Michael Totten, whose Iran coverage I have been following at both his site and at Commentary, recently had a conversation with Robert D. Kaplan, the patron saint of our endeavour here at ComingAnarchy.com. Kaplan gives a geopolitical tour of The East, discussing why the Chinese won the war in Sri Lanka, land powers vs. sea powers, Russia’s aching need for Ukraine, Bush’s failure in Georgia, Baku, Bulgaria, “the soft power of Persian culture”, AfPak, McChrystal = Petraeus, and of course the upcoming book on the Indian Ocean where much of the juicy bits of the interview are. For example, I love the ironic line:
Piracy is an indication that things are good, in a way.
You will recognize much of this from Kaplan’s articles and books, but it is interesting to see it in a conversational form. Totten’s is a great post. I have just one thing to say to Mr. Totten: get ready to be branded a narrowminded Kaplan fanboi by the haters. And also: welcome to the club.
H/T to Kirk Sowell for sending this in.
ADDENDUM: More from Kap on the Sri Lankan war. H/T to the Chief.
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Comments to this entry
Chirol
July 2, 2009
3:14 pm
Munro Ferguson
July 3, 2009
4:28 pm
Another Kaplan fanboi
July 3, 2009
8:41 pm
Isn't that an oxymoron? kaplan's writings may foster many things in a reader's worldview, but narrowmindedness is surely not one of them.
Rommel
July 4, 2009
9:09 am
I am curious as to why this is, Chirol?
While I find that Totten occasionally still comes across a slightly amateur-ish blogger with an interest in geopolitics (w/ little but travel experience as education), I still find that his observations are good and his analysis/interpretation of what he sees pretty astute. In this way he reminds me a *little* of our man Bob. In fact, its been clear to me for a while that he indeed has been a fanboy of Kaplan for some time. I also found his on the ground reporting of Iraq in the surge and post-surge period to be some of the best around, in some instances as good as Michael Yon and others.
Chirol
July 4, 2009
2:14 pm