TT30

Look Mommy a Machine Gun!!

The following is a story a friend of mine just sent from an unnamed African country, where he is serving as the acting Country Director of a large international NGO:

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Once upon a time….

The first part of my mission is to officially close a 7 year 10 million dollar project, that includes officiating at the closing ceremonies, shaking hands and deciding the fate of all that equipment; 11 vehicles, 20 computers, 40 motorbikes, 2 offices, furniture and letting go about 100 staff people.   Mmm. Ok.

So on Tuesday 25 September I loaded up the proverbial wagons and set out on an 8 hour odyssey towards the first of two towns which are the bases for the project.  I am in the expat special Nissan prado with my accountant, my administrator and an armed military officer. Now, that is an unusual complement since usually we NGO types don't like guns in the vehicles , you know neutrality and all that but I am heading out with the severance packages for the entire staff which comes to about $70,000.   Of course that's in the local currency which is about 4,40 pound boxes of cash.  Ok so I have to sit in the back, let the military ride shotgun, its all good. I had been warned that sometimes there have been robberies on the road, no reason to get done over project money.   I thought "this might be enough money to cause someone to do something stupid".  Anyway I made the call.  Our vehicle is followed by another with a logistics team (in a white landcrusier of course). They are gonna take a final inventory so I can decide the disposition of the stuff. So we are set.

Blog Roll: Making US Foreign Policy Smarter

With a little over a year to go until the Americans choose their next President, it's a good time to be monitoring how U.S. foreign policy debates in Washington will evolve and take shape under the next leadership (all but certain to be a Democratic one, if you believe the pundits and poll numbers).

A great place to track this is the blog of the CSIS Commission on Smart Power. CSIS - The Center for Strategic and International Studies - is, of course, one of the biggest and most influential think tanks in Washington. It's always in the thick of national and global policy debates (with its lineup of past and future government heavyweights), and the Commission on Smart Power is its main vehicle this time around to frame the terms of discussion. It defines "Smart Power" as:

"The effective integration of 'hard power' - our military might - and 'soft power' - our ability to wield influence by attraction and persuasion."

At first sight there seems little that is new about the idea. Prominent experts have always exhorted policy-makers to strategically combine multiple instruments - from the very hard to the very soft - from the entire foreign policy arsenal. But as an attempt to set the terms of the debate, it just might work. For one, it's catchy. And it skates the objections of those who think soft power sounds too... well, soft. The intelligent use of power is something every political candidate can get behind. But whatever its success in shaping current and future policies, the blog offers quick links to the latest U.S. foreign policy developments, and copious analysis of burning issues by experts in and outside its think tank walls.