A collection of articles, essays, and blog post of merit.
A lot of good material has been published this week. I am a bit on the busy side, so the usual long winded responses will be replaced in favor of one-sentence summaries.
THE REPUBLIC
New York Times. 9 June 2009.
A useful graphic, explaining the source of America’s deficits with one clear image. It ends in 2009, and thus does not include projected deficits for the future. (H/T Fabius Maximus).
GRAND STRATEGY
Nick Nielson (“Geopoliticratus”). Grand Strategy: The View From Oregon. 9 May 2010.
An operative definition for Grand Strategy on the longue duree.
“Joseph Fouche”. The Committee of Public Safety. 9 May 2010.
JF successfully synthesizes a great number of intelligent ideas and concepts in his search for the American way of strategy. (I recommend that those pressed for time skim his dialogue between the two British officers – it is longer than it needs to be.)
NATIONAL SECURITY ARCHITECTURE
“Galhran.” Information Dissemination. 5 May 2010.
If it is your desire to help determine U.S. Naval policy on the grand scale, now is the time to start publishing.
‘Texas in Africa’. Texas in Africa. 5 May 2010.
How to make development aid work: stop aiding people and start empowering them.
INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS
‘Pragmatic Euphony’. Pragmatic Euphony: Indian National Interest Blogs. 4 May 2010
The Indians are not happy with the outcome of the recent U.S.-Pakistani strategic dialogue, hence open speculation on ways to split up the ties between Pakistan and the United States from a respectable Indian source. Sooner or later we are going to have to choose a side and stick to it — India cannot afford to let the United States’ inadvertent attempts to erode its strategic position go unchallenged, and we are fools for thinking otherwise.
Economist. 6 May 2010.
Solid reporting from the Economist on the challenges internal migration poses to the CCP.
Aadisht Khanna. The Stereotypist. 1 May 2010.
What Panchatantra fables can tell us about international finance. (H/T The Acorn).
Antoly Karlin. Sublime Oblivion. 10 May 2010.
A look inside the modern Russian mind.
Tobias Rapp, Christian Schwägerl and Gerald Traufetter. Der Speigal. 5 May 2010.
Readers will remember that I wrote an extensive breakdown of the Copenhagen conference on climate change shortly after the conference took place. Back then I only had access to the post-conference statements issued by diplomats, reporters, and other attendees and draft documents leaked to the media during the conference. Now other material is slowly starting to leak into the public sphere – most notably a video of the Bella Center meeting between the session’s most important heads of state. The portions of the video thusfar published by Der Speigal are in complete alignment with my earlier assessment; hopefully the magazine will release an unedited version of the video online soon.
DOMESTIC POLITICS
John Sides. The Monkey Cage. 6 May 2010.
A Princeton PhD student has developed a metric for measuring the “maverickness” of American congressmen. The Monkey Cage uses it to evaluate a few prominent politicians.
Mark Lilla. The New York Review of Books. 7 May 2010.
Still wrapping my head around this one. I think it is pretty close to the truth, however. (H/T Fabius Maximus.)
HISTORY
Ben Abbot. American Creation. May 5 2010.
On the influence Adam Smith did (and did not) have on the political economy of the founding, particularly as espoused by James Madison.
Antoly Karlin. Sublime Oblivion. 5 May 2010.
Three men who successfully predicted the duration and intensity of the First World War, the type of weapons with which it would be fought, or the make up of the war’s alliance structure.
Brian Tubbs. American Revolution & Founding Blog. 7 May 2010.
Ben Franklin proposed that the Continental Army adopt the use of bow and arrows to save money.
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