Best of the Web 20APR10

On Why the USG Doesn’t “Get” AQ as a “Global Insurgency” - ZenPundit: Mark Sanfraski is always good for thought-provoking pieces. Here, he explores the widening gulf between "classical" (Maoist) insurgency, which forms a core of COIN theory, and post-Maoist insurgency, which typifies most insurgencies operating today. Interesting implications for state-centric foreign policy and theory.

Forgetting our American Tradition - David Brim via Sigma Forum: David takes a novel swing at the professionalization of American national security. Whereas most takes on contemporary civil-military relations focus on the "growing gulf" between the military and the civil worlds, David explores the difference between a preventative, elite professional approach versus a "resilient", civilian reserve. In doing so, he recasts our national security narrative from a focus on "fighting them over there so we don't fight them here" (incidentally, Zen questions this narrative above as well) towards a culture capable of rapid bounceback and "counter-attack".

When Heads Roll - Jenna Jordan: Analyzing the data for 298 leadership decapitations from 1945-2004, Jenna makes the provocative claim that: "The marginal utility of decapitation is negative for many groups, particularly for larger, older, religious, and separatist organizations." This surfaced as I was reading about the Army's leadership problems in Vietnam, and the impression strong component of American leadership was trapped in their experiences and modus operandis. For the groups Jordan reviewed, new leadership meant new direction and invigoration; new blood. Makes me wonder if the "optimal" age of authority isn't younger than we expect. The old guard becomes very good at perfecting how things used to be done as the present passes them by, while the Young Turks don't have the experience or seniority to pioneer real change. Senior middle management though...

hint.fm - Fernanda Viégas and Martin Wattenberg: Researchers in visualization, the pair has created some astounding projects. Web Seer is a fascinating little tool to cross-correlate Google search terms, while Many Eyes is a public forum for visualizations of, well, everything. History Flow, the project that gained the initial acclaim, captures the self-healing nature of Wikipedia by allowing anyone to track the history of changes. All-in-all, highly enjoyable.

Cities Under Siege - Geoff Manaugh: As the world turns urban, I'm interested in anything studying the direction of our coming urban spaces. Manaugh proposes that in addition to degradation towards a "feral city", our responses will be increasingly military and technological. Future cities will be islands of civilization and privilege surrounded by slums and lawlessness, isolated and controlled through physically balkanized districts, checkpoints, and surveillance. Call Baghdad the pilot program.