tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13622622.post6659315777567265447..comments2023-12-22T08:44:24.389-05:00Comments on threewayfight: Paretsky responds to Thinking and ActingMatthew N Lyonshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15664330735255207352noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13622622.post-43690955138786090782009-02-20T09:50:00.000-05:002009-02-20T09:50:00.000-05:00"I’m trying to envision how a repressive, aut..."I’m trying to envision how a repressive, authoritarian GSD would work; would it be a narrow class compact, with very privileged sectors of the working class; would it be the combination of reform and repression practiced in the U.S. during the ‘60s, only globally: a Great Society to coopt or relieve the pressure from mass movements + COINTELPRO to eliminate the radical challenges. For controlling the marginalized or the “gaps,” would it be like “Hearts & Minds” in Vietnam. I can see how the repression would be connected with a ruling class anti-fascism."<BR/><BR/>looking at scenarios and operation that reflect an "repressive, authoritarian GSD" i think we should pay more attention to people like Michele A Flournoy who is the former head of the Center for a New American Security (CNAS). the CNAS is a centrist Democrat counter-insurgency think tank. Flournoy was named Under Secretary of Defense for Policy for the Obama Administration. The CNAS provided several policy advisers to Obama and, with Flournoy's appointment, brought these advisers into the DoD.<BR/><BR/>there needs to be an elaborated comment on the counter-insurgency(COIN) and groups like the CNAS, something i am not prepared for at the moment but will aim for in a lengthier piece soon. but the issue that strikes me is that the COIN developed for international purposes - Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, South Asia - will be redirected to domestic movements that develop as an antagonism to the authority and rule of the System. <BR/><BR/>Already intelligence agencies are broadening the terms of and potential origins of the future heterogeneous resistance, ie. Blair's comments about the capitalist crisis being the number one threat to the U.S.<BR/><BR/>So my point is that a from above form GSD (as oppossed to a SD from below and in opposition to the cuurent power relations)will be forced act as a repressive force in attempting to stabilize capitalism. COINTELPRO will be revitalized and applied here at home. the work of think tanks like CNAS remind me of the work of the British army and intelligence under Frank Kitson, who developed tactics of counter-insurgency in places like Kenya against the Mau Mau, tactic and strategies later applied in the North of Ireland against the IRA, nationalist, and dissidents. we should expect the same response here.<BR/><BR/>here is an article from ZNet raising the COIN and Obama administration: Obama and the Counterinsurgency Era -<BR/>http://www.zmag.org/znet/viewArticle/20626C. Alexanderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14178357764148599994noreply@blogger.com