Everybody’s talking about nuclear war with Russia right now and it bugs me, not least because I’ve seen this nuclear frenzy before. Now, I think people have good reason to be worried about Russian nuclear use, as I wrote some five months ago. But...
The following is a guest post by Andrew Leber, a PhD candidate in Government at Harvard University. The death of Sultan Qaboos bin Said, and the succession of Haitham bin Tariq as the country’s new...
Earlier this week, Mustafa Kassem, an American held in Egypt, died. The Trump Administration did little to help him. That wasn't surprising. What was surprising was that the international religious...
Last year I attended the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of Parties (CoP) for the first time. It was an experience in dichotomies. The events on the...
Good morning ducks! Here's your update from District 12... Kalpona Aktar just wants you to know who is making your clothes. Myra MacDonald argues that the TTP has a plan to influence the elections and the people do not. The "bewildering bloodbath" will go on and the only way to keep track is to...
The North Korea flap seems to be calming down, so here I reprint my original essay from the Diplomat a few weeks ago on the crisis, plus a follow-up ‘response to my critics’ essay from the China Policy Institute Blog of the University of Nottingham and e-IR. Together, I think they make a nice...
The Strategic Studies Institute of the US Army War College has just published my latest effort, a study of America’s strategic choices and the prospects for a grand strategy based on the two principles of Concert and Balance. The PDF is free to download. Bottom Line: the US does not have to choose...
With tomorrow being May 4th, it is only good and proper that we mark the eve of that most awesome of nerd holidays with this video. I have a serious case of envy. It would be a heap of fun to do what it takes to join the 501st Legion. I would definitely choose to wear a Rebel outfit. But I...
Note: this is the second in a series of posts opening up issues relating to journal process for general discussion by the international-studies community. All journals commit to publishing "the best work" that they receive within their remit. All journals aspire to publish "the best work," period,...
Of the 6 churches I passed on my way to the office this morning, 3 reminded me that today is National Day of Prayer. In the spirit of the day, I’m following my Grandmother-in-Law’s advice and suggesting that we all pray for our enemies.[1] Here’s my list: Reviewer 2. Thanks for the...
Here is your Thursday Morning Linkage. Back on the Africa theme from a couple of weeks ago, here are some good reads from the week: More reports on the elephant poaching crisis in CAR Last rhinos in Mozambique killed by poachers with the help of park rangers; time for Kruger fences to come back up...
e-International Relations asked me to write a piece about doing policy-relevant research. I thought I'd cross-post it here, especially timely given recent posts on this blog along with Ronald Rogowski's screed that our work is too policy-relevant but policymakers just don't want to hear what we...
So it increasingly looks like the inter-Korean Kaesong industrial zone is closed for good. (The Wikipedia write-up is a pretty good quick history of it.) The zone was set-up during the Sunshine Policy period (1998-2007). It was to do 3 things: 1) Lead to some liberal-capitalist spill-over in the...
This week’s topic for both my grad and undergrad human rights courses is “foreign policy and human rights promotion.” On the list of readings-not-on-last-year’s-syllabus is this little gem: “Enter the Dragon! An Empirical Analysis of Chinese versus US Arms Transfers to Autocrats and Violators of...
This is a guest post by Jarrod Hayes. He is Assistant Professor in the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs. He received his PhD in Politics and International Relations from the University of Southern California in 2009. His research broadly focuses on the social construction of foreign and...
Good morning Duckaroos, here's some stuff I think is actually worth reading... Srinath Raghavan seemed to be one of the few pundits who could see through the dangerous level of bullshit that was the latest Sino-Indian border crisis along the LAC last week. The International Crisis Group worries...