FAO Quotables

"But being right, even morally right, isn't everything. It is also important to be competent, to be consistent, and to be knowledgeable. It's important for your soldiers and diplomats to speak the language of the people you want to influence. It's important to understand the ethnic and tribal divisions of the place you hope to assist."
-Anne Applebaum

Sunday, February 28, 2016

Weekly Reading: Decaying Dams, African Air Travel, CREAM, Happiness, Nirvana and the Rangers, and Work-Life Balance

One of Africa's Biggest Dams is Falling Apart
Fresh water stands to increasingly become the world's most valuable commodity.  It's easy to cluck one's tongue at the inability of third-world african nations to maintain their infrastructure but as the article points out, dams are notoriously difficult and expensive to maintain (the US itself has done a horrible job with its own dam infrastructure).  




What English Speaks Don't Get About the Meaning of Happiness
Understanding different cultural conceptions of what 'happiness' means is a powerful too for every FAO or foreign affairs professional.  One must constantly keep in mind that the American idea of happiness is VERY different from other nation's ideas of happiness.  This article unpacks these ideas as well as just baseline differences in what the word 'happy' means in different languages.

Malagasy Navy participates in CUTLASS EXPRESS 2016
Madagascar sends its first ship abroad since 1978.  Good article on the strides being made by the Navy here.


Turns out UPENN puts out a very thorough think tank ranking . You can download the 16MB report here.

Evidently Madagascar has a think tank.  And evidently it's a good one (top 60 in Africa) according to UPENN's recent report.  Best of all, the think tank shares it's name with the WU-TANG hit 'Cash Rules Everything Around Me' which I wrote about recently here.

It is difficult to describe the dysfunction and dilapidation of some third-world airlines.  There are things, circumstances, smells and sights that you could never have imagined.  My quarterly flight to Comoros is always an exercise in restraint and self-meditation.  The sights and smells aboard said flight inspired me to pen a poem last year, entitled Ode to VapoRub.

Global Incident Map  
Cool little open source map that collates reports across a variety of issues.  Also pretty scary--go to their 'non-terror aviation incidents'.


What Ivy League students are reading that you aren’t
So many snarky fill-in-the-blank answers one could respond with here...but altogether an interesting look article--particularly for my fellow english majors.

The Rock ’n’ Roll Casualty Who Became a War Hero
The unlikely story of former Nirvana and Soundgarden guitarist Jason Everman's salvation that came by dropping his guitar and picking up an M4...kind of.  This is a throwback article from about three years ago that I came across again a few weeks back.  Mandatory reading for an punk-rocker or head stomper.

Work, Sleep, Family, Fitness, or Friends: Pick 3
Such a great article.  These five things have to be things that every I suggest pairing this article with a great one from QZ.com that came out last year: How successful people work less—and get more done--the basic gist of is that productivity falls considerably when the workweek exceeds 50 hours.

Wednesday, February 10, 2016

Weekly Reading: Down Syndrome, Maritime militias, Refugees, Fathers' Love, Netflix Secrets, Pro-Life and BPC primer


In Defense Of Down Syndrome Children...Like My Son
Love this.  Love my Uncle Dutch with down syndrome!

We must allow life in our world that doesn't follow our scripted narrative. We must have the courage to choose that which is good over what is convenient.

Why the rush to rid the world of people like Cade?

TRAILBLAZERS IN WARFIGHTING: THE MARITIME MILITIA OF DANZHOU
If you are a WestPac SWO or PACOM FAO this is mandatory reading.  CIMSEC puts out some great stuff.

City of Thorns: Nine Lives in the World’s Largest Refugee Camp by Ben Rawlence
I try to read everything that Tristan McConnell writes.  His review of this book is stuck behind a paywall but I've added the book to my reading list for this year.


President Obama challenges pro-lifers to join March for Life (sort of)
A clever little video that juxtaposes the president's concern for shooting victims (which is admirable) with his support for abortion.  To me, being pro-life means being pro-gun control as well.

Why Every Girl Longs for a Father’s Love
Jut a nice reminder on why being a dad is so important...and why being an intentional dad is so important!

Netflix Has A Ton Of Secret Movie Categories And Here’s How To Access Them
Some cool little hacks to better search for movies on Netflix.  For example, http://www.netflix.com/browse/genre/25804 will give you all the military shows that they carry. Rom-Coms are under 5475

Mini Object Lesson: No, There Are Not 100 Eskimo Words for "Snow"
haha, I love a good etymological deep dive!

What Is “Building Partner Capacity?” Issues for Congress
These CRS reports are great.  If there was a Foreign Area Officer PQS, this would be one of the source documents.

Friday, February 5, 2016

Weekly Reading: Spooks, Buchanan!, Loss, Sanctuary cites, Mada's Legal Morass, FAOs and I am 2nd

How an obscure adviser to Pat Buchanan predicted the wild Trump campaign in 1996
Well this is an interesting article...but who could have really predicted Trump...

On Flying, and Who We Lost
A beautiful heartbreaking post about aviation, friendship and loss.

I Am Second
Then who's first, you will have to see for yourself.  Some incredible videos and stories.

The Struggle With Sanctuary Cities in Iowa
I am learning new things about our crazy political/electoral system all the time.

Eyewash: How the CIA deceives its own workforce about operations
The CIA, of course, denies any knowledge...between articles like these and watching Homeland...

UPDATE: Law and Legal Systems in Madagascar: A Political Siege
A good primer on the pol-legal systems of Madagascar.  I've been here two years and there were quite a few things that I learned.  It's difficult to find much political analysis on Madagascar in English so this was nice to run across.  One quote in particular caught my attention: "Montesquieu recommended that “power should be a check to power” to avoid abuses. However, Madagascar which wishes to be a democratic regime views the legislature and judiciary subordinated to the executive. Further, the Constitution appears to be an instrument used to legitimate and strengthen its supremacy."


This links auto-downloads the PDF--a bit annoying but so far a good 50 pages thesis that I am reading through.    His short answer is yes but AFRICOM needs a more balanced approached in Phase Zero ENCAP, MEDCAP and SC/SA activities.  You can just skip to page 48 to read his conclusions.

Foreign Area Officers learn from the experts at Monterey language school
Nothing I love more than a little FAO propaganda!

"Every FAO is an expert on political-military issues in a particular region of the world, is knowledgeable of security cooperation, highly trained in language skills and interpersonal skills, and is an experienced officer."

We definitely are not trained in 'interpersonal skills' but it's not a bad idea...although I am not sure what that would look like