The War of Ideas in the Context of the Nation-Building-Industrial-Complex
on September 3, 2007 at 12:00 amRobb, J. (2007). Unleashing the dogs of war. Global Guerrillas. September 2, 2007. Available online: http://globalguerrillas.typepad.com/globalguerrillas/2007/09/unleashing-the-.html (from ZenPundit).
John Robb has an excellent piece on the Sysadmin-Industrial-Complex, the institutional support needed to expand and defend globalization against terrorism, socialism, and stupidity:
If you think the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan will end with this US presidency, think again. These wars will likely outlast the next several Presidents. The old Vietnam era formulas don’t apply anymore. The reason is that the moral weaknesses that have traditionally limited the state’s ability to fight long guerrilla wars have dissipated, and modern states may now have the ability and the desire to wage this type of war indefinitely. Here’s what changed:…
[T]he military and its civilian leadership still don’t have the ability to garner wide domestic support for guerrilla wars beyond the initial phases. However, they do have the ability to maintain support within a small but vocal base…
The current degree of corporate participation in warfare makes the old “military industrial complex” look tame in comparison.
If this Long War really came down to a “war of ideas,” we would lose. Fortunately, it won’t. However, it’s still useful and helpful to have a “small but vocal base” to distract and wear down opponents as the broader structure of the Military-Industrial-Sysadmin-Complex fights on.
I'm running a conference on the “Battle of Ideas” thing in DC, Sept 25 and 26. It's free and open to the public, anyone who is interested just shoot me an email. Robb actually will be on a panel there.
Adrian,
Sounds very cool! Sorry I can't make it, but Robb would be a great panelist!
PS: Purpleslog at D5GW has a good post on the role of the small but vocal base [1] that's worth checking out.
[1] http://www.fifthgeneration.phaticcommunion.com/archives/2007/09/psyop_auxiliaries_the_civilian.php
If not a conf report…perhaps just general impressions?
That I can do. I can't find an email address for Mr. Waller (PoliticalWarfare) – do you have one?
Adrian: I'd like to see a conference report afterwards! Also, there is a blog called politicalwarfare.org. You might want to cross pollinate with that guy.”
Unfortunately because everything at NDU is under non-attribution, there likely won't be a conference report. But that non-attribution policy is what makes the discussion and panel sessions so interesting!
Waller teaches at the Institute of World Politics. They can probably put you in touch with him.
http://www.iwp.edu/faculty/facultyID.12/profile.asp
The Institute of World Politics 1521 16th Street, NW Washington, DC 20036-1464 Tel: 202-462-2101