Bloggers respond to my new magazine on global stability solutions

With the role of the private sector growing in the global stability field, I'm enthused to announce a new magazine devoted to the subject. One of the reasons for my enthusiasm is because I'm the editor. Another reason is that everyone from Mother Jones to Keith Olbermann's MSNBC show are choking on it.

Serviam's first issue just came out and has already been getting attention in the blogosphere. The magazine's name is Latin for "I will serve," and it stresses service to humanity through private sector solutions. Our lead editorial describes the publication's purpose.

Here's the link to our homepage, with info on the publication and how to subscribe.

Now for the fun: We're already getting some irreverent treatment among the bloggers at Wired, Mother Jones and Gawker. They compare our happy little magazine to Soldier of Fortune. In the words of the Mother Jones blogger, Serviam is a "sleeker, tamer version of SOF."

Not really, but we'll take that as a compliment considering the source. Gotta love the Mother Jones coverage:

It was only a matter of time before an entrepreneurial publisher seized on the private military contracting boom—and all those untapped ad dollars—in order to give Soldier of Fortune, long the preeminent mag for hired guns, a run for its money. That time has arrived and the mag is called Serviam (Latin for "I will serve"). Edited by conservative author and think tanker J. Michael Waller and published by EEI Communications (whose president, James T. deGraffenreid, is a board member of Frank Gaffney's hawkish Center for Security Policy), the magazine bills itself as a provider of "accurate and actionable information about private sector solutions to promote global stability." Serviam is a sleeker, tamer version of SOF, which, like the companies it caters to, is seeking to soften the mercenary image, casting soldiers-for-hire as international peacekeepers.

To hear Waller tell it in his inaugural editor's note, private security firms are as central to America's heritage as the pilgrims themselves.

Ephemerist, in his own blog, says our magazine will "make a great Christmas present." But I infer from the tone of his comment that he isn't really serious. BlogforDemocracy calls us "completely terrifying." The fan club of Keith Olbermann says Rachel Maddow talked about Serviam on the November 1 MSNBC show.

Many are upset that we actually show Captain John Smith of Jamestown and Captain Myles Standish of Plymouth for what they were: retired professional soldiers-turned-private security contractors who led the civilians to safety in America where they built a new society.

Gawker, based in Manhattan, is horrified about our historical review that asserts that America owes its first Thanksgiving to the 17th century's version of Blackwater. We're told by Very Important People in New York City that we've hit the big time with Gawker.

Pulling a chunk out of Ephemerist's comment, Gawker writes, "did you know that if not for mercenaries—sorry, Private Security Contractors—there would have been no Thanksgiving? It's true! Myles Standish was basically the forefather of Blackwater. Also, Capt. John Smith. PSCs are basically as American as apple pie. Yeah. Apple pie that shoots you."

Now that's a neat idea!

Sharon Weinberger, blogging on Wired magazine's "Danger Room," comments, "Will Serviam someday rank among the names of other well known defense titles, like Aviation Week & Space Technology or Jane's Defence Weekly (and with duly noted bias, I'll add in Defense Technology International). I have no idea, but I wish them luck!"

Bloggers Aaron R. Linderman and Christopher Fulford, on Statecraft & Security, find Serviam to be "interesting, innovative and enlightening." Watch those two - they're going places.

To top it off, Blackwater - an advertiser in Serviam - announced the launch of the magazine in its hot Blackwater Tactical Weekly newsletter.