Thomas P.M. Barnett :: Weblog

Hmm. Don't see any reference at all to Leviathan and SysAdmin in that article at Tom Paine. Why would you want to marry TPMB with the nutjobs there? Trying to gin up electricity for an indictment of Rove? I would leave the tinfoil stuff for the Kos kids, and focus on, you know, a future worth creating.

It is referenced, albeit quite briefly and not in its true form. The author uses Tom's argument for a SysAdmin force as a cudgel to bash the post-war occupation phase [fair enough], but I think he's confused in that he thinks that's the force that we should have INVADED Iraq with -- a SysAdmin force of 400,000, which I'm assuming is [I haven't read the specific report] mainly composed of Americans. No mention of the bifurcation of the military that is a necessary component of Tom's theory. No mention of getting New Core powers like India or China involved in the SysAdmin force.

I'm not sure that article was a good reference to what Tom is advocating. If I read that article without having previously read Dr. Barnett's writing, I would have just assumed Tom was advocating some super-duper large peacemaking/peacekeeping force that would have pacified Iraq. WOW THAT BARNETT FELLA SURE BE SMART! Fortunately he linked to a Washington Post article that goes into a little more detail about your grand strategy. Overall I think its a poor reference; he just uses Tom to say we should have had a large force in Iraq [wow, no kidding!], and not the meatier details Tom repeatedly stresses. I'm also going to guess the author would also have a stroke if he hears you want the G-20 to play a larger role than the UN, since he seems pretty high on that organization.

Many thanks for the kind words and sidebar addition. We've had Tom on ours for some time and continue to use his two books in our posts and discussions.

Welcome, John. :-)

Menno: thank you for the critique.

yes, yes, Chirol, but next we need Tom to supplant Kaplan for 'the man' status ;-)

Thanks for the link Sean and Tom. Thanks Critt.

BTW, I have a great interactive segment with a staff level officer just back from a key position in Afghanistan. Worth a look, if your interesting in how rebuilding/pacifying Afghanistan is going. Very smart guy. Should be of interest to TPNM readers (not trying to plug this, but it is a very cool Q and A session).

http://globalguerrillas.typepad.com/globalguerrillas/2006/02/ask_the_expert_.html