Lo nuevo de Burnett

Me puse a leer parte de un capítulo del nuevo libro de Thomas Barnett, uno de los gurúes del pentágono y analista de cabecera de Mack. Me detuve un poco a ver la parte histórica del rol de EEUU en el mundo. Haciendo permanentes saltos hacia el presente, ciertamente Burnett es provocador, eso me atrae. Además usa muchas metáforas informáticas: todo es código fuente, red, núcleo.
Hace un recorrido por las etapas de desarrollo de la gran estrategia (la grand strategy, que al menos hasta la página 100, nunca define) de EEUU a través de las personalidades que la forjaron: Washington, Hamilton, Jefferson, Jackson, Clay y hasta donde llegué, Lincoln.
Hamilton, Clay y Lincoln se llevan los laureles como, respectivamente, precursores, creadores y realizadores del 'sistema amercano'. Jefferson y Jackson hicieron su aporte, pero desde otros valores y actitudes, sobre todo en lo económico. Al primero lo trata de afín a la economía actual brasilera ("Jefferson would have found much to praise in Brazil's current role as leader of emerging markets in globalization") y al segundo de patotero estilo Putin. Las comparaciones me recordaron a una vez cuando estando medio aburrido hice un comentario a un post de Charly a proósito del Jefferson=Putin.
Cierro con Jefferson antes de pasar a Jackson

If Hamilton took his cues largely from urbanizing, industrializing Britain, then Jefferson's ideal (based on his time there as ambassador) was rural, republican France.
(...) Later, as cotton became king, America would dominate that global market at a level that today's OPEC could never dream of achieving in oil.

Y pasa a Jackson, a quien sí ve como un Putin

Old Hickory, with his unapologetically authoritarian manner, signaled by his unyielding concentration of presidential power that America was now led by a new father.
"King Andrew" was, in many ways, the classic "great man" of an emerging regional power, and his style of rule reminds us that leaders of countries enjoying such a trajectory often come off as unrepentant thugs to allies and enemies alike. Jackson's leadership, upon close examination, is more than a bit reminiscent of the sort of heavy-handed and corrupt political practices of Russia's siloviki, or "security guys," under Vladimir Putin.
I do not consider this a wild comparison, for Putin, like Jackson, made his initial marks in national security, ruled autocratically with a tendency toward political vendetta against his enemies and economic largesse dispensed to his cronies, cracked down viciously on secessionist sentiment whenever and wherever it cropped up, and made no secret of his desire to catapult his nation toward global greatness on the basis of its most precious natural resources (slave-raised cotton for Jackson, state-owned energy for Putin). Like Putin, Jackson deeply—and personally disliked the era's dominant great power. Finally, Jackson granted himself a "third term" by appointing his successor, Martin Van Buren, in much the same way Putin selected his own colorless protégé-cum-replacement, Dmitry Medvedev.

Y relacionado con el post de Claude comentado el otro día, acá hace otro salto hacia el presente cuando comenta una particularidad social de la era de Jackson.

Jackson's age likewise saw plenty of social unrest and spiritual awakening.
America endured its first great wave of immigration in this period, with the influx of Irish catholics being particularly disturbing to the dominant Protestant denominations of the age, so much so that public education was pioneered in an attempt to dilute the impact of this new, Roman Catholic minority, which was viewed as essentially nonwhite. The incoming Irish were simultaneously the Muslims and Mexicans of their day: generating irrational social fear with their exclusionary, religiousbased schools and being shunted into the "3D" jobs of the economy— dirty, dangerous, and difficult—which in turn allowed them to send substantial amounts of remittances back to their distressed homeland, dwarfing the official humanitarian aid offered by Britain during the Great Potato Famine of the 1840s.

¡Está bien!. Le doy 8 macks.