The Managerial Empire
Read Imperial Grunts by Robert Kaplan.
"The effort in Iraq, with its large-scale mobilization of troops and immense concentration of risk, could not be indicative of how the U.S. would act in the future. It was in Colombia where I was introduced to the tactics that the U.S. would employ to manage an unruly world."
A managerial Empire for a nation of MBA's. This highlights the folly of analyzing Iraq, and Vietnam for that matter, too broadly. As Kaplan says, the world is Injun Country, and our small bands of adventurous men are trying to mid-wife civilization and decency across the entire globe. I commented earlier that it is in the vanguard of the American imperium where you can find real true believers. Read this book and you will see the truth of that statement, and be proud.
Another point Kaplan makes is more worrisome. Colombian FARC and ELN are being supported by Chavez, and he has trained these terrorists to sabotage the Colombian oil pipe-line so the U.S. will be more dependent, and therefore more beholden, to Venezuelan oil. Chavez is also handing out Venezuelan ID cards to men from Yemen, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, etc.
Chavez is Castro's protege, and it must be remembered that Castro, in 1967, began the era of international terrorism with a grand meeting of Leftist radicals in Havana, and afterwards became a type of centrale for terrorist leaders and funds. The agenda of the 1967 meeting was to destabilize democracies everywhere, thereby setting the stage for communist revolution. From this meeting of the terrorist minds sprang Europe's terror decade of the '70's which spilled over into the Middle East.
It is no secret that there is a common cause between the radical left and the radical right, what Claire Sterling referred to as Red and Black terrorism respectively. What is Chavez up to that we, as amateur analysts, cannot see? I'm afraid Chavez is planning to annex the choke-point of the American economy and thereby gain disproportionate influence and power, while retaining plausible deniability for the attacks. The tactic of blowing up Colombia's oil pipe-line could easily be transported to the Middle East, or Mexico, or even Canada, our number one supplier, leaving Chavez the arbiter of the price and supply of American oil, which would increase his influence immensely. A Castro with oil is a scary proposition, but an oil-rich Castro in control of U.S. supply, who wields terrorism freely and unapologetically, and unlike the real Castro young and still virile, is a serious national security threat, ripe for the Chinese to massage to their advantage.
I do hope we are not being blinded by the concentrated risk of Iraq. If we are to get out of this century still the leader of the free world, it is going to take the eternal vigilance of Americans, both military and civilian, to remain the former and preserve the latter.
"The effort in Iraq, with its large-scale mobilization of troops and immense concentration of risk, could not be indicative of how the U.S. would act in the future. It was in Colombia where I was introduced to the tactics that the U.S. would employ to manage an unruly world."
A managerial Empire for a nation of MBA's. This highlights the folly of analyzing Iraq, and Vietnam for that matter, too broadly. As Kaplan says, the world is Injun Country, and our small bands of adventurous men are trying to mid-wife civilization and decency across the entire globe. I commented earlier that it is in the vanguard of the American imperium where you can find real true believers. Read this book and you will see the truth of that statement, and be proud.
Another point Kaplan makes is more worrisome. Colombian FARC and ELN are being supported by Chavez, and he has trained these terrorists to sabotage the Colombian oil pipe-line so the U.S. will be more dependent, and therefore more beholden, to Venezuelan oil. Chavez is also handing out Venezuelan ID cards to men from Yemen, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, etc.
Chavez is Castro's protege, and it must be remembered that Castro, in 1967, began the era of international terrorism with a grand meeting of Leftist radicals in Havana, and afterwards became a type of centrale for terrorist leaders and funds. The agenda of the 1967 meeting was to destabilize democracies everywhere, thereby setting the stage for communist revolution. From this meeting of the terrorist minds sprang Europe's terror decade of the '70's which spilled over into the Middle East.
It is no secret that there is a common cause between the radical left and the radical right, what Claire Sterling referred to as Red and Black terrorism respectively. What is Chavez up to that we, as amateur analysts, cannot see? I'm afraid Chavez is planning to annex the choke-point of the American economy and thereby gain disproportionate influence and power, while retaining plausible deniability for the attacks. The tactic of blowing up Colombia's oil pipe-line could easily be transported to the Middle East, or Mexico, or even Canada, our number one supplier, leaving Chavez the arbiter of the price and supply of American oil, which would increase his influence immensely. A Castro with oil is a scary proposition, but an oil-rich Castro in control of U.S. supply, who wields terrorism freely and unapologetically, and unlike the real Castro young and still virile, is a serious national security threat, ripe for the Chinese to massage to their advantage.
I do hope we are not being blinded by the concentrated risk of Iraq. If we are to get out of this century still the leader of the free world, it is going to take the eternal vigilance of Americans, both military and civilian, to remain the former and preserve the latter.
posted by John Aristides at 2:23 PM
1 Comments:
Ola, old boy!
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