What Are You Currently Reading? 2016

[davidbfpo]

Read on a beach recently:

1) 'Boko Haram: Nigeria's Islamist Insurgency' by Virginia Comolli; pub. 2015. A short book which explains why Nigeria repeatedly has Islamist / Islamic rebellions, BH being the latest, but longer lived version. Written before the last Federal Presidential election and the use of a South African PMC:http://www.amazon.com/Boko-Haram-Nig...s=books&sr=1-1

The author is an IISS analyst who has visited Nigeria.

2) 'At the end of the line: Colonial policing and the imperial endgame 1945-80' , by Georgina Sinclair; pub. 2010 and id'd after a tip from 'Red Rat'. An excellent book which covers the more obscure and famous colonies, but oddly nothing on India and a couple of other places, e.g. Eritrea. Masses of references to other sources and the two hundred interviews conducted. Very interesting to learn colonial police existed before Peel's work in Ireland, let alone their arrival in London:http://www.amazon.com/At-end-line-Co...s=books&sr=1-1

Five reviews on:https://www.amazon.co.uk/At-End-Line...rgina+sinclair

3) 'Blood Year: Islamic State and the Failure of the War on Terror' by David Kilcullen; pub. 2016. A well written book (288 pgs), which can be painful in places. Worth reading just the last two chapters: Age of Conflict and Epilogue. In short: fight them in their home, to fight in our home would be too high a price to pay:http://www.amazon.com/Blood-Year-Unr...avid+kilcullen

4) 'Islamist Terrorism in Europe: A History by Petter Nesser; pub. 2015. A Norwegian SME, from the Norwegian Defense Research Establishment (FFI). A very broad brush account up to the Charlie Hebdo attacks in Paris:http://www.amazon.com/Islamist-Terro...=petter+nesser

Two reviews:https://www.amazon.co.uk/Islamist-Te...=petter+nesser

The research footnotes are supplemented by an online appendix on the attacks 1974-2015 via:http://www.hurstpublishers.com/wp-co...e-Appendix.pdf

5) 'British Generals in Blair's Wars' edited by Jonathan Bailey, Richard Iron and Hew Strachan; pub. 2013 after MoD officialdom intervened to stop six serving officers contributions being published (which was posted on elsewhere):http://www.amazon.com/British-Genera...Blair%27s+Wars

Plenty of reviews via:https://www.amazon.co.uk/British-Gen...Blair%27s+Wars

A hefty tome (388 pgs), with mainly British Army officers contributing and a handful of academics. However interesting it is weakened IMHO by the absence of any non-British voices, especially by those who served with our foremost ally.

However this review says it all by Professor Sir Michael Howard:

This collection must be almost unique in military history. Seldom if ever have senior military commanders discussed so frankly the difficulties they have faced in translating the strategic demands made by their political masters into operational realities. The problems posed by their enemies were minor compared with those presented by corrupt local auxiliaries, remote bureaucratic masters, and civilian colleagues pursuing their own agendas. Our political leaders should study it very carefully before they ever make such demands on our armed forces again.

[AmericanPride]

Just finished The New Tsar: the Rise and Reign of Vladimir Putin. I found this to be a really personal look at Putin the man as - a literary look into his soul.

Still working: Days of Rage, Extrastatecraft

Up Next: American Warlord, @War, The Romanovs, The Coming of the Third Reich, Countdown to Zero Day

[Backwards Observer]

The Nomad Of Time by Michael Moorcock


Colonialism and Neocolonialism by Jean-Paul Sartre

[Backwards Observer]

Autopsy On People's War by Chalmers Johnson


Discovering Scarfolk by Richard Littler (Scarfolk Council - Blog)

[Backwards Observer]

World On Fire by Amy Chua


Less Than Human by David Livingstone Smith

[Backwards Observer]

The Cross Of Iron by Willi Heinrich


Into A Black Sun by Takeshi Kaiko

[Bill Moore]

The Seventh Sense: Power, Fortune, and Survival in the Age of Networks
by Joshua Cooper Ramo

https://www.amazon.com/Seventh-Sense...+seventh+sense

Overall a fascinating argument on the power of networks, and how networks are changing the world. The downside as mentioned in at least one of the critiques on Amazon is the argument could have been made more concisely in a long article. Drawing a parallel, one could say the same about the book, "Black Swans," and while the core of that argument could have been presented in an article, the longer explanation is useful for those desiring to get beyond Cliff notes and gain a deeper understanding of the argument.

For those looking for arguments on why are economic and security systems are failing, this book provides a theory that in my view is well supported. While networks, networking, etc. is something we talk about frequently in the military and business worlds, this book provides a deeper understanding on how networks are transforming the world. According to Ramo they're changing the world as much as the Enlightenment and the Scientific Revolution.

A couple of quotes to provide context that may generate interest in the book.

We experience power through networks now. We used to experience it thru brick-bound institutions such as universities, military HQs, or telephone companies. The most influential geopolitical forces, most lethal militaries, and post powerful commercial and financial efforts depend upon and are nearly defined by their fluency with different sorts of connection.

Billions of connected lives and tens of billions of linked sensors and machines = > potential for cascades, epidemics, and interactions on these networks. Scientists call this change “explosive percolation. There is an instant shift in the nature of a system as it passes a threshold level of connectivity. One moment you have angry fundamentalists, the next, you have a linked terrorist movement like AQ or ISIL. An ancient problem that is more effective when it occurs in a world of superfast networks of media and transportation. Networks do for terror attacks what gunpowder did for projectiles; they make the impact larger.

The 7th Sense is the ability to look at any objective and see the way in which it is changed by connection. When you invent the plane, you invent the plane crash (Paul Virilio). We face vulnerabilities and possibilities we only dimly understand.

This will upset some of the SWJ members who think the counterinsurgency operation in Malaya still represents a viable model in the 21st Century.

Current leaders like the status quo, the words potential and threat rhyme to them. Today’s problems are unsolvable with traditional thinking.

General Liu Yazhou noted, “A major state can lose many battles, but the only loss that is always fatal is to be defeated in strategy. A deep commitment to a flawed worldview can turn strength to weakness, and in our connected age, this sort of reversal can happen with particularly devastating speed.

Many more examples that focus on business and security. Refreshingly, Ramo argues the risk of high end war is increasing, and that there is a still a need for a powerful conventional military. However, there are other forms of power that are now equally dangerous. Referring to the risks posed by networks, especially in the age of everything increasingly connected to everything else, presents barely understood opportunities and risks. Thus the importance of developing the 7th sense. He quoted a French philosopher, who said, "when you build the ship you build the ship wreck, when you build the plane you build the plane crash." Networks are building all around through multiple connections, what does the network crash/wreck look like?

Starting to read, War by Other Means: Geoeconomics and Statecraft

https://www.amazon.com/War-Other-Mea...by+other+means

It is starting off well. While it addresses the use Geoeconomics across a wide scope of policy challenges, the authors give a head nod to China, which has been playing the "new" economic game at a maestro level. By staying out of wars so far, operating in the gray zone, and focusing on economic policy (to include economic coercion/warfare) it increased its global influence far beyond its existing economic strength.

In the introduction the authors (I'm paraphrasing) made the argument that our neo liberal views on foreign policy have dissuaded us from playing the great game, yet our adversaries are becoming increasingly skilled at doing so. State capitalism is making a resurgence, and a factor contributing to the resurgence of state capitalism that nests with the essential argument in "The 7th Sense," is because today's markets " deeper, faster, more leveraged, and more integrated than ever before--tend to exert more influence over a nation's geopolitical choices and outcomes."

It promises to be a good read.