THE PENTAGON’S NEW MAP

A sometimes strange, sometimes Strangelovean white paper destined to top policy-wonk reading lists in the months to come—especially if, as the author suggests, the Pentagon is taking it seriously.

“I am proposing a new grand strategy on a par with the Cold War strategy of containment—in effect, its historical successor,” writes Barnett (Naval War College). That strategy is hydra-headed, but at the start it involves recognizing which of the world’s countries are part of the Functioning Core, signed on to the globalization club, and which are part of the Non-Integrating Gap, “largely disconnected from the global economy and the rule sets that define its stability.” (Barnett is fond of Capitalized Concepts.) By this sharp division, a broad equatorial swath across the planet, comprising sick and troublesome nations such as Indonesia and Saudi Arabia, lies beyond the pale of Euroamerican reason, whereas Russia, Chile, and, perhaps surprisingly, China are to be counted as allies, real or potential, and even friends. One of the tasks for the US, Barnett writes, is to develop what he calls “a reproducible strategic concept” by which to guide the military in global actions, reproducible meaning one on whose terms Democrats and Republicans can largely agree. “Trust me,” Barnett breezily writes, “the military wants this sort of bipartisan consensus in the worst way.” Such repurposing is necessary if we are to set an example for the rest of the civilized world, which seems disinclined to subscribe to our rule set. The Strangelove element comes in when Barnett makes extramilitary policy recommendations, as when he urges that a component of Western foreign aid be to encourage “the widespread use of bio-engineered crops,” demands the removal of Kim Jong Il from power in North Korea (an inevitability, Barnett says, if Bush is reelected), and prophesies that the US will admit many new states in the next 50 years—including Mexico.

A game of Risk between hard covers. Endlessly fascinating—but endlessly weird.