Greetings from Toronto. In advance of tonight's OAIS blogging awards gathering at 7:15pm in Sheraton Ballroom C, the Duck non-collective collective got together for a pre-soiree soiree. Â Folks were in good from. For many of us, it was the first chance for us to ever...
According to economist Sylvia Ann Hewlett, "gender smarts" were key to ending the recent congressional deadlock. She argues: "Unlocking gridlock in government, it turns out, depends on precisely the...
Yay, pointless self-inflicted global catastrophe avoided. In between all the gnashing of teeth about whether the United States Congress would act to forestall a default on the country's national...
The shutdown continues to dominate the day's news.Resolution still seems distant. Last week, US Treasury Department Secretary Jack Lew reminded the Senate that extraordinary measures used to cope...
Good mornin' ducks...  Here's some linkage you might want to read (on stuff other than the NSA)... The IMF admitted to violating its own rules to bailout Greece and that the austerity program which accompanied the bailout did not restore market confidence. The housing bubble in America is back with a vengeance as bidding wars are heating up in the major urban markets.  I think we know where this story goes next...  But wait, where is this cold hard cash coming from? At least some of it is from China. The US imprisons 430,000 people each year on immigration charges (with several hundred kept...
Comet vs. Sun. Letting go of Mandela (via). Putting the DoD civilian workforce in perspective. Chinese grand strategy. Music, social movements, the body, and emotions. Some NSA stuff: Drezner, Levinson-Waldman, Lemieux. And: How economists aren't physicians. Adversity and affinity in MMORPGs.
The PRISM slides: Â two nice touches you may have missed (Someone put some real thought into presentation -- this is not your grandparents' NSC-68): Top secret, code word, art work. Â There's a special seal for "Special Source Operations" that has an eagle lifting a bundled globe -- very impressive; and, Great product placement -- special advertising in a top secret document. Â The slides prominently feature the companies' trademarked logos in the header. But, I wonder if this drew NSA analysts to the products or away from them? Â I'd like to see the market research on this one. Steve Walt asks...
Ok, last week, I mentioned with anticipation how much I was looking forward to Game of Thrones. Little did I know it was the Red Wedding episode. I've looked for lighter fare stories this week and only sometimes does the world oblige. On the hopeful side of things, here is some good news: A look back at the millions of lives saved through PEPFAR: 10 years later A photographer captured all of the rare birds of paradise species in Papua New Guinea The EU moves to curb overfishing with lower quotas: enforcement and removal of subsidies still key A new cheap vinegar test can help cut cervical...
Happy Wednesday, everyone! Is Turkey a democracy? Jay Ulfelder is skeptical [Dart-Throwing Chimps] A more optimistic take on Turkey. [Suffragio] Dan Drezner properly criticizes two foreign policy missteps by the Obama administration, including news that Michelle Obama won't attend the PRC-USA summit. Given PRC First Lady Peng Liyuan's successes abroad, this seems like another in a seemingly long line of administration diplomatic misfires. [Daniel Drezner] Forget immigration reform. Are you really surprised? [Kevin Drum] What the age of Rice and Power means for U.S. foreign policy....
Good morning Ducks.  Hope your summer is off to a good start.  Here are some links to start off your week... Joshua Foust argues that a technology ban on lethal autonomous weapons systems (e.g. autonomous drones) will not work.  (I agree but then again I am putting all of my money down on the ED-209 cleaning up Detroit.) Ahsan Butt says there's not enough historical empirics taught in grad school.  In particular, he asserts that a sanitized version of war is taught to IR graduate students.  (I know Phil Arena would disagree, but I think Ahsan has a point.) Guam and Hawaii?  China needs to...
Elvis Duck because I'll be drinking Bourbon in Memphis tomorrow night. Julien Barnes-Dacey and Daniel Levy want de-escalation, not more arms for Syria Unintended consequences? The Syrian conflict has been good for American-Turkish relations. An "ancient" U.S. weapon makes an appearance in Syrian fighting:  the M40. A new Gallup Poll:  64% of Americans say the US shouldn't use military force in Syria if diplomatic efforts fail to end the conflict. Oops.  John McCain posed for a nice picture....with Syrian rebels accused of kidnapping Lebanese Shiites. ht: Taylor Marvin. Sven Biscop...
If you are like me, you are pining for your next installment of Game of Thrones (and the Memorial Day week off was cruel, though not as cruel as the torment we have seen of late). In the meantime, I give you your weekly dose of Thursday Morning Dinklage. Top stories this week: Steve Walt puts the flawed but necessary peer review process in perspective Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb's letter to oft-dead Mokhtar Belmokhtar for his unwillingness to be a good team player has been translated and is a classic (I sense a new Sahel version of The Office) Belmokhtar's group pulls off some new...