Killer Robot Blogging: This week, NGOs are massing in Geneva to encourage states party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons to consider banning autonomous weapons under the auspices of this treaty. This follows the UN Disarmament Committee meetings in New York in...
As I post this today, senior faculty in my department are voting on my tenure case. I don’t really know how to describe what I’m feeling at the moment. It’s a combination of zen-like calm that I’m...
This mashup is just delightful (only slightly NSFW) The true test of a nerd is whether they can spout Monty Python and the Holy Grail line for line. Well, this video makes the old movie look new...
We have a pretty good literature on how presidents use and manipulate their information and propaganda advantages to move public opinion toward their positions on the use of force. Both bottom –up,...
Things have been getting too nerdy here on the Duck. And what is less nerdy than a hot guy? I give you Matt Kroenig of Georgetown University
More on the question of Red Lines. I asked so what? John Mueller wants them erased. Malfrid Braut-Hegghammar wants them enforced. Must read from Dexter Filkins on Obama administration's thinking on Syria . Tom Ricks sees some wisdom in the lessons from Iraq on Syria. Steve Walt applauds the administration's buck passing. Zbigniew Brzezinski argues intervention will make things worse. Daniel Serwer on how Syria is affecting Iraq. Colin Kahl and Marc Lynch look toward "progressive engagement" after the Arab uprisings. Seeing the glass half-full in Pakistan. and.... Given the...
Here is your Thursday Morning Linkage, starting with some energy and environment links: Illegal fish trade costs $10 billion to $23 billion in global losses each eyar China's coal mining companies and coal burning power plants accounted for 15% of the country's total freshwater withdrawals China leading the United States on climate change? Charles Mann on the perils of petro-energy abundance (Drezner dissents) In other news, Syria is heating up in the news with Israel's strikes over the weekend putting pressure on the Obama administration to do more: C.J. Chivers remarks on spending time...
Over the years I've taught Scott Sagan and Charles Perrow for a range of different courses. Based on those two books, I'm pretty sure that I'd rather not read these two terms in the same sentence: "nuclear weapons" and "rot." From this morning's Washington Post: The Air Force stripped an unprecedented 17 officers of their authority to control — and, if necessary, launch — nuclear missiles after a string of unpublicized failings, including a remarkably dim review of their unit’s launch skills. The group’s deputy commander said it is suffering “rot” within its ranks. “We are, in fact, in a...
I don't know whether to feel horribly manipulated, simply appreciate the nerd-fest humor, or both. Andrew Philips on the new Australian Defense White Paper. Dan Trombly on the efficacy of US intervention in Syria. Jay Ulfelder wants to restrict our use of the term "state" to, as best as I can tell, sovereign-territorial entities. His intentions are good--break unilinear understandings of state (trans)formation--but his methods are wrong: they simply re-inscribe an association between "state" and the Weberian ideal type of the "modern state." Marc Lynch on anti-Americanism in the Arab world....
Despite the geekiness of my previous post today, I had to double dip with this: H/T Jeff Emanuel
What do Arend Lijphart, John McGarry and Tywin Lannister have in common? Power-sharing! Since we are halfway through the third season, and we got a nice dialogue about the interplay between nation, nationalism and anarchy between Varys and Littlefinger (not in the book), it is time for us to ponder how these basic concepts play in Westeros.* * A reminder that Westeros is only one part of this world--there are the places beyond the seas that have their own political systems and identities. Plus the world beyond the Wall is not really part of Westeros either. When I first wrote about the IR...
So everyone is bashing Obama’s use of red lines on Syria. In Sunday's New York Times, Daniel Byman took the concept of red lines to task because failure to act on them weakens America’s credibility and reputation: …when deterrence fails, the United States looks weak and indecisive.... Moreover, not acting after issuing ultimatums harms America’s reputation. As Mr. Rogers and others have argued, inaction makes it more likely that American red lines elsewhere in the region will be questioned, especially in Iran, which is facing pressure on its nuclear weapons program and watching Syria...