Free Republic

IT WAS wrenching to listen to President Bush's news conference yesterday. He's struggling to do the right thing. But he's getting terrible advice. He's still counting on a political solution in Iraq. Ain't going to happen. And you can take that to the blood bank. Our famously loyal president has one grave flaw: He's a poor judge of character. He trusts the wrong people. Then he sticks by them. Bush met Russia's Vladimir Putin, "looked into his soul" - and failed to recognize that the guy is an unreformed secret policeman. He stubbornly defends Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, the Pentagon's...

Can David Petraeus Rebuild a Nation? Lt. General David Petraeus is set to take over in Iraq. Here, we present an excerpt from Thomas P.M. Barnett's March 2006 profile of Barnett. By Thomas P. M. Barnett The naming of Lieutenant General David Petraeus as the top American ground commander in Iraq marks the arrival of one of the Army’s most daring and original thinkers at the top of U.S. decision making on Iraq. Petraeus has been the subject of two very different articles in Esquire in the last year—the first by contributing writer Thomas P.M. Barnett was part of an...

Strains grow over strategy to rein in Iran By Daniel Dombeyin London andStephen Fidler in Singapore Published: June 4 2007 03:00 | Last updated: June 4 2007 03:00 The international strategy to deal with Iran's nuclear programme is coming under increasing strain, diplomats and officials acknowledge. Consensus is fraying among the big powers that have fashioned the current policy of imposing limited United Nations sanctions to persuade Tehran to suspend uranium enrichment - which can produce both nuclear fuel and weapons grade material - while offering the prospect of better relations if it complies. The Bush administration is caught between...

The abrupt resignation of Adm. William Fallon as the head of Central Command almost got lost amid the breaking news of Barack Obama's victory in the Mississippi primary and Eliot Spitzer's resignation as governor of New York. But it's a much more consequential development -- in the foreign and military policy of the Bush administration in its final year in office and in the relations between civilian commanders and military officers in the long run of American history. Though everyone involved denies it, Fallon was kicked out for insubordination, or something very close to it. His conduct became impossible to...

HH: Joined now by Dr. Thomas P.M. Barnett. He’s the author of The Pentagon’s New Map, one of the preeminent global strategists in the United States. The book, The Pentagon’s New Map, widely read and influential within the Pentagon and other military think tanks. We are on Chapter 7 of an eight week series. This chapter, The Miss We Make, and Dr. Barnett, welcome back, always a pleasure to talk to you. TB: Always a pleasure to be here. HH: If I could summarize this, I think I’d use the line from Cool Hand Luke, what we have here is...

HH: Thomas P.M. Barnett is a senior strategic researcher and professor at the United States Naval War College, he’s also the author of perhaps the most influential book in the Pentagon in the last decade, The Pentagon’s New Map: War And Peace In The 21st Century. He’s been my guest these past four weeks at this time. This is our fourth hour-long conversation, or fifth conversation overall, and Dr. Barnett, welcome back. A pleasure. TB: Always good. HH: We want to talk about the four flows and the ten truths, so let’s jump in. There’s a lot to cover this...

HH: I am now joined by Dr. Thomas P.M. Barnett, author of The Pentagon’s New Map, one of the most important books within the Pentagon and outside of it in many circles in the last few years. Dr. Barnett and I are spending an hour a week going through this book. We are on Chapter 6. Dr. Barnett, welcome back. You’re in the District of Columbia tonight? TB: Yes, I am, in a cab heading toward the hotel. HH: Well, we’ll do the best we can, and we’ll make it work. As I read Chapter 6, The Global Transaction Strategy…...

HH: Part 5 now with Dr. Thomas P.M. Barnett, in the conversation about his book, The Pentagon’s New Map, one of the most important books of the last many years, read throughout the Pentagon, instrumental in rethinking our strategic approach to the world through the military and beyond. Dr. Barnett, welcome back. Good to have you. TB: Thanks for having me. (snip) HH: Well now, let’s go…that was the jumping off point, and here comes the right hook. Osama bin Laden’s message on 9/11 was essentially this. You will never be able to live with us in your midst, we...

HH: Part number three of my conversation with Dr. Thomas P.M. Barnett, author of the Pentagon’s New Map. Dr. Barnett, welcome back. TB: Thanks for having me. HH: A little off topic, we’ll get to chapter three, but it’s the State of the Union tonight. How do you assay the state of the union, Dr. Barnett? TB: Oh, I think economically, we’re very strong. I think our economy’s looking good, I think the global economy’s looking very solid. In fact, we haven’t had a global economy this strong in human history facing the kind of big impulse we’re going to...

The transcript of Part 2 of my eight part interview with Thomas P.M. Barnett, author of The Pentagon's New Map, is now posted, as is the audio. The transcript of Part 1 is here and the audio here, and the transcript of our short introductory interview is here, and the audio here. One teaser from yesterday's exchange: HH: Dr. Barnett, when we went to break, we were talking about China and the American Navy. We have these 10 Nimitz-class carriers out there, which are really our force projection power. If China develops the ability to attack from land via cruise...

HH: Joined now by Dr. Thomas P.M. Barnett, author of the Pentagon’s New Map, for the second of our eight conversations, one chapter at a time from that book, that very influential book. If you’re just tuning in for the first time, Dr. Barnet shook up the Pentagon after 9/11 with his understanding of the Pentagon’s New Map, and this is a New York Times bestseller that continues to become the source of many, many heated conversations, and much conversation here. Dr. Barnett, welcome back to the program. TB: Thanks for having me again, Hugh. HH: Let’s begin by recapping...

HH: This is a special hour on the Hugh Hewitt Show, the first of our eight conversations with Thomas P.M. Barnett. Dr. Barnett is one of the country’s preeminent grand strategists and military theorists. He’s the author of the Pentagon’s New Map: War And Peace In The 21st Century, one of the most influential, if not the most influential books inside of the Pentagon. And over the next eight weeks at this hour, we are going to be talking with him about one chapter at a time. Dr. Barnett, welcome back to the program. TB: Thanks so much for having...

The Chinese Are Our FriendsBy Thomas P. M. Barnett | Nov 1, 2005 | 4988 The greatest threat to America's success in its war on terrorism sits inside the Pentagon. The proponents of Big War (that cold-war gift that keeps on giving), found overwhelmingly in the Air Force and Navy, will go to any length to demonize China in their quest to justify high-tech weaponry (space wars for the flyboys) and super- expensive platforms (submarines and ships for the admirals, and bomber jets for both) in the budget struggles triggered by our costly wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. With...

The Pentagon is primarily in the business of preparing for war, not waging it. War is waged by commanders in the field. What the Pentagon does is think long and hard about what the future of war should be like. It then directs vast R&D and acquisition programs to generate a force capable of waging war successfully in that domain. Its demands for intelligence tend to be future-oriented. Right now, there is a debate raging within the Pentagon and the military as a whole about what the war in Iraq and the subsequent (and ongoing) occupation tell us about the...

In a Frontpage Exclusive, Dr. Thomas Barnett discusses why globalization is America's greatest gift to history.Frontpage Interview's guest today is Dr. Thomas Barnett, senior strategic researcher and professor at the U.S. Naval War College. He served as assistant for strategic futures in the Defense Department's Office of Force Transformation (Oct. 2001-June 2003). He is the author of the new book The Pentagon's New Map: War and Peace in the Twenty-First Century. FP: Dr. Barnett, welcome to Frontpage Interview, it is a pleasure to have you here. Barnett: Thanks for the opportunity. FP: What inspired you to write this book?Barnett: I...

Global Transaction Strategy Operation Iraqi Freedom could be a first step toward a larger goal: true globalization. By Thomas P.M. Barnett and Henry H. Gaffney Jr. Thomas P.M. Barnett is on temporary assignment from the Naval War College as the assistant for strategic futures in the Office of Force Transformation, Office of the Secretary of Defense. Henry H. Gaffney Jr. is a team leader with the Center for Strategic Studies, The CNA Corp., Alexandria, Va. The Bush administration's response to the terrorist attack of Sept. 11 was both swift (the global war on terrorism) and profound (the Department of Homeland...

It's impossible to sum up Thomas P.M. Barnett's book "The Pentagon's New Map: War and Peace in the 21st Century," but let's try. Basically, what the senior strategic researcher at the U.S. Naval War College has done is to draw a map of the post-9/11 world and try to show the U.S. military how to deal strategically and tactically with the new threats posed to developed nations of the West ("the Core") by countries in "the Gap" -- the underdeveloped, under-governed, terrorist-spawning countries in Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia and the Caribbean Rim that Barnett says are economically "disconnected"...

Did anyone else watch any part of the C-SPAN presentation (a replay, on late last night)by the guy from the National Defense University who was doing an incredibly sophisticated, large-screen, "powerpoint"-like presentation on the military in the 21st century? You military guys out there are probably used to such things. But it was all new to me. And very impressive. It was also a bit Orwellian, frightening, unsettling . . . like a scene straight out of a Tom Clancy novel. The guy focused on changes over time in out military structure, future needs and the like, using all kinds...