Tiwesdæg: the Left-hand of Linkage

2 July 2013, 1320 EDT

  • A new military study concludes that drone strikes are more deadly to civilians than those conducted by manned fighter craft. Keep in mind, however, that fighter pilots are the traditional elite in the USAF and the rise of drones and drone pilots has generated a lot of internal politics. More important: there’s no indication that the study controlled for the kinds of missions being carried out by drones and by strike aircraft.
  • Speaking of drones, here’s Maj David J. Blair (Georgetown ABD) and Capt Nick Helms on “What’s at Stake in the Remote Aviation Culture Debate.”
  • Cheryl Rofer is firmly in the camp of the Snowden skeptics. Her conclusion: “Snowden’s actions have shown that he can’t be trusted. There may be other reasons for his actions, but there is no reason for governments to assume anything but the worst. Every country has secrets it wants to keep. Whatever country receives him will keep close tabs on his whereabouts and his use of the internet.”
  • Daniel Brumberg argues that Egypt’s biggest problem is a lack of a plausible unifying vision for the county.
  • Ayesha Siddiqa alleges that Pakistan’s ISI has infiltrated US think tanks.
  • The Millennium: Journal of International Studies special issue on “materialism” is available for free right now. I still think that there’s a basic category error going on, but the issue has some great pieces that cover a growing intellectual movement in the field.
  • The first issue of Territory, Authority, Governance is also available for your reading pleasure.

And also:

Almost all of these links deserve a “via.” My apologies for losing track of where I got them from.