I'm down with the genuine sentiments on the population, but I do have a problem with the slogans.

All these conflict zones have a history of sloganeering from their dictators: Arbeit Macht Frei, etc... but nobody quite knows what the slogans mean.

In my profession (civilian planning), I wrote a feature article for Planning Magazine in 2003 that led with: "Smart Growth is so last year...". Got a lot of editorial questioning ahead of then, but, the mixed messages and bewilderment of Smart Growth had solved within a year. We've already done the Smart XXX thing to no ultimate value.

In December 2007, I brought a copy of "Implementation," by Wildavsky and Pressman, a basic text in planning/public administration that tells the sad story of the Great Society effort to reconstruct Watts after the riots. All the money, all the political will, but no results. The implementation phase failed giving rise to a great teachable moment of what can and can't be done, and how to channel and structure good intentions into viable public solutions.

There were only a handful of Senior Planner/City Managers, and two out of three of us brought the same book. One even taught from the book in courses on public administration.

So we listen to a lot of diplomatic/political slogans on soft power, demo/gov capabilities, etc..., and know that it is about the nuts and bolts of economic, societal, political, and essential services expansions. Slogans and concepts are not implementable.

Last week, we had a Planning Conference in DC, during which the UN Under Secretary of the UN's Habitat Group introduced their new book and initiatives on informal settlements (old phrase: slums) from Africa through Asia. Looked like the map of Africom/Centcom. 50% Urban; 50% of those in informal settlements; 50% under 30 years of age. Serious poverty, lack of services, social instability.

The problem is: How do we systematize implementable solutions to these high-needs areas either before or after they fall to conflict. The root is always poverty, lack of education/services/resources/participation. Less slogans, more implementable solutions, please.

Welcome aboard.

Steve