For (un)Official Use Only: ash dykes

Playing a little catch up on my weekly readings.

A New Business Strategy: Treating Employees Well
Who would have thought right? Great article on B-corporations and King Arthur flour in particular.

http://worldhappiness.report/
Yes, happiness is a difficult thing to quantify but this report is a great start. Figuring out a country or a person's concept of happiness is one of the single most important thing you can do if you are a diplomat/foreign area officer working in a foreign country.

Ash Dykes Madagascar Journey
The man who traversed Madagascar on foot...and who wrote, filmed and blogged about it.

The baffling reason many millennials don’t eat cereal
Perfectly sums them up. They don't cereal because they don't like to clean it up...seriously...they don't like to clean up the bowl...of empty cereal.

If my church does not practice Lent, should I?
Great post by an old friend from our church in DC.

Navy Medal of Honor Awardee Inducted into Pentagon's Hall of Heroes
Great video.

Goldwater Nichols 2.0
Mandatory reading for Foreign Area officers. Great CSIS breakdown on the 2016 SASC hearings on defense reform and interagency changes.

It’s Time to Seriously Consider Partitioning Syria
Stavridis opines on partition. Here's my own argument for partition, in general.

A helpful graphic that compares how EMOTIONALLY EXPRESSIVE and how CONFRONTATIONAL people of various cultural backgrounds generally are.

The land grabs in Africa you don’t hear about
Fascinating article...you likely won't guess the largest constituency buying up land in Africa--you will have to click to find out. While you are clicking, check out two great books below.

L'aviation africaine s'organise pour sortir de la liste noire
I've been on quite a few flights out here where I've spent most of the time praying...that the plane wouldn't fall apart.

Madness in Madagascar: Brit defies crocs and cops in bid to be first to cross island
Brit Ash Dyke is attempting to become the first person to traverse the world's 4th largest island on foot.
ashdykes.com/madagascar/
https://twitter.com/Ash_Dykes
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Ash-Dykes/736642026399924

As Muslim women, we actually ask you not to wear the ‘hijab’ in the name of interfaith solidarity
These are the types of articles every American should read. Islam, the Koran and Islamism are too often simplified and then misunderstood by our society at large. On its face, the idea of wearing the 'hijab' in solidarity seems to be a praiseworthy idea but as the author demonstrates running through the Koran, the 'hijab' is used in many muslim cultures to denigrate and control women. And on the other side of the argument, in some cultures wearing the 'hijab' is nearly devoid of any religious connotation.

FROM READERS: MU faculty member shares stories of racism
A beautifully written piece that should be mandatory reading for everyone--especially anyone with a knee-jerk reaction in either direction.

THE BRUTAL REALITIES OF NAVAL STRATEGY
Great book review by BJ Armstrong that completely sold me on the need for this book to be on every naval officer's bookshelf...filled with highlights.

WAR ON THE ROCKS 2015 HOLIDAY READING LIST
This is the reading list you wish you were smart enough to tackle. That said, I did find a few books (that I may or may not understand) to add to my wish list (below)