The Duck of Minerva

I suspect that the other bloggers at the Duck have been relatively silent lately for the same reasons that I have been quiet. We're grading stacks of student midterm exams (or papers) and writing our own papers for the upcoming International Studies Association Annual Meeting.If you need something to do while we're temporarily distracted, I suggest renting "Owning Mahowny" and "Freeway." The former features a first-rate performance by newly-minted Oscar winner Philip Seymour Hoffman. It is a very good film about gambling addiction. The latter is a modern-day twist on "Little Red Riding...

Duck of Minerva has been nominated for two Koufax blog awards, given annually to the best "lefty" blogs. To vote, simply go to the link and leave a comment in favor of Duck of Minerva.Best New BlogBest Group BlogWhile you're voting, cast a ballot for Phronesisaical for Most Deserving of Wider RecognitionFiled as: Koufax awards

It appears as if the Horowitz crowd is conducting an on-line straw poll to identify the "worst" of the 101 most dangerous professors in America.So far, the results are not encouraging for the IR competitors: Professor School VotesMichael Bérubé Penn State University 150931[skip dozens of names]Ali al-Mazrui SUNY,Binghamton 79[skip another dozen names or so]Matthew Evangelista Cornell University 19Richard Falk Princeton University 16Lisa Anderson Columbia University 16 Even if all the IR professors put their votes together in some kind of grand alliance, they would be relatively powerless...

Last week, Prime Minister Tony Blair told the BBC he thought that his government had "won the argument" about its identity card plan. The House of Lords voted overwhelmingly in late January to make any plan voluntary, but the House of Commons voted last week to compel people applying for passports to obtain the new biometric cards.Despite Blair's proclamation of victory, it is clear that his government continues to encounter opposition. While the cards are being sold as a means to prevent fraud, illegal immigration, organized crime and terrorism, the House of Commons also voted last week to...

Marxist turned right-winger David Horowitz's latest book is The Professors: The 101 Most Dangerous Academics in America (Regnery Publishing Inc.). I'm not going to link to that book, but I will refer readers to a complete list of the professors, unadorned with Horowitz's text, that was posted on the lbo-talk listserv (that's Left Business Observer).I tip my hat (or duck bill, whatever seems appropriate) to Chris at Explananda), for noting that Princeton scholar of international politics Richard Falk is among those listed. Chris didn't note that Cornell's Matthew Evangelista is also on the...

I'm a couple of days late, but please allow me to followup Bill's post about the King funeral controversy and the excellent discussion in the comment thread. I did some data-mining of whitehouse.gov and found President Bush's eulogy of Ronald Reagan, at the National Cathedral on June 11, 2004. Notice any self-serving political rhetoric here? The clarity and intensity of Ronald Reagan's convictions led to speaking engagements around the country, and a new following he did not seek or expect. He often began his speeches by saying, "I'm going to talk about controversial things." And then he...

The world inched closer to confrontation with Iran today, but it is not yet clear what will happen next. One huge problem for security analysts is the question of Iran's motives. Would Iranian want to pass a bomb to terrorists, use one or more against great powers, or perhaps versus Israel? Patrick has argued in an academic work with Ronald Krebs that scholars, at least, cannot discern states' motives. He notes that Hans Morgenthau agreed with this position, though the typical realist response to this dilemma is for national policy elites to make worst-case assumptions about the motives (and...

Like Bill, I'm willing to speculate about the content of tonight's "State of the Union" address. However, allow me to guess about what won't be discussed. I'm willing to conjecture that President Bush will ignore a globally crucial issue that close ally Tony Blair considers one of his "top priorities." Monday, the British government released Avoiding Dangerous Climate Change, a book outlining the official findings from the Avoiding Dangerous Climate Change conference, held at the Meteorological Office last February, at the start of the UK's G8 Presidency.Tony Blair wrote these opening words...

I was going through some of last week's dead tree editions of the NY Times and found this in the January 19 edition:Six former heads of the Environmental Protection Agency, including five who served Republican presidents, said Wednesday that the Bush administration needed to act more aggressively to limit the emission of greenhouse gases linked to climate change.Speaking on a panel that also included the current agency chief, Stephen L. Johnson, they generally agreed that the need to address global warming was growing urgent and that the continuing debate over what percentage of the problem...

This headline today on Yahoo (from AP) made me laugh out loud: "U.S.: Venezuela Overspending on Military."And we were just discussing this kind of American hypocrisy. Venezuela is planning a "buying spree" for military equipment that goes beyond the country's legitimate needs, the State Department said Friday.In recent days, the United States has sought to block proposed sales of military planes and other equipment to Venezuela by Spain and Brazil.The transactions are part of what "we would consider an outsized military buildup in Venezuela," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack...