The film "Zero Dark Thirty" has touched quite a cord in this country, such as with Peter Henne's post below that responds to my own post further below. To his credit, he opens up another strand of the wider debate this film has touched off. My own reflection delves into the torture controversy writ large, as well as the the purpose and role of art in film making form. Peter uses the latter to widen our view into what this film has to say...
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What We’re All Missing in the “Zero Dark Thirty” Debate
This is a guest post by Peter S. Henne. Peter is a doctoral candidate at Georgetown University. He formerly worked as a national security consultant. His research focuses on terrorism and religious conflict; he has also written on the role of faith in US foreign policy. During 2012-2013 he is a fellow at the Miller Center at the University of Virginia. I appreciated Jeffrey Stacey’s recent post on the debate over “Zero Dark Thirty.” It’s...
Wednesday Short Takes
We're a bit over a week away from selecting the finalists for the awards. As of today we are no longer likely to honor new ballot requests. Those of you have already received a ballot should cast it. I have an interview up with Ramez Naam about his well-received technothriller, Nexus. If that's your kind of thing, the Kindle edition is on steep discount. Dan Drezner's morning evisceration of Tom Friedman is a wonder to behold. Cheryl Rofer...
“Zero Dark Thirty” Debate Needs an Interrogation
Anyone who did not see "Zero Dark Thirty" on its opening night was smart, as it was mayhem in theaters everywhere. The film shot to #1 at the box office overnight and is there still, for the plain and simple reason that it's a must see (no spoiler alert here because we all know at least a little about eliminating Osama bin Laden). Zero Dark features a razor sharp screenplay by Mark Boal, top form directing by Kathryn Bigelow, and higher than...
Tuesday Morning Linkage Club
Like sausage, you don't want to see links being made. Inauguration: Josh Marshall sums it up. [Talking Points Memo] On Facebook I called the president's second inaugural the most radical address ever and I stand by that. Kevin Drum argues it was also partisan. [Mother Jones] Nickel book reviews: The Victory Lab, Sasha Issenberg. So good I changed my course syllabus for January 2013 after reading this book in December 2012. Seth Masket [The...
USC-CSIS Conference on Korean Unification (2): ‘One Country, Two Systems’ will not happen
Here is part one of this post. The following will make more sense if you start there. I noted that I am participating, today in Seoul (attend if you can), in a USC-CSIS project on Korean unification. This is the final ‘phase’ of their Korea Project on unification. I thought I would post my thoughts on the previous USC-CSIS Korea report (available here) which provided all sorts of suggestions for reconstruction. It’s useful reading if your area...
Monday Morning Linkage – MLK Holiday Edition
In honor of the drum major for peace, here's your (rather abbreviated) MLK Holiday edition of Monday morning linkage: Some reactions to Zero Dark Thirty are, well ... rather predictable... since Islamophobia has become the tolerated form of bigotry in the West and particularly in 'Merica. Novelist, Teju Cole, writes Seven [Really, Really] Short Stories about Drones on Twitter. Zack Beauchamp doesn't really get it. Not boring and nuanced...
Saturday Snippets
Bruce Whitehouse provides a roundup of developments in Mali. John Owen on US decline. He claims that he thought he was doing an interview for a dissident magazine, not a "regime-approved" publication. Yeah, right. We all know John's in the tank for the Mullahs. Jay Ulfelder argues that the Libyan intervention is not responsible for core events in Mali. China's military on the rise. Peter Henne discusses the relationship between religion and...
USC/CSIS Conference on Korean Unification (1): it will cost WAY more than people think
The University of Southern California Korean Studies Institute and the Center for Strategic and International Studies are running a joint Korea Project: Planning for the Long Term (pic to the left). CSIS will hold the last of three conferences in this project at the Asan Institute on January 21st next week. If you are in Seoul, you should go. The agenda looks pretty good. (Contact the Asan Institute.) I’d like to thank USC and CSIS for...
Podcast No. 18 – Interview with Stefano Guzzini
The eighteenth Duck of Minerva podcast features Stefano Guzzini of the Danish Institute for International Studies and Uppsala University . Professor Guzzini discusses, among other things his intellectual and educational background, his important work on power in international affairs, realism, and geopolitics. This podcast is a bit more "bare bones" than usual. I didn't put in introductory remarks; I have not produced an m4a...
So You Want to be a Liberal Arts College Professor?
Ok, you went to Oberlin or maybe Swarthmore or Bowdoin or Haverford or Macalester. It was your first experience away from home -- your first real intellectual stimulation, the drugs, the sex -- it was a total mind blowing experience. You had dinner at a professor’s house and then stayed late into the night discussing the Russian Revolution. You experimented with Marxism, liberation theology, or maybe even poetry. From the moment you left...
Friday Morning Linkage….Mali Edition
New term alert: France is worried that Mali and the region is turning into "Afrighanistan." If you didn't see this on Wednesday, go back and read Adrienne LeBas's piece here on Duck. Some evidence of Malian support for intervention? Mohammed Adow at Al Jazeera's Africa blog also thinks so. Gregory Mann believes the intervention was necessary and is widely supported, but worries about the new dangers and dynamics it has created. Alex Thurston...