The Week in Review

One of the most often asked questions I get from friends and students is how do I keep up with all the information that flows out across this medium dubbed the blogosphere. I must admit that it takes discipline and a careful eye to pick what for me is the better jewel out of a basket of jewels presented each day. I decided then to try and find the post or posts that stood out each week and gather them together here to offer a taste of what stood out.

First off, a post over at the U.S. Naval Institute Blog took top honors for generating a blizzard of comments that often grew heated amid the more thoughtful responses. Read on: Showing One's Throat to the Wolf

At this point perhaps Aesop may have a lesson that rymes.

A stray Lamb stood drinking early one morning on the bank of a woodland stream. That very same morning a hungry Wolf came by farther up the stream, hunting for something to eat. He soon got his eyes on the Lamb. As a rule Mr. Wolf snapped up such delicious morsels without making any bones about it, but this Lamb looked so very helpless and innocent that the Wolf felt he ought to have some kind of an excuse for taking its life.

“How dare you paddle around in my stream and stir up all the mud!” he shouted fiercely. “You deserve to be punished severely for your rashness!”

“But, your highness,” replied the trembling Lamb, “do not be angry! I cannot possibly muddy the water you are drinking up there. Remember, you are upstream and I am downstream.”

“You do muddy it!” retorted the Wolf savagely. “And besides, I have heard that you told lies about me last year!”

“How could I have done so?” pleaded the Lamb. “I wasn’t born until this year.”

“If it wasn’t you, it was your brother!”

“I have no brothers.”

“Well, then,” snarled the Wolf, “It was someone in your family anyway. But no matter who it was, I do not intend to be talked out of my breakfast.”

And without more words the Wolf seized the poor Lamb and carried her off to the forest.

The tyrant can always find an excuse for his tyranny.

The unjust will not listen to the reasoning of the innocent.

Next, is a book review by Mark at Zenpundit that caught the eye of the folks at the Small Wars Journal who linked it with comments.

John Robb weighs in with this edgy post on the ongoing sovereign default crisis in the EU. Here is a sample below:

Most analysts (at least the ones that are worth reading) contend that the sovereign default crisis (Greece, Portugal, Spain, etc.) in the EU is about the collapse of a system that created monetary union without a political union. It isn't. That's actually a narrow, parochial view. Instead, the current sovereign debt crisis about something much more interesting: it's another battle in a war for dominance between "our" integrated, impersonal global economic system and traditional nation-states. At issue is whether a nation-state serves the interests of the governed or it serves the interests of a global economic system.

This week also saw the return of Galrahn to regular posting at Information Dissemination where he promises a make-over as he marks the third anniversary of this excellent naval centric blog.

Two other favorite blogs announced changes are afoot in the coming week.

Thomas PM Barnett announced the roll out of a new blog link beginning Monday.
Basic blog design already in place, with some posts teed up. Currently fleshing most the pages I want on the site. Not everything will be done by Monday.

In moving over the old, I bring along all the posts and pix, and manage import the comments and the links inside the posts. Comments from 5/5 through 5/9 will be lost to the universe!

Weird to basically have two entire sites up for five days. Even more strange is going through some of the old posts (the ones that get linked because they're important in some way) and fixing the screwed-up bits. But no, I won't fix everything, because the first 2-3 years just didn't travel well the last time and it's just not worth my time. Annoying to read but the record's intact.

Anyway, see you over there on Monday. The link to the blog will now be:

www.thomaspmbarnett.com/globlogization

Finally this change coming over at It's The Tribes, Stupid" where Steven Pressfield announced the launch of a blog dedicated to writing as the former continues on under a new name and author.

Next week I’m launching a new site, which will be a better fit for all of my writing, titled “Steven Pressfield Online.” “Writing Wednesdays” will have its new home there. We won’t stop. In fact, we’ll add a couple of new features. The site overall will be more of a Pressfield/Writing site.

“It’s the Tribes” will continue too—under a new name, “Agora.” It will be edited and run by MAC McCallister. MAC will take the site to the next level for sure. He was a key participant in al-Anbar, Iraq, when the Sunni Awakening happened, and he hasn’t backed off since. He is outspoken, passionate and opinionated. I love him. He’ll be great.

Lastly, the blog links took on a couple of new sites, well worth the time to check out.

Pileus Blog Pileus describes itself as, "a group of scholars who examine public policy and philosophy in light of our respective disciplines."

Matt Gallagher, Former Army officer and Iraq veteran turned writer and author of Kaboom has launched the Kerplunk Journal where he holds forth on issues related to his former job.

And one final note. A quote to live or die by.
Hardcore Quote: Veteran of the Day