by Peter | 25 Aug 2008 |
The Olympics ended about 12 hours ago, but NBC is giving us the tape-delayed broadcast this evening. One last set of semi-structured Olympic thoughts…Its pretty clear that these games had massive political undertones. China viewed this as a coming out / coming of age celebration and invested accordingly. The infrastructure was impressive (gotta love that water cube), and their performance was impressive, with the top gold medal haul, though the...
by Dan Nexon | 22 Aug 2008 |
Peter Baker contributes a rather odd story to The New York Times about all the ways Russia can make life difficult for the United States. Baker's central discussion, which chronicles how a revisionist Russia can really mess with US interests, is excellent. For example:f Russia’s invasion of Georgia ushers in a sustained period of renewed animosity with the West, Washington fears that a newly emboldened but estranged Moscow could use its...
by Peter | 22 Aug 2008 |
Stories like this aren't good for Sen. Hillary Clinton.With Obama's lead slipping (McCain now wins half the time, according to Nate), The latest NBC/WSJ Poll offers a very compelling narrative for the Democrats looking to start the Blame Game:“It is not a dead heat, but it is close.”The survey also shows that both presidential candidates face their share of challenges. For Obama, he receives the support of just one in two voters who backed...
by Dan Nexon | 21 Aug 2008 |
Go to any major left-wing website, and you'll find an lengthy chorus of commentators ranting against Harry Reid for his failure to kick Lieberman out of the Democratic caucus. "Lieberman's speaking at the Republican convention!" they say. "He's a shill for some of McCain's worst attacks on Obama!" they exclaim. "The Democrats won't need him to retain the majority in the next Senate!"As Theda Skocpol puts it:I am sorry, but this is ridiculous....
by Dan Nexon | 20 Aug 2008 |
There's a well-known joke about a beautiful young student's attempt to trade... um... favors for grades.I suppose it's inevitable that the real-life variant would neither cast a positive light on the professor nor, in all likelihood, end at all happily. Scratch that; really unhappily.... Good hearsay and war stories about the general phenomenon over at LGM.... He's now considered a "missing person."... Back to the original suspected outcome:...
by Dan Nexon | 20 Aug 2008 |
No matter what their take on culpability for the Russo-Georgian War, almost all commentators in the west agree that Russia emerged the undisputed victor: Georgia lies prostrate at its feet, a divided NATO issues empty and inconsequential threats against it, and no one has any doubt that the Russian Bear is back. A number of observers note that Russia lost the "propaganda war," but present that fact as more of a consolation prize than anything...
by Dan Nexon | 19 Aug 2008 |
I knew that CNN did this, but so, apparently does Reuters. Who needs blog updates?* Reuters reporter sees Russian tanks leave Georgian city* Russia says additional "peacekeeping" posts needed* NATO calls on Russia to respect ceasefire and pull out* Moscow says Georgia planning attacks inside RussiaAnyway, there are growing signs of ethnic cleansing and targeted violence against Georgians, not only in South Ossetia but also in cities such as...
by Patrick Thaddeus Jackson | 19 Aug 2008 |
With all of the excellent almost-real-time analysis going on around here lately, I haven't felt the need to chime in myself; my Duck colleagues are doing an excellent job, and they are more up-to-date on the specifics of Russian-Georgian relations and the various on-the-ground issues. So I've been a consumer like the rest of our readers, watching events unfold out of the corner of one eye as I struggle to get some book chapters cranked out...
by Dan Nexon | 19 Aug 2008 |
Colin H. Kahl, John A. Nagl and Shawn Brimley argue, in Foreign Policy, that despite much progress, the political situation in Iraq remains fragile. The United States, they contend, should shift from a policy of unconditional support ("the US will remain there as long as it has to") to conditioning US military security upon political progress.... Iraq remains a dangerous place—and a number of significant attacks did take place out of earshot...
by Peter | 19 Aug 2008 |
Vacation blogging! The beach is very nice, and it looks like Fay will stay away from us.The trip down, however, left a bit to be desired, and only served to reinforce my extreme dislike of Virginia. I'm sure all you Virginia apologists will jump to the defense of your state, and yes, Virginia, there are some nice things about the state here and there (heck, one of our Duck contributors even lives there), but that said, you must admit that I-95...
by Dan Nexon | 18 Aug 2008 |
Russia, NATO, Georgia, the Abkhaians... everyone, sensing the final draw-down of the immediate crisis, is trying to, variously, make sense of what it all means, maximize their long-term position, or just stay afloat.One can only imagine how this is playing out within the Russian military. By this point, just about everyone is saying the same thing: the Russian air force underperformed.Early reports indicate that pipelines running through...
by Dan Nexon | 17 Aug 2008 |
I thought that it would be a good idea to provide a consolidated list of:1. Older Duck posts on the conflict with significant "original" analytic content2. Recent non-Georgia posts that might have gotten lost in all the updating.So here it is:• Cold War III? The state of Russian-US relations (Email)• Speaking of Genocide (Charli)• Human Rights Watch Takes Aim at Russia and Pot-Shots at the U.S. Over Cluster Munitions (Charli)• International...