Friday, October 28, 2011

International Intervention Drinking Game

I was reading a piece yesterday where Qatar was basically given credit for "punching above its weight" and all I could think was: drink!  Yep, it is time for some help in developing the rules for the international intervention drinking game (with much of the inspiration inspired by NATO."

Simple rules: find a beverage you like (a good micro-brew is always a good choice); and drink when you hear/read references to:
  • Metrics--as in: we need metrics for success.
  • Two-tier NATO.  As in countries that do more and others that do less.
  • Burden-sharing.  Oh my, we will get drunk quickly.
  • Acronym rules:
    • Anytime there is an acronym that takes more than five seconds to figure out.  Drink twice if the same acronym refers to two or more NATO concepts (SMR= senior military representative and six month review).
    • Anytime there is an acronym that takes more than five seconds to figure out how to say aloud, as in PIFWC.
  • The aforementioned "punch above its weight."
  • When anybody expresses shock that countries and organizations might discriminate and be selective about where they intervene.
  • Benchmark or Milestone (and only drunk people can really articulate the difference between the two).
  • End-state.
  • Way ahead.
  • Consensus.
  • Russia/China condemning external interference in the domestic affairs of countries (only small sips as this will happen often).
What am I forgetting?  Anything my readers might suggest to add? Yes, I am leaving R2P out because I don't want to be responsible for anyone's alcohol poisoning.

Updates:
Felix adds:
  • Exit strategy.  This would lead to lots of controversy--the phrase would be uttered so often that any player would become catatonic, but we actually never see a real exit strategy, so one would have to chug if one of those ever came along.
  • Boots on the ground.  And drink twice if media folks start debating what counts as boots.
  • Oil.  Again, only sip unless the conflict is in some place where no one would ever expect oil (Afghanistan).
Grant, a fellow escapee from TTU and a Naval Reservist with one year on the ground in Baghdad adds:
  • Whole of Government.  To which I would add: comprehensive approach, civ-mil integration.
Oh, and I forgot, if someone mentions Paddy Ashdown as a solution to the problems of coordination among the panoply of international and non-govt organizations, one beer must be chugged. 


3 comments:

Felix said...

- exit strategy (although that might also result in serious alcohol poisoning)
- boots on the ground
- oil (again, serious risks involved in including that one)
- ...

Grant Neeley said...

- course of action
- whole of government

Brandon Valeriano said...

double down
surge
nation building
anytime Fox News condemns something they previously advocated