Via security analyst Sylvia Longmire’s excellent blog Mexico’s Drug War: Border Violence Analysis comes one of the most unsettling news stories of 2010: Ciudad Mier evacuates after Zetas threaten to kill residents The Monitor. 9 November 2010. CIUDAD MIER, Tamps. — Hundreds of families have fled this Pueblo Magico amid reported death threats from drug […]
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 […]
Boz (of Blogging by Boz) is perhaps my favorite Latin American hand publishing on the internet. This week he turned my attention to the violence that is wracking Venezuela. Writes Boz: Censurado 2 “Boz”. Bloggings by Boz. 20 August 2010. El Nacional reports that a government report from the National Institute for Statistics shows 19,133 […]
A collection of articles, essays, and blog post of merit. THE REPUBLIC American Murder Mystery Hannah Rosen Atlantic Magazine. July 2008. Over the last decade crime rates in New York, Los Angeles, Miami, and Chicago have all shrunk. A great American success story? Not quite. While the crime rates of the big cities fell, […]
Last month I published a piece detailing the cover up that followed the sinking of the ROKS Cheonan. The evidence at the time was clear: the Cheonan had been sunk by a North Korean torpedo and the South Korean government was desperately trying to keep this story away from the news stands. To this end […]
Earlier this week Sublime Oblivion linked to a smart quantitative breakdown posted over at the Russian Strategic Forces Blog concerning the new START treaty. Included was this useful table: RUSSIA July 2009 Old START 2010Actualoperationally deployed launches (total launchers) ca. 2020New STARToperationally deployed launchers (total launchers)[estimate] ca. 2020New START warheads[estimate] ICBMs SS-25 176 171 SS-27 […]
South Korean navy ship sinks near sea border with NorthBBC News. 26 March 2010. About 40 sailors are missing after a South Korean navy ship sank near the border with North Korea, Yonhap news agency said citing military officials. The patrol vessel, with 104 people aboard, sank after an unexplained explosion tore through its hull. […]
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 […]
Obama Addresses Nation as Military Offensive in Yemen BeginsScott Rayman. New York Times. 10 January 2011. WASHINGTON (REUTERS) — American forces unleashed a punishing air attack Sunday against military targets and Al-Qaeda camps inside Yemen, striking at terrorists blamed for the Black Friday attacks that murdered hundreds of Americans across the American Southwest. “The perpetrators […]
TOP BILLING: An Analysis of Mitigation as a Response to Climate ChangeRichard SJ Tol. Copenhagen Consensus Center. 14 August 2009. Climate change costs: Too much is not enough.Katie Mackenzie. FT Energy Source. 14 August 2009. The Copenhagen Consensus Center has published the most important report related to climate change I have seen in a year. […]
