This pic is from the TV election coverage on the Korean version of CNN. That would be the two main candidates (the liberal Moon Jae-In on the left, and conservative Park Geun-Hye, who won, on the right) as dancing electronic cartoon avatars. Yes, they do look like...
Nominations (and voting registrations) are really starting to come in. I've updated the most recent post to reflect yesterday's additions. Linkage: Leslie Dwyer: "After Aceh's Peace."...
Each year in September, the Economist holds a conference on the Korea economy (a part of its Bellwether series on Asian economies). They invite me to come, and then I try to write up my thoughts on...
Huzzah! Barack Obama in his re-election night valedictory speech finally acknowledged that climate change is a problem we may have to attend to: We want our children to live in an America that isn't...
Maybe we should have named the blog the "Seal of Minerva."Photo: Dan NexonThe US exit strategy in Afghanistan is in shambles; Josh Foust explains. Jing Gao describes condemnations of the anti-Japan riots on Weibo (via Doug Saunders); LA Times story quotes Jessica Weiss on the riots, who knows much about these things (via Erica Chenoweth). Aaron Belkin et al. assess the impact of the repeal of DADT (PDF). Spoiler Alert: military effectiveness hasn't collapsed. Consensus is that Romney's press conference didn't go well; John Sides explains why this is unlikely to matter. I tend to agree, but I...
Just like Barack Obama in 2008, Mitt Romney apparently believes the silly theories of partisan preference popular among his base. Or he's craven enough to peddle the argument to his donors. Neither is good news.At least Obama's caricature was sympathetic to the other side.Â
New Books in Science Fiction and Fantasy is now available via the iTunes store.Bizarro 2004 continues: this time, Republicans spend lots of time complaining about systematic bias in polling (via).Protest September continues: Islamic world, China, Chicago, OWS....Taylor Favrel provides analysis of the Sino-Japanse island dispute. Civil war continues in Syria (Syrian aircraft hit Lebanese territory, Revolutionary Guard said to have advisors in Syria, Rebels accused of torture, etc.) and Mali.A narrative of power, corruption, and "justice" in China (via Victoria Tin-bor Hui).Andrew Yeo argues...
The cheesecake wore a raspberry sorbet.Photo: Dan Nexon Oops (updated)..., I forgot to add a link to coverage of the anti-Japanese riots and protests in China, and to backstory on the purchase of the islands. A thoughtful piece by Jill Sargent Russel at Kings of War on Syria, diplomacy, and intervention.Jay Ulfelder expresses concern about the future of democracy in South Africa.  BLTN: my colleague Chris Fair argues that it is time to "blacklist Pakistan" (via zenpundit).Matt Stoller reviews Tim Mitchell's Carbon Democracy: Political Power in the Age of Oil.The New York Times chronicles the...
Interview with Daniel Levine.
Tunisia Protests, APReaders probably already know that anti-western attacks are spreading beyond Egypt and Libya, and to non-US facilities. In Sudan, the German embassy is "in flames."And so on.How would someone committed to relational social analysis understand what's happening? Here's an 'analytical snap judgment':We have an event -- the emergence of the anti-Muslim film -- that fits a particular pre-existing script concerning identity relations: "Americans/Westerners hate/disrespect Islam/Muslims."We have a script about what happens next: 'Believers protest.'We have pre-existing scripts...
I know what you’re thinking – how many more d--- pictures of this guy and Kim Il Sung (left, KJI right) do I have to look at? Well…too bad! They go on and on and on…In the last two weeks I rolled out a series of impressions from my trip to North Korea (one, two, three, four). Apparently Parag Khanna went to NK at the same time I did (last month) and simultaneously put up his impressions at CNN-GPS, making for an interesting comparison of views this week. (You don’t have to go to the Khanna link, as I have reprinted the piece after the break, with some response comments.)Dan Nexon and Dan...