by Bill Petti | 17 Oct 2006 |
On Monday, Slate ran a three-part book review by Bill Emmott and Fareed Zakaria in which they discuss Ian Bremmer's new book The J-Curve, which purports to explain the difficulties of political transitions. Now I have not read the book, but this discription of Bremmer's thesis struck me:Bremmer's argument is that history shows that the most stable countries are often also the most closed: North Korea, Cuba, China under Mao, Soviet Russia. But...
by Rodger Payne | 16 Oct 2006 |
Last Monday and Tuesday my university had a brief fall break, so I asked students to view on-line the video of Stephen Colbert's monologue from the 2006 annual White House Correspondents Association dinner. It is just over 20 minutes long and is widely available on the internet.I figured they could do that on their own time since we had only 1 hour for class discussion this week.Reading for Thursday: "Transcript of Stephen Colbert's monologue...
by Dan Nexon | 15 Oct 2006 |
I posted this on my class blogs, so I might as well reproduce it here. I didn't provide much commentary, but the links are worth your time.Charles Hanley of the Associated Press reports that reconstruction in Iraq falters as the US prepares to halt its direct efforts. Reuters reports that Britons favor pulling their troops out:Most Britons back the country's army chief who said British troops should be withdrawn from Iraq soon because their...
by Rodger Payne | 13 Oct 2006 |
How would readers feel about adding these sets of questions to graduate school comprehensive exams in international relations? Some powers proudly announce their production of second and third generation nuclear weapons. What do they need these weapons for? Is the development and stockpiling of these deadly weapons designed to promote peace and democracy? Or are these weapons, in fact, instruments of coercion and threat against other peoples...
by Bill Petti | 13 Oct 2006 |
If I am the Cardinals I stop pitching to Carlos Beltran in the playoffs: Over the last 8 postseason games in which he has faced the Cardinals, Beltran is batting .357 with 5 HRs, 7 RBI, and 12 RS in 8 games--that's just sick. LET'S GO METS!
by Dan Nexon | 13 Oct 2006 |
• The Crane Wife is, as my friends predicted, growing on me. The prog-rock turn worked much better in The Tain, and I don't think I'll ever find the Decemberists' fourth LP superior to their prior three, but there's still a lot to like about their first major-label offering.• Jonah Goldberg's the worst kind of sci-fi geek: one who doesn't know a whole lot about the genre . I actually agree with him about Dean Stockwell's line in the premiere of...
by Rodger Payne | 11 Oct 2006 |
Yesterday, October 10, White House Press Secretary Tony Snow was asked a number of questions about the apparent North Korean nuclear test. Here's my favorite:Q ...when you have a President who draws a red line three years ago and says, we will not tolerate nuclear weapons, and now you have a country that just tested a nuclear weapon -- you don't think it's fair to ask for some accountability as to what happened, or that there were mistakes...
by Peter | 9 Oct 2006 |
North Korea announced that it had tested a nuclear device last night. Though initial reports are still a bit cautious, it seems pretty clear from the global reaction that this was in fact some sort of nuclear test. You can see the seismic event catalogued here, click on the red dot in North Korea to see the event of magnitude 4.2 in the northwest of North Korea (and thanks to the current student who pointed out this cool website).This is,...
by Dan Nexon | 9 Oct 2006 | Featured
I assume we'll be closer to an answer when I get up.The North Korean news agency KCNA says its country has successfully conducted an underground nuclear test."Our science research section has safely and successfully conducted an underground nuclear test on October, 9," it said.It added that there was no leak or danger from the test.There are no more details at this stage.The South Korean News Agency Yonhap is also carrying reports that...
by Rodger Payne | 5 Oct 2006 |
Film #7 "Red Dawn" (1984). We viewed it Tuesday.Readings for Thursday: Hashim. Ahmed S., “Iraq: From Insurgency to Civil War?” 104 Current History, Jan 2005. pp. 10-18. Link requires subscription.Kaplan, Fred, “How Do We Win in Iraq?” Slate, September 9, 2005.Krepinevich, Andrew, “The War In Iraq: The Nature of Insurgency Warfare,” Backgrounder, Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessment, June 2, 2004. Those who have seen it know that "Red...
by Peter | 4 Oct 2006 | Featured
Feeling safe? You shouldn't-- its the threatdown!I'm teaching a National Security Policy class this semester, and last week our topic was Threats. The assignment that day was for each student to write a Threatdown--an ordered, annotated list of the top 10 threats facing American.Two things struck me in reading the threats my students identified.First, most--like on the order of 60% - 70%--were non-state threats. Things like Global Warming,...
by Rodger Payne | 3 Oct 2006 |
Here's the provocative lead paragraph from an interesting new article well worth a read:A revolt is brewing among our retired Army and Marine generals. This rebellion--quiet and nonconfrontational, but remarkable nonetheless--comes not because their beloved forces are bearing the brunt of ground combat in Iraq but because the retirees see the US adventure in Mesopotamia as another Vietnam-like, strategically failed war, and they blame the...