POETIC ENGAGEMENT WITH AFGHANISTAN, CAUCASUS AND IRAN – AN UNEXPLORED STRATEGIC OPPORTUNITY?

ANGLO AMERICA, ASIA--PACIFIC, CENTRAL ASIA, MILITARISM, MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA, COMMENTARY ARCHIVES, 7 Mar 2009

Anthony Judge

Introduction

This exploration is in response to strategic challenges in the region named. It is a development of earlier studies of the interface between strategy and poetry (Poetry-making and Policy-making: arranging a marriage between Beauty and the Beast, 1993; Ensuring Strategic Resilience through Haiku Patterns: reframing the scope of the "martial arts" in response to strategic threats, 2006) as well as in relation to the role of music and song (A Singable Earth Charter, EU Constitution or Global Ethic? 2006; Reframing the EU Reform Process — through Song responding to the Irish challenge to the Lisbon Treaty, 2008).

The orginal version of this document arose as a response to an invitation to make a presentation in a session on Caucasus Future Challenges at the Wilton Park Conference on Caucasus 2020: the Future of European Security (January 2009). Wilton Park (Sussex, UK) arranges conferences on international affairs for politicians, officials, academics and others from around the world. In their initial form the notes were communicated to the organizers. Being unable to attend, the focus in that response was on how the challenge of the Caucasus might nevertheless be more fruitfully reframed.

Preamble

Aesthetics: It is not widely recognized in the cultures beyond the direct influence of Islam the extent to which aesthetics is valued there, whether in the form of poetry or song. The "clash of civilizations" is readily framed by the West as implying a direct physical threat between cultures. Aside from conventional diplomatic dialogue, no other vehicle is considered appropriate to the engagement between worldviews so framed. It is of course the case that there is a long history of such physical conflict between such cultures.

CONTINUE READIDNG IN THE ORIGINAL – LAETUS IN PRAESENS

This article originally appeared on Transcend Media Service (TMS) on 7 Mar 2009.

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