[ by Charles Cameron — talking across the military / civilian divide ]
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I thought these two TED talks — one given in Amsterdam by Gen. Petrus J.M. “Peter” van Uhm, current Chief of the Netherlands Defence Staff, the other by Adm. James Stavridis, current Commander, U.S. European Command (USEUCOM) and NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) — were interesting in terms of the speaker-audience combination in each case, and the topics the two speakers chose to present.

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First, Adm. Stavridis, speaking to A Navy Admiral’s thoughts on global security:

I’m particularly intrigued by the sub vs raft image, and by the admiral’s hard and soft power rheostat (image above) — I hope we’ll get to discuss that image.

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Then Gen. van Uhm, speaking to Why I chose a gun:

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Stavridis is the guy who says:

We are excellent at launching Tomahawk missiles … we need to get better at launching ideas.

and told his audience at National Defense University convocation:

in the end, 21st-century security is about brain on-brain warfare.

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There’s some interesting bridge-building going on here — from military speakers to civilian audiences. I welcome your comments.