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foreign affairs in strategic context
Browsing All Posts published on »June, 2010«
RollingStan: the next stage
A whole new meaning to RollingStan (hat-tip to Alan Tindal, my now ex-housemate unfortunately, who made this for me)
Cameron and Afghanistan: the importance of institutions and rhetoric
June 30, 2010
Has anything changed in our approach to Afghanistan with a change of government? Sayeeda Warsi, a minister and Chairwoman of the Conservative Party, has denied that the Prime Minister David Cameron has produced only rhetoric about the conflict and not a change in policy from Labour. Unlike under the last government, our goals in Afghanistan […]
RollingStan and civil-military relations
June 29, 2010
Andrew Bacevich and Bernard Finel are like Nietzsche; they make me think, but often the opposite of what they want me to think. They have both written pieces about civil-military relations, focussing on the controversy surrounding Stanley McChrystal’s Rolling Stones profile. Bacevich argues that long wars ‘are antithetical to democracy’; protracted conflicts encourage praetorianism in […]
Just when I thought I was out…
June 15, 2010
As with Israel, I’ve been wanting to move the blog away from Afghanistan for a bit, partly to broaden its horizon and also because I’m supposed to be writing an article on it. But this is a good brief piece about Britain in Helmand 2006-2010 (not exactly an “anatomy”, as the title suggests). Although there […]
Primat der Innenpolitik
June 14, 2010
I had wanted to move this blog quietly away from Israel for a bit to broaden its horizon, but I’m drawn back by this poll on the flotilla incident. To me, it illustrates a few things. Those Israelis polled have seemingly divorced the use of force from strategy, which is highlighted by three of the […]
The Man with No Name, the greatest strategist since…?
June 14, 2010
Apparently, an inspiration behind neoconservatism was old Westerns; an upright outsider appears in a town terrorised by lawless men and, through a mixture of moral conviction and firepower, restores law and order to the decent inhabitants. What does it say about my approach to international relations then if I prefer Sergio Leone films? I finally […]
What the Hell is strategy, anyway?
June 12, 2010
The goal of this blog is meant to help people think strategically about foreign affairs, but this goal isn’t furthered if I touch on strategy indirectly and within specific contexts. If readers don’t know what I mean by ‘strategy’, how can I expect them to see things from my perspective? So I want to try […]
Quote(s) of the Day: Tamil Tigers (Updated)
June 8, 2010
From an episode of BBC HARDtalk, looking at the defeat of the Tamil Tigers (LTTE) in northern Sri Lanka last year. Stephen Sackur: “Isn’t the truth that many Tamil civilians died in the days of April and May 2009 because you, in the Tamil Tigers, would not let them escape? You forced them to stay […]
Arguing Afghanistan
June 4, 2010
I was lucky to get onto a discussion panel in March debating whether or not British troops should be withdrawn from Afghanistan, which was hosted by the university International Affairs Society. One of the speakers against withdrawal, Con Coughlin of The Daily Telegraph, dropped out at the last minute and I grasped the opportunity to […]
June 30, 2010
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