The David Kilcullen Collection (merged thread)

[Bill Moore]

Actually what it may show is how long it takes to get a peer reviewed article published in an academic journal. I will bet that he wrote the article many months ago.

Perhaps, and of course there is value to the peer review system, the article at the link below indicates that this process can be abused. Does it serve as a filter to kill new ideas that challenge existing paradigms? Historically the Catholic Church filled this role to impede scientific thought. I can't help but wonder if the peer review process has resulted in the mess we have found ourselves in with our current thinking on insurgency? Any information on how the peer review system is supposed to work, and why it is valuable would be appreciated.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/m...31427452343393

Peer review is the vetting process designed to guarantee the integrity of scholarly articles by having experts read them and approve or disapprove them for publication. With researchers increasingly desperate for recognition, citations and professional advancement, the whole peer-review system has come under scrutiny in recent years for a host of flaws and irregularities, ranging from lackadaisical reviewing to cronyism to outright fraud

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[davidbfpo]

A short article via ASPI, an Australian policy institute, which ends with:

Thus, the current approach—in which the United States and its allies, including Australia, seem to be trying to fight the Islamic State without actually fighting—is not only doomed to failure but also likely to have dire knock-on effects. More than a year into the campaign, recognising this failure is the critical first step in crafting a workable strategy going forward.

Link:http://www.aspistrategist.org.au/isl...ling-strategy/

[davidbfpo]

Just had an email notification from the publishers, Hurst (London) that this book is due out next month in paperback:http://www.hurstpublishers.com/book/blood-year/

From the publisher's description:

Blood Year is an unsparingly honest, self-critical analysis of the collapse of western counterterrorism strategy, by one of its original architects.....So Kilcullen’s frank assessment — that the strategy he helped design has failed, that it has not made us safer, and has contributed to new threats, including ISIS — makes this short book mandatory reading for anyone interested in how terrorism is confronted. The most startling part of his analysis is that there may be worse dangers than ISIS incubating in various parts of the world.

The book appears to be based on his essay published last year, it has the same title and is behind a paywall. There is a two minute podcast though:https://www.quarterlyessay.com/essay/2015/05/blood-year