Jack Ryan has undergone an interesting change. Main character of many novels written by Tom Clancy and five Hollywood movies, Ryan was once a very specific kind of hero: brilliant, bookish he is a history PhD , family orientated, and driven by an ethos of national spirit and straight forward ethics.
His worldview was nuanced and insightful, born by wading through stacks of reports to gain insights not always apparent on the surface. Insights that he was willing to triumph and protect in the face of political power. Such reflection, however, is lost on the current adaptation of his characters. In the latest offering — Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit staring Chris Pine — our character has become an appendage of the state apparatus, rather than critical node within it. Those around him often wielded great political or institutional power which far out-weighed his status as lowly analyst.
But, his ability to learn, reflect, and empathize, as well as his willingness to buck petty-power politics, lead him to resist their unreasoned positions, which is the source of his heroism. In the end Ryan behaves honourably, in spite of the toll his involvement will have on his career. More interesting, though, is that the film does not attempt to save the larger foreign policy machine from disgrace.
We are left with an uneasy feeling about American power and influence—What if Ryan had not been there? Ryan was also stunningly human and empathetic. Yet, again, we are left acutely aware that he is similar to his villains on a very basic level. FBI records on the TLI offered a plethora of suspected crimes, including the stockpiling of explosives for an anticipated war against the government.
But in the end, none of the leads on the group resulted in prosecution. They had done surveillance and collected information about where the agents lived and their daily routines. When pressed by FBI sources, the suspects said the killings would take place only after the U. Within months, the PATCON status reports conceded that the planned assassinations were "not as imminent as originally feared" and had been referenced only in "vague fashion" since the operation began. But it was enough to keep the operation going.
Half the targeted TLI "members" did not actually belong to the militia, according to former members and associates of the group. PATCON operatives rented an Austin-area safe house wired for audio and video, which they occupied with the informant Vince Reed, hoping to catch Beam and others saying something incriminating on tape, according to agents who worked with Reed.
For instance, an FBI lab analysis said that remnants of an expertly crafted pipe bomb were found during a search at a TLI training camp. The search for more information was understandable, especially given the consequences if an act of violence were to take place and it was then revealed that the bureau could have prevented it. But lead after lead failed to uncover evidence that would support an indictment or even indicate that the plots were making any serious progress.
Although the targets of the operation talked continually about forming The New Order, no one ever provided specific plans or names of those involved, according to agents working on the case. Most of the targets of PATCON — even those engaged in frighteningly violent rhetoric — never moved past the talking stage. Eventually, greener pastures beckoned. It had murky connections to government through the Iran-Contra program, and Posey had been called to testify during congressional hearings on the scandal.
Posey envisoned these ties as a way for disparate groups to work cooperatively when the time came to overthrow the government. But a November meeting, sponsored by CMA to promote the idea, collapsed in a paroxysm of suspicion over suspected infiltration and surveillance. The FBI did, in fact, have multiple informants at the meeting. But they escaped detection in the ensuing free-for-all of accusations and investigation.
A full-time paid informant was also in place with CMA, close to Posey. When Posey met Rossi for the first time, he brought the informant along to watch his back. Instead, he offered to sell Rossi several pairs of Army night-vision goggles. The goggles were real. The FBI quickly determined they had likely been stolen from Fort Hood, and Rossi purchased several pairs using money set aside for the Stingers.
But it stopped there. Excerpts from several FBI documents containing these allegations were e-mailed to Grady, who responded in a telephone interview. A source with knowledge of the investigation and documentary materials affirmed some of the allegations found in the case file, but others did not check out. For instance, FBI records sourced to Rossi indicated that an October speech by Grady said "a person was better off to take out as many people as they could than to be arrested and taken to jail," but a videotape of the speech obtained from a source did not match the description.
While the intelligence continued to flow, the criminal investigation again foundered, failing to produce any evidence on which to base a prosecution. In April , an FBI committee reviewing the investigation of Grady expressed concern that agents were "only obtaining intelligence and not moving forward with the criminal investigation. Both the Grady case and the undercover operation were terminated. Agents were instructed in unusually strong terms that they "should conduct no further investigation regarding either [The Order of St.
With the operation shut down, other complications that had beset PATCON throughout its history became a closed book, including the involvement of FBI personnel and investigative targets in the dramatic events that McVeigh would later cite as motivation for the Oklahoma City bombing.
The ATF had tried to convince Randy Weaver, a religious fundamentalist who lived on the site, to act as an informant against the Aryan Nations. When Weaver refused, the ATF prosecuted him on a minor weapons charge and began planning to arrest him at his remote mountain home.
After the confrontation, the FBI took over the scene and a protracted standoff ensued, lasting several days. The tense situation erupted when an FBI sniper opened fire, wounding Weaver and killing his unarmed wife, Vicki, who was holding their baby in her arms. Ruby Ridge instantly became a signal event for the Patriot movement, which had been predicated in significant part on the idea that the government would soon crack down on gun owners, sparking the much-anticipated revolution.
According to FBI records, the PATCON agent took rudimentary precautions to avoid detection — pulling a coat over his head when he passed through the FBI roadblock on the way to the scene, and staying at a motel in a less-trafficked area.
But headquarters decided that it was better to err on the side of caution and pull him out of the undercover operation. His role was never disclosed. China has a long history of authoritarian rule that has penetrated every facet of society, from the early Emperors to the present governing elite. Indeed it could be argued that the CCP represent a modern manifestation of a traditional dynastic succession and that the extant political system is a continuation of the ancient Confusion hierarchical order.
Realism contends that the primary concern of the state is to ensure its very survival and is a manifest responsibility conveyed on those whom claim political legitimacy to rule. Imperatively important to the CCP is maintaining its position as sole political power in China. All are interconnected; removing one aspect from this trinity would have dire consequences for the others.
Pragmatic nationalism is a CCP manipulated tool of statecraft. It is the dominant form of Chinese nationalism and is essentially state orchestrated, goal orientated, and Machiavellian in that the end it seeks, CCP maintenance of power, justifies the means by which it is achieved. Zhao identifies three characteristics of pragmatic nationalism: instrumentality , its use as a tool of statecraft; state-centeredness , the state, and by proxy the CCP, is the referent object to be secured, and reactiveness ; that it is fluid and responsive to issues vital to securing national interest and not religious dogma or political ideology.
Through the application of a realpolitik cost-benefit analysis to specific issues they ultimately seek non-confrontation, recognising that national interests can be furthered through working with and not against the norms of the international system. Evan Medeiros posits a pyramid framework for analysing just how Chinese foreign policy is actually calculated. At its base, China has long-term diplomatic priorities, including protecting sovereignty, economic development, and achieving international respect.
Factoring these considerations, China subsequently formulates its foreign policy objectives. Finally, at the pyramids apex, Chinese foreign policy actions reflect a realpolitik cost-benefit analysis on how best to achieve these objectives. In contrast to China under the leadership of the omnipotent Mao, today authority over foreign policy construction and key decisions is fractured and fragmented amongst a plethora of competing agencies and powerful individuals, including the Politburo and Politburo Standing Committee, the Foreign Ministry, the Ministries of Commerce, State Security and Finance, the National Development and Reform Commission and, perhaps to a lesser degree than many analysts might contend, the Peoples Liberation Army.
Chinese foreign policy is actually, and inherently therefore, an extension of domestic policy that ultimately seeks domestic stability above all else. It is pragmatically recognised that foreign policy being dictated by the demands of an aggressive nationalistic populous would be detrimental to this end.
Outside China, concern over the impact of nationalism on Chinese foreign policy is overstated. It must be understood that there is a vast difference between rhetoric aimed at a domestic audience and international behavioural actions. The CCP exercises control over two key areas that enable the effective management of public nationalist sentiment: a monopoly on force and demonstrated willingness to use it to suppress its citizenry, coupled with high level media and technology control.
In , in response to planned May 4th anti-Japanese demonstrations the CCP went so far as to send text messages to mobile phone users in major cities warning against partaking in such illegal demonstrations. Public expressions such as those demonstrated and allowed subsequent to the Embassy incident, and the anti-Japanese demonstrations, enable a CCP explanation of constrained government action and limited manoeuvrability more reflective of the will of its people.
However, such displays of public nationalism that would indeed prove problematic in a democracy are not so, to the same extent in China — China is no democracy. Firstly, democratic political liberalisation, leading to lessening of restraint over media and information freedom and weakening in government use of force as a suppressive control measure, could compel a Chinese government to become more sensitive and responsive to the nationalistic demands of its people.
London: Penguin Books, Santa Monica: Rand Corporation, , p.
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