The fighting in Khorog is very serious. As Eurasianet notes, "The fighting in Gorno-Badakhshan province (GBAO) is being described as the worst in Tajikistan since the 1990s civil war and raises concerns of a protracted new conflict." The government has cut off communications into the region. The Wall Street Journal has an overview. Suzanne Levi-Sanchez reproduces a letter from a close friend of hers in Khorog. Reuters reports on the "Secret Turkish Nerve Center" coordinating aid from Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar, to the Syrian rebels.Mark Hibbs on the "Taiwan and the [US bilateral nuclear...

I'm out of town, so this is the best I can do. And since one post with Dunecat isn't enough....Climate:'Tis the summer of depressing climate news. Today is Greenland edition (via). Syria:Dan Byman urges full US support for the rebels. Rob Farley discusses CJ Chivers analysis of the impact of rebel-deployed IEDs on the Syrian army.Russia:A long essay by Greg Afinogenov on Putin's Russia and current protests there. Afinogenov argues that Putinism isn't so much authoritarian as "post-democratic" (via).  American Grand Strategy:Celeste Ward Gventer argues that maintaing America's position...

Globalization of Law:Honduras looking into limited outsourcing of criminal justice to Britain (via).David Weigel draws from Cliff's Global Right Wing in an article on the NRA's quest to globalize gun rights (via Dan Drezner).Economic Armageddon, Round II:If you haven't been paying attention to what's happening in Europe, you should be. Education:Chris Lehmann at Practical Theory: "there are a lot of powerful folks right now who are advocating for a pedagogy that they do not want for their own children. Some of these powerful people are running networks of schools that have a pedagogical...

MANOS: The Hands of Fate is supposedly getting an iOS game. But fans of MST3K are probably much more excited about the Rifftrax live MANOS event on August 16.Dan Drezner takes on the ridiculous Jennifer Rubin piece on how Romney should attack Obama foreign policy. Drezner has regular commentators who are better conservative foreign-policy critics than the people dominating MSM op-ed space.Andrew Yeo responds to Jennifer Lind's analysis of the ROK-Japan treaty debacle. I think Andrew's probably right, and that Jennifer likely got excited by the alternative line given to her by some of her...

Conor Friedersdorf argues that R2P is a decision for Congress to make, not the Executive Branch. Laura at 11d has advice from big student loan debtors. Note the part about not getting an MA that serves little professional purpose.Daniel Little has a very nice post on Chuck Tilly's Durable Inequality and the growing income gap in the United States.Sandy Levinson makes an impassioned plea for putting gun control back on the table. A note on "Aurora" and gun control: my basic view is that we're so swamped with guns that I don't see much point in most restrictions. But telling people not to...

Lots of people are talking (e.g.) about the McKibben climate-change article in Rolling Stone. China Defense Blog points to reports that the PRC will deploy a military garrison in the South China Sea.Kieran Healy compares rates of violence in the United States to those found in the rest of the OECD countries.Jamestown's China Daily Brief carries a report on Uzbekistan, China, and balance-of-power politics in Central Asia. Jason Fritz provides perspective on AVF-vs-draft arguments. Blood and Treasure mocks the USIP post-Assad Syria plan and also points out that: "One thing about China and...

Jennifer Lind argues that the recent scuttling of a Korean-Japanese security cooperation treaty stemmed from Seoul's misgivings about a US-led balancing alliance aimed at the PRC. Richard Jensen has a powerpoint analysis of wikipedia's War of 1812 entry (via H-Diplo). Jeffrey Lewis ask "do we need ICBMs?"Ken Payne writes a second post on Chimpanzees and strategy (first one here). Bernardo Teles Fazendeiro at e-ir on Uzbekistan's suspension of its CSTO membership.Noah Smith argues that "bad microfoundations are worse than none at all." I can think of a number of people in the Duck's...

Josh Rovner argues that AirSea Battle is a "myth" that threatens nuclear escalation with China.Henry Farrell writes up a recent piece by Alex Downes and Todd Sechser attacking the notion that democracies issue more credible threats than non-democracies. The comments (excluding mine) are worth reading as well. The Rising Powers Initiative highlights regional commentary on the ASEAN forum debacle. As always, Justin Gengler is worth reading on what's happening in Bahrain. W. Jonathan Rue tells InsideIran that Tehran can close the Straits of Hormuz -- temporarily (via).Archeological discoveries...