James H > Recent Status Updates

1994 Clinton countered NRA pro-gun narrative. At a heavy political price.

Lost control of House for first time in 40 years.

Mass shooting = 4 or more dead in one event

Strategy is an overarching vision of what an individual or organisation seeks to achieve.

A lack of coherence in a strategy can be not a flaw, rather, an appropriate response both to complexity and to present and likely contingencies.

When two powers go to war, generally both believe that they will win and gain benefits from their victory, and at least one is always wrong.

Assured, transient or partial air / sea superiority

Wellington
- Saw loyalty of local population as important. This also supported militias.

- Did not like sacrificing military strategy over government interests.

Machiavelli emphasises milita over mercenaries. This is because he placed more value on moral character.

Find your flow profile.

Flow Genome Project.

10 core components of flow (Csikszentmihalyi).

1. Clear goals
2. Concentration
3. A loss of feeling of self consciousness
4. Distorted sense of time
5. Direct and immediate feedback
6. Balance between ability level and challenge
7. The activity is intrinsically rewarding
8. Sense of control over the situation
9. Lack of awareness of boldly needs
10. Absorption

Success is achieving a goal that is worth achieving, while at the same time becoming something worth becoming.

Avoid the cliche of never being satisfied. Otherwise what is the point?

Life has two types of hardships: either we live with the restrictions of discipline or we suffer under the pressure of regret.

An open system will steer and end with sinks. A closed system will start and end with stocks.

The 5 why’s:

Ask why 5 times and it should get you to the root cause.

System thinkers sometimes describe events as the top of an iceberg.

A system is a set of interrelated entities, things, or people, that work together to produce a result.

No accountability from different political factions.

Geography has always been a prison of sorts - one that defines what a nation is or am be, and one from which our world leaders have often struggled to break free.

$1 billion and 10 years to build an ice breaker.

United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea

200 miles from coast - EEZ

Can apply for 350 miles if the land shelf is in dispute, but that does not include fishing rights.

The BRICS - Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

Counties considered to be on the rise economically and politically.

US had no real strategy to split Korea at the end of WWII. Split on 38th parallel as it was roughly half. US was more concerned with Japan.

US re-established relations with Cuba in 2015.

Countries in Africa drawn by Europeans relative to army locations, distances covered by explorers and terrain. Some consideration to formed groups and who relates to who.

UK’s island nation and good land made it able to develop away from changing borders and invasions.

This meant it’s leaders didn’t need to be as physical or war like and could focus on economic development and democratisation.

France and Germany natural competitors.

Germany not a threat until unification in 1805.

Both Germany and France feared each other. Then when the triple entente was formed Germany feared all three.

If China did not control Tibet, it would always be possible that India might attempt to do so. This would give India the commanding heights of the Tibetan plateau and a NSW from which to push into the Chinese heartland, as well as control of the Tibetan sources of three of China’s great rivers, the Yellow, Yangtze and Mekong.

This is why Tibet is known as, ‘China’s water tower.’

Moldova - plain with ease of access to Russia. Flat corridor into Russian from the Black Sea.

The Soviet Union split into 15 countries when it broke up.