The Duck of Minerva

Maia Gemmill

Recent Posts

Going through the motions

by Maia Gemmill | 18 July, 2007 |

Welp, we know that a new Harry Potter book is about to come out, because the Washington Post has featured the obligatory piece on Christian reactions to Harry Potter, along with a side-helping of wonderment at the rise of explicitly Christian publishing.Too bad this is so not new.The article points out that some Christians are uncomfortable with the depiction of magic in the series, and notes that literature marketed as Christian in content (as opposed to the previous thousand years or so of Christian literature which was, well, just literature) is becoming a large and important market...

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Out.

by Maia Gemmill | 14 July, 2007 |

After months of threats, Russia announced this morning that it is officially suspending its obligations under the Cold War-era Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) Treaty. From a military point of view, this probably isn't all that significant: I haven't seen any one making a serious claim that the Russian Army has the genuine capacity to present a conventional threat NATO and the US.From a diplomatic point of view, though, it represents a new low in the relationship between the US and Russia. Although you wouldn't know it from the NY Times story, this decision seems to have been precipitated...

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Russia vs. Georgia

by Maia Gemmill | 12 July, 2007 |

The now independent states that once made up the Republics of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics are often referred to in Russia as the "near-abroad". The meaning of near-abroad, depending on how broadly you want to interpret it, can range from "those areas that used to be part of Russia in our imperial past" to "those areas that really ought to be within our sphere of influence" to "those areas where we have the right to meddle at will". Relations between Russia and the near-abroad range from "let us celebrate our Slavic brotherhood" (Belarus, the gas price kerfuffle of late 2006...

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Five Days in August

by Maia Gemmill | 12 July, 2007 |

During World War II, teams of scientists raced to build the ultimate weapon: the atomic bomb. This weapon, everyone believed, was so powerful that it would force the Japanese to surrender immediately, eliminating the need for an extremely costly invasion of the Japanese main islands. They built two weapons using two different models: Little Boy, a uranium gun-style weapon, and, just in case the first one wasn't enough, the Fat Man, a plutonium implosion weapon. When the weapons were ready, President Truman, who knew nothing about the Manhattan Project until Roosevelt's death, struggled...

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A Darkness of our own

by Maia Gemmill | 3 July, 2007 |

"The third hearing of my man took place at two o'clock at night; I had previously worked for eighteen hours on end. He had been woken up; he was drunk with sleep and frightened; he betrayed himself. From that time I cross-examined my people chiefly at night....Once a woman complained that she had been kept standing outside my room the whole night, awaiting her turn. Her legs were shaking and she was completely tired out; in the middle of her hearing, she fell asleep. I woke her up; she went on talking, in a sleepy mumbling voice, without fully realizing what she was saying, and fell asleep...

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Speedboat diplomacy

by Maia Gemmill | 2 July, 2007 |

Update below the fold.After months of diplomatic sniping between the US and Russia, Presidents Vladimir Putin and George Bush are meeting today at the Bush family compound in Kennebunkport, Maine. Bush has generally invited foreign leaders to his own ranch in Texas, rather than to the Maine compound, which belongs to his father. I have yet to read a compelling explanation as to why he chose Maine over Texas other than the more pleasant summertime weather, but that's never stopped him in the past.There really isn't a whole lot to say about this visit, at least so far. Both the American and...

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Shell games

by Maia Gemmill | 28 June, 2007 |

On Tuesday, I mentioned that second rule of Russia watching is "follow the money". The only problem is that following the money is not easy.I've been asked on occasion whether I think Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the former head of YUKOS oil now in prison for tax evasion and fraud, is guilty or were the charges against him politically motivated.My answer: "Yes."Khodorkovsky gained control of YUKOS in the notorious loans-for-shares auctions, which were a breathtakingly audacious scheme to defraud the Russian government (and thereby the Russian people) at a time when the government was on the verge...

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Quick! Fetch the comfy chair!

by Maia Gemmill | 27 June, 2007 |

The other day, we were discussing Monty Python references, and I volunteered that I had recently started a short piece on the prospects for democracy in Belarus and Ukraine with "Revolutions are like the Spanish Inquisition--no one ever expects them." "Surely that's not true!" our friends protested. "There must be something to predict them.""Well, most revolutions seem to be highly contingent phenomena. You can go back and and pick out the primary factors in hindsight, but it's hard to see them coming in advance or even, at times, to recognize a successful revolution in active progress."I...

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War of the words

by Maia Gemmill | 27 June, 2007 |

Did you know that there's a new Cold War? Well, not really. It makes for good media headlines, but it's largely exaggerated hype.Nevertheless, tensions between the US and Russia have been on the rise over the last year. At the heart of the matter is Russia's desire to be taken seriously as a player in the world political scene. The economy is booming and government coffers are overflowing. Russia sees itself as undergoing a resurgence and they want to be treated accordingly.Instead, they've been receiving the standard Bush administration treatment, which seems to be applied equally to all...

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Sea of boxes

by Maia Gemmill | 26 June, 2007 |

By now, you have probably heard about the recall of Thomas the Tank Engine toys, which are decorated with lead paint. While Lead-Foot Thomas is getting a lot of media attention right now, it's only the latest in a string of serious safety problems associated with products imported from China. Over the last few years, there have been repeated recalls on children's toys and jewelry due to lead contamination--all produced in China. Then there was the pet food debacle, in which wheat gluten tainted with melamine--a chemical that makes the protein content of the product appear higher and...

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