A collection of articles, essays, and blog post of merit. TOP BILLING: Haiti, Disaster Sociology, Elite Panic, and LootingGary Peterson. Resilience Science. 2010 January 30. This is one of the more compelling defenses of decentralization to be found under 2,000 words. Looking at disaster situations, Mr. Peterson does not find the disorder and chaos of […]
Category Archives: COIN
Notes From All Over (05/7/2010).
A collection of articles, essays, and blog post of merit. THE REPUBLIC The Polarization of Job Opportunities in the U.S. Labor Market: Implications for Employment and Earnings David Autor. Center for American Progress. April 2010. In Law Schools, Grades Go Up, Just Like That Catherine Rampell. New York Times. 21 June 2010. Financial Revolving Doors: […]
Notes From All Over 13/06/2010
A collection of articles, essays, and blog post of merit. As I have spent much of the last two weeks away from the blogosphere, this one is a bit smaller than usual. THE REPUBLIC Commentator’s DiseaseFred Reed. Fred on Everything. 11 June 2010. Mr. Reed identifies what is perhaps the greatest flaw of our pundit […]
We are Losing This War, and Nobody Gives a Wit
The following words were written earlier this night by the editors of War News Updates. I copy them here without alteration. Afghanistan: The Forgotten War “Brookyards.” War News Updates. 13 May 2010. WNU Editor: In one email, Michael Yon has summarized what I have been trying to say for the past few years …. we […]
I’m With Crazy
This week has not been a pleasant one for Hamid Karzai. Following an embarrassing outburst where he declared, among other things, βI might join the Talibanβ, Western media outlets have kept up a steady barrage of open editorials lampooning the President. Foreign Policy, Slate, Small War Journal, The Weekly Standard, the Huffington Post, and Politico […]
The Roots of the Naxal Insurgency
Last month Arundhati Roy published an incredible piece of investigative journalism in The Guardian. Roy spent more than a week “embedded” with Naxal insurgents in Chhattisgarh and her piece is a rare window into the hidden world of India’s Maoist insurgency. I heavily recommend that all readers with an interest in international insurgencies or Indian […]
COIN, Meet Democracy (And Your Doom)
It seems that the blogosphere has gone and blown itself up again. The catalyst this time around was a stellar (some have called it ‘epochal‘) essay-post by the ever erudite and timely Zenpundit, Mark Sanfranski. Zen has received much praise here in the past, and his latest tour de force does not disappoint. Titled, “The […]
Strategic Blinders
A question: Why is it that when one of India’s more influential English-language policy journals devotes an entire issue towards “stepping up in Afghanistan”, nobody in the rest of the English speaking world notices? India’s role in the region means something, right? Now, the Indian Army quickly shot the idea down, but I find it […]
When Speculation Becomes Reality
Several months ago I wrote a post speculating on possible policy responses for the United States if Al Qaeda lodged itself into Yemen’s insurgency. In an attempt to instigate discussion on the matter (a goal that appears to have failed), the post included the following questions: If a terror network were to establish itself in […]
Naxalism: A Short Introduction to India’s Scariest Security Challenge
Prime Minister Mahoman Singh has called them “the single biggest security challenge ever faced by our country”. Fourteen Indian states are struggling to battle the insurgency waged by their 20,000 fighters. Over the last three years some 2,600 people have died by their hands. These are the Naxalites, the source of India’s scariest security challenge. […]