That aircraft carrier base in Perth? Not so much.Against self-epublishing ("self-epublishing"? Gah!).Artillery as "The Last Argument of Tyrants."Gerard N. Magliocca asks if Washington, DC is unconstitutional. The correct question, though, is if it is the greatest place to be?Jamie at Blood and Treasure on the flap over the Churchill bust: "People close to the seat of power in the United States, at least in the geographical sense, are arguing...
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Kant vs. Peer Review
From Department of OmnishamblesMore good stuff where this came from (via Jairus Grove).
Wednesday Afternoon Video
No More Cups of Tea: Terrorism Research and the Law
This is a guest post from Tanisha Fazal, a professor of political science at Columbia University, and Jessica Martini, a human rights and international trade attorney based in New York City.To conduct research on terrorism and insurgency, it’s best to be able to talk to people. Combing through incident reports is helpful, but often an informal conversation over a cup of tea is as, if not more, illuminating. But according to ban on providing...
Impressions from Taiwan (2): The Security Environment
Statue Outside the Guingtou Battle Museum(Photo: Dan Nexon)Note: this is the second post stemming from my June trip to Taiwan. The first is available here.Seven years ago Bill Petti wrote a piece at the Duck called "US, Taiwan, and the Myth of an Obligation to Defend." Bill eviscerated the claim that the US was legally obligated to defend the island against an attack from the mainland, but concluded by noting that:Many US policymakers have come...
Morning Linkage
Greyfriars Kirkyard (Photo: Dan Nexon) Aleppo reportedly running low on food and water.Australian media: "A US military report, to be formally released tomorrow, contains a recommendation to massively expand America's defence presence in Australia by building a base in Perth for a US aircraft carrier and supporting fleet."The Economist on Mitt Romney: "Like Bush, but without the cosmopolitan flair." Well, at least they didn't recycle the "wimp"...
Romney is Alone in His Fear of Russia
Per Dan's post below, I don't understand why Russia is our number-one enemy, either today or ten years from now. Neither, it seems, do Americans, who have only noticed Russia's phantom menace at one period in the past several years--immediately after the invasion of Georgia in 2008. Below, polling data from the Pew Research Center on the question of which country represents the greatest danger to the United States; these are not all the...
Romney’s Russia Card
You may have heard that Romney referred to Russia as America's "number-one geopolitical foe" and plans to double down on this rhetoric during his big speech in Poland.The speech on the "values of liberty" at Warsaw University on Tuesday is expected to seek to rekindle the flames of US cold war righteousness by featuring a strong attack on Russia and President Vladimir Putin's rollback of democratic gains, while also criticising the US...
Guest Post: Dave Kang – “Confucian North Korea”
I am happy to guest post my friend Dave Kang of the University of Southern California. I think Dave’s work on east Asia and IR theory is excellent; I would start with this or this if you’re interested. REKConfucian North KoreaFigure 1. Korean Worker’s Party symbolIt is easy to caricature North Korea as a “bizarre” “land of no smiles” full of brainwashed robots. In the past few years, North Korea has become somewhat prominent in popular culture...
Morning Linkage
Russia seeks to revive its power-projection capabilities by establishing overseas naval facilities. Elisabeth Bumiller of the New York Times describes the experience of being a drone pilot. Apparently selling F-35s will "cement" US alliances (via a twitter source that I can't recall, but who was equally skeptical of the direction of causality). RPI relates views on whether or not China will have a soft landing. Dan Rodrik on manufacturing...
Podcast No. 2: Phil Arena on Formal Models, Civil Wars, and the Democratic Peace
2012 interview with Phil Arena.
Noontime Linkage
The battle for Aleppo continues. Barbara Walter doesn't think much of Syria's "chemical weapons bluff."David Axe explains how German Typhoons took on US F-22s.BJ Keefe calls attention to an hour-long talk by Richard Rhodes, nuclear-weapons historian extraordinaire. Patrick Nielsen Hayden calls this piece on Machiavelli and Florence "one of the best pieces of historical writing I have read on a blog." It is awfully good, but there's something...