Kerim's Triptych ❧ Mediocrity, Uyghur Militia, Colossus

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1️⃣ Mediocrity

Amanda Taub, has a review of the new book, “Making a Career in Dictatorship,” by Adam Scharpf and Christian Glassel. In it, they look at data from Argentina’s military and argue that

during that country’s era of coups and forced disappearances found that low performers — whom they refer to as “career-pressured” individuals — filled the ranks of the secret police. That service allowed them to “detour” around the ordinary military hierarchy, the book shows, achieving promotions and career success they could never have managed otherwise.

The worse people's academic records were, the more likely they were to engage in atrocities as a shortcut to career advancement.

The worse an officer’s academic record had been at the military academy, the more likely he was to join Battalion 601. And once inside, the lowest performers were assigned to the most brutal units, carrying out the day-to-day tasks of torture and murder, work that was so morally repugnant that it carried a serious risk of both social stigma and psychological trauma. But that meant that the career rewards for doing it were the most valuable. A stint as a monster could rehabilitate the most disastrous underperformer.

They also look at data from the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany.

The playbook for a leader to create a loyal security service, they said, is to set up or repurpose an institution that can become a “second ladder” for career promotions, resource it generously and ensure that the barriers to getting hired there are low, signaling that it offers career opportunities to those who cannot find them elsewhere. (Cutting other government jobs or squeezing budgets can create a larger pool of potential recruits.) The leadership then signals impunity for people on that second ladder, to assure them that they won’t face consequences for wrongdoing.

Sound familiar?

2️⃣ Uyghur Militia

Emily Feng has an in-depth article about Uyghurs who fought for Syria against the Assad regime, and the complicated position they find themselves in now, after having played a crucial role in securing that victory.

Having backed Sharaa and the militant group that the current president once led, Uyghurs have been rewarded with senior appointments in the country's defense ministry. A large number of former TIP fighters, the largest Uyghur fighting force, have been folded into Syria's reconstituted national army, say Syrian defense officials and Uyghurs . . . But two issues hang over the Uyghurs' continued presence in Syria.

The first issue is that their "conservative Sunni Muslim beliefs held by many Uyghurs in Syria have scared Syria's minority communities." And the second is that their presence is a source of tension between the new Syrian government and China, who sees them as terrorists.

3️⃣ Colossus

In 2010, during his eightieth birthday concert, Sonny Rollins, who passed away this week, Sonny was joined on stage by a surprise musical guest: Ornette Coleman. This is a recording of that remarkable event.

Endnote

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