Why the U.S. Military Is in Shambles
By Andrew Cockburn, CounterPunch
Posted on December 8, 2008
Coinciding with the arrival of Obama and his deputies in Washington, the Center for Defense Information is releasing America's Defense Meltdown -- Pentagon Reform for President Obama and the New Congress, a primer on what is wrong with our defense system written by men with long and honorable experience in the bowels of the military services and Pentagon bureaucracy. The book's editor, Winslow Whee…
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Added by Rob Paterson on December 30, 2008 at 3:54pm —
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The New York Times Flames Out in Defense Dogfight
By CHUCK SPINNEY
Counterpunch
http://www.counterpunch.org/spinney12232008.html
The 21 Dec 2008 editorial in the New York Times, "How To Pay For A 21st-Century Military" purports to advocate tough-minded pragmatism to reform a Pentagon that is clearly out of control. Yet its logic is really another example of the kind of hackneyed thinking that serves to protect the status quo. It also suggests indirectly why the mainstream media are in such trou…
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Added by Rob Paterson on December 24, 2008 at 1:45pm —
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Added by Rob Paterson on December 17, 2008 at 11:10am —
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Here is the link to the UPEI ePresence Portal
The Good News is that the videos up there are in good shape and have the slides embedded
The Bad News is that for reasons we don't understand some videos did not record and we don't have the complete conference.
I am heartbroken because they were exceptional. Like a wedding where the pictures did not turn out
I apologize to you all and in particular to John Robb, Rory Franci…
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Added by Rob Paterson on December 16, 2008 at 9:49am —
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In summary, I felt compelled to think about Frodo. The true hero is not an obvious hero. He or she is called and he or she answers the call - or not. It's Boyd's great choice to be somebody or to do great things.
As with Frodo and Sam, in the end, the most dangerous work is also done alone or with tiny resources.
My commentary ends with this perspective of courage and w…
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Added by Rob Paterson on December 13, 2008 at 2:50pm —
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Here is my commentary on Jim and Barry's commentary on how Th Art of War can help us achieve Victory against the vast and powerful forces that are hanging on to power as the world of Big Institutions crumbles.
No better advice for leadership and for understanding of conflict and how to cope well with it exists.
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Added by Rob Paterson on December 13, 2008 at 1:08pm —
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This is the link to my commentary on Chet's masterful briefing on the paradox of US Defense - it's mission, its organization and its budget. I add that the same mismatch exists for education and Health - as Admiral Beatty said at Jutland "There is something wrong with our damn ships!"
In these times of great economic peril - this misma…
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Added by Rob Paterson on December 12, 2008 at 2:30pm —
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What was the Mortgage Crisis is becoming the "Econocalypse" - every city is affected. Beyond the bailout are we helpless?
Here is my commentary on KETC St Louis's work to convent the people of St Louis to help themselves.
My bet is that Public Tv and Radio could become central in the work to take back power and control into our own han…
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Added by Rob Paterson on December 12, 2008 at 10:00am —
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So what do we do? How do we realize in action the kind of organization that will be essential to cope in an interdependent world?
Fortunately for us - the pioneers are on their way back down the journey of exploration. Like Lewis and Clark they have a real story to tell and they have hard won lessons too. They even have a map!
Here is m…
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Added by Rob Paterson on December 11, 2008 at 4:30pm —
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Here is my link to my commentary of Stuart's talk.
Here we build on Chet's Boydian insight of the need to harmonize a variety of mindsets to avoid group think and on John Robb's context of a interconnected world that is too complex for the simple forms of organization that we use today.
Stuart shows us the DNA of how to harmonize true diversity and align it…
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Added by Rob Paterson on December 11, 2008 at 12:29pm —
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Here John Robb offers us a context for the change in our world - and the pathways to a better one. His slides are also found on this link
Key is to understand that our world is too big and too connected and too fast to be understood or controlled by the way we think and act today. The financial crisis has caught all the leadership offside - they are all beh…
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Added by Rob Paterson on December 10, 2008 at 5:00pm —
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Here is the link to my post on Chet's Opener where I offer a summary and commentary of the key messages and images contained in Chet's talk
This issue of the imperative of seeing beyond your conventional mindset was the centre-piece of Chet's opening remarks. The entire conference was designed to help us all "see" and to harness the diversity in the room to provide a deeper a…
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Added by Rob Paterson on December 10, 2008 at 12:24pm —
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As Chet finished his tour de force at our conference, I wondered what the chances were of sense coming to the Pentagon.
Here is reason to hope that it may - Gates could have been with us this weekend
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Added by Rob Paterson on December 7, 2008 at 3:34pm —
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Of the two reviews that are newly available of "America's Defense Meltdown: Pentagon Reform for President Obama and the New Congress" one appeared in the Huffington Post at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-tepper-marlin/experts-slam-dod-waste-in_b_145134.html. The second appeared in Asia Times at http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/JK27Ak02.html.
There will be a reception to acknowledge the publication of this new anthology on Wednesday, December 3 at 6:00 at the Officers' Club at Fort M…
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Added by Rob Paterson on November 26, 2008 at 1:44pm —
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Added by Rob Paterson on November 17, 2008 at 8:52am —
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I have had the honor of reviewing the new book edited by Winslow Wheeler -" America's Defense Meltdown: Pentagon Reform for the New President and Congress".
I have been thinking about how such a reform could happen and sent Winslow these thoughts - I would be grateful for your reactions.
Reforming the US Military - Using 4GW as the way
Key groups of people in the US believe that the way the US military is organized, funded and deployed today is the essential key to US and Global Security.…
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Added by Rob Paterson on November 7, 2008 at 3:45pm —
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Here is the Draft Agenda or Conference Intent
Chet and I waited the summer out before getting back to you with an agenda for the December Boyd Conference on PEI because we wanted to see if the best kind of agenda might emerge from events.
We think that a number of things have become more likely than we would have predicted, even back in June. Like tracking Hurricanes, we cannot really predict the future with precision, so we offer these observations as a possible stimulus for our conver…
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Added by Rob Paterson on September 11, 2008 at 8:15am —
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The default avatar is as you can see John Boyd. It would be great if you could add a real picture of yourself - or Like Chet an avatar that shows us the real inner you. If Wellington is taken - any Bonaparte's out there? Bill???
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Added by Rob Paterson on July 8, 2008 at 11:02am —
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Welcome to the Ning pre-conference site. The tool has tons of power. We can look at video, feed blogs in. Have our own blogs here. Have discussion groups. Keep a record.
It is my hope that we can get a lot of the conversation going here before, during and after the conference.
It's ironic that this summer, the wheels are coming off our world and there has never been a better time to apply Boyd's thinking to the complex issues that have the power to change all that we know.
Is this August 1914…
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Added by Rob Paterson on July 7, 2008 at 5:16pm —
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