Re: New paper on Security and Obscurity

[gadgeteer () elegantinnovations org]

On Thu, Sep 02, 2004 at 06:43:43PM -0000, Choe Sung Cont. PACAF CSS/SCHP (Sung.Choe () hickam af mil) wrote:
> > The Great Cold War of the last century was not won through military
> > means.  It was not won by US political leaders.  It was won by Levi
> > jeans and bottles of Coke.
>
> Ahhh, I love it when people try to make this argument.  I highly doubt that
> the denim "soft power" of America convinced Soviet Russia to abandon it's
> utopian, marxist dreams.  Soft power can not be mistaken for real power.
> Heck, suicide bombers and terrorists from Israel to the Phillipines wear New
> York Yankees hats and Nike tee-shirts while commiting their atrocities and
> yet, their hatred for the US is arguably greater than that of any Soviet .
> There is no substitute for a strong military.

Levi and Coke are multi-national corporations.  Their interests and
the nationalistic interests of the "US" are not necessarily the same.
As you point out even political dissidents who resort to criminal
behavior buy jeans.

A strong military only has meaning in the context of national interest
where there are other nations which might resort to military means of
diplomacy.  Lacking such aggressive nations a "strong military" would be
an economic handicap.

Looking at the global stage it is the US that is the rampant aggressor
(and has been for a long time).  To take an example, a Palestinian has
ample reason to hate the "US" because it sells the weapons used by
Israel to bomb the hell out of them. IOW the US has terrorized him.

Now to tie this back to security :-)
Robert S. McNamara then Secretary of Defense spoke before the American
Society of Newspaper Editors in Montreal, Canada on May 18th, 1966.
http://www.oldcolo.com/McNamara/mcnamara.txt
So, the idea that better security can be achieved by non-military means
is not new.
-- 
Chief Gadgeteer
Elegant Innovations

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