Thanks Ken,

Further clarification on:
Quote Originally Posted by Ken White View Post
I'd say one big implication is that we have not learned anything new, we have merely had to relearn what we earlier had to relearn -- the basic principles and practices of aiding foreign development, security force assistance and even COIN ops were all practiced by us -
My impression is that the U.S. has to a large extent relearnt the old, but failed to integrate the actually new (the 'classicist' COIN - '21st C. insurgencies balance). For some European countries (UK, France, Spain?) various amounts of relearning and adaptation have started. Disagreements?

Then, for euro countries w/out any colonial power history I'd argue that COIN actually is new; and, there is some need to at least understand what its implications are within a broader "comprehensive approach" context. The question then becomes: Whose Coin becomes the legitimate currency (sorry, couldn't resist).

jmm99's comment/question is pertinent here: "But, why would Finland (as a national policy issue) want to go beyond multi-national peace enforcement (as the kinetic limit), and get into COIN and IW (irregular warfare ?), or even get into such as FID and SFA ?" Finland needs to think long and hard about this, particularly the why. The answer to why and in what capacity is to my mind different depending on how Finland understands COIN, FID etc.