The Duck of Minerva

PM

Recent Posts

Tuesday Afternoon Linkage

by PM | 29 January, 2013 |

Let's get to the news and the comments: Tim Burke talks about the real intersection of science fiction, the great convergence, and international governance [Easily Distracted] Surowiecki talks Boeing and outsourcing [The New Yorker] Have Malian rebels destroyed ancient texts? [The New Yorker] Maybe intercepting a Taepo-dong is illegal [The Diplomat] I like reading about Mongolia and I don't think I have to justify it [The Diplomat] And also: This profile of former NFL coach Bill Walsh's quest for perfection mirrors many academics' lives [ESPN: The Magazine] IRB Horror Stories [Institutional...

read more

Tuesday Morning Linkage Club

by PM | 22 January, 2013 |

 Like sausage, you don't want to see links being made. Inauguration: Josh Marshall sums it up. [Talking Points Memo] On Facebook I called the president's second inaugural the most radical address ever and I stand by that. Kevin Drum argues it was also partisan. [Mother Jones] Nickel book reviews: The Victory Lab, Sasha Issenberg. So good I changed my course syllabus for January 2013 after reading this book in December 2012. Seth Masket [The Mifchiefs of Faction] has more. Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, & the Prison of belief, Lawrence Wright. Interesting and well-reported. Clearly...

read more

Nobody cares about foreign policy

by PM | 15 January, 2013 |

It bears repeating that nobody votes on foreign policy, and most folks don't know anything about it anyway (remember that a nontrivial number of Americans think South Korea is our greatest enemy). I'll quote myself: [N]obody gives a damn about foreign policy. Theories of democratic responsiveness and empirical models of foreign policy choice need to begin with this fact. Nobody cares! That thing we do? The international relations bit? It's somewhat less important than professional bowling or HGTV. [Americans] only care about security--and their understanding of that is about as sophisticated...

read more

Tuesday Morning Linkage Club

by PM | 15 January, 2013 |

Good morning, Mr. and Mrs. America and all the ducks at sea! China The New York Times reports Western studios are giving Chinese censors early access to their films. Wikipedia's background on Chinese film censorship. Alyssa Rosenberg discussed this in June. Some Chinese directors don't like censorship Some in Taiwan are suspicious of cross-strait media deals More traditional censorship of Chinese media persists (more, more) But the media can now report on (appalling) air quality and the government might be seeking to reduce air pollution And Dan Drezner updates on China's non-leverage via...

read more

An Unexpected Error

by PM | 11 January, 2013 |

Reader Anjali Dayal sends along this image from Foreign Policy (since corrected): Presumably Mr. Putin has not yet overturned Roe v. Wade. (On the other hand, I am reminded of this Onion classic.)

read more

Tuesday Afternoon Linkage Club

by PM | 8 January, 2013 |

In the wide world: Taylor Fravel lets us know about China's surveillance fleet's op tempo (learn more about the China Marine Surveillance) and the role of cell phone service in territorial disputes Thane Gustafson talks about Russia's oil infrastructure Handy capsule history of the international oil market  Closer to home: From A Quantitative Peace, an examination of bipartisan appointments to the cabinet and sub cabinet (Would the idea of a "bipartisan" appointment to a cabinet ministry ever occur to someone in a Westminster government, aside from "national unity" movements?) Congress more...

read more

Tuesday Morning Linkage Club

by PM | 1 January, 2013 |

Happy New Year, if you're into that whole Gregorian calendar thing. (And this photo is, inshallah, our last Gangnam Style reference.) Sorry to those of you who thinks this blog inclines too much toward America-centric linkage; there's a lot of that in today's edition. Look below for more traditional IR links. On a related note, I'd appreciate hearing from commenters what blogs I should be reading. I skim a lot of them, but many seem to have gone moribund over the past several months (or been absorbed by our Borg-ish ducky blog here). And given Foreign Policy's irritating new sign-in...

read more

Fiscal Cliffs Notes

by PM | 31 December, 2012 |

Judging by the rumors coming out of the media, it appears that we have a deal to avert the fiscal cliff. This is troubling on a number of levels. First, the deal will be agreed to by the outgoing Congress--what we at the Duck are ashamed to call the lame-duck session--instead of the Congress just elected, the one that includes Elizabeth Warren instead of Scott Brown and Claire McCaskill instead of Todd Akin. Second, and related, on its merits this appears to be a deal that serious fiscal hawks and progressives alike will be deeply dissatisfied with--one that locks in Bush tax cuts for nearly...

read more

Tuesday Late Afternoon Linkage

by PM | 18 December, 2012 |

I'm now in a different time zone, although one rather less glamorous than the one I left yesterday. On the other hand, with temperatures in the mid-50s, it appears that my childhood home has decided to cease being part of the mid-South and instead become part of the tropics. One consequence of my not being in DC at the moment is that this is an unusually U.S.-centric package of links. This is also the consequence of Foreign Policy's apparently requiring some new signin stuff, which I refuse to do on principle and which threw a wrench in my link-gathering strategy for the day. Sorry. Brad...

read more