[UPDATE 12-17-04 11:30PM] New time for Barnett's show is now Monday, Dec 20, at 8PM with a live call-in segment from 9:30-11PM , and then re-run. (all times EST)


[UPDATE 12-9-04 7:00PM] Apparently Barnett's show is going to be moved to next week on the grounds that C-SPAN hasn't had a chance to promote it at all -- given its floating time slot because of the unpredictability of House proceedings.

Here's a recent review of the book by Chet Richards of Defense and the National Interest.


For those of you who are interested in the all-encompassing world view of Thomas PM Barnett (The Pentagon's New Map), he will be delivering his (in)famous briefing on C-SPAN. The presentation was taped this weekend and is tentatively scheduled for 8PM this Thursday, Dec 9. The briefing is about 90 minutes, followed by a live call-in. The show is to be re-run at 11PM for the West Coast/late nite crowd.

All of this scheduling depends on how quickly intelligence reform is dealt with on the Hill. If it strings out, C-SPAN's schedule shifts. Right now, their site doesn't have anything on the calendar past today, given the fluid nature of the Hill's proceedings. I'm sure Barnett, who's not exactly a retiring wallflower, will have any update to the schedule posted regularly on his site.

The book is certainly worth reading and will probably become a "must read" pretty soon. It does a good job of challenging a lot of implicit assumptions that have characterized post-Cold War national security policy. It operates at both the grand strategy and the operational levels, and tries to redefine their inter-relations. It is forward looking in a way virtually no one else is talking (a bit too messianic for my taste, but then...). And it insists on global economic, political and social dimensions that are sadly lacking in most "expert" discussions of national security and international relations theory. Its vocabulary is already becoming commonplace in the national security arena, at least in the blogosphere, such as John Robb's Global Guerrillas.

So if you want an intro to Barnett, the C-SPAN program looks like a great place to start.