According to conventional wisdom, Disney’s Andor is the best Star Wars narrative in years. Political scientists seem to agree. Dan Drezner speaks for many when he writes that the show's "writing is stellar," its "locations...
To illustrate this post, I would love to put that cute stock photo of a woman dressed in a taupe formal suit holding an adorable baby in a diaper, but it is just wildly unrealistic. For starters,...
Following the Trump administration is really tiring. And I’m not talking about the last two years -- it’s a challenge to survive single weeks of their news cycle. Hell, a Friday afternoon is already...
As a new mother of a baby boy I am enjoying a slightly different kind of golden shower than Donald Trump. So, between the 3 AM feeding and 4 AM diaper change I was scrolling through Twitter and...
To celebrate the return of Game of Thrones, which is chock full of IR, I am posting a cartoon and a video (spoilers and NSFW language lurk below the break): And for Key and Peele's take on the show: Enjoy the next ten weeks of GoT!
Last night, John Oliver (the comedian no less!) had a terrific interview with Edward Snowden, which was much more introspective and challenging than the Oscar-winning documentary Citizenfour. Oliver sought to grapple with the necessity for secrecy in intelligence and the moral responsibility Snowden faces for trusting journalists to properly vet what materials to release and subsequent errant release of sensitive material (like anti-ISIS operations in Iraq): He continued, “So The New York Timestook a slide, didn’t redact it properly, and in the end it was possible for people to see that...
What? No "pirates?" Ironic, since the Season 4 finale set a new piracy record and now at 18.5 million viewers is the second most watched HBO show in history. What does this mean for mass understandings of foreign policy? Maybe nothing. Maybe something.
Loyal, even devout, readers of the Duck may have noted somewhere along the way that comment streams of yore seemingly disappeared. That could be frustrating if you wanted to go back to an exchange you had with Duck contributors and enthusiasts. I'm happy to report that with the help of our web designer support extraordinaire Lori Lacy of mod.girl.designs that our comments history is restored. For example, here is a post that had lost comments that are now back. Let us know if you see any missing ones on other posts. We hope you are enjoying the functionality of the new and improved Duck, and...
I have been scoffing at the 3D printing revolution mostly out of ignorance and a concern about what the machines must eat to produce stuff, but no more. Thanks to Iron Man, I am now realizing that the potential of 3D printing is not limited by what goes into the machines (not paper, right?) but by our imaginations:
The Online Media Caucus was ratified at the ISA in New Orleans. The question is: now what? First, we now have a variety of online media outlets to publicize: ISA's homepage for us: https://www.isanet.org/ISA/Caucuses/OMC Twitter: https://twitter.com/OnlineMediaISA or @OnlineMediaISA Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ISAOMC Blog to be announced later. Pinterest, Vine, Instragram, and other online media outlets will be developed by volunteers. Second, I have been asked by the 2016 ISA Program Chairs to put together a panel for the Presidential Theme of Peace. So, if you are working on...
As part of the new Duck, we have revamped our guest blogging policy. The old policy, dating from way back when Dan and Patrick were slowly expanding the blog: The procedure for bringing on guest bloggers is one of those “salami factory” things… and strangers just aren’t very likely to make it through the process. In other words, guest blogging happened by invitation only. At first it happened sort of ad hoc and accidentally. We would scout new talent in the blogosphere and offer upcoming bloggers a place to build a profile. Or we would reach out to those in our social networks we wanted to...
Cyberwar is everywhere. I am sure there is some selection bias in my perspective, but I can't read the news without finding another 'cyberwar will be the new 9/11'article. The narrative? Our digital futures are in a precarious balance and threatened by the great cyber powers itching to destroy our lives, finances, and prevent access to the Playstation network through cyber attacks. Now James Bond is getting in on the fun with Skyfall. In the disastrous first act (at least for me, although the overall movie might be a top five Bond film ever), the villain turns out to be a skilled cyber...