The good folks of William and Mary have completed another TRIP survey of the field. Comments later. Link now (PDF).
by Dan Nexon | 12 Feb 2009 |
The good folks of William and Mary have completed another TRIP survey of the field. Comments later. Link now (PDF).
by Peter | 12 Feb 2009 |
I want to call attention to a WaPo article from Sunday on the emerging structure of Obama's national security council--it was front page, but largely lost among the coverage of the Stimulus package. Indeed, only Rozen really seems to have picked up on it. While largely an interview with new National Security Adviser James Jones about organizational charts and workflows, it nevertheless offers a substantial insight into the new Administration's...
by Charli Carpenter | 12 Feb 2009 |
Arab states’ accusation that Israel used depleted uranium weapons in its recent attacks against Gaza, and Israel’s denial of this, raise an interesting question: is a customary norm against the use of depleted munitions* emerging? As scholars studying norm emergence, how would we know?As far as I can ascertain it would not be illegal for Israel to have used such weapons, since there is no ban on DPU in international law, and since the suspected...
by Dan Nexon | 12 Feb 2009 |
You can't really blame the AP. It can be so hard to tell those DINOs and RINOs apart.
by Dan Nexon | 10 Feb 2009 |
From an opinion-editorial in the International Herald Tribune:The recent decision by President Kurmanbek Bakiyev of Kyrgyzstan to close the U.S. military base in the small Central Asian country should come as no surprise to Washington's new foreign policy team. Since its establishment in the fall of 2001, the U.S. air base at Manas has been founded upon the granting of narrow economic incentives to the host country - and not on the Kyrgyz...
by Peter | 10 Feb 2009 |
The rally effect, where public opinion surges in favor of an incumbent government in the face of a foreign policy crisis or military action, is well documented in studies of US foreign policy. Similarly, diversionary theories of war posit that leaders will engage in military adventurism to distract a public from economic troubles or electoral difficulties.Israel goes to the polls tomorrow. The recent Gaza war is front and center in the...
by Dan Nexon | 8 Feb 2009 |
Steven Mufson and Lori Montgomery report in The Washington Post:Despite a growing sense of urgency, economists across the political spectrum continue to criticize the congressional stimulus plans. Most economists agree that the Senate alterations in the plan would undermine stimulus aims. Taxpayers who fall under the AMT are generally well-off enough to be able to save some of the tax cuts they receive, delaying any positive effect on the...
by Rodger Payne | 7 Feb 2009 |
Earlier this week, Iran put a satellite into space for the first time. The AP covered it on Wednesday, February 4: The telecommunications satellite - called Omid, or hope, in Farsi - was launched late Monday after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad gave the order to proceed, according to a report on state radio. State television showed footage of what it said was the nighttime liftoff of the rocket carrying the satellite at an unidentified location...
by Dan Nexon | 6 Feb 2009 |
For some time now, NATO and Russia have engaged in on-again, off-again discussions about supplying Afghanistan via the Russian Federation. So consider this sequence of events:1. An increasingly hard-currency strapped Kremlin offers Kyrgyzstan $2 billion in aid.2. Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiev announces that he's expelling the US and NATO from Manas.3. The Russians agree to give the US transit rights for non-military supplies headed for...
by Dan Nexon | 6 Feb 2009 |
We're now only the THIRD most unpopular great power! We beat Russia and China!!!!Now that I'm done quaffing celebratory beer and eating nachos, I should quote the article:"Our poll results suggest that China has much to learn about winning hearts and minds in the world," said GlobeScan chairman Doug Miller."It seems that a successful Olympic Games has not been enough to offset other concerns that people have," he added, referring to the summer...
by Charli Carpenter | 5 Feb 2009 |
Finally, a resolution to the four-month-old stand-off with the hijackers of the Faina off the coast of Somalia. NY Times reported today that the pirate crew will disembark from the Faina after some sum of money, paid by the ship owners, was air-dropped onboard: "According to one of the pirates, the owners of the ship had paid the ransom; the pirates had counted the money; and now they were just waiting for nightfall to slip away from the...
by Dan Nexon | 4 Feb 2009 |
It remains unclear whether the Kyrgyz government really wants the US out of Manas or whether it wants to extract higher rents. Rob Farley comments that the "United States has been paying considerable rent to use the airbase in question."Yes and no. It can be too easy to focus merely on the size of sidepayments. In fact, that might be part of the problem.Remember that the US doesn't officially pay rent for basing and access agreements. It just...