The teams fulfill a valid need and are quite likely to be effective. It's easy for
Wilf and
120mm who have spent some time among Arabs and Asians to say : In addition to the dense, there those who are not one bit dense but who just arrived in the area and have to make rapid combat decisions and do not have the time to sort through nuance -- they don't have time to noodle...I partly agree -- I'll also point out that none of us knew that before we spent some time among them and I'll further bet big money that none of the three of us is nearly as adept at discovering what that self-interest is to the extent we would like or would like to think we are...
You left out the Asian concepts of family, face and honor which all have a significant impact and are not at all like western concepts. Politeness and the resultant tendency to tell you what they think you want to hear -- and that is not a lie to them -- also impact.
Regardless, the teams will provide insights and, importantly, will institutionalize the knowledge (well, hopefully, anyway...) so that even folks going into the area for the first time are as smart as the three of us are...
Far, far more importantly, that knowledge may cut through the terrible ego and arrogance of the westerner who thinks he's got the east figured out.
Originally Posted by Ken White
The teams fulfill a valid need and are quite likely to be effective. It's easy for Wilf and 120mm who have spent some time among Arabs and Asians to say : In addition to the dense, there those who are not one bit dense but who just arrived in the area and have to make rapid combat decisions and do not have the time to sort through nuance -- they don't have time to noodle...I partly agree -- I'll also point out that none of us knew that before we spent some time among them and I'll further bet big money that none of the three of us is nearly as adept at discovering what that self-interest is to the extent we would like or would like to think we are...
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