Oh Noes!!! Image credit: Tyrone Siu/Reuters Tracking vaccine scares in Africa. Edward Hugh on Abenomics. Paul Krugman's New York Review of Books essay on austerity features Mark Blyth's Austerity: The History of a Dangerous Idea (via). Some additional reflections on Kenneth Waltz and his ideas from Rajesh Rajagopalan, Robert Farley, and Michael Desch. Mark Kersten slams the ICC's website. Kelly Strøm: "How Syria Ruined Marc Lynch's Spring." Tom Pepinsky considers the possibility of an "authoritarian data advantage." Jay Ulfelder does TEDx. Footnoting Florida Polytechnic University's...

I've been deficient in serving your delicious, piping-hot links. I apologize. And to make matters worse, I have a very small selection of links today. But you can take solace in knowing that these are hand-crafted, artisanal links--the type of linkage that would make Henry Kissinger envious. The worst restaurant in America. Yes, this is a link to an episode of Kitchen Nightmares, but you'll find it gripping. Much like the owners of Amy's Baking Company in the Kitchen Nightmares episode above, is upset with its rankings. The PRC is trying to get the World Bank to cease ranking countries by...

Here's you linkage (...in case you're still trying to avoid grading...) Manan Ahmed of Chapati Mystery fame has an op-ed in the New York Times on Pakistan's Tyrannical Majority. Praveen Swami asks whether it really matters to India who is the Prime Minister of Pakistan? Fahad Deshmukh did a wonderful little piece on Pakistan's election symbols. (Vote Bucket!) Shaik Ubaid argues that Bangladesh is heading for a religious civil war ever since a war crimes trial was politicized. Olga Khazan examines the collective action problem and charging a quarter per garment to improve worker safety in...

  More on the question of Red Lines.  I asked so what?  John Mueller wants them erased.  Malfrid Braut-Hegghammar wants them enforced. Must read from Dexter Filkins on Obama administration's thinking on Syria . Tom Ricks sees some wisdom in the lessons from Iraq on Syria. Steve Walt applauds the administration's buck passing. Zbigniew Brzezinski argues intervention will make things worse. Daniel Serwer on how Syria is affecting Iraq. Colin Kahl and Marc Lynch look toward "progressive engagement" after the Arab uprisings. Seeing the glass half-full in Pakistan. and.... Given the...

I don't know whether to feel horribly manipulated, simply appreciate the nerd-fest humor, or both. Andrew Philips on the new Australian Defense White Paper. Dan Trombly on the efficacy of US intervention in Syria. Jay Ulfelder wants to restrict our use of the term "state" to, as best as I can tell, sovereign-territorial entities. His intentions are good--break unilinear understandings of state (trans)formation--but his methods are wrong: they simply re-inscribe an association between "state" and the Weberian ideal type of the "modern state." Marc Lynch on anti-Americanism in the Arab world....

Good morning ducks!  Here's your update from District 12... Kalpona Aktar just wants you to know who is making your clothes. Myra MacDonald argues that the TTP has a plan to influence the elections and the people do not.  The "bewildering bloodbath" will go on and the only way to keep track is to count the dead children. These photos make the exercise of biopower seem so clean and clinical. Jean Valjean is living below the poverty line again ... for a week. Is this classified as democracy promotion in the budget? Niraja Jayal unpacks concepts of citizenship. A new translation of Manik...

  Red lines or red lights on Syria?  It's not just about Syria. What if the Tsarnaevs had been shooters instead of bombers? Playing out academic feuds in the press...Reinhart and Rogoff respond. Fodder for PTJ:  What do scientifc studies tell us? Very persuasive:  I spent three hours yesterday on the tarmac at O'Hare delayed by an FAA furlough hold as a result of sequestration -- passed the time reading Mark Blyth's Austerity: The History of a Dangerous Idea -- scathing rebuke of neoliberalism. If you are keeping score, Spain's unemployment just topped 27% -- 6 million -- with more...

The difference between pets in Diablo III and Torchlight II. Blah blah blah Game of Thrones blah blah credible commitments blah blah blah prisoners' dilemma. Taylor Fravel says that China hasn't abandoned no-first use. Pavel Podvig demolishes "SDI ended the Cold War" claptrap. Key graf: "The evolution of the Soviet attitudes toward SDI suggests that the main factor that contributed to the ending the confrontation of the Cold War was the willingness of the United States and the Soviet Union to engage in a dialogue on reduction of their nuclear forces. The only result that the SDI program was...