Theo has a great post on Cultures of COIN on his blog. Go read it if you haven't already. Then have a listen to this BBC Radio 4 Analysis programme which aired last night but you can listen to here (scroll down). Lots of good interviews about NATO and the challenge of fighting Wars Amongst the People.
Update: I've been meaning all week to flesh out this post by explaining what it was I thought interesting about this programme. Towards the end Francois Heisbourg, formerly director of the International Institute for Strategic Studies, proposes a solution to a fairly fundamental problem. The West produces too few infantry soldiers for high manpower, low-tech, security generation jobs like stabilization. That being the case why not outsource to armies like India or Pakistan? After all if IBM can outsource its back office why can't the military?
I really like bold ideas. And Heisbourg is a serious guy. But this strikes me as a phenomenally bad idea on so many levels, above all that this not the equivalent of the back office it's the store front, the main business. I haven't heard it proposed in quite this way before; I hope that the fact it's coming from as respected a figure as Heisbourg is not an indication of how seriously it is being taken.
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2 comments:
This is a really interesting programme. Do you think that it would be possible to get it offline for the WiMW?
But isn't this exactly what is already being done in UN peacekeeping? Developing world countries provide the foot soldiers and the rich nations pay. The developing nations don't mind losing a few soldiers and the richer nations don't mind paying for the privilege of not losing soldiers (i.e they pick up the bill)! It's fine and it works but only until you need to get into serious combat.
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