All Commentaries
Lines on Global Warming
Hopeless as swatting lies out of the White House
or trying to put out an oil field fire with a cup of water
is this war against the grasshoppers, who,
when I walk through weeds or rattle
the leaves on a pepper plant, leap
by the thousands to remind me
that power isn’t always held by Goliaths
but by the numerous and persistent.
Pakistan: Tragic Trendsetter for Religious, Political, and Ethnic Violence
Many in Pakistan reflexively call for a “strongman” to quell violence in Karachi and the rest of the country.
“War Follows Child Abuse as Night Day”
Contrary to what international relations types may think, leaders seldom do a rigorous cost-benefit analysis of the results before waging war.
Cut Deficit, Increase Militarization?
The recent deficit deal includes potentially deep cuts in U.S. security spending. One likely but perhaps counterintuitive outcome would be staffing reductions in foreign development programs and in diplomatic missions. The deal will also hit the budgets of domestic security programs like border patrols, the Coast Guard, and the Secret Service. These are not the sort of security cuts decried by hawkish lawmakers who fear that potential cuts to the military will hollow out the U.S. armed forces and cripple the military industry.
Islamophobia’s Poisoned Wellsprings
The right has been conducting a campaign with deep pockets to instill fear and hatred of Islam in Americans.
Treatment of Russian POWs in WWII Paved the Way for Holocaust
“The existing concentration camps changed their character upon contact with prisoners of war,” writes Timothy Snyder in Bloodlands.
Review: China, the United States, and Global Order
In their new book China, the United States, and Global Order, British scholars Rosemary Foot and Andrew Walter put U.S.-Chinese relations into a global context. Rejecting the realist assumption that norms do not matter, Foot and Walter try to identify the factors that shape Chinese and U.S. behavioral consistency (or lack thereof) with global norms. They provide an in-depth analysis of five key global normative frameworks: the non-use of force except in self defense and the responsibility to protect (R2P); international macroeconomic surveillance regarding exchange rates; nuclear non-proliferation; climate change; and financial regulatory norms.
Hiroshima, Mon Ami: “History’s Most Awkward Handshake”
Reality TV today has nothing on a show from the 50s that hosted both a prominent Hiroshima victim and the co-pilot of the Enola Gay.
Kim Jong Il’s Visit to Russia: Just More Mixed Messages?
Russia expressed optimism about its pipeline project from Russia to North Korea to South Korea.
Divvying up South Sudan
In order to mine its resources a Texas-based firm sought to sign a 49-year lease for land in South Sudan for a paltry $25,000.