Thomas P.M. Barnett :: Weblog

I would agree! This article reads just as Tom speaks. Again, a brilliant piece and something that should be given more access.

Perhaps a permanent link as a sidebar on the homepage would be a good place to start.

Agree with historyguy99 that this should be one of those essential side-bar links. This actually looks to me like a collection of weekly columns and longer blog posts, strung together under the overarching banner of inevitable US-China cooperation. That does seem to be one of the salient points of Tom's brief and work, recently.

It does not, however, address some of the background themes that put Tom's ideas in historical or contemporary context. It does not address the lessons of Balkans and the failure to implement these in Iraq. It also does not address areas of concern other than China, such as India and Russia and Brazil and, yes, Iran. And I think that it doesn't go far enough in addressing the bureaucratic inertia that Tom conveys well in person--that he is a strategist with a great mind and great ideas, but he's pushing on the mil-pol system somewhat from the outside. Yes, his ideas have traction in the DoD, but how fast can and will they move, and does the Executive have a clue as to where to go with it all?

When Tom gets inside the White House (I mean as a visitor, most likely to deliver The Brief of all briefs), it will be one of those major vertical shocks that he loves so much, and the ripples will result in significant changes to the Way Things Work. He just needs to make sure that the people in attendance have read something from his work, which impression I don't get from the way the White House and State Department handle much of the world these days.

Here's an idea: whittle this article down a bit to the core essentials, add some of that historical and contemporary background, and submit it for publication in Foreign Affairs right next to the op-ed-style pieces that they've been publishing for the presidential candidates.

That'll get some Executive attention--if not immediately, then about a year from tomorrow.

great idea, historyguy. done.