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Wednesday Morning Linkage
North Korea: future REM exporter?Washington accuses Iran of training Syrian militia. It seems to me that the "meddling in Syrian affairs" ship has long sailed. Hayes Brown repots on"Somalia's Struggle for Normalcy." Thomas Oatley argues that breaking up the Eurozone won't solve anything. BLTN: Paul Staniland on "Victory in Afghanistan."What causes democracy? James Vreeland and his collaborators dispute numerous variants of conventional...
Is Victory Bad for Business?
All wars end. Or do they?Rather too often, we are being reminded that the 'war on terror' against the Al Qaeda terrorist network is far from over, in fact that it will never end and even, that it can never end. One military analyst, for example,a former employee of the Defense Intelligence Agency in the US, states OBL and his closest circle in Pakistan were hardly influential to AQ franchises and affiliates. In his last few years as AQ’s...
Least Experienced Foreign Policy Ticket — Ever?
One of the defining features of the current era of globalization is the rise in uncertainty and complexity in global politics. There are more actors, more transactions, and more challenges as a result. In the face of this, the United States continues to spend more on national security – the military, intelligence, and homeland security – than almost all other countries in the world combined. And, yet it’s clear that as the world is becoming...
Tuesday Morning Linkage
Irena L. Sargsyan warns of renewed conflict between Kurdish-Arab conflict.Matthew Kocher writes a post centered around Jeffrey A. Friedman's working paper on "breakthrough problems" (PDF).Daniel Little ruminates on "mobilizing the masses" and the Chinese Revolution.Paul Dibbs argues against a grand accommodation with China (via Andrew Phillips).Robin Banerji & Patrick Jackson (of the BBC) write about China's "Ghost Towns and Phantom Malls."Dean...
The Long Peace
Global Trends 2030 has a virtual roundtable on the "Long Peace" and whether or not it will persist. As Allan Dafoe notes in his introduction: "we live during an era of historically unprecedented peace. Whether we look over timescales of decades or centuries, wars have become less frequent." He continues:To probe the persistence of this Long Peace, it would be helpful to know what factors have made the world more peaceful, and the extent to...
Monday Morning Linkage
Steve Walt ponders what the 2012 election means for US foreign policy.Chandras Choudry discusses India Against Corruption as it takes on the national parliament (via Zachary Keck).Marc Lynch describes "The Morsi Maneuver: A First Take" as a good, well, first take on the Egyptian defense purge. Edward Hugh has a post looking back at the Great Financial Crisis of 2008 and asking the age-old question: why didn't anyone do anything to stop it? As...
Book Review: Arms Control – History, Theory and Policy
Praeger has published a new two-volume compendium on arms control edited by Robert Williams Jr. and Paul R.Viotti. If you're writing anything on the subject of arms, weapons advocacy or national security governance Volume 1, at least, is a pretty helpful resource - especially if you have research money to cover the hefty price tag.The book begins with some theory, history and definitions; some philosophical views and a section on "Arms Control...
That Exceptional Feeling
A crass, gaudy, all-American display.Someone named Steven Walt has published an article, wildly posted on the Internet, entitled “The Myth of American Exceptionalism”. I don’t know who Mr. Walt is, but the bio says he is a professor at Harvard University. Unfortunately we are seeing too much of this type of thinking coming out of America’s college professors. I should take the time to offer a point by point rebuttal to Mr. Walt’s article....
Reflections on the Ryan Pick
Another victory for Team Wonderbread. Mitt Romney's selection of Rep. Paul Ryan (R., Wisc.) means that he has scored a PR coup and won the all-important mid-August weekend news cycle. What can you say about the pick but the obvious? Ryan is the most inspiring vice-presidential candidate since Jack Kemp helped Bob Dole win in 1996, the most ideologically pure candidate since George Wallace chose Curtis LeMay in 1968, and the most boyish sidekick...
Saturday Afternoon Video
Podcast No. 4 – the End of IR Theory?
Dan and PTJ discuss “the End of IR Theory.”