When are we going to come to the collective decision that there's almost no rationale that justifies keepinging chimps in zoos?
by Dan Nexon | 9 Mar 2009 |
When are we going to come to the collective decision that there's almost no rationale that justifies keepinging chimps in zoos?
by Peter | 8 Mar 2009 |
For any students out there who aspire to graduate education to launch a career in this discipline, allow me to offer the one bit of advice that no one wants to tell you: Don't. I really hate to be the one who rains on the parade, but the stark reality is that the Academy is a collapsing profession--while we seem to be producing more and more PhD's, the academy has fewer and fewer jobs to ply the trade of "academic." We don't appreciate or...
by Dan Nexon | 7 Mar 2009 |
Most of the time I look at the Obama Administration and think, with much relief, how nice it is to have grownups back in charge. When it comes to diplomatic protocol, however, the last few days have been pretty much amateur hour. At least the Russians took State's SNAFU with a bit more humor. Sue Plemming of Reuters:U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton presented Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov with a red "reset button" to symbolise...
by Dan Nexon | 6 Mar 2009 |
Although we just got the CD yesterday, I'd been listening to Neko Case's new album (currently #2 in music on Amazon) pretty much non-stop via NPR for a bit. Quick and dirty: not as consistently good as Blacklisted, but an excellent album nonetheless.Noel Murray's review pretty much nails it, but Jon Pareles' review in the New York Times deserves a quotation:On the surface Ms. Case’s songs qualify as alt-country or Americana. The production...
by Dan Nexon | 6 Mar 2009 |
Get thee over to The Monkey Cage. Once there, read Henry's summary of the debate in the current issue of the Review of International Political Economy concerning US IPE monoculture. The thematic issue, which has been in the works for quite some time, could not have come at a better moment. With the discipline of Economics shaken by the irrelevance of much of their work to recent events, I have to wonder if, and when, those who have designed IPE...
by Dan Nexon | 6 Mar 2009 |
If I were to speculate on what circumstances might lead to a significant curtailment of central bank autonomy in the United States, I imagine I would come up with a scenario that looks something like this one. If Josh Marshall's informant is right, it might be pitchfork time for the Federal Reserve:Josh, your reporting on the AIG credit default swap/counterparties issue has been spot-on. But to understand what happened there, you have to...
by Charli Carpenter | 4 Mar 2009 |
When Foreign Policy's Morning Brief hit my inbox today, the top story was the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court for President Omar Bashir of the Sudan.FP's header gets the charges wrong, however - Bashir is charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity, but not with genocide. The distinction is legally and politically significant - crimes against humanity include a host of horrible acts, when widespread and/or...
by Rodger Payne | 2 Mar 2009 |
Yesterday, Navy Adm. Michael G. Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told CNN interviewer John King that he thinks Iran has enough fissile material to make a nuclear bomb. He said: "We think they do, quite frankly." Meanwhile, on NBC, Defense Secretary Robert Gates apparently said the opposite: "They're not close to a stockpile, they're not close to a weapon at this pointPolitico noted the discrepancy. What's going on here?The LA...
by Peter | 2 Mar 2009 |
Its winter wonderland blogging from DC! It looks like we’ve got about 6 inches of snow on the ground so far, and its still falling. The University is on a delayed opening, so my morning class is canceled, leaving some time for NSC blogging.Late last week, the Obama NSC released NSPD-1, the traditional presidential order structuring the National Security Council membership, committees, and operating procedures. As was promised, Obama has...
by Charli Carpenter | 1 Mar 2009 |
Cleitus the Black has an amusing post up at Elected Swineherd about parents who ask their children to honor the Geneva Conventions while playing violent video games such as Call of Duty. According to MSNBC:"Evan Spencer wanted to play 'Call of Duty: World at War.' So he asked his dad. Hugh Spencer wasn't initially thrilled about the idea of his son playing the World War II-based game. "I've never really enjoyed first-person shooter games," he...
by Charli Carpenter | 1 Mar 2009 |
At ISA, I had the pleasure to share a panel with Alison Brysk, whose new book Global Good Samaritans was hot off the presses. I just went through my copy and wanted to offer a few off the cuff reactions.Brysk's key contribution is to focus on positive cases - cases where human rights policies have been enacted by states (primarily middle or weak powers: her case studies include Canada, Sweden, Costa Rica, South Africa, the Netherlands and...
by Rodger Payne | 28 Feb 2009 |
We're just a few weeks from the 6th anniversary of the Iraq war -- but the end is now clearly in sight. President Obama, earlier today: Let me say this as plainly as I can: by August 31, 2010, our combat mission in Iraq will end.Even better, as Obama told U.S. troops: "mission [kinda] accomplished."We sent our troops to Iraq to do away with Saddam Hussein’s regime – and you got the job done. We kept our troops in Iraq to help establish a...