Hilarious!

Sorry it's so small (click on it to enlarge). I think this actually sums up pretty well the tone of US/Russia bilateral relations, plus its brilliant. Here's the link to the original at superpoop.com. (H/t to Ben for finding it.)

Photo essay

I think this photo essay is really cool: "Portraits of Power." The photographer apparently took these portraits in a little booth outside the general assembly meeting at the UN this past fall.

We must have more strategery!

I like this article a lot: "Why America Needs an Economic Strategy." I know its old (I just got around to reading it), but I think that it is premised on two important observations: 1) we have become incapable of strategic planning on the federal level & 2) our economic issues are self inflicted, and not the fault of the global system (of which we were the architects) or "rising nations" (read China). Well worth a read as we move past the scary-as-hell phase of our economic crisis.

How many Muslims has the US killed in the last 30 years?

About the chart: "Here's my back-of-the-envelope analysis, based on estimates deliberately chosen to favor the United States. Specifically, I have taken the low estimates of Muslim fatalities, along with much more reliable figures for U.S. deaths. "

Steve Walt is trying to be deliberately provocative with this blog post, but it stands considering nonetheless: "Why they hate us (II): How many Muslims has the US killed in the last 30 years?"
Although it does cast the conflict in just the sort of "civilizational" tones we ought to avoid to ask how many Muslims have Americans killed (Americans can't be Muslims?).

Some interesting science

Check out this short article explaining some new science regarding how exercise affects the brain: "Why Exercise Makes You Less Anxious."

Back from Thanksgiving

Sorry for the pause in posting! I was enjoying doing nothing over vacation too much to put anything up.

A "war surtax" should be more than just a sign of frustration

There's lot of other stuff in this article, but the point that stands out to me is the idea of passing a "war surtax": "Pressure Builds Over Obama's Afghanistan Plan." I cannot think of a better tool than an explicit tax for rebalancing Americans' attitudes towards defense spending, which in my opinion has been characterized in recent years by thoughtless jingoism and willful ignorance of the costs of our foreign adventures. Either you "support the troops" and are thus willing to pay for it, or you don't. I would be willing to bet that as soon as that tax hit Americans' wallets, the option to wind down our commitment in A-stan would at least be on the table. Hey, we might even ask why we're willing to spend hundreds of billions of dollars rebuilding Afghanistan, while people freak out about how we're much spending to rebuild our economy...

Don't get it, but an interesting peek

I am baffled by the emotional response that Sarah Palin elicits from people in this country, but I have to admit that it seems very genuine and very powerful. I was struck by this video of no special importance (plus I felt like it brackets the "Palin 2012" skit nicely...):

US finance still dancing to the wrong song?

Charles Prince, former Citigroup CEO famously explained his bank's actions in July, 2007 thus: "As long as the music is playing, you've got to get up and dance." I feel very much with that recent era in mind, Gillian Tett at the FT asks a very provocative question: "Could sovereign debt be the new subprime?"

If this is a bit outside your expertise, the question is basically, Banks are being forced to buy tons of government debt (bonds) because they are supposedly super-safe assets, but why should we assume that they will remain so and what happens if they're not? It's a scary question, b/c this sort of "perpetual" motion machine of super low central bank rates financing a ton of sovereign bond purchases is the current foundation of both the US government's borrowing and the American banks' recovery- but it's hard to say what happens when the music stops.

Palin 2012- the movie

SNL is on a roll

China/US relations summed up:

Way to go SNL. Guess it takes humor to spell out the truly sad aspects of our present reality...

GM raises interesting questions

I like this op-ed about what GM owes the public for its bailout: "Taking Taxpayers For A Ride." I am not steeped in knowledge about the auto industry, but I view the GM/US Gov't relationship as a sort of metaphor for the gov'ts market involvement in general. I also find it particularly gauling, and ridicoulous, that the banks and now GM think they can just wish away their debt to the taxpayer by repaying some small token amount and making headlines.

Interesting profile

Check out this interesting profile of an unlikely sidekick in Iraq: "Emma Sky, a Civilian Voice at Odierno's Side in Iraq."

Germany piling on

Here's yet more evidence of our economic standing in the world: "Germany warns US on market bubbles." Maybe we ought to take notice when both Germany and China publicly speak out about the potential dangers of our economic policy- I happen to agree with some of their criticism, but don't see a better option for the US. On the other hand, it's perhaps not insignificant that China and Germany are the two largest exporting nations in the world...

Hamilton was MAD street

Hamilton is by far my favorite founding father, and I basically felt obligated to share this, because I think it's sick. Also I am plainly a history nerd. Enjoy!

Obama's dearth of action on climate change

Check out this article from Grist on how Pres. Obama must start to measure his policies against scientific reality instead of the low bar set by previous American presidents: "Mr. President: Time to quit fibbing and spinning." I know there's a tremendous amount of stuff on this admin.'s plate, but you can't have your climate change cake and eat it too: either our president considers this a priority of the first order (the impression I got in his campaign, etc.) or he doesn't- I completely agree that it's time that he lines his actions up with his words or explains why he changed his mind.

US, Egypt and Iran wobble as Turkey cleans up

Check out this Roula Khalaf article in the FT about Turkey's ascendant role in the politics and diplomacy of the Middle East: "Ankara pursues lead role in Middle East." This is a very interesting turn for a country which has throughout its modern history turned towards Europe in its foreign relations- hard to say this shift is due to changing mentality in the Turkish gov't or nature simply abhorring a vacuum in the Middle East...

Also, Ive recently been reminded that the FT only allows a certain number of free articles on its website if you're not a subscriber and I'm certain I post more than that number. For the ppl regularly following my links, would it be more convenient if I could try to find other sources where possible? Pls leave any responses in the comments section.

Our gov't has certainly fallen fast

This article hit me like a slap in the face, and it certainly seems like a sign of the times: "China says Fed policy threatens global recovery." In case you don't care about the economics involved, the gist is that the Chinese gov't is now publically and vocally criticizing the most intimate aspects of American domestic economic management, an event that would have been unimaginable in the very recent past. We have certainly fallen on hard times. For all that, I have to say I hardly blame the PRC considering their role as our chief financier. I predict that it's going to be incredibly difficult for our national psyche to adjust to this new reality...

From Cuba to cornfields

Check out this article on the possibility of moving suspected terrorists from Guantanamo to Illinois: "Illinois Democrats Back Plan to House Guantanamo Prisoners." I want to close the book on this chapter in our history so badly. Furthermore, can everyone just take a deep breath and remember that the base at Guantanamo, like our embassies overseas, technically is US soil?

Lessening expectations from Copenhagen

This is an interesting examination of the nuts and bolts behind the push for a binding climate change treaty: "Obama rules out Copenhagen treaty." Watching this process play out will be a fascinating lesson on the state of the international system. I'll certainly be posting more about this soon.

Graveyards and history in A-stan

Check out this great article by Dexter Filkins about a Taliban cemetery in Afghanistan: "For Taliban Fighters, A Fading Memorial." Some interesting bits of historical and cultural insight to be gleaned from these sorts of accounts (or not, but interesting nonetheless).

New York City: 1930 to today

Check out this cool photo gallery set up by the NY Times in which you can see three pictures side by side of locations throughout the city, one from the 1930s, one from the 1980s and one from today: "Evolution, as traced by lens."

A great argument for tougher competition enforcement

I am a staunch supporter of much more stringent competition scrutiny in American in general and in American Finance specifically (I think it has to be part of reforms going forward), and John Kay in the FT makes a great case for it: "Powerful interests are trying to control the market." The key is to recognize "rent-seeking" in the rich world is a form of corruption, which varies in degree but not in kind from that of poorer countries, and to recognize that we have a serious problem with it here in America.

Sachs: Stimulate restructuring, not consumption

I usually do not agree with Jeff Sachs on much (putting it lightly), but I think he is dead on in this comment piece: "Obama has lost his way on jobs."
Of course it is easy to just say, instead of governing by necessity we should be setting policy strategically. But this is a democracy and its tough to think long term in our system of government so I'm inclined to give Obama some leeway. But Sachs is absolutely right that we need to be orienting our policy towards a fundamental restructuring of our economy (plus, economics aside, I cringe for our environment when pundits claim we need to 'ramp up consumption'). The one we've got hasn't been working.

Afghanistan's "Narcotecture"

Check out this collection photos of "narcotecture" (houses built with drug money) in Kabul: "A Photo Tour of Kabul's Poppy Palaces." Too bad money can't buy class I guess...

Lightbulbs in the middle of nowhere

Check out this article by Andrew Revkin (who runs the great Dot Earth blog at the NY Times), which points to yet another manifestation of the "flotsam explosion" (floating trashing) in our oceans and seas as a metaphor for slow brewing environmental crises: "Flashback: On Slow Drips From Trash to CO2."

Slower posting, I know

Just wanted to let anyone who reads this blog regularly that I'm going to have to update at a slightly slower rate than usual because of a project at work. I'll keep it up though, and in a couple of weeks we'll be back to normal. Hope you're enjoying Of Not on the Internets in any case!

Old art that speaks to our current struggles

I saw this poem referenced on a blog about Afghanistan today, and I looked it up to find a powerful expression of why the odds are stacked against our war there. Check out this poem by Kipling on the Anglo-Afghan war:

Arithmetic on the Frontier

A GREAT and glorious thing it is
To learn, for seven years or so,
The Lord knows what of that and this,
Ere reckoned fit to face the foe -
The flying bullet down the Pass,
That whistles clear: " All flesh is grass."

Three hundred pounds per annum spent
On making brain and body meeter
For all the murderous intent
Comprised in "villainous saltpetre".
And after?- Ask the Yusufzaies
What comes of all our 'ologies.

A scrimmage in a Border Station-
A canter down some dark defile
Two thousand pounds of education
Drops to a ten-rupee jezail.
The Crammer's boast, the Squadron's pride,
Shot like a rabbit in a ride!

No proposition Euclid wrote
No formulae the text-books know,
Will turn the bullet from your coat,
Or ward the tulwar's downward blow.
Strike hard who cares - shoot straight who can
The odds are on the cheaper man.

One sword-knot stolen from the camp
Will pay for all the school expenses
Of any Kurrum Valley scamp
Who knows no word of moods and tenses,
But, being blessed with perfect sight,
Picks off our messmates left and right.

With home-bred hordes the hillsides teem.
The troopships bring us one by one,
At vast expense of time and steam,
To slay Afridis where they run.
The "captives of our bow and spear"
Are cheap, alas! as we are dear.

-R. Kipling

(source: Arithmetic on the Frontier)

Sy Hearch on Pakistan's nukes

A new article in the New Yorker from Sy Hersh has been a bit of an event in and of itself for some years now, so check out his latest piece: "Are nuclear weapons safe in Pakistan?" This is something I've thought about a bit, and I'm almost convinced that the US' game plan in the event that the Pakistani state were toppled is simply to take the nukes... this wouldn't be the first time: the Russian government simply took control of the Soviet nuclear weapons in Kazakhstan after the USSR dissolved, and then allowed the fiction of "negotiations" over the state of those weapons play out afterward.

Children's movies are often really grown up

Check out this article (really a short essay) by Times movie critic A. O. Scott on how children's movies in recent years tend to be much more complex and realistic than the ones geared towards adults: "Unleashing Life's Wild Things On Screen."
I totally agree with him, in particular I think "Wall-e" and "Where the Wild Things Are" are two of the most intellectually and emotionally complex and interesting (not to mention best) movies I've seen in recent years.

Sign of the times

This is an interesting measure, not sure of what though. Perhaps of globalization's prevelance as an idea or concept? The rise of neo-liberal economics? I don't know... thoughts?

Taken from economist.com here.

More daft trade policy from Obama admin.

This disturbs me so much: "US slaps duties on Beijing steel pipes." Such a wrong headed policy, and for anyone keeping score at home (er... China) Washington's protectionist actions are amount to a clear anti-trade pattern. It's getting to the point when I can no longer take solice in, Well let's just see where he heads with this...

Cool photo essay

So apparently 1989 was a pretty sweet year. Check out this FP photo essay on the amazing happenings, which I totally remember, since I was 5 yr.s old... "Falling Like It's 1989."

Thinking about the Tories

There will soon be an general election in the UK and all signs point to a Tory victory. It's interesting to take account of what that might mean in foreign policy, especially since they are grappling with some of the issues that we face ourselves in the US. Check out this piece on David Cameron's foreign policy problems: "Tories' foreign policy foibles go far beyond just Europe."

If you're still interested, I'd highly recommend this article on Rory Stewart, who is now standing for a safe Tory seat: "Rory Stewart: A new kind of Tory." There really seems to be a great deal of excitement about his candidacy in the UK, and I am greatly looking forward to following his political career.

Bad news for Afghan war

The UN is sort of moving towards pulling out of A-stan after a Taliban attack in which 5 of its workers were killed: "UN to evacuate staff from Afghanistan." This is incredibly unfortunate, and undoubtedly exactly what the Taliban were hoping to affect with their attack. I think it's so repugnantly cynical of the Taliban to drive out the staff best placed to help develop Afghanistan for its people in the future in order to help their campaign now.

You'll recall that the UN pulled out of Iraq after a its headquarters were bombed in 2003, killing special representative Sergio Vieira de Mello and 16 others. I have read in various places that the UN's exit was a turning point for the worse in the situation in Iraq. I hope this isn't viewed the same way in the future. At the very least, that's just that many more US civilians that will be needed for our war effort (and we're already way short...).

Huh, Really Makes You Think...

This is one of the more preposterous things I've read recently. Check out this Bloomberg article about a Goldman exec trying to invoke the teachings of Jesus as a justification for economic inequality: "Profit 'Not Satanic' Barclays Says, After Goldman Invokes Jesus." This is beyond a poor PR decision...
For an entertaining rant about why anyone would actually say something like this in public, see Matt Taibbi: "Goldman One-Ups Gordon Gecko, Says Jesus Embraced Greed."
This just might be a disturbing window into the worldview of some of these individuals (or at least this particular one and his staff, still awful).

Currency: the elephant in the room

If you're wondering what people mean when they talk about 'rebalanced the global economy' a lot of it has to do with currency issues. This article is a nice analysis of those issues by the world trade editor at the FT: "Renminbi at heart of trade imbalances."

Great comment on what markets are for

Check out this comment piece from The FT: "Tame the markets to make capitalism ethical." I think the authors hits on some very important points about what markets are good for and why we defend them. The takeaway for me: markets are instrumental. We have gotten into trouble by fetishizing markets as something instrinsically sacred.

And now for something completely different...

Check out this article about the headlines of The Onion: "Newspaper Celebrates - The Onion's 'Our Front Pages.' " I have always had unfailing admiration for the pitch perfect tone, etc. of their headlines, and this article shed a lot of light on how they get so perfect.

Real Talk on A-stan

John Mearsheimer makes the hard arguments about our war in A-stan and what lessons to draw from Vietnam: "Hollow Victory."
His conclusion: In A-stan, as it was in in Vietnam, 'victory' is irrelevant b/c it it will not significantly affect the US' global standing, whereas conducting the war is activily harming our position.

Why I hate the Washington Post

This is exactly the sort of logic that ought to be keeping Americans up at night: "The threat from Somalia." I have to give the Washington Post's editorial board credit for letting the courage of their convictions lead them to the logical extreme of counterinsurgency strategy, but honestly, is there any way to not view this as insane? I doubt this argument is acceptable in polite company even amongst the most ardent counterinsurgency advocates.
I used the Post's editorials in my grad thesis as a straw man representing how outrageously alarmist American analysis of the August war in Georgia was last summer. I'm glad to see that future generations of students writing on US foreign policy will have the same crutch...

Election, what election?

So there won't be a runoff election in Afghanistan: "Karzai Gets New Term as Afghan Runoff is Scraped." I wonder if we'll ever hear the real story behind this disaster. I guess this is the least bad option considering the money and lives that will not be lost proping up this farce, but there is now little hope of having the political legitimacy that is supposedly the bedrock necessity of our strategy's success in Afghanistan.