Applied Smart Power by a SEAL

[J. Robert DuBois]

...This is such an excellent discussion. You two and others are bringing a lot of valuable perspective and information. (You can be sure, though, that I'll be extremely wary about flavoring my Applied Smart Power for conflict reduction with references to a published Marxist! As Paul and John sang, "If you go carrying pictures of Chairman Mao, ain't nobody gonna listen to you anyhow.")

As a new guy, I still feel bad for tying up our Hail & Farewell bin - is there a moderator or tech wizard who could export the whole thing to another section? Alternatively, would a veteran recommend I open a new thread to pick up the conversation?

[slapout9]

As Paul and John sang, "If you go carrying pictures of Chairman Mao, ain't nobody gonna listen to you anyhow.")

What...... somebody say Paul...John.....The Beatles.....Revolution Live version

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Imb4tYOk8GE

[Tom Odom]

Where I confused the matter is in emphasizing that international aspect, compared to my actual focus on the inter-personal. I'm borrowing from Nye, Nossel and Clinton because their macro expression structurally reflects my micro view.

Good starte with Joe Nye; I worked with/for him in Rwanda. I recommend his book, the main thesis I would describe as "we often achieve our greatest effects because of what we are and what we are seen as versus what we do."

Tom

[MikeF]

Good starte with Joe Nye; I worked with/for him in Rwanda. I recommend his book, the main thesis I would describe as "we often achieve our greatest effects because of what we are and what we are seen as versus what we do."

Tom

Tom,

Serious question.

Is that meant only for the strategic level? On the ground, I lived by Facta non Verba- deeds not words.

Mike

[Tom Odom]

Tom,

Serious question.

Is that meant only for the strategic level? On the ground, I lived by Facta non Verba- deeds not words.

Mike

No Mike not at all...

Joe Nye's book concentrates on the effects of things that are non-coercive, as in music, books, etc. Note that he classes economics as hard, not soft power

But the same applies at the boots level when coercive measures are in play

Best
Tom

[M-A Lagrange]

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.

Steve, how to tell you that you are just right.
Actually I am with the UNMIS, may be the biggest failure of the UN since ever in terms of implementation. Here we are just all becoming crazy as no one is implementing anything!
Coming from the NGO were implementing is all, the absence of action due to the fear to take any responsability is just making me mad.

The worst in that story is the more the UN keep that position, the less they are legitimate. My colleages here are 80% african and even them are feeling being screw by the system. Not saying that african are lazy, far from that, but we are in africa and having 80% african expat staff would show some efforts of africa taking care of african problems.

The bottom line problem is not poverty but rather the lack of will and the absence of accountability of that administration. The worst is that it spoils good people by training them to take no actions, no responsability.
But I have been told you cannot push people to feel concern and it is not your job to push for implementation.

Well, if resident coordinators and New York are not feeling concern and not willing to implement... Who else?

[J. Robert DuBois]

Tom,

Serious question.

Is that meant only for the strategic level? On the ground, I lived by Facta non Verba- deeds not words.

Mike

Thanks, Mike et al. (Who is this "Al" guy?)

I've been off the net for a couple of days, waiting fruitlessly in Kuwait for my milair to OEF. While aircraft get downed for maintenance and our pressure cooker of backed-up travelers grows, it's been difficult for us to get away from the terminal to get online.

I mentioned recently in this thread that A) I won't claim to have the education or certificates to discuss international relations proper, although my reference to "smart power" could certainly lead some to that conclusion; and B) that I also don't claim to be stirring up some sort of popular, coordinated uprising among our target population via a variation (that's alliteration) on smart power.

Rather, what I've hoped to express in this introduction to my "Applied" Smart Power is that it's very much a person-to-person matter rather than nation-to-nation; it can in fact lead to serendipitous improvements at a local level, which can spread into larger population/government influence; and that I'm probably going to have to incorporate anecdotal examples from my work in a little over 30 nations instead of diploma-based justification.

Briefly, to get back to Mike's quoted submission, it seems that we're in a theoretical debate about whether it's good to be nice to non-combatants in a conflict zone (it is) or whether words are more important than deeds under the same conditions (they aren't). In fact, what Joe Nye teaches and Tom endorsed is that the "attractive" aspect of soft power is not about hollow rhetoric at all, and absolutely is about practical action and its value in role modeling. I couldn't agree more that deeds, not words, are what counts. It's unfortunate that our dialogue or my expression would indicate otherwise.

So, how about an anecdote as promised? While I was at one of the three bases in Iraq from March 2008 to March 2009, I had the good fortune to become friends with an Arabic interpreter who is originally from Egypt. We'll call him "Kami".

Kami and I worked together on this particular base for several months, and enjoyed having respectful discussions about Islam, to which he is devoted adherent. In fact, he's so "Muslim" that with his big shaggy beard, serene countenance, and "devotee dot" (the darkened spot on the forehead from a lifetime of pressing that skin against the floor in prayer), you might easily mistake him for a brother of Ayman al Zawahiri, bin Laden's partner in hate.

This background material is key to my teaching about applied smart power. By this point you have a picture of my "Islamist" friend in your mind. This picture is inseparably connected to your individual biases, pro or con, about what an Islamist who looks like al Zawahiri is all about. That assumption probably doesn't match what Kami, the three-dimensional human being, is actually all about, as will be evident from the following Paul Harveyesque "rest of the story":

While Kami and I were talking one day, I mentioned one of the initiatives that our host command had undertaken. A young boy in the local community had been diagnosed with an abdominal tumor, and this tumor had grown out of control and threatened to kill him. Our forces arranged to bring the boy and his father inside the base for follow-on transport to a surgical hospital and complete recovery, all courtesy Uncle Sam.

Kami stared at me with his eyes welling up. "Ah," he said. "God bless America!"

! ! !

I won't comment much more on the story, so each reader can interpret its implications for himself. The one thing I will say, though, is that I can think of a huge number of potentially good outcomes when a respected, devout Muslim scholar takes this new attitude to a madrassa filled with impressionable young men, or back to Egypt where he may share tea with a cousin in the original Muslim Brotherhood.

[MikeF]

Who is this "Al" guy?

Rob,

Al is that bastard that you meet in grad school. You just learn to include him in any context to sound smart. He's like the art dealer in NYC (academics version of a pimp).

As for your story on Kami- wise words...

As to my question to Tom, I had to think about it for a while. As far as small wars go, Tom (and Stan, his better half, senior NCO), are just genious having spent a lifetime in Africa. I've had to put his book on the backburner (as with Slap's recommendation for a movie), but one should listen when they speak. Now, Tom has moved up to the operational/strategic level and is trying to school us on his findings in the same way David Kilcullen did with The Accidental Guerilla. Pay attention to his words....

I've been trying to sort through the game that I played in Zag, you played with Kami, and Tom played in Rwanda....Here is the game.

A crazy game of Texas Hold 'Em Poker with ten players. As usual, you can't see the opponents cards nor effect the dealer; however, in this game, everyone is allowed to hide their pot so you never know if you're the playing from a short stack, in the middle, or the leader.

Mathematically, this game sucks, and I'm not sure how to solve it, but I guess it holds true to what we're dealing with in A'stan/Pakistan.

Stay cool and keep your head down. My advice to you is to listen to the boys on this board as you execute. I'll read up on Smart power this week.

Mike

[Stan]

....in this game, everyone is allowed to hide their pot so you never know if you're the playing from a short stack, in the middle, or the leader.

Mathematically, this game sucks, and I'm not sure how to solve it, but I guess it holds true to what we're dealing with in A'stan/Pakistan.

Mike

Mike,
I have this freaky feeling you were in Sub-Sahara with us

Now that I think about Tom's choices for a genocidal pick-up basketball team (US and French players), I actually wished you were with us

Thanks for your wit and wisdom as always, and the kind words!

Regards, Stan