Erdogan Rallies His Base
Mr. Erdogan, in rally after rally … sought to energize the conservative masses who propelled him to power. … His supporters represent a social class that was previously marginalized, and Mr. Erdogan has used his speeches to play on those class resentments.
“The potato-head bloke, itching his belly — this was how they regarded us for decades,” he said in a speech on Tuesday. “They think we do not know anything about politics, arts, theater, cinema, poetry, paintings, aesthetics, architecture.”
Turkish Police and Protesters Clash in Istanbul’s Taksim Square, Tim Arango, Sebnem Arsu and Ceylan Yeginsu, the New York Times
Defending Ourselves Against a State That’s Not Our Enemy With a System That Doesn’t Work
Building a costly third [missile defense] site using outdated, ineffective technology to counter a long-range missile threat that does not exist is not in the best interests of U.S. national security.
East Coast Missile Defense: A Rush to Failure, Tom Z. Collina, Arms Control Today
Emperor Hirohito’s Uncanny Ability to Compartmentalize the Suffering of His People
There are reasons to doubt the traditional story that the Emperor was horrified by the bombing of Hiroshima. The documentary evidence is thin, and if the Emperor was so moved, it begs the question: why was he moved by secondhand reports of a city destroyed in August when he was not moved by driving through Tokyo and personally witnessing the devastation of that city in March? Would it not be sensible to expect that firsthand experience would have a stronger emotional impact than a secondhandreport?
Rethinking the Utility of Nuclear Weapons, Ward Wilson, Parameters
Check Your Principles at the Door
What would be the correct kind of person to have access to videos of civilian massacres? Who’s the right kind of person to be let in the know about the fact that we systematically turned academics and other “suspects” over to the Iraqi military to be tortured? We want people who will, what, sit on this stuff? Apparently the idea is to hire the kind of person who will cheerfully help us keep this sort of thing hidden from ourselves.
As Bradley Manning Trial Begins, Press Predictably Misses the Point, Matt Taibbi, Rolling Stone
Do Terrorists Understand the U.S. Government Better Than Its Citizens Do?
The argument that this sweeping search must be kept secret from the terrorists is laughable. Terrorists already assume this sort of thing is being done. Only law-abiding American citizens were blissfully ignorant of what their government was doing.
Why You Should Worry About The NSA, Richard Clarke, the New York Daily News