The merits of parallel diplomacy
DeepDipIf you want to go into an African village,
Always let someone from the village accompany you.
Houphouët Boigny – President of the Ivory Coast
Since their beginning in the Renaissance,[1] diplomats were an exclusive and tetchy lot. Seeing…
Ephemera (VI)
DeepDip(Some reflections are not worth a full-throated blog, yet they contain small kernels for reflection – like plum kernels one rolls in one’s mouth while climbing a steep mountain on a hot day. I’ll post ephemera from time to time)
May you…
Freedom’s “budget”
DeepDipIn 318, I indicated that in real life, freedom is not a “free gift.” Achieving freedom takes the form of a “budget.” The statement is startling and counterintuitive. I would like to explore the matter further. As an example, I propose…
When counterinsurgency comes marching home
DeepDip….
Take up the White Man's burden, In patience to abide,
To veil the threat of terror And check the show of pride;
By open speech and simple, An hundred times made plain
To seek another's profit, And work another's gain.
Take up the White…
Micro- and macro-philosophy
DeepDipThat’s what it is to be alive. To move about in a cloud of ignorance; to go up and down trampling on the feelings of those… of those about you. To spend and waste time as though you had a million years. To be always at the mercy of one self-centered…
Weapons of Emotional Destruction
DeepDipOver 5000 years ago, humans domesticated the horse. It transformed mobility. It also transformed local affrays into distance projection of power: warfare. Such is the unintended power of enablers.
The enabling impact of internet is at par with…
What is it like to be a goshawk?
DeepDip(A review of: Helen Macdonald (2014): H is for hawk. Jonathan Cape, London)
In 1974, the philosopher Thomas Nagel famously asked the question: “What is it like to be a bat?” He argumented from principle and logic: “our own mental activity…
What’s all the fuss about the Westphalia Settlement?
DeepDipIn his latest book,[1] Henry Kissinger praises the Western “world order” that originated with the Westphalia settlement: “Since the end of Charlemagne's empire, and especially since the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, Europeans have striven…
On the sources of the Mississippi
DeepDip(against anachronism in ideas)
The Mississippi is an incontrovertible reality. Or is it?
The Mississippi watershed
While the central part of the river’s course is easy to define, as we go up-river to its “source” matters become…
Counterreformation as counterinsurgency
DeepDipHuman society, I have argued, is driven by enablers (see my 99 and 100). The Counterreformation is a good example of a “complex” enabler for counterinsurgency. It is worth visiting.
Faced with the “heretic” ideas of Martin Luther, the…
The virulence of analogies
DeepDipWhat moves human societies? I’ve long expressed doubts as to the broader relevance of rational discourse, or ideas, as an agent of social change.[1] I have pointed to joint experience as a far more powerful instrument in creating collective…
Does counterinsurgency work?
DeepDipSince ISIS has crashed onto the Middle East scene, counterinsurgency (COIN) has received a new lease on life. Pundits have opined on how best to defeat this novel insurgency. Being ignorant of the matter, I have looked into the book by David…
