There may not be a whole lot of diplomatic shockers in Sunday's release, but this really has the potential to be a game changer for American foreign policy research over the next several years. I’m still not convinced we’ll actually see the full set of 250,000+...
A couple of observations on the Wikileaks diplomatic info-dump as seen from London. First, European governments have been unanimous in their condemnation of Wikileaks, disgraceful undermining of...
Wow. Iran's neighbors are threatened by its rise! Many governments think Pakistan may not be able to secure its nuclear arsenal! The US attempts to use its leverage with its allies to achieve its...
(disclaimer: this is my attempt to define/illustrate; mistakes are mine, not to be assigned to feminist IR as a whole)sex (noun?): traditionally used to refer to the biological characteristics of...
(a letter I've thought about writing a dozen times over the last decade of being a feminist researcher)Dear Dr. Journal Editor, I submitted an article to your (big) journal in my (general) field. I don't know if it was of the quality to be published in your (spiffy) journal or not, but, to be honest, I was trusting you to figure that out. You betrayed my trust, and in spades. Your journal presents a pluralistic face, and lets in the occasional article that transgresses the norms of traditional social science. In fact, I do a lot of reviews for your journal and many journals like it ... I'm...
A study published in the Jamestown Foundations' Terrorism Monitor a few days ago claims it sheds "New Light on the Accuracy of the CIA's Predator Drone Campaign in Pakistan." (Never mind the fact that as civilians, CIA agents are not entitled to wage war and would have to be considered 'unlawful combatants' if brought to justice.) The question addressed here is a simple but very important one from a jus in bello perspective: what is the proportion of civilian deaths to combatant deaths in such strikes? No one is actually keeping track, but the authors aim to develop a good estimate by...
The BBC has offended the Chinese government because its primetime show Spooks (Mi5 in North America) has depicted Chinese intelligence agents in an unflattering light, reported here and here in the last few days. The plot saw MI5 trying to prevent an ‘ethnic weapon’ falling into Chinese hands, with much chasing around London and a few sinister and, perhaps, stereotypically Chinese baddies (judge for yourself in the Guardian screenshot here). As somebody who has written about Spooks and the war on terror (Chapter 7 of this), only to meet gentle mockery from my students, colleagues and indeed...
Some colleagues suggested my earlier blialogue with my husband about the socio-political implications of Facebook's ever-changing architecture would be more entertaining in video format. Also, I was further galvanized to speak out about the perils of MarkZism when I learned that someone I love has apparently committed a Facebook suicide. So, I played around with Xtranormal this weekend. Enjoy.
As I've already noted, former President George W. Bush is apparently settling some scores in his new memoir. In Europe, his passages about former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder are attracting a good deal of attention.According to press reports, Bush says Schroder was for the Iraq war before it was against it. Because of his own electoral problems, Bush implies, Schroeder flip-flopped. The former president writes that when he said he was considering the use of force in Iraq, Schroder said, "'What is true of Afghanistan is true of Iraq. Nations that sponsor terror must face consequences....
In his new memoir, former President George W. Bush says that Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) let electoral politics influence his advice about the Iraq war in 2006. Cincinnati's CityBeat has the exchange from Bush's memoir: "In September 2006, with the midterm elections approaching, my friend Mitch McConnell came to the Oval Office. The senior senator from Kentucky and Republican whip had asked to see me alone. Mitch has a sharp political nose, and he smelled trouble. 'Mr. President,' he said, 'your unpopularity is going to cost us control of the Congress' ...'Well, Mitch,' I...
I do not own a copy of the George W. Bush memoirs, but I have been following the bits and pieces that appear in my newspaper. I'm going to try to blog about a few of the most important items, especially as they pertain to my past blogging and/or research interests.For example, the former President confirms that Israel destroyed a Syrian nuclear reactor in September 2002. This has long been a matter of discussion on the Duck.Even more interesting, Bush says he rejected Israel's request that the US bomb the facility. Given Bush's "preemptive" war policy, Israel may have viewed this as a...