Contents
- The focus of the FM blog
- Politics of the FM site
- Navigation tips
- Important notes about the operation of this blog
- About anonymity
- Who was Fabius Maximus?
- Qualifications of the Author
- A thank you for the creator of this site
I. The focus of the FM blog
We live in exciting times, when many things that have long remain fixed become unstuck. America is changing. The post-WWII geopolitical and financial regimes are ending. The era of cheap energy is ending. And none can foretell what comes next.
This blog discusses geopolitics – broadly defined as economics, government, sociology and the military arts – from an American’s perspective. This includes topics such as grand strategy, demographics, and peak oil. Here we seek a perspective from which to better see events and trends — things on the edge of our available information, on the edge of known theory.
First person data is welcomed, but not considered definitive. Both the on-the-spot observer and the analyst each have their role, and only by working together can we effectively seek the truth.
Are these things discussed here good or bad? Please consult a priest or philosopher for answers to such questions. This author only discusses what was, what is, and what might be.
“The world is changed, I can feel it in the water, I can feel it in the earth, I can smell it in the air.”
Said by Treebeard, leader of the Ents, from The Two Towers– part II of Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings saga.
II. Politics of the FM site
See this post for an description: Politics of the FM site: radical leftist reformer or right-wing iconoclast?
III. Navigation tips
The site is thoroughly cross-linked, for easy navigation. The menu bar on the right provides five ways to help you find material of interest.
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The FM Reference Library – These pages provide links to both my posts and valuable resources elsewhere on the Internet.
- The Search box.
- Archives – a drop-down menu showing articles by month.
- See posts about these subjects — Archives by category; shows the number of posts in each.
- Tag Cloud — click on the word to see all posts mentioning that tag; size shows relative frequency of those posts.
The pages in the reference library contain archives about declassified National Intelligence Estimates, reports about the Amry’s greatest threat, articles by top writers about modern warfare, about our various wars, about peak oil, about the end of the post-WWII geopolitical regime, and more.
IV. Important notes about the operation of this blog
- Read the posts of this blog as Dickens was read in the 19th century, a book delivered to you by installments.
- Most of these posts discusses things on the edge of our knowledge and theory. For clarity, forecasts are stated in somewhat black and white terms. You can mentally insert the necessary qualifiers, the most important of which is “future is the unknown — all we can do is guess.”
- This is written for a general audience, hence you will see few abbreviations, jargon, and technical terminology. Definitions of military terms follow the Dept of Defense Dictionary, JP 1-02, to the extent practical (click here to see the PDF of JP 1-02).
- Join the discussion by posting your comments and corrections! Or email them to fabmaximus at hotmail dot com (note the spam-protected spelling). Please follow the comment policy: make them brief, relevant to the post, civil, and legal.
- Unless you specify otherwise, emails may be posted to the appropriate comments section — anonymously, unless you explicitly give permission to cite you.
- Because of the emerging nature of copyright law on the Internet, we try to comply with the fair use provisions of Title 17, Section 107, U. S. Code. All extracts from copyrighted works are either quoted by permission or are intended solely for the purpose of commentary. Where possible, we have linked to the original source, or to the web site of the copyright holder.
V. About anonymity
From the manifesto of Zero Hedge website:
Anonymity is a shield from the tyranny of the majority. It thus exemplifies the purpose behind the bill of rights, and of the first amendment in particular: to protect unpopular individuals from retaliation– and their ideas from suppression– at the hand of an intolerant society. When responsibly used.
… the right to remain anonymous may be abused when it shields fraudulent conduct. but political speech by its nature will sometimes have unpalatable consequences, and, in general, our society accords greater weight to the value of free speech than to the dangers of its misuse.
— Justice Stevens writing for the majority in Mcintyre v. Ohio elections commission, 514 U.S. 334, 19 April 1995 (text)Though often maligned (typically by those frustrated by an inability to engage in ad hominem attacks) anonymous speech has a long and storied history in the united states. used by the likes of Mark Twain (aka Samuel Langhorne Clemens) to criticize common ignorance, and perhaps most famously by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison andJjohn Jay (aka Publius) to write the Federalist Papers, we think ourselves in good company in using one or another nom de plume. Particularly in light of an emerging trend against vocalizing public dissent in the United States, we believe in the critical importance of anonymity and its role in dissident speech. like The Economist magazine, we also believe that keeping authorship anonymous moves the focus of discussion to the content of speech and away from the speaker — as it should be.
VI. Who was Fabius Maximus?
Fabius Maximus (280 – 203 BC) saved Rome from Hannibal by recognizing Rome’s weakness and therefore the need to conserve its strength. He turned from the easy path of macho “boldness” to the long, difficult task of rebuilding Rome’s power and greatness. His life holds profound lessons for 21st Century Americans.
VII. Qualifications of the Author
There are two answers to this.
First, this site welcomes debate. No censoring or banning critics, like even “best of breed” sites like the Small Wars Council and Realclimate (except for too-long, intemperate, or off-topic comments, per the comment policy). The comments to many posts are many times longer than the post. In debate are these things tested. And this site is littered with “updates” correcting posts’ logic and facts.
On another level, a work of intellectual analysis stands on its own logic, supported only by the author’s track record. You can easily assess my record by using the dropdown calendar to read old articles. After four or five years the dust settles and forecasts can be evaluated. For example, here are my first four articles. They were controversial at the time, like much of the work you will find at this site.
- Scorecard #1: How well are we doing in Iraq? How well is our opposition doing?, 22 September 2003
- Scorecard #2: How well are we doing in Iraq? Afghanistan?, 31 October 2003
- Scorecard #3: the Coalition’s Progress in Iraq, 9 November 2003
- Scorecard #4: New developments in Iraq, 22 November 2003
VIII. A thank you for the creator of this site
This blog was created by Gina of the Defense and National Interest
editorial staff, whose skill and long effort are responsible for its design and smooth operation.
