I am reading a fascinating book by David Kaplan called "Imperial Grunts".

Despite my misgivings about the title (and all the bad connotations 
"imperialism" brings) - it is a fascinating read and deals with the way the 
US military has made a metamorphosis from the "Cold War" thinking -

The author spent a couple of years traveling the world - from Yemen to 
Columbia - to the Philippines - even Mongolia talking about the US presence.

And you at this point are thinking of "hegemony" but that is not the case - 
in virtually all instances a very small group (< 200 in Columbia for 
example) are training the local forces on how to deal with enemies that are 
fighting their fledgling democracies.

They go into depth, for example, on the FALN in Columbia, who have become 
narco-terrorists - Mongolia - a former Soviet client state for 70 years now 
worried about Chinese encroachment - Something in that chapter - which I 
didn't realize -  was that Genghis Khan  in the 12th century conquered 
Eurasia from Hungary to the Pacific - down to what is now Vietnam - the 
Great Wall was built to keep the Mongols out -

As a tangent (for which I frequently veer) the Finns are related to the 
Hungarians - not Scandinavians - and most think they fled Genghis Khan's 
Armies....

I am only a 3rd of the way through but I would recommend this book - it will 
shatter some of your preconceptions - it deals with the local politics of 
each region.

I don't know if the Arab world is doomed - there is a rather brave Arabic 
woman living in Canada (forget her name) who wrote a book criticizing the 
current direction of much of the Islamic world making points that that isn't 
what Islam was - or is.

If Iraq can become a democracy - and that of course is a big IF - with 
Sunnis and Shia living together - that has the possibility of changing the 
entire region.

Until about the 16th century Damascus was a center for scientific thought 
and enlightenment.

We are, as the Chinese would say, living in "interesting times".

One more thing about the book - they tell of how US officers have changed 
so - most have advanced degrees and many multi lingual. One - the one sent 
to Mongolia, told of his times in the Balkans and being attached to a 
Russian unit - and how much respect he had for their junior officers.

A fascinating read not only to learn how different cultures are - in an up 
close manner - from Yemen to Mongolia - but how the military has changed.

Bill 

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