Cross-posted on The Conjecturer.
Defense
- Ms. Boyd takes a look at President Bush’s self-declared power to confiscate the property of anyone who aids the Iraq insurgency. She asks a very cogent question: what about Afghanistan? In fact, one could be forgiven for thinking we’re ignoring Afghanistan at our own peril… a constant worry I have, one painfully evident in all my frustrated writing on the topic.
- David Axe shows why the F-22 is such a waste: not only is stealth not really needed in an air-superiority fighter (we’re decades away from even the possibility of fighting against a technologically comparable foe), but most of the advanced fighter’s advantages are really in its avionics. Which means F-15s can be made stunningly more effective by upgrading their computers… which is what I’ve been saying all along.
- What does China’s new submarine mean? We don’t know yet. But I do wonder what they’re planning with their blue water fleet, and what that might mean for the future of our own strategic planning—might we trigger a self-fulfilling prophesy and cause conflict? Is it inevitable? Or are we worrying ourselves sick over nothing? Opinion is fairly evenly—and conclusively, if that makes sense—split over this in military and academic circles.
- It only took half a decade for the Army to realize we’re fighting an info war against Islamist crazies. Maybe by the time I retire they will have figured out you can’t dissuade suicidal crazies with the conventional global strike program, but you just might antagonize otherwise not-hostile countries into developing additional ballistic and nuclear assets.
- A bomber will lead the way in replacing the AC-130. Very cool. I think. I didn’t know the AC-130 needed replacing?
Around the World
- Months ago, I complained about how much I can’t stand reading the Instapundit’s writing on foreign policy—which I highly suggest reading for further context to the point I’m about to make. Under a link called “China addresses its Muslim insurgency,” the Instapundit links to this terrible post that tries to draw a connection between the Uighur tension in Xinjiang and the actions against Chinese citizens in Pakistan. Aside from there not being much evidence for it…yeargh. What a terrible blog, and what a great reason never to read the Instapundit again. May he grow up some day to look at the world with eyes unclouded by hate.
- Juan Cole did something useful: a variant of Informed Content that actually has legit experts (like Barnett Rubin, who should be one’s first stop when looking for high-quality scholarship on Afghanistan) talking about their areas of expertise. The most recent contribution on Pakistan’s judicial wranglings, by Manan Ahmed, is worth digging into. There is little hope for Musharraf lasting the year; I worry about what will come after.
- Oooh, St. Petersburg held a high heel race. Considering this involved women, Russian women at that, I suppose all you straight boys are perfectly content to stare at the awkward amblings and absurdly high heels. Of course, it couldn’t hope to compare with the two decades of drag races in the DC, in which men of all shapes, sizes, colors, and sexualities put on terrible drag costumes (with heels!) and race along 17th street. Then again, this was its first year; maybe, unlike DC’s drag race, which has developed its own cult following, the St. Petersburg can get sponsorship from, like, Manolo or something.
- Turkey holds elections, remains a functioning country. Maybe there’s a lesson in there for other Muslim states…
- In his 2003 book on Russia, Black Earth (which I am now reading and enjoying quite immensely), Andrew Meier says that Moscow was built to an inhuman scale, a city designed from the ground-up to make mere humans feel pitiful and insignificant. Looking at Moscow during the USSR’s height in the 60′s and 70′s, you really do get that sense: this was not a city designed for community, for locality. It is a stark contract from New York, or DC, or most other cities I can think of with firmly established local communities.
- Joshua Kucera not only shares my name, but my dream to travel, slowly, from Turkey to Beijing—retracing the Silk Road, as it were. He is in Turkmenistan for now, posting dispatches to Eurasia.net. I have to confess to a very deep-seated jealousy at his trip… I would give up many things in my life for the chance to echo it, even if I were left at the end with nothing else to do. Might I be warming up for a sabbatical? Maybe, in several years.
Back at Home
- OMG We’re SAVED! The victory caucus is back! Because nothing says “firm grip on reality” like U.S. government news sources and narrowly-filtered blogs!
- P.S. sorry, I couldn’t help it, but the very idea of a “victory caucus,” when even most supporters of the war aren’t angling for victory (but rather a non-defeat, which is a key distinction I feel) is terribly silly to me.
- Will Condi go Powell’s way and peddle her services like a used car salesman? I hope not. For one, she has useful classroom and scholarship experience—I would hope she’d be snatched up by a reputable think tank (or maybe Georgetown, which has developed a reputation for hiring as many State officials as it can). I am also disappointed by her tenure as SecState—ignoring the many diplomatic failures she’s endured (which I suspect has more to do with the Bush/Cheney hostility to diplomacy than Condi’s lack of capability), her reorganization of the Department, something for which I held such high hopes, has been forgotten back in the halcyon days of 2005.
- Jesse Walker, in a way, shows why I love Netflix—while I can’t check right now to see if that crazy old Soviet movie is on there, their vast selection of rare and foreign movies is a big reason why I continue to shell out money for movies I can’t watch nearly as often as I used to.