When thinking about what things I most wish someone had told me in graduate school… I found it difficult to not write about work-life balance, particularly today.
An American first lady is about to make history. No, not that one. Nicaragua’s November 6 election has drawn few headlines internationally, but this week the New York Times ran a profile on Rosario...
I'm on blogging lockdown to GOTV. Back soon.
Mass media in the US often portray Donald Trump as an American version of Putin, if not his puppet. But it makes sense to take a closer look at the essence of Trump’s and Putin’s appeal to their...
What is better than one Nazi Zombie movie? Two of them! Yes, we have a sequel:
We're going to kick of 2014 right with our morning linkage. I'd like to say the stories coming out from around the world are festive and joyful, but I suppose the habit in the profession is to be drawn to difficult news from around the world. Here are some interesting stories that caught my eye this week. The New York Times ran an extended story trying to come to grips with the real reasons for the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi. Abdul Mohammed and Alex de Waal, experienced hands when it comes to South Sudan, provide their take on what's gone wrong there. And will Russia's efforts...
Greetings readers! And apologies for my slap-happy blogging record of late. Among my several resolutions this year is a return to blogging at the rate of at minimum one substantive post per week, in addition to my bi-weekly linkage posts. We'll see whether I can sustain or (more hopefully) exceed this while managing the transition of a teen from home to college, just as we'll see whether I can keep up my regimen of 7-minute workouts, my plan to learn tango and get scuba certified, and my pledge to send one random thank-you note to some individual every week this year. (If you're looking for...
I really like the point of this brief little article on a “cyber attack” against a power plant. The money quote highlighted from the Foreign Policy article, “A shooter could get 200 yards away with a .22 rifle and take the whole thing out…A metal sheet that would block the transformer from view…[is] a lot cheaper than billions the administration has spent in the past four years beefing up cyber security of critical infrastructure.” A quick and dirty point can be made about waiting for the facts to come in before jumping to conclusions, but this tact is evident every time there is a...
One week left for nominations. Please send us your nominations -- you can email us a nomination directly or post in the Comments thread below. Here's what we have so far for each category: Best Blog (Individual) Deborah Brautigam at China in Africa Jay Ulfelder at Dart Throwing Chimp Kan Opalo at An Africanist Perspective Tom Pepinsky Blog Lawrence Haddad at Development Horizons Michael Levi, at Energy, Security and Climate at CFR Bruce Whitehouse at Bridges from Bamako Ari Kohen at Running Chicken Daniel Serwer at Peacefare.net Stephen Walt at Foreign Policy Gerard Toal at Critical...
January for academics is like September for the fashion industry. Rather than fresh lipstick shades and new boots, 'tis the season to start fresh, to organize your office, shake off the pre-Christmas crumbs from your desk, and try to tackle the year with enthusiasm and a fresh perspective. Time to forget about the academic resolutions you didn't keep last year and start fresh with some new (and hopefully more realistic) objectives. Feel free to add some of your own to the comments section. 1. Stay away from Political Science Job Rumors. (www.poliscijobrumors.com) Seriously, why does anyone-...
Sorry folks, but with intermittent wifi in the US (my mother-in-law is a neo-luddite), the best I could do was this: Indeed, I spent part of this break reading less of a dissertation than I should have. So, yeah, there's that. May your New Year's Resolutions prove to be more resolute than me.
Well, I hope you survived the crush of end of term and then the crush of family and holiday stuff, if you are in to that kind of thing. In the meantime, if you stepped away from the media, what did you miss? Well, South Sudan is on the brink while the Central African Republic may be stepping back from it. Syria remains an awful mess, with winter being a desperate time for IDPs and refugees. There are some unexplained dolphin deaths and more difficult conservation news so time to re-double our efforts at understanding and problem-solving of all sorts in the new year. Here are some stories to...