-
Archives
- January 2010
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
- December 2007
- November 2007
- October 2007
- September 2007
- August 2007
- July 2007
- June 2007
- May 2007
- April 2007
- March 2007
- February 2007
- January 2007
- December 2006
- November 2006
- October 2006
- September 2006
- August 2006
- July 2006
-
Meta
Author Archives: Joshua Foust
What Does the Evidence Say… About Us?
Question the timing! That old mantra from the halcyon days of 2002-4, when the Left would be mocked by the Right for wondering about the suspicious timing of terror alerts, is universally applicable to the Presidency. In the case of … Continue reading
Forgive the Self-Promotion
I honestly don’t have the time to reformat everything for several cross-posts, so this is a summary of posts at my other blog, Registan.net, where I’ve been discussing some interesting topics related to counterinsurgency and reconstruction in Afghanistan, as well … Continue reading
Posted in Foreign affairs, Josh's Page, Notes on the war
Tagged Afghanistan, COIN, hillary duff, kilcullen, movies, PRTs, reconstruction
1 Comment
From the Horses’ Mouths (so to speak)
Whatever could this guy be going on about? “Saddam had his big castles; they symbolized his power and were places to be feared, and now we have the castle of the power that toppled him,” says Abdul Jabbar Ahmed, a … Continue reading
Breaking: CIA Tells Us Something We Already Knew
For at least a decade, there has been a running joke in the world of intelligence contractors that perhaps 90% of what the CIA does could be done for 1/10 the cost and 10x the effective accuracy by private, open-source … Continue reading
Afghanistan’s Art Is Ancient
The home of the world’s oldest oil paintings is coming soon to the National Gallery of Art. “Afghanistan: Hidden Treasures from the National Museum, Kabul” is a collection of artifacts and beautiful art pieces hidden in vaults at the National … Continue reading
Posted in Around the Web
Leave a comment
Airspace Violations
Cross-posted to Registan.net, which is “All Central Asia, All the Time.” Last year, Georgia was abuzz with accusations against Russia for its military jets supposedly violating its airspace and possibly even attacking radio stations. Now, Georgian officials are hopping mad … Continue reading
Posted in Foreign affairs, Military Matters
Tagged Abkhazia, Airplanes, Georgia, military, Russia, Sovereignty
Leave a comment
Driven Not by Bitterness
Here’s a quote, but read the whole thing: Apr 21st, 2008 | JONESVILLE, S.C. — A South Carolina pastor says he wasn’t trying to be political when he posted a sign in front of his church linking Democratic presidential candidate … Continue reading
Posted in Domestic Politics
6 Comments
Observations of an American in Central China
“Chris Bartlett” is the pseudonym of a good friend of mine currently teaching English in a random city in Central China. He has contributed before his observations of life in the People’s Republic at my only begotten personal blog (kept … Continue reading
Posted in Foreign affairs
1 Comment
Pondering Feminism in Sana’a
Over at Jezebel, my friend Moe scored a great interview with Sarah, an American woman who relocated to Yemen to work at a newspaper there. No talking in the street, no laughing…what if you just went into the middle of … Continue reading
Ripple Effects in the Food Trade
Posted first at Registan.net When last I touched on the global food crisis and how it is impacting Afghanistan and the rest of Central Asia, I noted that countries continuing to ban wheat exports would make the problem worse by … Continue reading
Posted in Developmental economics, Economics, Foreign affairs, regulation
Tagged Economics, food crisis, international finance, kazakhstan, monetary policy
1 Comment
But He Knows the Military!
Cross-posted to Registan.net. The Air Force Times reports on a rather surprising gaffe from the foreign policy Commander-in-Chief-to-be: Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain of Arizona may not have been paying the closest of attention last week during hearings on … Continue reading
Posted in Election 2008, Notes on the war
Tagged Election 2008, McCain, military, WTF
Leave a comment
Victory Is Always Six Months Away
Back in December of 2006, the blogger Fabius Maximus compiled a rather handy anthology of our great foreign policy lights in the darkness, boldly predicting we’d know for sure whether or not the Iraq project would succeed in 2003. And … Continue reading
Posted in Notes on the war
6 Comments
Squirming Like A Stuck Pig
Technically, Doug Feith is right: no one ever said it would be a cakewalk. Of course, that still doesn’t mean he’s not a big, fat liar desperate to rewrite history with someone else as the villain.
Posted in Around the Web, Notes on the war
5 Comments
Back-Stabbing Amongst the Warmongers
Stephen Hayes, when even Doug Feith (who is renown for his honesty) won’t stand up for your articles on the Iraq-Al Qaeda connection, it might be time to admit you were wrong.
Posted in Around the Web, Notes on the war
8 Comments
What Is Iraq’s Largest Humanitarian Organization?
Moqtada sl-Sadr’s Army. This implies something very significant: much like how Hezbollah and HAMAS maintain enormous humanitarian operations that undercut the central government and keep their support base strong, al-Sadr has a reputation among the millions of Iraqis misplaced by … Continue reading
Posted in Around the Web, Notes on the war
7 Comments
Tibet/Nepal: Same Thing
Neither George Snuffalufagus nor National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley seemed capable of distinguishing between Tibet and Nepal this weekend. Given that one is a Buddhist monarchy democratizing in fits and starts with a Maoist insurgency gaining a permanent foothold, and … Continue reading
Posted in Foreign affairs
Tagged foreign policy, nepal, stephen hadley, tibet, woops
Leave a comment
SOLD!
Gawker Media has decided to sell Wonkette to managing editor Ken Layne. Missing in the “internal emails” published on both Wonkette and Politico is the key fact that after Layne fired associate editor Megan Carpentier (full Disclosure: she’s a good … Continue reading
Victory Ill-Defined
Michael Yon wants more troops, more surging, more progress in Iraq toward inevitable victory. Of course, what that “victory” is, if it is even remotely like what we thought it would be in 2003, if it is in fact achievable … Continue reading
Posted in Notes on the war
15 Comments
What Does Wheat Mean?
Cross-posted to Registan.net, which also has lots of other commentary, news, and analysis from and about Central Asia. Paul Krugman had a mostly-good column in the New York Times the other day, exploring the world food crisis. After digging through … Continue reading
Quotes of the Day
First: Here’s the sorry reality: Such occurrences in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere in the “arc” of territory that the Bush administration has, in a mere few years, helped set aflame are the norm. Our “mistakes,” that is, are legion and, … Continue reading
Posted in Notes on the war
Leave a comment
What They Won’t Ask Petraeus
3. Recent Senate testimony by General William Odom and journalist Nir Rosen presented a portrait of Iraq that is at odds with the more rosy picture painted by the Bush Administration. General Odom has said “the decline in violence reflects … Continue reading
Posted in Military Matters, Notes on the war
9 Comments
A Brief Thought Whilst Stranded in the Decrepit Norfolk, VA Airport
I don’t know anyone else here, but I think it’s hilarious that every single stop of the Olympic torch is plagued by almost violent anti-China protests. It is about time people freak out about the slave labor, the political reeducation … Continue reading
Posted in Foreign affairs
4 Comments
Is Disabling JAM a Good Idea?
Lost in the hoopla over the intra-Shia fighting in Iraq is a rather fundamental question: is it even a good idea? Is it something we should be poking our fingers into? Augustus Norton, a professor of International Relations at Boston … Continue reading
Posted in Foreign affairs, Notes on the war
2 Comments
Meth and Porn in the Hidden State
One Free Korea notes that one of the most valuable commodities to emerge in North Korea, despite the crashing food situation, is weirdly enough, lame-o soft-core (straight, obviously) porn. And we thought we were in a recession.
Posted in Around the Web, Foreign affairs
Leave a comment
Why We Fight*
Posted first on Registan.net, where there is lots of other commentary on Central Asia and the Caucasus. There is also an intense discussion in the comments section. Click the Registan.net link above to view those comments.. Benjamin Friedman, of the … Continue reading
Posted in Foreign affairs
17 Comments
Forgetting Somalia
David Axe wants us to remember the very large role we had in throwing Somalia back into hyper-violent chaos.
Posted in Around the Web, Foreign affairs
Leave a comment
We Fund Terrorists
Woops. The Badr Organization is the military arm of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq (ISCI previously known as SCIRI). Now ISCI is closely aligned with Maliki government and is arguably the most significant player in the current central government. … Continue reading
Posted in Around the Web, Notes on the war
Leave a comment
“The Iraq Narrative”
Abu Muqawama looks at the unconditionally rosy pictures of Iraq painted by Fred and Kim Kagan and sees nothing but disaster for the future civil-military relations: Why is this dangerous? Because when the next president — Obama or McCain — … Continue reading
Posted in Around the Web, Notes on the war
Leave a comment
All the Subtlety of a Lead Pipe to the Face
Our super-sensitive Pakistan policy continues. Not only are we trying to bomb the place as quickly as we can before the new civilian government kindly asks us to respect their sovereignty, we’re now actively discrediting the very men we hope … Continue reading
Posted in Around the Web, Foreign affairs
1 Comment
Dick Cheney Loves WMD
How else to read the news that he was opposed to banning the use of chemical weapons? I thought we invaded other countries when they threatened the imminent imminent use of such things? Or is that only when they have … Continue reading
Posted in Around the Web
4 Comments
The Torture Memos
Well I’m sure you’ve all seen the declassified “torture memos” written by Deputy AAG John Yoo (part 1, part 2, both PDF). They laid the legal foundation for the use of expanded interrogation techniques, the horrid euphemism used by the … Continue reading
Posted in Domestic Politics, Notes on the war
10 Comments
This Kind of Left Me Speechless
I think the starfish is what makes it truly jaw-dropping.
Posted in Around the Web
3 Comments
Perspective
Germany is optimistic it has reduced its unemployment to 3.5 million. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. unemployment is down in February to around 7.3 million. For comparison’s sake, Germany has around 82 million people. The U.S. has … Continue reading
Posted in Around the Web, Economics
2 Comments
The “Right” Choice
What to do when no one on the presidential ballot is a conservative? Conservative historian Andrew Bracevich—who has been opposed to the war since the start yet nevertheless lost a son in Iraq—says the war is reason enough to vote … Continue reading
Posted in Election 2008, Foreign affairs
12 Comments
A Generational Split
Young Tibetans, seeing the fruits of decades of non-violent protest against Chinese occupation, are giving that whole pacifism thing a second thought. This is bad news, though it does highlight the inability of non-violent civil disobedience to tackle unsympathetic autocracies. … Continue reading
Posted in Around the Web, Foreign affairs
Leave a comment
Iran Saves the Surge
Iran was integral in persuading Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr to halt attacks by his militia on Iraqi security forces, an Iraqi lawmaker said Monday. Afghanistan hyper-expert Barnett Rubin says: “en Iran Revolutionary Guards helped the U.S. destroy al-Qaida’s bases in … Continue reading
Posted in Around the Web, Notes on the war
2 Comments
The Question on Everyone’s Mind Is…
… why are we backing an Iran-friendly movement in Basra against Iraqi nationalists? Lest I be accused of a selective reading, this is the sort of question being posed by a huge range of people, from the usual suspects (like … Continue reading
Posted in Notes on the war
17 Comments
Nice work if you can get it
A 22-year old kid and his 25-year old ex-masseuse brother run a company called AEY, Inc. They won a rather sizable contract to supply the Afghan National Army with ammunition for their fight against the Taliban. Along the way they … Continue reading
Posted in Around the Web, Firearms, Notes on the war
Leave a comment
Measuring Stability
Posted first on Registan.net According to Jane’s, Iraq is more stable than Afghanistan. While normally I’m all about anything to draw attention to the place, this just feels wrong: while Afghanistan very well might be in the academic sense more … Continue reading
Posted in Foreign affairs
4 Comments
The Lie of Hybrid Cars
I’ve never understood the hype behind hybrid cars: sure, they look funky, and they have slightly higher mileage numbers than their conventionally-fueled counterparts, but they just never made any sense. An extra $5k for a car that saves a few … Continue reading
Posted in Technology
14 Comments
Why grow poppy?
Posted first on Registan.net, this is the latest in a series I’ve been writing there for the past two years on the many problems with our counternarcotics operations in Afghanistan, and how bad policy has fueled the insurgency to record … Continue reading
Posted in Economics, Foreign affairs, Notes on the war
1 Comment
Benchmarks
U.S. deaths in Iraq reach the 4,000 mark as rockets and mortar rain down on the Green Zone and the Sons of Iraq grow restless. On the flip side of things, Totten tells us of the liberation of another pile … Continue reading
Posted in Around the Web, Notes on the war
Leave a comment
A Retrospective of Retrospectives
Five years past the invasion of Iraq, every body has been posting their own recollections—with a surprisingly small number of mea culpas. Over at Cynic’s Party, “Blogenfreude” summarized the roundup on Slate quite ably: “How Did I Get Iraq Wrong? … Continue reading
Posted in Notes on the war
3 Comments
There is no perfect option
Posted first on Registan.net. While I cringe at the idea of missile strikes in Pakistan—no matter the attention or care paid, there will be innocent people killed in the process (especially when a target is missed and vows increased attacks)—it … Continue reading
Posted in Foreign affairs, Military Matters
Leave a comment
How Protectionism is Undermining A Key Defensive Alliance
Stewart Koehl writes about how a clever lobbying campaign on the part of Lockheed Martin is undermining a decades-long arms alliance with Sweden. Yes, Sweden, card credit hsbc philippinebusiness card credit find smallbank card credit login orchardcard consolidation credit debt … Continue reading
Posted in Around the Web, Foreign affairs, Military Matters
Leave a comment
Why the Distinction?
John McCain, whose foreign policy genius is his only real selling point this election (given his self-stated discomfort with domestic policy), confused al-Qaeda in Iraq and the Shiite militias Iran has backed at a press conference the other day. While … Continue reading
Posted in Domestic Politics, Foreign affairs
11 Comments
Arthur C. Clarke, RIP
At the ripe old age of 90, the inventor of the communications satellite and my favorite movie of all time, has died. At a very early age—9 or 10—I fell in love with his books. Not just the 2001 series, … Continue reading
Posted in Around the Web
Leave a comment
The Problem With Assassination
Posted first on Registan.net. Yesterday, I expressed skepticism about the “decapitation” strikes the U.S. military carries out in Pakistan (and also Somalia, Yemen, and so on). One issue I skirted around was the messy problem of sovereignty: in a very … Continue reading
Posted in Foreign affairs, Military Matters
20 Comments