Right About the Gap, Wrong About China
I think that's how my final analysis of The Pentagon's New Map will conclude. Barnett is absolutely right about the non-integrating gap as a strategic problem that can be (mostly, anyway) mitigated by ushering in connectivity. Sure, Muslim extremists are religiously motivated, but corrupt them with a pile of cash, TiVo, the internet, and Big Macs.... and maybe most of them will get the picture and leave us alone. (A vulgar rendition of The End of History - sorry Francis Fukuyama.) North Koreans are just like South Koreans or Chinese or Japanese or any other Pacific Rim culture - give them technology and the right focus for their energy and they will make amazing things happen. Kim Jong-Il will have to go first, of course, but they're not doomed to state failure by much besides forced disconnectivity.
But China - China is still a problem. They are remilitarizing at a drastic (maybe not alarming, but drastic) rate and they see us as the future enemy. We see them as the same (Barnett points out that Pentagon strategic planning has been preparing to match up against China since 1994). Just because they buy out all our technology and sell us loads of cheap toys doesn't mean they won't someday constitute a serious threat. We need to be wary of that nation. I'm not saying World War IV in two decades, just advocating that we don't dismiss a threat based on economic interdependency.
But China - China is still a problem. They are remilitarizing at a drastic (maybe not alarming, but drastic) rate and they see us as the future enemy. We see them as the same (Barnett points out that Pentagon strategic planning has been preparing to match up against China since 1994). Just because they buy out all our technology and sell us loads of cheap toys doesn't mean they won't someday constitute a serious threat. We need to be wary of that nation. I'm not saying World War IV in two decades, just advocating that we don't dismiss a threat based on economic interdependency.
posted by Brian at 1:44 PM
1 Comments:
Friends and readers,
Mr. Piotrowicz isn't highly respected at Patrick Henry College for no reason. He mixes a bit of solid reasoning with his Bull. Please note, for the sake of my ever-growing ego, that his lengthy synopsis is largely an explication of my end-run analysis of Barnett: right on the gap, wrong on China. He filled it out with far better analysis than I probably would have, which is why someday I will be president and he will be SecDef.
Best wishes to Mr. Piotrowicz in his current quest fighting terrorism in his undisclosed location.
A Barnett blessing to you, Mr. Piotrowicz: may you never be impaled on the Core, and may you never fall in the Gap.
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