by Dan Nexon | 11 Jun 2009 |
There's no substantive difference between the attempts by right-wingers to define Nazism as a phenomena of the left and Marxist attempts to define Soviet Socialism as "state capitalism."Anyway, I think the speed with which the right-wing blogsphere has circled the wagons over the shooting at the Holocaust museum speaks for itself. It should be patently obvious that any disagreements your typical conservatives have with someone like Von Brunn...
by Randy Waterhouse | 11 Jun 2009 |
Peter brings up an interesting question and one that we don’t yet have a final answer on: Under what circumstances will states balance against another? If shifts in the balance of power are not enough to provoke balancing, what does? I think the notion that Japan could be provoked into balancing by the DPRK rather than China certainly has merit. A few initial thoughts as to why this may be the case:1) Increased Economic Dependence: China’s...
by Rodger Payne | 11 Jun 2009 |
Remember the controversy in April when someone leaked a report from the Department of Homeland Security warning against the threat of right-wing extremism and domestic terrorism? Fox News, for example, reported that the intelligence document was aimed at Republicans -- and military veterans. Look at the report yourself (using the pdf link above). It warns specifically against "Threats from white supremacist and violent antigovernment groups." A...
by Peter | 10 Jun 2009 |
The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30cFormidable Opponent - Don't Ask, Don't Tellwww.colbertnation.comColbert Report Full EpisodesPolitical HumorStephen Colbert in IraqThis week the Colbert Report is broadcasting from Camp Victory, Iraq as part of a USO tour. Sporting a suit made of cammo, a regulation haircut, and swinging a golf-club Bob Hope style, he has been entertaining the troops, reminding people that there is still a war in...
by Charli Carpenter | 10 Jun 2009 |
Claims of "genocide" abound in policy discourse. So do misunderstandings about the concept. Some recent examples. In the last two years, Russia claimed that Georgia's attack on Tshkinvali was "genocide;" US House of Representatives accused Iran of inciting genocide in response to Ahmadinejad's inflammatory comments about wiping Israel (as it is currently politically constituted) off the map; and Gideon Polya apparently discovered a correlation...
by Peter | 10 Jun 2009 |
I was listening to a CFR podcast of a special conference call on North Korea's nuclear weapons test yesterday during my much longer than usual commute. One key part of the discussion centered around Japan's response to the nuclear test and missile launches. Japan, it seems, is taking steps to improve its military capabilities in response to North Korea's actions. Even the most extreme option--Japan going nuclear--seems to be lurking near the...
by Charli Carpenter | 7 Jun 2009 |
I don't know what you think, but in my mind, outing a psuedononymous blogger because you don't like what he writes about you (or what someone else writes about you that he then agrees with) is pretty disturbing.Ed Whelan of the National Review would argue that "anonymous blogging" (he doesn't seem to grasp the difference between 'anonymous' and 'psuedononymous') is irresponsible because it enables the author to avoid any personal consequences...
by Peter | 7 Jun 2009 |
A deer has been wandering around the neighborhood over the past week, frequently sojourning in my fenced-in back yard. Sometimes the deer has a baby with it. After a while, they will hop the fence into the neighbor's yard. Because its one of those Sundays, a few photos, of a deer in my back yard below the fold.You can see the baby in the 2nd picture.
by Charli Carpenter | 5 Jun 2009 |
Wordle version of President Barack Obama's Cairo speech, June 4, 2009.
by Patrick Thaddeus Jackson | 5 Jun 2009 |
I started this as a reply to Peter's post in the Comments thread, but a) it rapidly got too long and b) from analysis of the site traffic I know that many of our readers don't read comments, just top-level posts. So here is my final word on the subject for the time being -- final because it's also my final Duck post until September, since I have to get this book written this summer and so am taking a step back from blogging over here until it's...
by Peter | 4 Jun 2009 |
To respond to Patrick (and then I promise this will be the last I’ll say on this until late August…), I largely agree with important parts of what he says, but as a friend pointed out to me, to be able to occupy the position required to realize such a vocation requires a certain degree of luck and privilege. Moreover, I think it is perhaps time to apply some of Patrick’s own ontological commitments to the notion of a vocation itself.As Patrick...
by Charli Carpenter | 3 Jun 2009 |
Perusing Drew Conway's excellent blog Zero Intelligence Agents in response to his comment on a previous post, I came across this post of his, reacting to Joseph Nye and Daniel Drezner's recent bloggingheads diavlog on the theory/policy debate.You can watch the relevant portion above, though Conway has summarized a key point: Drezner notes that quantitative scholars tend to have a 'imperialistic attitude' about their work, brushing off the work...