by Peter | 27 Oct 2006 | Featured
In my research methods class, I assign David Kang's fantastic article, "International Relations Theory and the Second Korean War." Its a very well written, well argued piece that criticizes IR theorists who have repeatedly been wrong in predicting a second Korean War and then offers a detailed analysis of why the arguments are flawed. One of his key points is that many analysts smuggle in mis-placed assumptions about North Korea that leads them...
by Rodger Payne | 25 Oct 2006 |
I commented on this point more than three years ago, but since President Bush said something dubious again today, it seemed worth repeating. First, here's what Bush said at his news conference, with the egregious part in red: Over the past three years I have often addressed the American people to explain developments in Iraq. Some of these developments were encouraging, such as the capture of Saddam Hussein, the elections in which 12 million...
by Peter | 23 Oct 2006 |
Last week, we were treated to a stunning admission from the head General in Iraq. What he said was not all that stunning--anyone who has been paying attention could see that things in Iraq were getting bad-- but stunning in that he actually said it. As reported in the WaPo:A two-month U.S.-Iraqi military operation to stem sectarian bloodshed and insurgent attacks in Baghdad has failed to reduce the violence, which has surged 22 percent in the...
by Bill Petti | 21 Oct 2006 |
Pat Tillman’s brother Kevin has published a stirring letter in which he makes his case for a change of leadership on November 7th. A portion is presented below:Somehow the more soldiers that die, the more legitimate the illegal invasion becomes.Somehow American leadership, whose only credit is lying to its people and illegally invading a nation, has been allowed to steal the courage, virtue and honor of its soldiers on the ground.Somehow those...
by Rodger Payne | 19 Oct 2006 |
Film #9 "The Great Dictator" (1940). We viewed it Tuesday.Readings for Thursday: J. Michael Waller, "Ridicule as a weapon," White Paper No. 7, Institute of World Politics, January 2006.This is a terrific Charlie Chaplin film, which satirizes Nazi Germany under Adolph Hitler -- and takes on Mussolini and war as well. Roger Ebert's review of the film accurately describes Chaplin's portrayal of Adenoid Hynkel, dictator of Tomania. Chaplin, writes...
by Bill Petti | 19 Oct 2006 |
John Maine got the job done last night and "the igniter" finally got going, hitting a leadoff homerun against Chris Carpenter. It's down to 27 outs. I'll give you three guesses what I'll be doing at 8:19 tonight.LET'S GO METS!That's all.
by Dan Nexon | 18 Oct 2006 |
If you haven't guessed by now, I'm kind of a sucker for the Decemberists. I rarely buy music anymore -- money's a bit tight while my wife is in school -- but I still ordered The Crane Wife the day it was released. Any band that produces a video centered around a prep-school model UN (and spoofing so many different genres at once it will make your head spin) and could give us "The Mariner's Revenge" deserves a great deal of academic-geek...
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!