WHERE HAVE ALL THE NATION BUILDERS GONE?
Six months ago the US military was being praised by many security specialists as finally having gotten it – understanding that its future was counter-insurgency best practices which means nation building under fire from insurgents in the world’s toughest neighborhoods. Yes, it had taken a while, but the military’s top leadership had finally seen the light.
The Problem of China: As viewed from the USA
For more than a century, the overwhelming majority of greenhouse gases have been emitted by advanced industrial states. Recently, however, China has assumed the top spot in annual emissions. On a per person basis, of course, China still trails the global leaders by a good distance.
Is Al-Qaeda on the brink of conducting new wave of attacks in the West?
Al-Qaeda’s External Operations Unit has traditionally been the sole arm of the organization to conduct terrorist attacks in the international arena. Its last successful attack took place in London on July 2005. All subsequent attempts to carry out attacks have failed. Recent intelligence suggests new attacks may be imminent.
NEW SECURITY IDEAS
I believe in making security a lighter, more fun topic. In this quest to bring stand up comedy to what is basically a sit down field, I offer the following new ideas in part gleaned from conversations with colleagues who surely will not mind my skipping the attributions.
Taking Celebrity Diplomacy Seriously in International Relations
Celebrities, both in the world of entertainment and business entrepreneurship, are vibrant and embedded actors on the global stage and as such, need to be taken seriously as a component of International Relations. Rather than being viewed as an unanticipated intrusion that diminishes the discipline, taking celebrity diplomacy seriously reveals IRs rich capacity for inclusion and adaptation.
Weep for OPEC?
Representatives from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) are meeting in Vienna this week and the looming threat of Copenhagen is clearly on their agenda. I wrote “threat of Copenhagen” because OPEC states are primarily devoted to selling a commodity that is a significant source of climate change.
International Law and the Bush Doctrine
The Bush doctrine took shape throughout the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, developing in various speeches by the President and high ranking staff. This essay considers how the doctrine complimented, or challenged international law.
AMERICA’S COMMAND STRUCTURE
I think the geographically based commands should be eliminated with one exception, replaced in part by additional functional commands. As some may know, I stand against our willingness to manage global security as well as our own, a willingness allowed by our great military power relative to others and the encouraged free riding of nearly all our “allies”.
What’s the baseline?
The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change dates to the June 1992 Earth Summit. The overwhelming majority of nations are parties to this agreement — even the United States, which did not ratify the followup Kyoto Protocol. Essentially, for 20 years the world has been negotiating reductions in greenhouse gas emissions based on reductions from a 1990 baseline.
Liberal Peace Transitions: Towards a Post-Liberal Peace in IR?
It has become generally assumed that ‘Liberal Peace Transitions’ offer a way out of local, civil, regional and international conflict, as well as complex emergences and development problems. All military, humanitarian, diplomatic, political, economic, and social, interventions since the end of the Cold War have been geared to this programme – with limited success.
