I wrote a review of the book, The Hawk and the Dove, for Great Power Politics, a site run by fellow FPA blogger Patrick Frost. The book is an entertaining read about the Cold War debates between George Kennan and Paul Nitze. Check out my review here.
A bad year for film in America. The Hurt Locker was a good anti-war film, but c’mon, Best Picture! The past year may have been a record year for Hollywood financially, but in terms of art, Tinseltown is in decline. Bad film. Bad TV. Bad Late night. What we badly need is some insight into the human […]
It was an interesting week. The Iraqis voted in a nationwide election, Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, called 9/11 a “big lie” and the death of a beloved relative along with the sight of U.S. veterans returning to Iwo Jima for a 65th reunion caused me to stop and reminisce about the achievements of the Greatest […]
Like a thunderbolt from Zeus, financial markets are struck by the perils of a sovereign debt default. In financial crises, markets and policy makers fight the last war. In the Great Depression, countries made the mistake of balancing budgets instead of offering a Keynesian stimulus; in today’s crisis, they are spending like crazy by issuing debt (like […]
In lieu of a substantive post, I offer you links: 1) The UK is establishing a barrier to implementing universal jurisdiction: approval of arrest warrants by public prosecutors. 2) Violence and voting irregularities marred Iraq’s continued attempt to practice democracy. 3) The UN Security Council is beginning to focus on Iranian arms sales that violate […]
The culpability of doctors in the U.S.-run torture program bubbles up every now and then, as it did in the New York Times earlier this week. Here are some highlights: According to Justice Department memos released last year, the medical service opined that sleep deprivation up to 180 hours didn’t qualify as torture. It determined […]
Yesterday I took a break from watching the Winter Olympics to read press accounts of a couple of Soviet Union ballistic missile tests conducted in the fall of 1987. According to a report in the October 2, 1987 Washington Post, the warheads of one of the missiles fell into the Pacific Ocean “about 500 miles […]
Earlier this week, the Supreme Court heard arguments for the Holder versus Humanitarian Law Project case. You can read the arguments here. The case concerns Ralph Fertig, who wants to help the PKK use non-violent means to achieve its objectives. However, since the U.S. dubs the PKK a terrorist organization, Fertig finds that his endeavor […]
Gallup recently found that just 31% of Americans think the UN “is doing a good job… in trying to solve the problems it has had to face.” This question is so broad that I’m not sure how it’s useful. What problems has the UN had to face? Why isn’t it doing a good job trying […]
A new tradition has emerged in American public discourse. After a suicide attack occurs on U.S. soil, the public debates whether or not the attack is “terrorism.” This happened last fall after the Hasan shooting and it’s happening again after the IRS attack. At Discovery News, Ian O’Neill looks to the dictionary, the FBI’s web-site, […]
Last night I saw something I never thought I’d see, a televised war game. Last week a DC think tank, The Bipartisan Policy Center, staged a war game with former members of government simulating the President’s staff dealing with a massive cyber attack against the United States. CNN taped it and is televising it this […]
I saw Avatar last week, just in time, apparently, to truly understand the significance of this: While I understand the the analogy, I also see the differences between James Cameron’s fictional scenario and the actual scenario unfolding in the Middle East. For me, the most significant distinction is the complete lack of pretexts in Avatar […]
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