The Duck of Minerva

And some people wonder why I don’t assign anything by Thomas Friedman

by Dan Nexon

24 August 2007, 0307 EDT

Duncan Black posts what should be the final nail, but won’t be, in Friedman’s credibility:

I hold out some vague hope that this is out of context.

But if it isn’t: there you have it, Friedman’s underlying rational for the war was an incoherent revenge fantasy based on the “paper tiger” theory of coercive diplomacy. Afghanistan wasn’t enough to prick “their bubble,” so we had to find another example. Could have been Saudi Arabia, could have been Pakistan… doesn’t really matter. All that matters is that we toppled a second Islamic country.

I think Thomas Friedman needs to take a remedial “Introduction to International Relations” course before he’s allowed anywhere near his word processor. What’s even more disturbing is that he continues to win awards for “I’m with stupid” theories of international politics.

Anyway, what follows is an attempt to communicate, in letters alone, my experience as I dissolve into a quivering mass of annoyance while I beat what’s left of my gelatinous head against the floorboards….

BHAUYWGDYUGAAUYWGDUYXVGVXAFTFDSRTWDS%^R^%AAERT@TFEVEGHVAG@FDTYF@TEFIUYEGRYOUDGYT@FVE
TYAFC@DTYV#TDVTFTY@FADRT@FAIT@DDDVGATUY@DFGTYV!!!!12rtfVGIVWDVIWYT@fytf4tyr4fbodjhbv
1uy2gver7tfegvqdihgqvwdgvdfgyv2iytf4976rf43tvedg2v^^*!%!!! Phfft. Thbp. Slup.

Website |  + posts

Daniel H. Nexon is a Professor at Georgetown University, with a joint appointment in the Department of Government and the School of Foreign Service. His academic work focuses on international-relations theory, power politics, empires and hegemony, and international order. He has also written on the relationship between popular culture and world politics.

He has held fellowships at Stanford University's Center for International Security and Cooperation and at the Ohio State University's Mershon Center for International Studies. During 2009-2010 he worked in the U.S. Department of Defense as a Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellow. He was the lead editor of International Studies Quarterly from 2014-2018.

He is the author of The Struggle for Power in Early Modern Europe: Religious Conflict, Dynastic Empires, and International Change (Princeton University Press, 2009), which won the International Security Studies Section (ISSS) Best Book Award for 2010, and co-author of Exit from Hegemony: The Unraveling of the American Global Order (Oxford University Press, 2020). His articles have appeared in a lot of places. He is the founder of the The Duck of Minerva, and also blogs at Lawyers, Guns and Money.

Website |  + posts

Daniel H. Nexon is a Professor at Georgetown University, with a joint appointment in the Department of Government and the School of Foreign Service. His academic work focuses on international-relations theory, power politics, empires and hegemony, and international order. He has also written on the relationship between popular culture and world politics.

He has held fellowships at Stanford University's Center for International Security and Cooperation and at the Ohio State University's Mershon Center for International Studies. During 2009-2010 he worked in the U.S. Department of Defense as a Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellow. He was the lead editor of International Studies Quarterly from 2014-2018.

He is the author of The Struggle for Power in Early Modern Europe: Religious Conflict, Dynastic Empires, and International Change (Princeton University Press, 2009), which won the International Security Studies Section (ISSS) Best Book Award for 2010, and co-author of Exit from Hegemony: The Unraveling of the American Global Order (Oxford University Press, 2020). His articles have appeared in a lot of places. He is the founder of the The Duck of Minerva, and also blogs at Lawyers, Guns and Money.

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