Monthly Archives: September 2012

Afghanistan: Dying for a Strategy

Are we closer to fulfilling mission-strategy? This past weekend we marked the loss of more American lives in a mission whose objective remains unclear. From an historical military perspective there should be no doubt; it’s about strategic-positioning. From the perspective of democratizing a culture into becoming a pro-western apple-pie eating satellite, or as a case study for making the world safe for democracy, my first impression is to describe the ambition as a form of dystopia. For many reasons, among them being cultural, religious and regional vice, the normalizing of the region is simply not possible; at least not on western terms. For this reason I have long held that that the goal has never been to homogenize the region but in fact to make it inhospitable (by advancing tribal discord); to render the region decidedly unattractive to a would-be aggressor. 

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TIMF E-Op No: 5 – Banking’s Hidden Cost

The industry of Banking has been around, in one form or another, since mankind took a liking to the merchant trade. Merchants, in ancient times, quickly realized that they could enhance their economic standing by generating additional income from their stored (banked) profits by making loans to farmers or traders whose business was to bring goods from distant lands. The critical point to remember, as we move forward, is that these early Merchant Bankers used their own profits to make loans. 

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Middle-East Policy Overload

“The Nation, which indulges towards another an habitual hatred, or an habitual fondness, is in some degree a slave. It is a slave to its animosity or to its affection, either of which is sufficient to lead it astray from its duty and its interest.”
– George Washington, Farewell Address – 

Yes indeed we have become a “slave” to our national leadership long “astray form its duty and its interest.” I am more convinced then ever before of the truth of it and well past the time for Americans to reconsider the posture which continues to drive this Nation into every-expanding global conflict; in fact I believe it is critical to a far greater issue: The survivability of the American Ideal. 

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Engineering An Election: We & Them

One of the most basic tenants of humanity is the construct of common cause; the infallible link we possess with one another that is, without question, non-severable. This construct of common cause transcends the elusive veil of reason, race, sex, religion, boarders and boundaries; interestingly enough you can find it, masterfully expressed, in the American Declaration of Independence as those things we hold to be true:  

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” 

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