[Crossposted from my Notebook]The Defense Department has pulled from its website the transcript of the Q and A session last month between Secretary of Defense Gates and Pakistani military officers. The frank talk was apparently a bit heated. At one point, one of the Pakistani military officers asked Secretary Gates point blank: "Are you with us or against us?"The transcript reveals a deep level of distrust between the US and the Pakistani...
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Queer Politics/the International Studies Association
A couple of months ago now, I blogged about the establishment of the LGBTQA Caucus of ISA, asking for support with signatures of dues-paying ISA members. Many of you sent your support, and as a result, the petition had many more than the number of signatures necessary for it to be presented at the Governing Council meeting this coming Tuesday, 2/16. I've recently discovered that my original post was discussed elsewhere in the great...
Financial Lobbies and State Capture (or why IPE is now so much fun)
I liked Virginia Haufler's post on Canadian Banks, and in a related vein wanted to point out some interesting research on lobbying by the financial industry in the US. In a brief about their latest research posted on VOX EU, Deniz Igan, Prachi Mishra, and Thierry Tressel, three IMF economists, basically conclude that the US financial industry has lobbied its way out of regulation.They note:"The Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 requires lobbying...
Reputational Rhetoric: When does it work?
Over at FP.com, Stephen Walt provides a review of an interesting new book:[M]y colleague Matthew Baum and his co-author, Tim Groeling of UCLA, have recently published an excellent book entitled War Stories: The Causes and Consequences of Public Views on War (Princeton University Press). Drawing on a wide array of empirical evidence (including opinion surveys, media content, and foreign policy decisions), they argue that the interaction between...
The World According to Realists or, “Never Go In Against a Sicilian When Death is On the Line”
In World Politics yesterday we covered the Peloponnesian War, the Melian Dialogue, and the security dilemma as an introduction to realist theory. Students played a version of the 2-person non-iterated prisoner's dilemma game developed by my former professor Robert Darst, with the winners receiving candy and the person with the lowest possible grade receiving an extra credit point toward their final grade. The students learned that the incentive...
Overcoming Fears of Unicorns and Rainbows
U.S. Southern Command (SOCOM) is using a new transnational information sharing system in the All Partners Access Network (APAN) to coordinate its efforts with hundreds of NGOs and dozens of IOs in Haiti. It is a one-stop coordination platform that allows real-time questions/requests on resources and Information Sharing. SOCOM has been sharing imagery of bridges, transportation networks, and even public disturbances to facilitate responses and...
Operation Moshtarak
Operation Moshtarak ("Together" in Dari), which is slated to move into a more active phase any day now, has been billed as the largest ground battle in Afghanistan since 2001 and the largest air assault since the Iraq War in 1991. The planned attack, which will be centered around the towns of Marjeh (Marjah) and Nad-E'ali (Nad-e-Ali) in Helmand Province, was announced in a press conference by the Pentagon last week. Villages have been leafleted...
Canadian Banks do it Better
Recently I assigned my students to identify the nationality of different global companies. The results were interesting. No matter what information they looked at-- from the nationality of CEOs and managers, to the location of most employees-- major global companies had clearly identifiable nationality even when the majority of sales were abroad. Some companies seemed to try to hide their background when marketing abroad--hello, did you know T...
Rethinking War Deaths in the Congo
Nicholas Kristof is writing about Congo again this morning:It’s easy to wonder how world leaders, journalists, religious figures and ordinary citizens looked the other way while six million Jews were killed in the Holocaust. And it’s even easier to assume that we’d do better.But so far the brutal war here in eastern Congo has not only lasted longer than the Holocaust but also appears to have claimed more lives. A peer- reviewed study put the...
US Contemplated Giving India Nuclear Technology in 1961
Two days ago the National Security Archive released a fascinating State Department document from 1961. In the document, US officials recommend passing nuclear technology to India in order to take the steam out of the anticipated nuclear tests by Communist China. Ultimately, of course, Secretary of State Rusk vetoed the recommendation to pass America's nuclear secrets on to India. China would go on to hold its first test three years later. India...
The UK Iraq Inquiry: The Agony and the Ecstasy or International Law and Deja Vu
The legality of the 2003 Iraq War has been back in a big way in the UK over the last few weeks. This, no doubt, is the result of several high-profile figures who were involved in the decision as to use force testifying in front of the Iraq Inquiry.For the uninitiated, the Iraq Inquiry is an independent panel of figures set up “identify lessons that can be learned from the Iraq conflict.” It is often referred to as the Chilcot Inquiry, so named...
Two philosophers shoveling snow
A brief non-Platonic dialogue.Dramatis Personae:Friedrich William Shotter-Wittgenstein ("Will"), a mind-world monistRene Roy Searle-Wight ("Roy"), a mind-world dualistRoy: Hey there, Will. Surprised to see you out here shoveling snow.Will: Hey, Roy. Why would you be surprised at that? It snowed a lot last night, and I need to get the sidewalk cleared in front of my house.Roy: Well, can't you mind-world monists just think the snow away? Why...