pamphlet included an anonymous attack on the concept of natural rights written by Jeremy Bentham, an argument he would repeat during the French Revolution.[120] Both pamphlets asked how slave owners in Congress could proclaim that "all men are created equal" without then freeing their own slaves.[121]

Read more:

United States Declaration of Independence

Today in the electronic media age we are moving beyond the narrow aspect of information filtered and directed by mainstream sources whose size and influence would boggle the imagination of the Founding Fathers. This past month we have been reminded of the role that social media in the form of blogs, and outlets like Twitter and Facebook have come to play in reporting events as they unfold. The world was able to watch green clad Iranians demonstrate and die as they protested an election that reasonable people would find was a fraud.

Imagine what the world and even the average Englishman at home in London would have thought if they were able to view the opening shots of our American Revolution in Boston in 1770 or at Lexington Green in 1775 via a Twitter link. Would open war have been averted? Of course this is too counter-factual to qualify given the differences in temperament and the conditions, IE, an armed citizenry able to resist.

In honor of this day here is a look at how my fellow bloggers have chosen to honor this day.

Happy Independence Day by Thomas Barnett

Spending The Fourth of July in China by tdaxp.com

Celebrating Freedom by Steve DeAngelis of Enterra Solutions

Independence Day and From Our Archive: The Spirit of Independence Dedicated To Those Who Dare by United States Naval Institute Blog

Forecast: Death of the American Constitution by Fabius Maximus

The Message of July 4th by The Bellum: A Stanford Review Blog.

For July 4, Fix the Jefferson Memorial! by Nick Kristoff blog

What I’ve Learned About Blogging So Far by It's The Tribes Stupid! to illustrate the value of social media in a free society.

And to remind us that America is a work in progress. Freedom to Steal and The Evils of Democracy by Committee of Public Safety

Enjoy this day by taking the time to peruse the thoughts assembled above, much in the manner of our fellow citizens took the time out of their daily lives to consider the news that had just arrived from Philadelphia in 1776.

Tdaxp Reports Fellow Blogger is On Fire!

Thomas Barnett's keyboard

Thomas P. M Barnett

The essential and astute observer Dan of tdaxp.com gets a major hat tip for calling attention to how much attention Thomas Barnett is paying to the events in Iran. Barnett recently returned from Shanghai, where he spent a week meeting with China's top foreign affairs academics.

Dan's post list the 19 posts Barnett has written about Iran since June 24. This represents over 40% of the total posts during this time. If the reader goes back the previous week more insightful posts appear shadowing this developing story. Dan points out that Twitter was given a lot of credit for exposing what was going on, but true analysis can not be done in 140 characters.

Read more:

Tom is on Fire with Iran posts

Tom Barnett continued his analysis today with this post. Neither 'Islamic' nor a 'republic'

I might add that Barnett has an uncanny ability to not only write excellent thought provoking columns about Iran, but can add commentary to news reports that many times carry more insight than the original piece.