Over the last few weeks there has been quite a bit of hand-wringing over China’s rare earth elements monopoly. For those unfamiliar with the subject, rare earths are a group of 17 elements that can be found together in bastnasite and monazite deposits. Rare earths are necessary to create a wide range of products: cell […]
These two gems were posted this week over at American Creation, the blogosphere’s best American history blog. They are worth sharing.
I consider it a great blessing to live in an age where it is possible to read within minutes of their publication the words of men and women who live thousands of miles away. The internet allows the unparalleled opportunity to understand the narratives of peoples world over – and in real time. I pity […]
Today I ran across Louis Menard’s review of Philip Tetlock’s book Expert Political Judgment: How Good Is It? How Do We Now? The bulk of Dr. Tetlock’s book concerns a 18 year experiment designed to test the forecasting skills of pundits and analysts. Having gathered some 284 experts in international politics, he asked them to […]
Philip Klein of the American Spectator explains why: Republican’s Fiscal Fantasyland Philip Klein. American Spectator. 10 October 2010. Republican candidates will discuss the need to cut waste from the budget vaguely while ruling out cuts to entitlements and defense spending. To demonstrate how absurd this is, I put together this pie chart breaking down the […]
Over the last two weeks a few posts deserving wider dissemination have been published by Nick Nielson (“Geopolicraticus”) on his blog Grand Strategy: the View From Oregon. I recommend that those interested in political philosophy and related topics give these posts a quick look. On social contracts, written and unwritten: Fairness and the Social Contract […]
This week the Nobel Prize Committee awarded the Nobel Peace Prize to Liu Xinbao, Charter ’08 author and Chinese dissident. The Chinese Communist Party did not take this news well. Blog-friend Zenpundit offers the following reflections: China is Vulnerable to 4GW and 5GW Mark Safranski (“Zenpundit”). Zenpundit.com. 11 October 2010. The Chinese government’s hamfisted and […]
It is one of James Madison’s best known sayings: “Of all the enemies to public liberty, war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded because it comprises and develops the germ of every other.” As these words get dragged into the public discourse fairly often it is useful to know the context in which they […]
Two months ago I called attention to Selig Harrison’s claim in a New York Times op-ed that 7,000 Chinese soldiers had been stationed in Gilgit-Balochistan, the Pakistani-controlled section of Kashmir. This week the Pakistani branch of the International Herald Tribune, the Express Tribune, published a forceful riposte to Mr. Harrison’s claims: The Great Media Game […]
A collection of articles, essays, and blog post of merit. THE REPUBLIC Taxes and Presidential Math Veronique de Rugy. The American. 5 October 2010. Mr. de Rugy presents the best graphic of the month: Tip of the Hat to John Kranz of ThreeSources. Social Cohesion and the Bohemian Grove: the Power Elite at Summer Camp […]
