My 18-month old daughter is in a binge-reading phase. She hunts for a book, carries it over to any adult who happens to be in the vicinity, and presents it while exclaiming "Enh! Ehn! Booshk! Enh! Enh!" Sometimes she will jab one finger while insisting "Sit! Sit! Sit!" In either case, her appetite for being read to is boundless. Which means my wife and I read the same books. Over and over and over and over. Between the three of us, we make a...

Just wanted to wish my fellow members of the Duck as well as our readership a Happy Thanksgiving.

Journalist James Bamford has a tremendously explosive story about the Rendon Group in Rolling Stone magazine (posted November 17, 2005). The story mentions some of the Rendon group's activites over much of the past twenty years, "selling" virtually every war and military intervention the US has fought since Panama.Most of the article is about Iraq's non-existent WMD.For some years, the Rendon Group has been a Defense Department contractor,...

An update to my earlier post on Congresswoman Jean Schmidt of Ohio.From the Washington Post: "Schmidt doesn't understand what the fuss is about, and sees herself more as victim than villain." Read on.Filed as: Jean Schmidt

The Washington Post has an interesting story regardingt the LDP, Japan's ruling party, and their formal plans to revise the Consitution. These revisions would allow the country to posses a "formal military" for the first time since the end of the second world war. Up till now, Japan has been limited to fielding a "self-defense force" (SDF), an organization that was operationally limited to defending Japan's home islands as well as taking part...

Over at Abu Aardvark, Marc Lynch provides some empirical evidence for the fact that major IR journals have had very little to say about al-Qaeda over the past few years:All told, these seven journals published 796 articles between 2002-2005. I found a total of 25 articles dealing even loosely with al-Qaeda, Islamism, or terrorism. That's just over 3% of the articles. Now, there's lots of important stuff out there in the world, and there's no...

Those doors are tricky in China. Damn commies will do anything to make you look bad.And yes, I am a streak-poster.Filed as: President Bush

As I sat down to write this post I paused for a moment and thought, “do we really need another Iraq post?” This was a very sincere thought. Rodger and Dan have done a good job discussing the politics surrounding the Iraq conflict. I have written a number of posts regarding my own view of the war's rationale and how it fits in to a broader grand strategy*. And we never want for new developments covered in the media—whether its controversy over...

I cannot think of any other way to characterize the remarks made by Congresswoman Jean Schmidt (R-Ohio) during debate yesterday on the House floor. The lower chamber was debating a procedural rule connected to a Republican-proposed measure that attempted to make Democrats go on the record in favor of a measure similar to the one proposed earlier this week by Congressman John Murtha (D-Pa.), which called for the immediate withdrawl of US troops...

The current issue of Foreign Policy includes an interesting study titled Inside the Ivory Tower. The story discusses the composition and nature of International Relations education in the United States. I would link to it directly but unfortunately it is behind a subscription wall so you will have to pick up your own copy. Some of what is reported is expected. For example, Harvard, Columbia, Stanford, Princeton and Chicago made up the top 5 PhD...

Clinton did it too, right?Iraq Liberation Act of 1998 (Enrolled as Agreed to or Passed by Both House and Senate)--H.R.4655-- SEC. 8. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION. Nothing in this Act shall be construed to authorize or otherwise speak to the use of United States Armed Forces (except as provided in section 4(a)(2)) in carrying out this Act.As for that part:SEC. 4. ASSISTANCE TO SUPPORT A TRANSITION TO DEMOCRACY IN IRAQ. (a) AUTHORITY TO PROVIDE...

How bloody difficult is it for people to distinguish the widespread belief that Iraq had possession of biological and chemical agents from the Bush administration's arguments that Hussein's possession of, or eventual acquisition of, weapons of mass destruction posed an imminent threat to America's urban centers? I know we have a small readership, but it isn't exactly like Rodger and I are the only people explaining the difference.This, after...