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Author Archives: Joshua Foust
Woops.
Geography, people: Aug. 25 (Bloomberg) — Prime Minister Kevin Rudd sent extra diplomatic and police officials to west Africa to help investigate the kidnapping in Somalia of a group of reporters, including an Australian photojournalist. “We have deployed additional staff … Continue reading
US Out by 2011?
To celebrate the news that the u.S. has possibly negotiated a full withdrawal from Iraq by 2011, here is Kids in the Hall’s Buddy Cole on his romance in Baghdad.
How Blogs Failed the War in Georgia
Columbia Journalism Review asked me to write an essay criticizing blogger coverage of the War in Georgia. As I’m sure you can imagine, I was scathing. While this wasn’t necessarily surprising—after all, these blogs all talk in a big circle, … Continue reading
Quote of the Day
Surely, some of our terms for peace will have to be modified to correspond to new realities on the ground and to achieve our ultimate ends, which are security for the Kosovars and peace and stability in the Balkans. Genuine … Continue reading
Posted in Election 2008, Foreign affairs
Tagged Georgia, Kosovo, McCain, separatism, use of force
6 Comments
Hey, Remember that One Time Some of You Made Fun of Me for Saying that Georgia Wouldn’t Be Occupied?
Exactly. Now, as for Lee’s latest… Let’s just say I’ll be shocked if Saakashvili lasts the year.
Posted in Foreign affairs
Tagged Georgia, Joshua Foust, Lee, occupation, Russia, Saakashvili, treaties, truce, war
7 Comments
When There’s Nothing Left to Burn You Have to Set Yourself on Fire
Sorry for my absenteeism on this, guys, but I’ve barely had the time to write on Registan.net about the war in Georgia (seriously, go there for some really in-depth discussions about what is going on), and have simply neglected copying … Continue reading
Posted in Foreign affairs
Tagged absenteeism, blowback, Brussels, BTC pipeline, Caspian Sea, caucasus, conflict, Europe, Fidel Castro, frozen conflicts, Georgia, Medvedev, Moscow, NATO, policy, Putin, Registan, Russia, Saakashvili, separatism, South Ossetia, strategy, Tblisi, territorialism, Tskhinvali, war, western
9 Comments
Give This Man A Medal
Some of the poeple here have poked fun at me for decrying the militarization of U.S. foreign policy, calling me either naive or stupid for claiming it sends a distorted picture of America to the world. Well, I guess that … Continue reading
Posted in Around the Web
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Surreal Video of the Day
Feist, the glorious female vocalist from Broken Social Scene who went solo and got her song in an iPod commercial, recently made an appearance on Sesame Street: I don’t know if it’s creepy or not, but it is most definitely … Continue reading
Support Citizen’s Media: A Challenge Grant
Official friend-of-Registan.net Sean-Paul Kelley, of The Agonist fame, has set forth an offer I simply cannot refuse: He is willing to pitch in $1000, if I can raise the remainder of my costs for going to Afghanistan August 22. That … Continue reading
Counterintuiting the FATA
Posted first at Registan.net, the web’s best source of news and analysis of Central Asia and the Caucasus. My friend Jeb Koogler and I co-wrote an op-ed in Thursday’s Christian Science Monitor, titled, “Myths in Al Qaeda’s ‘home’.” This matters … Continue reading
Posted in Foreign affairs, Josh's Page, Media, regulation
Tagged FATA, myths, NWFP, Pakistan, policy, US foreign policy
1 Comment
The Khyber Pass: A History of Empire & Invasion, by Paddy Docherty
This book was written entirely in the passive voice. The passive voice was used to avoid assigning causation or personhood to various events. As a result, we learn that places were invaded, people were slaughtered, armies were founded, but no … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Foreign affairs
Tagged Afghanistan, Books, Central Asia, History, Iran, Pakistan
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Putting My Money Where My Mouth Is
Blogging can bring about some amazing opportunities. Through my involvement with Global Voices I’ve had the opportunity to meet some extraordinary people working very hard for the basic right to speak their minds—something I routinely take for granted. It is … Continue reading
What’s A Legal Arms Deal Anyway?
There are times when I’m kind of ashamed to work in the military-industrial complex: Former congressman Curt Weldon is helping broker deals between Russian and Ukranian weapons suppliers and the Iraqi and Libyan governments as part of his new job … Continue reading
Posted in Domestic Politics, Notes on the war
Tagged arms, black markets, congressman weldon, corruption, military, proliferation
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The Hated Become the Hateful
Jesse Helms has died today. And I have lost track of the number of gay friends who have written me congratulatory or celebratory emails and IMs. It really is terrible—yes, the man opposed our right to an equal stake in … Continue reading
Posted in Domestic Politics, Josh's Page, Society
Tagged gay rights, in memoriam, jesse helms
1 Comment
Russia’s Long Descent Into Madness: Putin’s Russia by Anna Politkovskaya, and Putin’s Labyrinth by Steve LeVine
Over the last ten years, Russia has emerged from one of the unfortunate victims of the 1998 financial crisis to become a strong, almost fearsomely assertive country. Much of this is thanks to Vladimir Putin, a man who has won … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Foreign affairs
Tagged Anna Politkovskaya, Autocracy, Books, Reviews, Russia, Soviet, Steve LeVine
2 Comments
Ignoring Chad
David Axe writes on one of the world’s biggest ignored crises—right next door to the much more hip, much more visible crisis in Darfur. The Central African Republic has been spiraling into conflict, forcing over 60,000 people into refugee camps… … Continue reading
Marriage Defenders Unite!
It is telling that some of the most outspoken anti-gay Republicans out there, who attach their name to anti-gay marriage amendments no less, are tranny bottoms, cruisy sluts, and whore-mongers. Not that there is anything fundamental to Republican Christian conservatism … Continue reading
Posted in Around the Web
Tagged buttsecks, david vitter, gay marriage, hookers, hypocrites, larry craig, Republicans, russ curtis, trannies
1 Comment
GVO Summit: The Power of Organized Utopianism
One of the subtextual themes coming out of the conference so far is what can almost be called a double-standard: the participants demand the right to unrestricted speech, but recoil in horror at the consequences such speech brings. It is … Continue reading
Posted in Foreign affairs, Media, regulation
Tagged activisim, Budapest, censorship, conference, freedom, Global Voices Online, human rights, speech
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Global Voices Online Citizen’s Media Summit 08
Hey everybody. First off, Budapest is a great city! We’re about to start the GVO meting, which is focusing mostly on net censorship. Considering my other blog, Registan.net, is definitely blocked in Uzbekistan, and quite possibly elsewhere, this matters tremendously, … Continue reading
Posted in Foreign affairs, Media
Tagged Budapest, censorship, Global Voices Online, summit 08
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Hungary Hungary Hippies
Pic: simplistic political activism at the Blaha Lujla metro stop in Central Budapest. My own thoughts on the matter are here. And no, Michael, the Gellert baths were not as molest-y as you made them out to be. Rather, the … Continue reading
I’m Leaving
But not forevs. Tomorrow I hope on a plane and fly to Budapest, Hungary, for a well-deserved break from the grunt and grind of every day. At the tail end of the week, I shall be attending the Global Voices … Continue reading
Posted in Blogs, Foreign affairs, Josh's Page, Travel
Tagged advocacy, bloggers, blogging, Budapest, Global Voices Online, Josh, Media, summit, Travel
4 Comments
Because Who Really Needs Evidence Anyway?
Unbelievable: The Motion Picture Association of America said Friday intellectual-property holders should have the right to collect damages, perhaps as much as $150,000 per copyright violation, without having to prove infringement. “Mandating such proof could thus have the pernicious effect … Continue reading
I Like Pirates
Allow me a moment of selfish promotion. One of my best friends, Mike, got his “band” profiled at NPR, where they’re going on about how easy it is to make music these days with these kids and their laptops. It’s … Continue reading
Did We Ever Escape the Nineties?
Yo Yo, a flash in the pan empowered-but-sexless female rapper (try selling that today), got her big break by teaming up with Ice Cube on her 1991 debut Make Way for the Motherlode. Why, here she is, being so early-90′s … Continue reading
Paglia on Rush
Meanwhile, conservative talk radio, which I have been following with interest for almost 20 years, has become a tornado alley of hallucinatory holograms of Obama. He’s a Marxist! A radical leftist! A hater of America! He’s “not that bright”; he … Continue reading
Fashion Is Cheap
How remarkable: As luxury fashion has become more expensive, mainstream apparel has become markedly less so. Today, shoppers pay the same price for a basic Brooks Brothers men’s suit, $598, as they did in 1998. The suggested retail price of … Continue reading
(Relatively) Measuring Success
This is the most recent of a series of posts on Registan.net where I explore some of the fundamentals of conflict within the tribal areas of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. At the end of this post is a link to the … Continue reading
Posted in Foreign affairs, Military Matters, Notes on the war
Tagged AAF, Afghanistan, COIN, conflict, fundamentals, metrics, propaganda, Success, Taliban, Terrorism, war
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What’s Good Enough for Fallujah Is Good Enough For DC
One of the strongest arguments against current COIN doctrine has been made by the anonymous blogger Fabius Maximus—namely, that if we are so great at engineering societies we can write a slim manual about it, why haven’t we done so … Continue reading
Her Tenure Was a Monumental Failure
Isn’t it great when our Chief Diplomat doesn’t really see the need for diplomacy?
From the Horse’s Mouth, So To Speak
Today, the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights and Oversight heard testimony from Sheikh Khalaf al-Ulayyan of the Sunni Accordance Front and Nadim al-Jaberi of the Shiite (and anti-Moqtada, anti-Maliki) Fadhila Party. Both oppose a long-term presence … Continue reading
Posted in Foreign affairs, Notes on the war
Tagged COIN, congress, Iraq, testimony, the surge
2 Comments
Because Aren’t All Insurgencies the Same?
Bret Stephens of the Wall Street Journal is a frustrating columnist. In April he made the head scratching argument that Khost province in Afghanistan, which has, along with the rest of RC-East, experienced a 36% jump in insurgent attacks over … Continue reading
Posted in Foreign affairs
Tagged Afghanistan, Colombia, FARC, Iraq, ltte, military, Sadr, sadr militia, sri lanka, tamil tigers, wsj, WTF
2 Comments
Michelle Malkin and I Have Something in Common
We both hate Rachel Ray and hipster scarves: Does Dunkin’ Donuts really think its customers could mistake Rachael Ray for a terrorist sympathizer? The Canton-based company has abruptly canceled an ad in which the domestic diva wears a scarf that … Continue reading
Posted in Domestic Politics
Tagged Celebretards, dummies, fashion, keffiyeh, Michelle Malkin
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Negotiation Is Scary
I’m no fan of Obama—his social programs are enough to make him a no-go in my book—but much of the hoopla over things like his foreign policy are ludicrous. Take the “negotiate without preconditions” bit. Is that really so outrageous? … Continue reading
Posted in Domestic Politics, Election 2008, Foreign affairs
Tagged diplomacy, foreign policy, Obama
12 Comments
Sample Dialogues on the Prospects of Barry Hussein
This is me and my friend Chris Bartlett, IMing me from somewhere in Central China. Josh: oh god please help us I’ve been reduced to voting for Obama just so I can watch all the starry-eye’d zombies feel crushing disappointment … Continue reading
It’s Not Just Baghdad
Our embassies used to be beacons of hope and freedom. Ever since 9/11, or perhaps even the 1998 bombings, however, they’ve turned into fortresses—something more at home in Baghdad than Berlin. Now we can say that is quite literally the … Continue reading
Posted in Around the Web, Domestic Politics, Foreign affairs
Tagged Berlin, embassy, germanny, State
16 Comments
Beirut Today
My buddy Alex compares the Beirut of today with the Beirut he remembers from 2005. This because he didn’t feel safe reporting anymore from Mogadishu. And he longs to go back home to his garden… in Kabul. His book on … Continue reading
Doing Their Dirty Work
How many of you were as excited to find out we were torturing or helping out the torture of China’s non-terrorist-but-oppressed Uighurs? That line about releasing all Uighurs despite their status as a dangerous threat is extra-rich, too: why release … Continue reading
Of “Battle Fatigue” and National Caveats
Posted first to Registan.net, your one-stop shop for all things Central Asia, this is a tangent to a really excellent theme I’ve been tracking the past few weeks—the flow of press releases masquerading as journalism from Afghanistan to our largest … Continue reading
Posted in Foreign affairs, Military Matters, Notes on the war
Tagged Afghanistan, Germans, military, NATO, policy
2 Comments
Our Brave Ambassadors
It is kind of a cliché at this point, but I’m sick and tired of our military and its supporters defaming our diplomats as pansies and cocktail monkeys (I’m looking at you, Ralph Peters). This anecdote is one of many … Continue reading
The Danger of Funding Thugs
Sure it’s nice when you pay them to pretty please stop attacking us, but what of the consequences? This is the dark side of the CLC/Sons of Iraq/Awakening bandwagon we jumped on, and it’s one I’ve been mocked repeatedly for … Continue reading
Posted in Foreign affairs, Notes on the war
Tagged Afghanistan, Iraq, warlords, WTF Mate
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Journals from the Earthquake
My China correspondent, Chris Bartlett, happens to live near where the earthquake in central China struck. He sent me an account of what happened there. He also reports now that, thanks to an “earthquake warning” from the government, tens of … Continue reading
Failed Wars = Great Strategies!
One thing I’ll never understand about the military is how it looks to failed wars to prove the truthiness of its current strategy. What baffles me more is how earnest scholars, like Max Boot of the Council on Foreign Relations, … Continue reading
“Those poor school kids didn’t hire the right lobbyist.”
Congress is behaving atrociously: cutting assistance to hungry children abroad right when food prices are spiking, and preventing competition amongst our sugar producers. There’s more, of course. I normally scoff at the talk of “lobbyists” and “special interest groups.” I … Continue reading
Why the Taliban Cease Fire Won’t Matter
Published first at Registan.net, this is the culmination of some research I’ve been doing into the nature and history of Pashtun tribal militancy. It draws from a mixture of out-of-print ethnocgraphic and geographic surveys, as well as contemporary news accounts, … Continue reading
Posted in Foreign affairs, History
Tagged Afghanistan, British, History, military, Pakistan, Pashtunistan, Taliban
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Roads, More Roads, and Still More Roads Indeed!
This is the latest post in a running commentary on a new meme to emerge from the PR folks in Afghanistan: the security benefits of building roads. The argument, advanced by a few American reporters and one David Kilcullen, is … Continue reading
Posted in Foreign affairs, Media, Military Matters, Notes on the war
Tagged Afghanistan, COIN, gullible, Media, roads
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Chicks Are Cool, ‘Long As They Know Their Place
Only in America’s Army: KHOST, Afghanistan — Pfc. Monica Brown cracked open the door of her Humvee outside a remote village in eastern Afghanistan to the pop of bullets shot by Taliban fighters. But instead of taking cover, the 18-year-old … Continue reading
Posted in Domestic Politics, Military Matters, Society
Tagged DADT, military, women, WTFBBQ
7 Comments
Restructure State to Save It
Cross-posted from Registan.net, your one-stop shop for news and analysis of going on in Central Asia and the Caucasus. Thirteen months ago, I noted the problems caused by the U.S. State Department having dramatically different divisions than the military COCOMs. … Continue reading
Posted in Developmental economics, Foreign affairs
Tagged Domestic Politics, government, policy, State, US
5 Comments
Let’s Talk About Chicks, Man
A few weeks ago, my friend Megan Carpentier wondered on Glamocracy why there aren’t more prominent female political bloggers out there: But does it have to be that way? Blogs are supposed to be populist and thus it would seem … Continue reading