The sixteenth Duck of Minerva podcast features Robert Farley of the University of Kentucky and Lawyers, Guns and Money.
Podcast No. 16 – Interview with Robert Farley
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Year: 2012
Thinking the Unthinkable?
Yesterday, climate activist and environmental writer Bill McKibben tweeted a link to this eye-opening graphic: In many ways, this chart is merely another disturbing bit of information about weather...
James Bond, Ambiguously Gay Villains and Masculinity
The James Bond movies aren't the first place most would look to learn about masculinity; it's an action movie, the special effects are always amazing, and most of us just leave the gender analysis...
Happy Thanksgiving!
Now something of a cliche, but still one of the best. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VbYZDohsHk&sns=em
More Year: 2012 Posts
Thursday Morning Linkage
South African miners call for general strike.Paul Rogers at the Agonist on "The Jihadist Element in Syria and its Implications."Karim Mezran & Danya Greenfield: "picking up the pieces and honoring Ambassador Stevens."Wow. As Josh wrote about, the backlash against Romney's comments on the consulate attacks has been.... intense.The Hillsborough coverup just exploded in British politics. Ashamed aside: I had no idea about any of this until today.Jamie at Blood & Treasure piles on Parag Khanna's ill-conceived dispatch from Pyongyang. But he's on a roll in general. Check out this discussion of...
In Weapons Advocacy as in Health, Prevention is Better Than Cure
A heavily attended side-event today was the Norwegian Red Cross' panel discussion "Looking Back to Look Forward: The Cluster Munitions Convention and What it Means for Limiting the Impact of Other Weapons Systems."Richard Moyes, coordinator of the International Network Against Explosive Weapons, presented a compelling address about the importance of regulating the use of explosives in populated areas, and putting the burden of proof on states to document the humanitarian costs of the weapons they use in conflict zones. University of Sheffield's Noel Sharkey presented on the dangers of trends...
Foreign Policy to the Fore: Is Romney Below the Bar?
U.S. Consulate in Benghazi 9/12/2012I heard Dan Drezner in the car on NPR yesterday talking about whether foreign policy might matter in this election. And, last night and today, with the events in Egypt and Libya, he may be more right than even he anticipated.We may have an incident, in the wake of the 11th anniversary of the 9-11 attacks, that will shape the contours of the election and have wider repercussions for U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East and North Africa. Politically, does it constitute a disqualifying moment for Mitt Romney?Like Dan, I've been of the mind that foreign...
Wednesday Afternoon Video
One of my daughter's favorite videos. I love that this song has evolved into a theme for general tolerance and... respect.
Anti-American Violence in the Middle East: Agency, Morality, Politics, and (a) Flim
Note: this started out as "Morning Linkage" but quickly became an extended comment. I apologize for the poor proofing.Four Americans, including US ambassador Christopher Stevens, were killed in the extremist Islamist attack on the American consulate in Libya, Hayes Brown has a good, quick, overview of the circumstances surrounding the attacks in Libya and Egypt. As he concludes: Finally, the relationship between the United States and the Egyptian and Libyan governments will likely hinge on the response of their leadership. The Libyan government, including President Mohammed el-Megarif, has...
Observations from Day One of 3MSP-CMC
At multilateral "Meetings of States Parties (MSP)" conferences, delegates are there to review progress made since the establishment of some treaty standard or another - in this case the Convention on Cluster Munitions (CMC) three years ago (3). In the plenaries, therefore, diplomats praise one another's efforts to implement the treaty with fancy prepared speeches, congratulate their hosts for a beautifully organized event, call on non-signatories to join the treaty, and generally take stock of how to strengthen adherence to the rules.  But just like at academic conferences, all the really...
Repost: a Personal History of 9/11
Image from: https://hub.pastbook.com/en/book/instagram/earth/tag/september11Our memories of "big events" are generally collective in character. Their status as such manifests in a number of ways, but an important one is that their cognitive traces and triggers become intertwined with representations -- images, narratives, and so forth -- found in local and mass culture.This applies to macro-collective events, such as election nights, massacres, assassinations, terrorist attacks, and sporting championships. It also operates in the context of localized happenings. Our recall of them -- of, for...
Tuesday Morning Counterfactual: No 9/11 Attacks
This is an open thread to discuss what the world of 2012 would look like absent the 9/11 attacks. The counterfactual proposes that they never happened, not that the US government thwarted them. In general, I think the world is a better place. A lot of people who are now dead -- in, for example, New York, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq -- remain alive. A viable peace process might be underway in Israel-Palestine. The US international position is more secure. I am uncertain as to the strength of transnational jihadism. Core Al-Queda is in better shape, but its offshoots might not be making...