Do the responses to the plight of Dorothy Parvaz, a journalist for Al Jazeera English who was detained in Syria and Iran for nearly 3 weeks, show continued resistance to female journalists pursuing particular types of stories?Parvaz flew to Syria to gather information...
What to make of it? Was it significant, or just more of the same? Of course it was significant -- it is the first time a U.S. president has publicly claimed the "1967 lines" as the basis for...
Like Robert Haddick, though for different reasons, I was glad to see a State Department spokesperson publicly issue the legal justification for the manner in which the OBL raid was carried out.*...
I took part in a panel on Peacebuilding yesterday at the Center for International Governance Innovation [CIGI], which was part of the larger Canadian Political Science Association annual meeting. ...
How many times have you been accused of making a straw man argument?  How many times have you deployed that rhetorical trump card against a foe?  In blogs, in debates, in academic conference rooms, the straw man charge is a tried and true way of undermining an opponent and advancing your own position.  To accept the claim that, yes, my argument is a straw man, is to admit defeat. However, I come not to burn straw men, but to praise them. To begin, I exclude outright distortions and lies about an argument.  Those should be called what they are—and merit dismissal.  Straw men are made of...
So he wasn't armed, and maybe it wasn't legal, and we should have found him a long time ago. But we are missing the point. Our soft power was winning the war on terror. We just had to give it some time.The Financial Times reports: "Shopkeepers remember the [Osama] household demonstrating a preference for Coke, Pepsi and imported juices." No one can resist the allure of American culture, not even Mr. Death to America. See! He really didn't mean it. Who was going to make his beloved Coke if we are all dead? What was he going to drink, Orangina? That stuff is terrible. And my guess is Pakistani...
"The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated" -- Mark Twain. If we don't get to see a photo, how will we know with certainty that Osama bin Laden isn't simply living in a retirement community with Hitler, Jim Morrison, Elvis, Andy Kaufman, Tupac, Princess Diana, and Michael Jackson? I hear that they mostly talk about the good old days, the JFK assassination, and the 2004 election results in Ohio. Personally, I'll be satisfied when I see the long-form death certificate. I know, I know -- 140 char. versions of these should probably be on twitter, rather than here. Sorry.Â
For years, microfinance appeared to be one of the most promising means of fighting poverty and underdevelopment worldwide. With all the hype, it then became a kind of global movement—a hybrid combining social good with economic goods, morality with moneymaking. A few years ago, the Nobel Peace Prize committee hopped on the bandwagon and laureated Yunus. Over the last year, however, MF has faced a growing crisis, primarily in parts of India and in Bangladesh. It has also apparently suffered from the economic downturn like much of the rest of the lending industry--of which it is clearly a part...
I'll make it quick.1. He's dead. But that won't stop the vast, academic industry around this war. We academics really have done very well out of the war on terror for the most part. We have a strong professional interest in not facing up to the raw strategic reality, that Al Qaeda has become largely a third-order nuisance, dangerous but mainly in terms of baiting us to do stupid things, and a diversion from much more difficult and serious stuff, like the vast imbalance between our power, resources and commitments, the near collapse of our financial system (September 2008, as well as 2001, is...
In the wake of the jubilant response to bin Laden's killing, it is heartening to see such a quick discussion erupt over its legality. The State Department has released its legal rationale for the operation here. The Atlantic Wire summarizes various arguments. Ken Anderson considers what the debate itself tells us about international law development.My views on extrajudicial execution are well known, but I'm not sure I agree with Paul Campos that this event counts as such - whether or not this is understood as a law enforcement operation vs. a military engagement. In the former, officers are...
"You Americans, you think when something dies, it goes away." - Robin Williams in the play "Tiger"In Urdu/Hindi the phrase "Tere bin Laden," which was also the title of last year's hit Bollywood comedy about the American War on Terror, is a play on words which can be read as "Your bin Laden" or "Without you, Laden." Â The phrase succinctly captures the current reality in which bin Laden is both absent and polysemic.As Faisal Devji has argued, Americans and Arabs have tended to forcibly fit this Saudi man -- who swore allegiance to a reclusive Afghan mullah: who lived and fought in Africa and...
If Stephanie can blog about Canadian politics as an ex-pat who cannot vote because residing in the UK, why cannot I comment on the election as an American ex-pat who cannot vote despite residing in Quebec? I am not an expert on Canadian politics, but, as my blog testifies, a lack of expertise has never stopped me before. So, here are my thoughts on the second night of surprises this week. I will explain the title later, but first consider the parties in turn and the historic outcome.The Tories failed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. This was most out of character. I guess...