Pakistani COIN has a definite rhythm to it: increase military pressure in an area then, when things are near a breaking point, sign a peace agreement with insurgent leaders (or their proxies), according to which the insurgents promise to stop attacking Paksitan military and government forces/facilities, stop cross border operations into Afghanistan, stop creating parallel […]
Music and Science – missing the obvious point
July 22, 2008 By
My apologies if you were hoping to read more exciting thoughts on bureaucracy, elections, and tyranny, but I am going to take a few minutes to share some random thoughts on something more fundamental : music. There is much that could be said, but I want to focus for a moment on the questions of […]
More Reasons to Support Pakistan in the FATA
July 21, 2008 By
The conventional wisdom seems to be that Pakistan is the cause of instability in Afghanistan, and that if the government of Pakistan cannot solve the problem we should go in and solve it for them. Earlier I argued that there is not such entity as “Pakistan”, that Pakistan’s bureaucracies are corrupt and inefficient, and that […]
Who is Pakistan and where can I meet him?
July 17, 2008 By
Our brains just don’t work well in certain situations. Unfortunately, the world is full of “those situations”. There is a wonderful literature out there on how our brains let us down when we do certain kinds of analysis (The Psychology of Intelligence by Richard Heuer remains the best, although ). Nassim Taleb (The Black Swan) […]
Top Five Life-Changing Concepts
July 17, 2008 By
Yesterday, I wrote about some gadgets that have improved my standard of living. Here are some concepts that have reduced the stress in my life and made it a joy to go on breathing. Trusting Christ and His Church. Don’t pass over this one too quickly. It works. Without it, everything else can, at best […]
Should We Use Force in the FATA?
July 16, 2008 By
On Tuesday, Senators Obama and McCain talked about Pakistan and the war in Afghanistan. I am not really all that interested in campaign politics, but I am interested in counter-insurgency (COIN), especially COIN in Pakistan and Afghanistan. And some of the things the candidates say about this theater worry me. Sen. Obama has been criticized […]
The Optimist Vindicated
July 16, 2008 By
My wife likes to tease me about my love of gadgets. After 18 years together, she is still amazed that I am as fascinated with toys now as I was when I was a kid. Given that so few of them live up to my expectations, she must also wonder at my sanity! It is […]
