by Rodger Payne | 1 Nov 2007 |
The Bush administration built an enormous embassy in Iraq -- and now cannot find volunteers from the State Department to fill it. Nearly 50 diplomats will soon be sent to Iraq on a "forced assignment" -- or be fired if they refuse to go. Perhaps because State's HR Department fears that many will resign or accept termination, it had to send a threatening letter to 250 employees. That's five candidates for each slot. The BBC reported yesterday...
by Dan Nexon | 31 Oct 2007 | Featured
I'm already de facto on hiatus from blogging, so I might as well come out and say it: I'm not going to be writing much, if anything, on the Duck for a bit longer.Our regular readers may have noticed my lack of posting lately, and that I haven't contributed anything of substance in an even longer period of time. The short explanation: I'm about midway through my junior-faculty leave, and I'm swamped with work. My book is due on January 15th,...
by Peter | 28 Oct 2007 |
This week new information emerged in the ongoing mystery as to what Israel bombed in Syria several months ago—much anticipated satellite imagery of the suspect site. These pictures below, originally printed in the NY Times, are commercial imagery, analyzed by David Albright at the Institute for Science and International Security (pdf of his report here). They show the critical before and after pictures—before the strike and just recently.* The...
by Rodger Payne | 26 Oct 2007 |
If the US is going to win hearts and minds in Iraq, then it needs to avoid killing innocent civilians. So why are air bombings up fourfold in Iraq this year? Max Bergmann of Democracy Arsenal explores this question.Eric Martin of American Footprints has a strong post on the (un)likelihood of Iran passing nuclear weapons along to terrorists. Moreover, if terrorists were serious about acquiring a bomb, wouldn't they try harder to get them from...
by Rodger Payne | 23 Oct 2007 |
Twelve former US Army Captains published the "The Real Iraq We Knew" in the October 16 Washington Post: Today marks five years since the authorization of military force in Iraq, setting Operation Iraqi Freedom in motion. Five years on, the Iraq war is as undermanned and under-resourced as it was from the start. And, five years on, Iraq is in shambles.As Army captains who served in Baghdad and beyond, we've seen the corruption and the sectarian...
by Rodger Payne | 22 Oct 2007 |
I've warned before that one danger of war is that it can escalate. The Iraq war could escalate to include Turkey, which claims that it will attack Kurdistan Iraq. From Monday's Times of London (it is already October 22 there): Turkey will launch military action against Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq despite frantic appeals for restraint from America and Nato, its Prime Minister has told The Times.Speaking hours before the PKK, the Kurdish...
by Rodger Payne | 18 Oct 2007 |
Did President Bush, at his October 17, 2007, press conference, threaten the world with war? You decide: Q But you definitively believe Iran wants to build a nuclear weapon?THE PRESIDENT: I think so long -- until they suspend and/or make it clear that they -- that their statements aren't real, yeah, I believe they want to have the capacity, the knowledge, in order to make a nuclear weapon. And I know it's in the world's interest to prevent them...
by Rodger Payne | 15 Oct 2007 |
On October 11, the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) issued its 11th report (warning: pdf) on the human rights situation in Iraq. The report is filled with bad news -- and not much good news.For example, the "dire" situation in Iraq poses "devastating consequences for the civilian population....Daily life for the average Iraqi civilian remains extremely precarious. The violence remains in large part indiscriminate.... UNAMI’s...
by Rodger Payne | 14 Oct 2007 |
This past week, I've read Sarah Sewall's name three times in different magazines and blogs. Perhaps you are asking, who is Sarah Sewall?Well, Sewall is director of the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. I first heard her name more than 20 years ago when I worked briefly at Center for the Defense Information in DC -- a left of center think tank that studies the military. Sewall also interned at...
by Dan Nexon | 13 Oct 2007 |
If you're the type that roots for the cats.And just keep reading through the first dozen or so comments. Takes me back to usenet days of old.
by Rodger Payne | 11 Oct 2007 |
The University of Pittsburgh's Ridgway Center is hosting "Securing Our Survival," a conference starting tomorrow that focuses on nuclear proliferation -- and global climate change. You can watch the events on-line and ask questions of the speakers. The program begins Friday morning at 9 am ET and continues through the day and into Saturday.Joseph Cirincione talks at 9:30 am, Bill Hartung at 10:30, and Jon Wolfsthal at 1 pm.If you wonder why the...
by Peter | 11 Oct 2007 |
...if anything happened at all (?)The mystery raid by Israeli planes against some sort of target in Syria last month continues to confuse and mystify. The just as it starts to get quiet and recede into the background, a new series of facts emerge to renew interest in the event. Just as a semi-coherent account starts to emerge, something else comes out that throws a spanner into the whole works.Today is no different.To recap: Some Israeli planes...