by Dan Nexon | 15 Jun 2005 |
At some point I intend to write a long post making substantive contributions to the interesting discussions of center-left foreign-policy principles that have been developing on places like America Abroad and Democracy Arsenal. I think the public debate that's emerging really goes to show how the benefits of having an increasing number of international-relations experts blogging.That being said, the discussion over at Democracy Arsenal involves...
by Dan Nexon | 15 Jun 2005 |
Always deny what you don't want to be known, and always affirm what you want to be believed. For, though there be much - even conclusive - evidence to the contrary, a fervent affirmation or denial will often create at least some doubt in the mind of your listener. (Series C, 37)I guess early modern Europe wasn't very different from the present after all...For other maxims from Guicciardini, see here and here.Filed as: Maxims, Guicciardini and...
by Dan Nexon | 15 Jun 2005 |
Glenn Reynolds asks for science fiction suggestions from his readers. Top of the list?Lots of readers have been writing in with suggestions as to authors. Iain M. Banks -- whom I've never read -- seems a favorite, particularly his Use of Weapons.To paraphrase Wanda Gershwitz:"Otto, you’re a conservative.”“Aha! Conservatives don’t read Banks!”“Yes, they do—they just don’t understand it."Filed as: Iain M. Banks, science fiction, and...
by Patrick Thaddeus Jackson | 14 Jun 2005 |
The Washington Post reports today on the recent NATO-Russia joint communique, which among other points stated that "issues of security and stability in Central Asia, including the recent tragic events in Uzbekistan, was also discussed." According to the Post, this rather bland language papered over an intra-agency dispute within the US government about how best to handle the situation stemming from the 13 May crackdown against a failed uprising...
by Dan Nexon | 14 Jun 2005 |
I really don't want to criticize the same high-profile blogger twice in a row, but David Adesnik's takedown of Henry Kissinger deserves some commentary.Kissinger's shilling for China again. No news there. David does a good job of pointing out what's substantively wrong with the op-ed. His framing, however, is all off. For David, Kissinger's mistake is a failure of realism:As a committed realist, Kissinger desperately wants to believe that...
by Dan Nexon | 13 Jun 2005 |
David Adesnik takes an odd swipe at the mainstream media.What the WaPo actually reported on Sunday's front page was thatBlair and his top advisers eight months before the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq concluded that the U.S. military was not preparing adequately for what the British memo predicted would be a "protracted and costly" postwar occupation of that country.As Kevin Drum points out, this isn't exactly a revelation (even if Juan Cole calls...
by Dan Nexon | 11 Jun 2005 |
After the 1989 massacre of pro-democracy advocates in Tiananmen Square by the People's Liberation Army, the NRA ran advertisements claiming that if the protesters had been armed, they could've defended themselves and thus prevented the anti-democracy crackdown. This kind of argument, rooted in the (correct) conviction that the ultimate recourse against tyranny is armed insurrection, has a long history both in political theory and in gun-rights...
by Dan Nexon | 11 Jun 2005 |
I just discovered that my colleague at Georgetown, Tony Arend, has started a weblog on Georgetown's new - and barely used - blog system. Besides being an expert on international law, Tony's a Georgetown institution unto himself.Tony's latest post argues that the Geneva Convention is actually only one of a number of treaties that the US may be violating in Guantanamo Bay.I'd say "welcome" to Tony, except that his blog is older than the...
by Dan Nexon | 10 Jun 2005 |
It looks like the Duck of Minerva's going to start quacking "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" if I don't post something on international relations soon. So, in the interests of all non-baseball fans everywhere... On America Abroad, Ivo Daalder reflects on the The High Cost of Unilateralism:In the early days of the Bush administration, us foreign policy wonks would sit around and bemoan Bush’s unilateralism — his decision to walk out of the ABM...
by Bill Petti | 10 Jun 2005 |
[Cross posted at Discord and Elaboration]As a New York Mets fan I can't help but marvel at the acquisition and the performance of Pedro Martinez this season. True, many doubted whether giving Pedro a 4-year deal given his age, loss of velocity, and recent injuries was a wise move by the Metsies, but so far the investment is paying off. It got me thinking--just exactly how good is Pedro? It seems to me that his antics over the years (the midgtet...
by Rodger Payne | 9 Jun 2005 |
Cross posted on my blog.Two days ago, Steve Holland of Reuters asked Tony Blair and George W. Bush about the so-called "Downing Street Memo." You know, the leaked transcript from a secret British government meeting held during summer 2002: "C reported on his recent talks in Washington. There was a perceptible shift in attitude. Military action was now seen as inevitable. Bush wanted to remove Saddam, through military action, justified by the...
by Patrick Thaddeus Jackson | 9 Jun 2005 |
Last weekend my wife and kids and I went to visit the National World War Two Memorial that now stands on the Mall in Washington between the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial. We hadn't been before, and since both of our grandfathers served in WWII, we though it was kind of appropriate for Memorial Day weekend. I don't quite know what we were expecting; I'd heard some of the press about the site's sterility and its nineteenth-century...