Monday, December 24, 2018

What is Globalism and Why Does It Matter?

Economic Globalism
There are many descriptions and definitions of globalism.  The simplest definition says it is "the operation or planning of economic and foreign policy on a global basis."  This is a simplistic definition.  A better economic perspective  of globalism can be seen as the free flow of capital, labor, and products.  Some like to call this globalization instead of globalism, although one can say there is a difference.  There is much complexity to economic globalism, but I will mention only one point:  the free flow of capital leads to economic bubbles that burst.  The 1997 Asian financial crisis is one example.  The free flow of capital is great for speculators who can play "pump and dump" on an international scale, but financial bubbles are bad for any country that experiences them.

The Difference Between Globalization and Globalism
It is fair to say globalization is the physical manifestation of improving business efficiencies on a global scale. Then we can say globalism is the intent residing in the minds of those who marshal the forces of globalization.  For example, free flow of capital is a mechanism, but "pump and dump" is an intent.  We will elaborate soon.

Political Globalism
For many years there has been an interest among elites with a cosmopolitan inclination to move towards a single world government.  What comes with this is intentionally diminishing patriotism within our schools.  The reasoning used to promote political globalism is the argument that our world wars were caused by nationalism and patriotism.  The thinking goes that to promote world peace we need to move past the concept of a nation state and we need to abandon patriotism.  I am not agreeing with this point, I simply repeat it to explain why some people have been removing patriotism from American society.  The people who control American public schools have been doing more than chasing Christianity out of the public schools, they have also been removing patriotism from our children's education.  I have found that older people can sing "God Bless America," but younger people do not know the words. The International Baccalaureate (IB) program promotes "international mindedness."  Besides the IB program, multiculturalism is taught in the Plano, Texas, public schools to promote political globalism.

The President of France, Emmanuel Macron, disparaged patriotism in Paris at the 100th anniversary of the Armistice, on November 11, 2018, saying "... patriotism is the exact opposite of nationalism: nationalism is a betrayal of it."  Marcon insulted all the people of the world who love their countries because he is a globalist.  Marcon might seem to be a contradiction, being an investment banker at Rothschild bank and a member of the Socialist Party in France.  Socialists are not against capitalism, but rather are for crony capitalism under the control of a Socialist state. 

Probably the biggest push for political globalism comes from the elites of the Western countries, the graduates of Harvard, Yale, Oxford, Cambridge, and the French Ecoles.  What we see at work, as evidenced by Hilary Clinton calling half the country "deplorable," is the belief among the elites that they have a right to rule the masses.  When Hillary Clinton said in Brazil in 2013 that she was for open borders, she was affirming the globalist ideal of the free flow of labor.

Finally, we should be aware that a long term goal of political globalism is a one world government, a socialist ideal. One example of this socialist ideal is in the book A Modern Utopia by H. G. Wells that describes a utopian society with a single world wide government.  Yes, H.G. Wells was a socialist.

Conclusion
The ultimate result of economic globalism would be world wide global cronyism dominated by international bankers, like Emmanuel Marcon.  The ultimate result of political globalism would be a single socialist government dominated by international elites who find the people they rule deplorable.

Robert

Additional resource: TED Talk on Nationalism vs. Globalism: The New Political Divide (February 21, 2017)
featuring Yuval Noah Harari

Sunday, October 21, 2018

National Security and the War Colleges

Continuing the line of reasoning of how we might better prepare people to serve on the National Security Council, we will now consider the war colleges.  The Army has the U.S. Army War College, the Air Force has the Air War College, the Navy has the Naval War College, and the Department of Defense has the National War College.  All of these institutions permit a number of civilians to enroll with the stipulation that the civilians are high ranking federal employees.  The Air War College also permits civilians who are senior members of the Civil Air Patrol to enroll.  There are even more related colleges and institutions.  For example:  the National War College is a part of the National Defense University and the U.S. Army War College contains a Strategic Studies Institute.

If a few positions for civilians at the various military graduate programs and war colleges could be made available for nominees from state governors or U.S. senators, then America would have a deeper pool of talent available to support those governors and senators who some day might be President of the U.S. and would look to people they know and trust to provide council.

The next time a Texan becomes President, it would be good if he or she had a pool of talented Texans to give advice on the National Security Council, or related positions.

Robert

This is part of a series of articles on National Security.  The rest of the articles are listed in National Security Council Part 1,  June 11, 2018

Tuesday, September 25, 2018

National Security and Economic Intelligence

Economics is a very important part of national security.  So it is reasonable to use economic intelligence for both strategic and tactical purposes.  You can see an example of economic intelligence in the paper "Economic Intelligence" by Paul W. Howerton.  Here is a link to a PDF file Economic_Intelligence_by_Paul_Howerton.pdf. It is an old file that has been declassified.  Economic Intelligence is vital for our nation in many aspects.  One example is that Germany lost World War I and the German people were shocked.  They felt betrayed because they had not lost a battle, so how could they lose the war? They lost because of economics.  Some Germans believed they were betrayed and blamed the Jewish people.  These examples establish the importance of economic intelligence.

An example of tactical economic intelligence from page 10 in the PDF file of "Economic Intelligence" is "markings analysis." To assess German tank production during WWII, a technique called markings analysis was used.  When industrial products are manufactured, they are marked with serial numbers or lot numbers.  Paul Howerton discusses this technique was used and compares marking analysis to other approaches.  If you want to prepare to work in the National Security Council, you should understand economic intelligence.

Robert

PS:  "Economic Intelligence" by Paul W. Howerton is a gem.  You should read it.  It is only 18 pages long.

This blog post is part of a series on National Security.  The rest of the articles in this series are listed in  National Security Council Part 1,  June 11, 2018

Saturday, July 21, 2018

What is Texas Ascendant?

Ten years ago, after the financial crash of 2008, I started posting articles to the Texas Ascendant blog.  Texas is a great state with wonderful people, and we have a lot to offer America.  Texas has a great economy and the people of Texas have a great spirit, a spirit that America needs, a positive spirit, a can-do spirit.

America has lost its way.  Starting as far back as the Vietnam War and continuing on through the Great Recession, our country's leaders in the Northeast, in Harvard and Yale, have failed and are continuing to fail America.  Our country's failure started with John Kennedy's election in 1961, with his Vietnam War and the Bay of Pigs Invasion, and this failure continues to this day in 2018, 57 years later.  It is Harvard and Yale that have failed America.  Read The Best and the Brightest by David Halberstam and see how America's elites wrecked Vietnam.

One of the Northeastern elites mentioned by Halberstam was Robert A. Lovett, who was born in Texas.  His father, Robert S. Lovett, sent his son to a Northeastern prep school, then to Yale.  The younger man married into a wealthy banking family, and he eventually joined his father-in-law's firm Brown Brothers Harriman.  Robert A. Lovett eventually served the State Department as under secretary and later became Secretary of Defense.

For too long we in Texas have accepted the leadership of Harvard and Yale, sending our children to the Northeast so they could be accepted by the ruling elite, serve the ruling elite, and become wealthy in this service.  I contend that Harvard and Yale ruin young people's minds.  I contend that our country is poorly served by letting the Northeastern elites continue to rule this nation.  The book Excellent Sheep: The Miseducation of the American Elite by William Deresiewicz  is a reasonable indictment of the education, or miseducation, of our best and brightest.  (You should know that Halberstam was ironic when he used that phrase in his book title.)  Another expose of Harvard is Privilege: Harvard and the Education of the Ruling Class by Ross Gregory Douthat.  William F. Buckley exposed the flaws of Yale back in 1951 in God and Man at Yale, an excellent book I highly recommend.

What Then Should We Do?

America needs better leaders for a better future and Texas should develop those leaders.  We in Texas should stop thinking of Harvard and Yale as the pinnacle of education.  They are not.  They are doorways to power.  They are a club.  If you want a good education for your children, they should go elsewhere.  So find good schools in Texas or the Midwest, and work to increase opportunities here in Texas and the Midwest.  Everyone can start thinking about what we can do to grow the economy in Texas, the Midwest, and the Southeast, the areas we interact with the most.  I have prepared a List of Projects for ideas to improve our lives, our country, and our economy.

We can improve our banking industry in Texas and the Midwast, as I describe in The Texas Banking and Finance Project.  We can develop an industrialization plan as I describe in Industrialization Instead of Economic Development.  There are many things we can do in Texas and neighboring states to improve our economy.

Better Leadership

America needs better leaders for a better future and Texas should develop those leaders.  We must look locally for leadership, and we must send our best citizens to serve in Washington without them selling-out to get ahead.  Here is what I said back in 2008 in the article Integrity and Competence, the Cornerstone and KeystoneWe need to restore America to greatness and prosperity. We need to start here in Texas, we need to start now, and we need to start upon a foundation of integrity. Then we need to rise to the apex of competence, accumulating wealth, power and influence along the way.

We need to work with our neighboring states, as I said in 2009 in The Heartland Union.  We all need to work together across our country to build a stronger America, a more prosperous America,  a country brimming with hope and happiness.  Our children deserve a bright future.  We can start now, here in Texas.  First we make Texas ascendant.  Then we make America ascendant.

Robert Canright
Founder, Texas Ascendant


Wednesday, July 4, 2018

National Security Council Part 3: Texas National Security Network and Anti-Access/Area Denial

I recommend that the people of Texas lead the way in becoming better citizens by becoming more engaged in issues like national security.  There is now within Texas an organization called the Texas National Security Network.  It has a Texas National Security Review with this website:  https://tnsr.org/.  I find the website War On the Rocks pretty interesting:  https://warontherocks.com/.  They have an article, e.g., about anti-access and area denial — known as A2/AD:  Demystifying the A2/AD Buzz by Luis Simon.  A2AD is a big topic, as shown by this article:  The Russia – NATO A2AD Environment by Ian Williams.  Here is a picture of air defense around Kaliningrad  from that article.  I first heard of A2/AD in the article from the War On the Rocks website.  Since then I have seen the term in other articles and it catches my eye as an important item with the articles I read.



Kaliningrad can be conflict hot point.  It is one of the most heavily militarized zones in the world.  You might remember that Kaliningrad is a German city given to Stalin by F.D.R. in the Potsdam Conference.  We must remember that F.D.R. was responsible for the Iron Curtain and the enslavement of many free Eastern European people by the U.S.S.R. because F.D.R. appeased Stalin in much the same way that Neville Chamberlain appeased Hitler.  Kaliningrad is an enduring testament to F.D.R.'s abandonment of the Eastern Europeans.  Of course no Americans died for the freedom of these people so it is hard to blame F.D.R. for his decision.  This is realism:  freedom has a price.

Here is a quote from their website:  War on the Rocks is a platform for analysis, commentary, debate and multimedia content on foreign policy and national security issues through a realist lens.

It is good that Texans are looking carefully at national security issues.  If you are a Texan, you ought to be reading the War on the Rocks website.

Robert

Anti-Access/Area-Denial (update on 9/1/2018)

The July 30, 2018 issue of National Review, on pages 28 to 30, has this article that mentions Anti-Access/Area-Denial:  The Sea Will Not Be Tamed, On China's Formidable, Flawed Effort to Turn Naval Strategy Upside Down by Jerry Hendrix, Captain, USN Retired.
https://www.nationalreview.com/magazine/2018/07/30/chinese-naval-policy-upending-conventional-wisdom/
     The author says this about anti-access/area-denial:  China’s most significant reaction to America’s ability to project power was its investment in a new series of capabilities that have since been called “anti-access/area-denial” weapons systems. These systems, a combination of anti-ship ballistic missiles, anti-ship cruise missiles, and new advanced long-range fighter-interceptors, were designed to push American forces back from China’s shores, mitigating America’s ability to project power onto land and effect regime change.
      I also liked learning about Malford Mackinder within this National Review article.  I have heard of Geopolitics, but not of Mackinder's Heartland Theory, or Pivot of History.


Saturday, June 23, 2018

National Security Council Part 2

If you wish to serve on the U.S. National Security Council, perhaps serving as National Security Advisor, how might you prepare?  You can read.  There are so many books you might wish to read that I will not touch that topic now.  At this time I will recommend a few online sources related to our military.  I recommend the Proceedings of the U.S. Naval Institute.  Here is a recent article as an example:  Visualize Chinese Sea Power.  The U.S. Naval Institute encompasses the Marines and the Coast Guard in addition to the Navy.

For the Air Force you might look at The Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies.   Their publications are online in their Mitchell Forum.  Examples , which are available for free download in PDF format, include the following

No.18: Rethinking the Information Paradigm: The Future of Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance in Contested Environments by Col Herbert C. Kemp, PhD, USAF (Ret.)

No.11: Targeting the Islamic State: Activity-Based Intelligence and Modern Airpower by Maj Michael P. Kreuzer, USAF and Maj Denis A. Dallaire, USAF

No.10: Order In Chaos: The Future of Informed Battle Management and Command and Control by Col Tom Nicholson and Lt Col Nelson Rouleau, USAF

No.5: Chasing Relevance: Building Actionable Intelligence Analysis by US Air Force Maj. John M. Minear

No. 1: An ISR Perspective on Fusion Warfare by Maj Gen VeraLinn "Dash" Jamison, USAF and Lt Col Maurizio "Mo" Calabrese, USAF

What good does reading do?  Looking at the paper, "Chasing Relevance: Building Actionable Intelligence Analysis," you can see this in the abstract (my summary):  This paper proposes that intelligence analysts should adopt the “capabilities theory” as the core guiding principle of Air Force intelligence analysis.  If you had read the book, Shattered Sword: The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway by Jonathan Parshall and Anthony Tully, then you would have read this:  "In the War College's opinion ... a truly cardinal sin was Yamamoto's designing his plan around America's perceived intentions rather than their capabilities." (Page 399)  The U.S. Naval War College report was published in 1948.  Now you can see that capabilities analysis has been around for at least 70 years.

If you want to know what people in the U.S. Army are thinking then you can look at publications from the Strategic Studies Institute of the U.S. Army War College.  Here is an example article:  Strategic Insights: Making Good on the NSS and NDS: Competing with Russia in Europe and Beyond by Dr. John R. Deni.

There are in town book clubs studying military history.  I do not know of any strategic studies clubs.  It is important to discuss and collaborate, so a Strategic Studies club is one more step we might take as informed civilians.

In a representative republic our representatives are no smarter than we are.  If we want better representation, better leadership, then we need to be better citizens.  We need to be more informed and we need better understanding of complex topics, including strategic military topics.

And we can do it.  It might take years of study, but this what college education is for: it prepares us to teach ourselves, to expand our knowledge and understanding.  I remember members of Congress saying they had to vote for the TARP bill because they did not understand banking and finance and so had to accept the advice they were given.  That is no excuse.  Members of Congress and all citizens can pick an area of expertise -- like banking, finance, economics, history, the U.S. Constitution, military or economic intelligence,  or military strategy -- then teach themselves and be prepared to question and challenge the experts.  We can do it; we should do it; we must do it.  Our survival as free people in a republic with representative government depends on us being better citizens in order to have better representatives.

Robert

Monday, June 11, 2018

National Security Council Part 1

If Texans are going to help get our country back on track, then Texans need to prepare to serve on the National Security Council.  Why would a Texan ever end up on the National Security Council (NSC)?  Well, it is happening right now.  Our former governor, now Secretary of Energy, Rick Perry is on the National Security Council.  Here is an article about that:  Rick Perry is Now on The National Security Council by Leif Reigstad, Texas Monthly Apr 5, 2017.  Here is a snap-shot of the executive members, including Rick Perry.  When Mr. Perry was a Yell Leader at Texas A&M, I'll bet he never gave a thought about the likelihood of his being on the NSC.
Click on the image to enlarge it.

All of us in Texas need to be ready to step up and serve our country.  However, how can anyone ever really prepare to serve on the NSC?  We will examine that in the future.

Robert

How we might prepare to serve on the NSC is examined in these related articles.  I call this collection of articles the National Security Project.
National Security Council Part 2  June 23, 2018
National Security Council Part 3: Texas National Security Network and Anti-Access/Area Denial  July 4, 2018
National Security and Economic Intelligence  September 25, 2018
National Security and the War Colleges  October 21, 2018