K. Kumar's Blog, page 19

America and Counterinsurgency

I just finished reading Stanley McChrystal's book My Share of the Task: A Memoir. I came across an interesting passage related to planning for troop levels in Afghanistan. In determining troop levels, McChrystal noted the following:

"Counterinsurgency doctrine argued for 20 security force members, military or police, for every 1,000 residents in an area." (Page 345)

The population of the U.S. is about 320,000,000 people.

Just out of curiosity, I wondered: what if you apply the counterinsurgency...

Authority and Politics

The idea of authority is very important to understanding the current political climate and liberal politics. If you accept the premise that authority at all levels is deteriorating, then the implications are important to consider.
All of the current social (liberal) movements of the present derive their strength from the decline in authority. Absent an authoritative doctrine governing behaviors, mores, and customs, who among us has any authority to pass judgment when it comes to behaviors or o...

America and Authority

There is a political problem in America and it has to do with authority. If there is one theme that has taken root the past few years, it is the deep suspicion that Americans feel for authority. It has invaded all facets of life, you can see it in the relationships between parents and their children, between workers and their employers, between coaches and players, between citizens and their government.
It may be instructive to consider the word authority:
Source: GoogleAuthority is s...

Colombia and the FARC

I was in Colombia awhile back on business. I was with a group of people, some from the U.S. and one a native Colombian. We spent a couple weeks together and discussed a variety of topics. One area we were all interested in was the FARC and the status of the peace negotiations between the FARC and the Colombian Government.
I asked the Colombian about the future of the FARC. She said that they were weakened and that the Government was in the process of negotiating a peace. Once an agreement is r...

Victim

Journalists and writers often use the word "victim" to intimate a moral degree in their words. By using the word victim there is an embedded implication about the person or thing being labeled as such and there is necessarily an opposite side that is in some way responsible for making the victim a victim. When a person is called a victim, they lose a bit of their humanity, they become something different. We use the word victim in ways that imply all sorts of things, and we tend to lose...

Working Outside the System

The people elect their government and they expect their government to be able to function and provide for security, to pass laws, to set up quality schools, good healthcare, enforce contracts, be honest, protect against Ebola, etc. When the government can do this even reasonably well, the people will be satisfied (in my opinion).
For all the variety of reasons that I have mentioned before, the American Government has largely failed in this capacity. In this context, I think we are starting to...

Gigamesh- All My Life

This song is about as close to perfection as you can get...

More on Political Space

When people talk about political space, they generally talk about structures outside the government and the ability and freedom of these structures to exist and advocate their views. We are told that civil society organizations, the media, educational institutions, etc. should be given freedom and space for any healthy society. 
But it seems to me that we have reached the point where the political space given to outside organizations has now crowded out the Government and limited its abil...

Political Capture and Trust in Government

I was reading a report on Ethiopia and I came across the term: political capture. This is how the term is defined:

When the World Bank in 2006 referred to the threat of “political capture” in Ethiopia, it meant that there was a danger that the government could use its donor-funded structures and services to control and oppress the population; severely impinge upon their rights to freedom of expression, association, and assembly; and discriminate against its citizens based o...

America, Democracy, and Trust in Government

Now that elections have passed, your newly elected representatives will start feeling the urge to make big changes to prove their worth. They are going to dust off those speeches and promises and start meeting with people and look to enact legislation. Now that the campaign is over, it is time to get to work.
Maybe. Maybe not. All those great hopes, those great promises you had for the future, well that was all fine before the election when you could get away with saying anything. When you cou...