AJ Hartley: "why books are better than movies." I'm not sure that's always true -- surely some films surpass their source material, but I'm hard pressed to think of an example off the top of my head.Erik Voeten asks an incisive question: "Is the Marginal Cost of Drone Strikes Too Low?"Brad DeLong argues that, despite temporary fixes, the Eurocrisis remains very real.Spencer Ackerman reports on the apparent failure of the Afghanistan surge. More satire of Bibi's bomb.Scott Radnitz on Georgia's upcoming election. Brian Schmidt elaborates a post-revisionist take on International Relation's...

Do a google image  search for "nerd duck public domain";Charli's image comes up pretty quickly. Not sure what that means.Colin Kahl defends the Obama Administration's Middle-East foreign-policy record on CNN.Juan Cole does something similar at his blog. Han Xudong argues that trade ties will prevent current tensions in East Asia from escalating to war (via Taylor Fravel).Emmanuel at IPEZone: "Meet China's Real Challenger, Mexico (No Kidding)." Corey Wallace assesses developments in Australia-Japan cooperation. A short note on podcasts: Minerva Cast, the podcast blog, does not carry direct...

The civil war continues in Syra. As does the one in Mali. Two posts at Political Violence @ a Glance. First, Ron Hassner compares "blasphemy and political violence" in 2006 and 2012.  Second, Steve Saideman discusses the New York Times graphic on future border changes.Glenn Grenwald's take on the NYU/Stanford drone study. Chris Clary also tackles anti-Americanism in the Muslim world, but via a critique of the Blaydes and Lindser piece recently published in the American Political Science Review. What "classics" should US military academies teach?Daniel Little on agent-based models and...

From Her Majesty's Explorer.My attempts to get Dan Drezner an ignoble have failed.Steve Saideman will be pleased that Sara Silverman has jumped on the voter fraud fraud bandwagon (NSFW). Frank Pasquale describes a less amusing side of the story.Plagiarism in Turkey.The Arabist takes on the delisting of the MEK. More on the epistemology of macroeconomics, from Noah Smith. This kind of reflexive sociological meta-blogging seems, well, Duck-ish. Moral systems in video games. 

Mass protests against militias in Benghazi demonstrate the power of mobilization-triggers and the weakness of movements that lack proper infrastructure. Marc Lynch analyzes Newsweek's #muslimrage debacle.Chris Zambellis writes at Jamestown's China Daily Brief that Cairo is looking to China to provide it was exit options -- and hence increased leverage -- in US-Egypt relations; Prashanth Parameswaran reports on Sino-Malaysian relations; IPE Zone discusses Sino-Ukrainian trade relations.Julian Ku at Opinio Juris argues that the US is likely obligated to defend the Senkaku Islands. Yves Smith...

Also Not a DuckAidan Regan: "Reflections on The Monti Python Show" (via CT).Beth Schwanke and Jenny Ottenhoff examine the party platforms for what they have to say about development policy. Dan Drezner talks about "Why Presidents Love Foreign Affairs" in the New York Times.Phil Arena is skeptical about the current tenor of "long peace" argumentation. And he has an alternative. It does seem as if a legal cartel is colluding to protect law schools from misrepresentation lawsuits, doesn't it? 

This Bear is Ready for Duck SeasonPhoto: Dan NexonMajor strike in India to protest liberalization. William Burr: Presidential Decision Directive 59 and nuclear warfighting under Carter.James Joyner provides further dissection of the apparent implosion of the US exit strategy in Afghanistan.Fresh Air interviews Doug Sanders about his new book, The Myth of the Muslim Tide. Zephyr Teachout at Mobilizing Ideas on "Big Data and Big Money."David Kaib's discussion of observations from the outgoing editors of the APSR probably deserves its own post, but I don't have the time right now. Bottom-line:...

New Books in Science Fiction and Fantasy is now available via the iTunes store.Bizarro 2004 continues: this time, Republicans spend lots of time complaining about systematic bias in polling (via).Protest September continues: Islamic world, China, Chicago, OWS....Taylor Favrel provides analysis of the Sino-Japanse island dispute. Civil war continues in Syria (Syrian aircraft hit Lebanese territory, Revolutionary Guard said to have advisors in Syria, Rebels accused of torture, etc.) and Mali.A narrative of power, corruption, and "justice" in China (via Victoria Tin-bor Hui).Andrew Yeo argues...