NetWar: Bringing It All Back Home


Contents Letter From Paris

Contents Letter From Paris


Monday, December 06, 2004

 

Bringing It All Back Home

Well, I’m back...

I have had one of those periods when days seem to have less hours than they should to get everything done. I spent November working like a dog, trying to figure out what future holds for the European economy (no kidding, have you seen that euro at US$ 1.35???). So, I didn’t have much time for blogging or anything else for that matter.

I had the pleasure to be stateside during the election (I got to Miami one good week in advance and stayed until Nov. 10th busy as I was pinching myself) and, well, I had that peculiar feeling of being a first row witness of something really important, some sorts of social mutation. I didn’t see it coming. When history’s pendulum goes back and passes in front of us, it always seems to catch us off-guard, busily glancing at the tip of our noses…

Then I went to Spain to spend three weeks doing some research and interviewing people about their feelings regarding the country’s economic prospects for 2005. The situation there is chaotic in more than one way, with at least a dozen of different factions vying for power within the clannish Spanish left. Zapatero [another link in English and a surprised decryption of Europe's daftest politician ever] is fast losing his shine and people start to realize that the terrorist attacks in Madrid last March maybe were some sort of coup d’état. I intend to write about that and, generally speaking, about Spain in the coming weeks, since it appears to me that it is still the weakest link in the War on Terror…

Talking about the American election, let me quote Urban Empire who has a very insightful and representative account of the day after in Milwaukee assorted of a magnificent statistical quote:

I did want to touch on the election just a bit. Throughout the day on Wednesday, there was this feeling of shock and depression in the city. I live in Milwaukee, a city which went 73% for Kerry and it was just like no one could believe it. My one Republican friend was all smiles, of course. My other friends almost immediately started distancing themselves from Kerry saying how much of a horrible candidate he was (even though they vehemently defended him whenever I made such a claim about him). Then suddenly, the blame shifted. As the fact that Bush won the popular vote by over 3.6 million votes sunk in, many (excluding myself) Kerry supporters started to blame the voters themselves. Comments such as "This is why democracies really suck" or "Stupid dumb hicks shouldn't be allowed to vote" were frequent. Then they see figures like this and the absoluteness of Bush's margin is solidifed.
3,141 counties, boroughs, and parishes in the United States
2,544 counties carried by Bush (81% of total)
597 counties carried by Kerry (19% of total) [via The Glittering Eye]


[via Montmartre] No less than 32 Spanish copycats of Michael Moore produced a documentary movie against former prime minister José M. Aznar, a staunch ally of the US and the UK in the War on Terror. It was called "Hay Motivo" (there is motive) and was to be used during the campaign for the Spanish election in Marrch, giving all sorts of reasons why Mr. Aznar was to be voted out.

Three days before election day, Islamic terrorists -by themselves or perhaps with help from homegrown elements- killed 194 people in Madrid and decided the outcome of the vote. The new rabidly anti-American government of José Rodriguez Zapatero did its best to promote the Hay Motivo movie and it went to the theaters Nov 15th.

Something is changing in Spain. According to mr. Zapatero's ministry of Cultural Affairs, the movie was seen all in all by 496 people throughout Spain (42 million ibhabitants). Believe it or not, if Montmartre has it right, the Spanish emulators of Moore will receive some money from the government. It's called socialism, folks.


EXTRAORDINARY
Winds of Change

An example: this analysis of the March 11th attacks in Madrid, written 5 days later! Imposing.


STYGIUS
Inspiring, passionate and decent


Iraq, the Model
A very goodview of what is going on in Iraq by Mohammad and Omar, two brothers... Check it out if you're fed up with the EuroPress


The Patriot Debates
Many provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act will expire at the end of 2005. This forum is devoted to civil and informed debate about these provisions and whether they should be renewed.


IDEOFACT
A serious visit to jihadist ideology
[EN]


Michelle Malkin
Her column appears in nearly 200 US papers nationwide. Pretty conservative AND very articulate. I like her.


BarcePundit
From Barcelona. I like it! And, by the way, it's getting better every day.


Across the Bay
Very good blog by Tony, an expert in in Ancient Near Eastern Studies with focus on Semitic Linguistics, Ancient Levantine history, religion....


Allah Pundit
It's quite consevative, but really funny!


Bjørn Stærk's blog
In the NetWar since 2001, this norwegian wonderkid is just worth reading.


Norman Geras's blog
I mean, READ HIM. He's bright, insightful and knows a lot about Marxism and la condition humaine... Yeeees! (thanks Stygius).


Dan Darling
Excellent Open Source analysis of al Qaeda!


NO PASARÁN
Bilingual (FR&EN) and passionate!


The Politburo Diktat
Forthrightly, frankly, fully funny, comrades. Neo-Komintern Urgh.


Insults for use by the ideologically informed
Nice page of Real Socialist Nostalgia. Check it out, comrade!


Letters From New York City
Michele tells it from the place where the world changed three years ago.


Alphabet City by Robert Stevens
Very well informed "from the perimeter of Manhattan ;-)" Impresive collection of links.


Colt's Eurabia
If you want to know and follow politically incorrect debate, red it!
His motto is:"...the only secure basis for oligarchy is collectivism." George Orwell


Rantingprofs
Monitoring Media Coverage of the War On Terror


Political Correctness Watch
John Ray, a former university teacher gone blogger monitors political correctness around the globe. When you needthat cheering information that somewhere else it's even worse than in your home town...


BLOGS EN ESPAÑOL


Free Lance Corner
Emilio Alonso, madrileño sin pelos en la pluma, liberal y extremadamente sensato.


Guerra Eterna en Oriente Medio
Reportero español polí­ticamente correcto, buena gente y suavemente partisano


MONTMARTRE
Español residente en Parí­s, liberal, vasco, polí­ticamente incorrecto, reflexiona sobre la situación en Euskadi (Paí­s Vasco)


Carmelo Jordá
Otro español, buen analista y políticamente incorrecto. Pertenece a la nueva ola de jovenes liberales (en el sentido europeo) que empiezan a poner en cuestión todo en Europa


Una Temporada en el Infierno
Interesante blog de Juan Pedro Quiñonero, escritor y periodista español que merece dos lecturas.



Name:
Location: Paris, France

I have been a journalist since I was 22. For a (long) while I worked as a reporter for the Swedish, Spanish (I was born in Spain) and American media, covering international affairs... After 1991 I recycled myself to the business press.


 A Must Read!
LINK TO JOHN ARQUILLA and David F. RONFELDT'S THE ADVENT OF NETWAR
Note that on the above page you have BOTH a link to buy the book (US$ 20) AND
the links to all the 6 chapters in PDF for FREE.

Contents (PDF)
Preface
Summary
Acknowledgments
Chapter One: Introduction
Chapter Two: Conceptual Outlines
Chapter Three: A World in Flux - Ripe for Netwar Chapter Four: Varieties of Netwar
Chapter Five: Challenges for U.S Policy and Organization
Chapter Six: Implications for U.S. Doctrine and Strategy
Bibliography




And, by the way...
 
I love NYC French Hostages "Social Capital" "King Juan carlos" Barcelona Stockholm Iraq Bagdad Basora Volunteer shia Muqtada al-Sadr Islam Chirac Iraq Ossama Osama Bin laden Markawi Colin Powell London President Bush Paris Tony Blair Blog Allawi Geopolitics Iraqi police "Foreign Affairs" John Kerry campaign Policy Poll Bush Kerry Kofi China Madrid Japan warfare Sun-Tzu Unrestricted asymmetric strategy Survey Bush Kerry perception management Hispanic voters Sarkozy Chalabi oil for food Lebanon Donald Rumsfeld Beirut Pentagon marines Robert Kagan weapons neocon ideology neoconservative Alamut White House preventive Congress Washington Chicago New York Los Angeles Miami San Francisco Seattle California Illinois Massachussets Portland Aznar Zapatero Moratinos Saddam Syria