http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/2004/10/22/thomas-barnett-at-the-poptech-conference/ EthanZ's musings on Africa, media and international development Wed, 08 Feb 2012 20:45:31 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/2004/10/22/thomas-barnett-at-the-poptech-conference/comment-page-1/#comment-375156 …My heart’s in Accra » An update on the “third front” Fri, 22 Jun 2007 15:25:19 +0000 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/ethan/2004/10/22/thomas-barnett-at-the-poptech-conference/#comment-375156 [...] Barnett is in an interesting position to report on US military strategy in Africa. For six years, he served as a Professor in the US Navy’s War College and spent a great deal of time briefing senior Pentagon officials on the need for the military to get good at rebuilding nations, not just killing bad guys. His slide deck on transforming the military from a “leviathan” capable of conquering the Russians or the Chinese in a land war to a “sysadmin” capable of quickly pacifying “disconnected” nations and increasing stability, using both traditional forces and groups that work on reconstruction, became a highly influential book, The Pentagon’s New Map. (For more on Barnett and his work, you may find my notes on his talk at Pop!Tech in October 2004 useful, or from last year’s Pop!Tech talk.) There’s a very real sense in which the US military strategy in Africa is one that he’s recommended… which makes it a bit odd to read his report on it. [...] [...] Barnett is in an interesting position to report on US military strategy in Africa. For six years, he served as a Professor in the US Navy’s War College and spent a great deal of time briefing senior Pentagon officials on the need for the military to get good at rebuilding nations, not just killing bad guys. His slide deck on transforming the military from a “leviathan” capable of conquering the Russians or the Chinese in a land war to a “sysadmin” capable of quickly pacifying “disconnected” nations and increasing stability, using both traditional forces and groups that work on reconstruction, became a highly influential book, The Pentagon’s New Map. (For more on Barnett and his work, you may find my notes on his talk at Pop!Tech in October 2004 useful, or from last year’s Pop!Tech talk.) There’s a very real sense in which the US military strategy in Africa is one that he’s recommended… which makes it a bit odd to read his report on it. [...]

]]> http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/2004/10/22/thomas-barnett-at-the-poptech-conference/comment-page-1/#comment-216061 …My heart’s in Accra » Twelve great talks to watch, and no excuses for being bored. (Or boring.) Wed, 18 Apr 2007 18:15:17 +0000 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/ethan/2004/10/22/thomas-barnett-at-the-poptech-conference/#comment-216061 [...] I didn’t expect to like Tom Barnett when I heard him speak at Pop!Tech. He’s got the bearing and delivery of a military man, the product of years of briefing generals in the Pentagon on the importance of transforming the US military. But he’s got an incredibly broad understanding of global security issues, failed and failing states, and the role that humanitarians and aid workers have to play in conflict situations. I came away from his first talk at Pop!Tech with dozens of questions and ideas, and his second talk opened as many new questions for me as it answered. [...] [...] I didn’t expect to like Tom Barnett when I heard him speak at Pop!Tech. He’s got the bearing and delivery of a military man, the product of years of briefing generals in the Pentagon on the importance of transforming the US military. But he’s got an incredibly broad understanding of global security issues, failed and failing states, and the role that humanitarians and aid workers have to play in conflict situations. I came away from his first talk at Pop!Tech with dozens of questions and ideas, and his second talk opened as many new questions for me as it answered. [...]

]]> http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/2004/10/22/thomas-barnett-at-the-poptech-conference/comment-page-1/#comment-71667 …My heart’s in Accra » Two hours of Tom Barnett in twenty - thirty? - minutes Fri, 20 Oct 2006 16:37:51 +0000 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/ethan/2004/10/22/thomas-barnett-at-the-poptech-conference/#comment-71667 [...] Tom Barnett spoke at Pop!Tech two years ago, when I spoke here. His talk literally electrified the room - whether it insired people, challenged them or pissed them off, everyone was on the edge of their seats. Tom, at that point, was experiencing the amazing rise of his first book, “The Pentagon’s New Map”. He’s now published a second bookk - “Blueprint for Action” - which tries to move from diagnosis to prescription. It hasn’t sold as well - “people love diagnoses, they don’t love prescriptions.” His question now is how we get better at post conflict, post disaster, “post whatever”. [...] [...] Tom Barnett spoke at Pop!Tech two years ago, when I spoke here. His talk literally electrified the room – whether it insired people, challenged them or pissed them off, everyone was on the edge of their seats. Tom, at that point, was experiencing the amazing rise of his first book, “The Pentagon’s New Map”. He’s now published a second bookk – “Blueprint for Action” – which tries to move from diagnosis to prescription. It hasn’t sold as well – “people love diagnoses, they don’t love prescriptions.” His question now is how we get better at post conflict, post disaster, “post whatever”. [...]

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