It looks like the rest of your America Abroad colleages have run off and left you holding the bag, Ernest, with the responsibility of maintaining the site all by yourself. Since January 22, there have been a total of two posts by other contributors: one a serious contribution on Iran by Bruce Jentleson, and the other a 26 word drive-by link drop-off by Anne Marie Slaughter. Maybe it's time for someone to put a stake in this blog once and for all.

I wouldn't sweat it Ernest. It is not like anything has been happening abroad lately :)

Seriously, my first nomination for an addition to the lineup goes to Michael Klare.

This America Abroad issue has been a minor obsession of mine - in part because I see the failure of TPM Cafe to respond intelligently, comprehensively and energetically to the full range of concrete global issues facing us as symptomatic of failures within the Democratic Party more broadly - so forgive me for using this opportunity to make a few other suggestions about an amended lineup for America Abroad:

1. The writers don't all have to be either Americans or work in America. There are many non-Americans who are perfectly capable of commenting very intelligently about America and its role abroad.

2. They don't all have to be Democrats. I want to hear from Socialists and Republicans too, so long as they are straight shooters and really know their stuff.

3. They don't all have to be part of the extended governmental and consulting network comprising the US national security and international relations establishment. There should be a conscious effort to recruit writers who take a more truly global view on global affairs, and don't see everything through the parochial prism of the US foreign policy professional class. Please Josh and Andrew, don't just get out the CFR, Brookings or Wilson center phone book again. It's not that there aren't some terrific folks at those places, but the world is bigger than the thinkeries of Washington, Princeton and New York.

4. Some of them should be journalists. We need to hear from some good people who are on the ground, digging up the dirt about what is really happening abroad, not just academics and think-tankers spinning theories about what should happen in various ideal worlds. By "journalists", I mean real reporters - not just more opinion-mongers.

5. Even better than journalists, an effort should be made to recruit people who have real-world expertise in fields outside of academia and the think-tanks. We need to hear from people who know a lot about some important dimension of the global scene, and America's role in it, from up-close and personal experience. It would be good to hear from some business-people, globally prominent and involved artists, finance experts, environmental scientists and enginers, military people, publishers and media professionals, intelligence experts, doctors and public health professionals, global labor and environmental activists, energy consultants, field geologists and aerospace engineers. (some narcotics traders and flesh-peddlers would be good too - but I imagine that is illegal.) We need to hear from real experts on how the global economy works, how financial markets are networked, how the global arms industry - legitimate and black market - does its business, and with whom. We need to know how capital flows from one state or non-state actor to another, who controls it, and through what means. We need people who can tell us the details about what the world's current military and commercial chessboard looks like, who is moving pieces where, and for what purposes.

6. We need to hear from people who know the difference between what actually happens in practice, and how it is drawn up on the blackboard. America Abroad has been hindered from the outset by an overabundance of ivory tower theorizing. Now, I have a PhD in Philosophy, and taught in for many years - mostly in vey abstract areas. I have no doubts about the great value of academic and abstract research and discussions. But such discussions can only give us part of the picture.

7. And most of all, we need people who are willing to tell us who's who and what's what, and what is actually happening in the world, without a lot of cant and decorum and diplomatic dissembling and class loyalty, and without thinking that their job is to be some sort of liason or propagandist from the mighty to the rabble. If the circumstances of a person's position make it impossible for them to be fully frank about what they know, then they are not that useful to us. If someone is being paid to spread some sort of message to the TPM Cafe yokels, I don't really want to hear from them. And if they are working for a campaign, I want to know that up front. Generally speaking, whenever someone speaks to me in order to spread some message, I want to know for whom they work.

I have an old-fashioned belief in the old saw that "following the money" is the key to understanding how the world works. So I would appreciate hearing from some other people who have that same orientation, but can give me information that I have neither the time nor expertise to acquire myself. I know not everyone in the liberal/progressive camp shares my orientation. I have had many discussions with people who, for example, take all those color-coded revolutions more-or-less at face value. I tend to see those phenomena as part of a continuing global economic struggle for control of the fragmented pieces of the former Soviet Union and its sphere of influence. Others see this as more or less a side issue in the more important struggle for rights and political reform. So let's hear from both types in America Abroad and let them debate the matter.

Here's a wish list of writers I published here once before. It is not intended to be exhaustive of what could be covered. And some of these writers are no doubt too busy or otherwise occupied with the rest of their careers to contribute regularly to this humble blog. Many already publish at other locations in the media and on the internet. But I'll throw it out at least:

Sherle Schwenninger; Chalmers Johnson; Duncan Clarke; Anatol Lieven; Michael Klare; Mike Davis; Gareth Porter; Baruch Kimmerling; James Gustav Speth; Robert Pollin; Rashid Khalidi; Robert Borosoge; Dilip Hiro; Walid Khalidi; Robert Smith Thompson; Arundhati Roy; James S. Henry; Richard Falk; Loretta Napoleoni; Jonathan Schell; Immanuel Wallerstein; Uri Avnery; Vandana Shiva; Ronald Bruce St. John; Nir Rosen; Elizabeth Economy; Col. Dan Smith; Hans Blix; Leila Sadat; William Quandt; Tariq Ramadan; William Hartung; Seymour Hirsh.

But then, why is America abroad?

Perhaps, the blog should be titled "Come Home America."

Or maybe "Fortress America"

Uh ... How many of those individuals listed do Pro bono publico?

~OGD~

AD:

Don't get me wrong, I embrace the idea of taking longshots. And really, I think Dan's idea is very good one.

I just think that lobbying through the open forum for Josh "to deputize" Dan (as you say) "to come back to do that work" is not the way to go about this. And I really don't think that I'm the only member 'round these parts to see the the tackiness of this way of going about it. Unlike some, I think I'm just bold enough to present the obvious without worrying what others think about my take on this.

I have to believe that Dan has approached the TPTB with this same idea through the back channels. If Dan is reading this, have you? And maybe, just possibly, the TPTB have said something to Dan along the lines of, if there is interest shown through this type of open discussion here, further work may be done to include Dan's abilities to, as you say, "...come back to do that work and come back to him with a half dozen or a dozen names, for starters."

My business interests (non-governmental) take me places that 90% of US travelers to foreign destinations rarely get to experience. I find the information gleaned from reading here, when placed in perspective with the experiences I have when on the road, allow me to ferret out those sources who write about the US on the world stage who truly haven't a clue when it comes to the hard evidence of experience.


In closing: Hopefully, we'll all see what possible modifications take place to the America Abroad section, if in fact there are discussions going on now for a revamp. As I said, I hope so.

~OGD~

I have to believe that Dan has approached the TPTB with this same idea through the back channels. If Dan is reading this, have you? And maybe, just possibly, the TPTB have said something to Dan along the lines of, if there is interest shown through this type of open discussion here, further work may be done to include Dan's abilities to, as you say, "...come back to do that work and come back to him with a half dozen or a dozen names, for starters."

No OGD, I have never communicated with Josh Marshall or anybody else on the staff of TPM Cafe about playing any role whatsover on the site - or anything else really. As far as I can recall, I have never communicated with any of them in any way other than through public comments in the comments sections following specific posts here at TPM Cafe. I don't believe I have ever written them any personal emails, or received any from them. And I have never met any of the people who post on the site.

Frankly, I have zero connections in the world of politics, policy and media; so I don't think I would be a very good candidate to recruit a group of contributors. I did meet Michael Klare once at a dinner following a public lecture, but I doubt he would remember me. That's it. I don't think I have ever met any of the other people on the wish list of suggested contributors I presented.

Dan:

Thanks for being open to providing your timely and direct answer to what I posed earlier on my conjectural considerations of the possible ongoings through private messaging.

So now what needs to be accomplished is for Andrew or Josh to step up, jump in here and fill us in on what's in mind for the America Abroad discussion table, and in general the Cafe site as a whole. Or at the very least provide a link to where some comments have already been discussed, of what looks to be coming in the future.

Andrew: If you're out there and reading this, WHAT'S UP?

Thanks again Dan...

~OGD~