A New World View

So here is my very unbaked rant on the state of the world right now. I will write a more professional version of this some time over the weekend (hopefully).

Essentially my thesis is this:

I think that the world has changed more than our current leaders realize. I think their leadership is stale and they simply don’t get it anymore. The old way of thinking needs to be replaced with something new.

1. George Bush and the Republican administration have completely misread world events. They have created a global war where one didn’t exist because they don’t understand what is really going on.
2. The Democrats are just as ineffective because while they don’t agree with the current administration they have the exact same old school thinking that doesn’t get what is really happening.
3. The leadership of the military is just as antiquated in their thinking and therefore simply ineffective.
4. Current world leadership is at just as much of a loss.

Evidence:

1. Current Iraq policy simply does not and cannot work. It’s the clash of force against an idea. It almost along the lines (and I know I am somewhat misquoting this) of the comment in the federalist papers that “For in politics, as in religion, it is equally absurd to aim at making proselytes by fire and sword. Heresies in either can rarely be cured by persecution” (It is old school thinking)
2. Israel, while have some legitimate grievances has completely lost the moral high ground. While I don’t think highly of the high command of the US military the level of skill of the units on the ground is phenomenal. What makes the Israel army think they can accomplish in Lebanon what the USA (where it has control) cannot in Iraq. A standing army simply cannot eliminate a malitia that can simply stop fighting until they leave and then come back again - they are not bound to borders (It is old school thinking)
3. The USA arguably has probably at this point killed way more innocent people around the world in response to the 9-11 attacks than the USA lost in innocent lives in that attack and thereby (not that it is simple math, and we must grieve any such loss) have lost the moral high ground. (Its old school thinking)
4. The USA has not come to terms with the nature of the forces its fighting. Traditional military tactics simple do NOT match well against armies that span across many nations due to their ideological nature and that don't have to fight 'fairly' the pure math of the way we are fighting this doesn't work.
5. USA thinking around Korea (a tin pot little nation) has blown that whole situation out of proportion compared to how it should be dealt with. The message should be so if you attack us we will crush you else whatever just don't sell your nukes to anyone.

I personally view the incompetence of current leadership thinking the same way as I do the ridiculous nature of the executives who used to (and in some cases still do) lead the record labels and studios, and the same way I view the legislators who try to amend intellectual property rights law when they know nothing of the digital age. The government and the military have it all wrong, they still have not figured out that we live in a flat world and their power is simply growing less relevant. I wonder if that nutcase Newt Gengrich is really thinking World War 3 is coming (it only will if he and his loney friends create it) or if he is just scared that the government, he included are simply and over rated self absorbed institution hanging on to ideals that don’t matter any more.

I would further make the argument as before me have done Marcus Aurelius, Epictetus and St Augustine that we should not presuppose that (a) we have exclusive rights to justice and freedom; (b) we should be careful not to change the meaning of those words; (c) realize that those things are more important that the “state” we happen to live in and (d) remember that its is not the image that protects the men but the men the image. I almost feel like America is forgetting the growth of justice and capitalism everywhere is more important that American Imperial power.

The Solution:

1. America (and Israel) MUST seek everywhere to regain the moral high ground. We must not presuppose that we already have it. While Hezbola and other such organizations clearly have factions to them that are pure evil there are also rational elements that are meeting the need of a wounded and broken people, and rational reasons why some people would want to join such an organization (like the young men who's families were killed by stray Israel bombs) – we paint with to broad a brush.
2. The USA military should restructure itself.
   1. While it still needs to be able to be at a level to support major conflicts in at least two regions of the world the reality is occupation in an ideologically based war is pointless and a waste of resources. So dealing with those separately for a moment – there are no other real threats of significant size to the USA. Therefore that size of this piece of the army should be smaller and tightly integrated.
   2. This reduction of traditional force should be moved over to increasing the size and scope of special forces that can go into targeted missions on a sustained basis against smaller dispersed groups / cells. Terror elements do kneed to know that they will and can be hunted ruthlessly.
   3. The US military obviously needs to rethink its perspective on intelligence and planning the old cold war plans can be archived and more effort needs to be put into tribal and idealist / cell based intelligence gathering. Close links to more traditional investigative (FBI / Interpol) style intelligence may be more useful at this point.
3. USA foreign policy needs to be restructured around a “The World is Flat” model where the state is not the only body of influence in any geopolitical situation. Israel should have leveraged the moral high ground it had where the middle east was split and many groups / sectors were annoyed at Hezbola actions. That foreign policy should be supporting the horizontal nature of education, moderation, secularism and capitalism (and any other centralist POV) that exists within nations.
4. Furthermore USA foreign policy should recognize and embrace the decline in influence that the public sector of governance has in world affairs and embrace joint corporate foreign policy to foster capitalism, trade and education world-wide. (responsible capitalism that is)

Such a strategy (while yet poorly defined) will as I pointed out in my previous post eliminate our enemies by making friends of them. Our current thinking, even in the era of smart bombs paints with far too wide a brush. We tie together things that should not be. We over simplifyy the human reactions as to why the gun is picked up the bomb is strapped to the back of the bomber and in our futile and vain attempts to bully those who oppose us into submission we fail to grasp that we push more people into that extreme way of thinking and while doing so lose the moral high ground that is the only thing that holds what we say we cherish (justice, freedom of speach etc) together.

It is ironic to me that China in its current dealing with North Korea seems to be showing more wisdom and a greater understanding of the flatness of the world than us? While we sit high and mighty on the horse of self righteousness and point to their many (and there are) social weaknesses we seem to be unaware of how much the world is changing around us and how we are too proud to make the effort to change with it. We seem remarkably blind to our own sins.

Perhaps a little more humility, and the courage to embrace change and an ability feel the joy and the pain of the world community as inches towards globalization - almost with an attitude of a "marshal plan for the world" will do more to secure our own future than anything else we can do.

David