Clipmarks | drummond1999's clips

We Might Be Right, But...

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 19:09:07 GMT

clipped by: drummond1999

What is this thing called the decline of the West?

An overweening pride, perhaps, to begin with. Take the case of China, which the West has been lecturing on the intrinsic merits of democracy – a democracy experienced by the West for only two centuries – whereas China has undergone 4500 years of continuous self-government, with written records, legislation and political philosophies. To be sure, China is emerging from a protracted period of political turmoil, reaching back to the decline of the Qing and the belated nature of modernisation. Its stupendous economic growth may yet be harbinger to a period of economic turmoil as well. This economic turmoil will have disastrous effects on the West and, if it doesn’t come, China’s economic growth will also have major effects on the West. Who lectures whom will be a question with different answers within ten years.

Tags: democracy, china, political, economics

Oh What a Beautiful War!

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 19:59:11 GMT

clipped by: drummond1999

Clip Source: fabiusmaximus.wordpress.com

There are three basic facts to keep in mind about the smokin’ little war in Ossetia:

1. The Georgians started it.
2. They lost.
3. What a beautiful little war!

Tags: georgia, russia, fabius maximus, war

The Rabbit Hole

Sun, 10 Aug 2008 21:29:35 GMT

clipped by: drummond1999

Clip Source: fabiusmaximus.wordpress.com

First, what motivated the Georgians to invade South Ossetia on the night of Aug. 7? Why did they believe that they could do that without incurring a Russian response? Did the Russians indicate to them some form of nonbelligerence and then double-cross them?

The second, even more intriguing, question is the American role in all of this. The United States has hundreds of advisers in Georgia and could not possibly have been ignorant of Georgian intentions. The United States also has ample means of technical intelligence with which it could have noted the Russian buildup and perhaps even known Moscow’s intentions. The United States is Georgia’s patron. What happened in Tbilisi and Washington to allow the Georgians to walk into a Russian nutcracker? There are levels of intrigue here that we do not yet understand. In some ways they are more important than the final outcome.

Tags: stratfor, fabius maximus, russia, georgia, usa

States Rule! OK?

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 01:45:02 GMT

clipped by: drummond1999

Clip Source: fabiusmaximus.wordpress.com

Still, as Cohen (2000) puts it, “In a world of sovereign states….nothing can be regarded as truly irreversible.” Policy analysts should engage in contingency planning, even if the contingency in question has a low probability.

Tags: fabius maximus, sovereignty, states, eu, emu, eurozone

How Familar...

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 02:23:18 GMT

clipped by: drummond1999

Clip Source: fabiusmaximus.wordpress.com

Excerpt from the Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant, U. S. Grant (New York, 1885), pages 22-24.

Even if the annexation itself could be justified, the manner in which the subsequent war was forced upon Mexico cannot … the Southern rebellion was largely the outgrowth of the Mexican war. Nations, like individuals, are punished for their transgressions. We got our punishment in the most sanguinary and expensive war of modern times. {end}

Tags: mexican war, fabius maximus, ulysses s grant

28 Articles: a guide to a successful insurgency against America

Sat, 28 Jun 2008 04:37:56 GMT

clipped by: drummond1999

Clip Source: fabiusmaximus.wordpress.com

or “What if bin Laden were smart, like Dr. No or Ernest Blofeld?”

Summary

Al Qaeda has not yet defeated us, to some extent because they are dumb as rocks.
That is good, because so are we.
Unfortunately, #1 could change at any time.

Tags: 4 gw, iraq, afghanistan, military, usama bin laden

Israel, maybe it will...maybe it won't

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 13:57:20 GMT

clipped by: drummond1999

Clip Source: fabiusmaximus.wordpress.com

Summary: more rumors of an attack by Israel at Iran. Just rumors, but another in a long string of rumors. Clearly Israel sends signals of some kind to Iran. Does Iran fear an attack, or hope for one? Would a strike at Iran strength Israel’s geopolitical position, or destroy it? We can only guess at the answers. See the links at the end for my guesses about these things. (1) Israel will not attack. (2) If it did, the results would be catastrophic for Israel.

Tags: israel, iran, fabius maximus

EU - An Idea Without a Definition?

Sun, 15 Jun 2008 16:01:53 GMT

clipped by: drummond1999

Clip Source: www.washingtonpost.com

BRUSSELS -- A mere two years ago, the British author and thinker Mark Leonard published a book titled "Why Europe Will Run the 21st Century." Today, one wonders to what degree Europe will even participate in the 21st century. It's not just the deadly blow struck by Ireland's rejection Thursday of the Lisbon Treaty reorganizing the European Union. I've spent six of the past eight years in the capital of the European Union, and I've noticed over this period a steady loss of self-confidence in Europe, a turning inward and a growing pessimism about the future.

Tags: eu, lisbon treaty, ireland

Holding Government to Account

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 02:12:22 GMT

clipped by: drummond1999
clipper's remarks: Is this not a good thing? Politicians might actually think twice before making empty promises and put facts before belief's.

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

It would mean that anyone who thought a government had broken its word on, say, class sizes, tax or the number of bobbies on the beat, could go to court, get a judge to agree with them and, in theory, force the government to toe the line.

Tags: politics, law, government

We come in peace

Fri, 06 Jun 2008 00:49:02 GMT

clipped by: drummond1999

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

The French have said beefing up the EU's military capability will be a key part of their six-month presidency.

Other items on the French list of proposals involve calling upon all EU countries to increase spending on defence to meet a new target of perhaps 6% of Gross Domestic Product.

Tags: eu, defense, security

The Return of Patriarchy

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 01:30:30 GMT

clipped by: drummond1999

Clip Source: fabiusmaximus.wordpress.com

Across the globe, people are choosing to have fewer children or none at all. Governments are desperate to halt the trend, but their influence seems to stop at the bedroom door. Are some societies destined to become extinct? Hardly. It’s more likely that conservatives will inherit the Earth.

Yet that turning point does not necessarily mean the death of a civilization, only its transformation. Eventually, for example, the sterile, secular, noble families of imperial Rome died off, and with them, their ancestors’ idea of Rome. But what was once the Roman Empire remained populated. Only the composition of the population changed. Nearly by default, it became composed of new, highly patriarchal family units, hostile to the secular world and enjoined by faith either to go forth and multiply or join a monastery. With these changes came a feudal Europe, but not the end of Europe, nor the end of Western Civilization.

Tags: foreign policy, patriarchy, philip longman, fabius maimus

Students Beware

Sun, 25 May 2008 03:00:30 GMT

clipped by: drummond1999

Clip Source: insurgencyresearchgroup.wordpress.com

In a disturbing development of particular relevance to IRG members doing insurgency research in the War Studies Department at King’s - and to anyone working in the field in the UK - a masters student researching terrorist tactics at Nottingham University has been arrested and held for six days under the Terrorism Act after downloading Al-Qaeda related material from the internet.

Tags: terrorism, research, al qaeda

Ground Control to Major Tom

Sun, 18 May 2008 16:41:23 GMT

clipped by: drummond1999
clipper's remarks: Now this is one of the more interesting weapon systems but at least they never did it...well they said they did not!

Clip Source: www.merkle.com

How can you test-fly a highly radioactive missile? One proposal favored flying it over -- and into -- the Pacific.

But what drove the last nail into Pluto's coffin was a question so deceptively simple that the wizards at the lab might be excused for deliberately overlooking it: Where do you flight-test a nuclear reactor? "How are you going to convince people that it is not going to get away and run at low level through Las Vegas -- or even Los Angeles?" asks Jim Hadley, a Livermore physicist and Pluto alumnus who now works on detecting foreign nuclear tests for the lab's hush-hush Z Division. There was, admits Hadley, no way of guaranteeing that Pluto would not become a nuclear-powered juggernaut beyond its inventors' control -- a kind of airborne Frankenstein, a flying Chernobyl.

Tags: nuclear, usa, weapons

Terrorism

Fri, 16 May 2008 18:33:17 GMT

clipped by: drummond1999
clipper's remarks: It is funny that we talk about it so much and it is so often in the news...yet there is no legal definition of a terrorist! None the less, the recent acts in India (as anywhere) are awful.

Clip Source: fabiusmaximus.wordpress.com

Terrorism is a global phenomenon, but still poorly understood. What do terrorists hope to gain by random destruction? How often does terrorism work? Desite the many studies, it still remains a mysterious thing to me.

Tags: india, terrorism

Small Steps to 'The Long War'

Sat, 10 May 2008 02:28:57 GMT

clipped by: drummond1999

Clip Source: fabiusmaximus.wordpress.com

Indeed, the safest road to Hell is the gradual one - the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts.
The Screwtape Letters, C. S. Lewis, Chapter 12 (1959)

Tags: usa, war, iraq, iran, al qaeda