If I go with my norm nowadays and include the Balkans in the Core, and then add in Turkey as well (critical regional mass argument), the match-up with the panic map is awfully close. Forgive Indonesia's contagion because it's a Seam state unlikely to be considered Gap by anybody in a decade's time and you're down to just the island of the emirates (superconnected) buried deep inside the Gap. Appreciate that for the beachhead that it is.
Remember, the map was a snapshot, not a permanent divide. I expect it to shrink and it is. In many ways, then, this might be the best current depiction we can muster.
You map the vectors of contagion and that gives you the outline of the coherent body.
Commensurately, Greenland is totally out mister!
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Comments (1)
Dogs and foxes have to learn that they have to focus on one rabbit rather than chasing one distracting target, then another. Worst case of dealing with mobile exploiters of Gap trouble spots is chasing the newest or media interest spots, and distracting ongoing efforts elsewhere. Even the dogs and foxes that learn to focus on one kill don't really care about reducing the rabbit population. So having an coordinated Core overall Gap strategy, and objective monitoring/adjustment discipline, are very important.
Candid evaluation of, and reaction to, the individual 'enemy' Gap problem exploiters is also important. Some cannot change, and must die. Others, including some Taliban, can eventually become realistic allies, if not friends. So the people judgments in Special Forces and their social/economic outreach equivalents is important in evaluating situations.
None of this is new. You can see it in the background papers behind JFK's expansion and redirection of Special Forces. You can even find it in writings about Arthur MacArthur and early Douglas MacArthur lessons and methods.
We don't need an adolescent media and political establishment in the back seat shouting: "Are we there yet?"
Posted by Louis Heberlein | October 30, 2008 2:01 PM