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Recent Posts By CategoryAfghanistanTo the Fallen, and the Standingposted on Wednesday, May 28, 2008. I would have liked to post this on Monday, but I was in NY with my son on a surprise visit for my Dad's 80th, and between jet lag and family time, I didn't get a chanc... The PRT's Overposted on Tuesday, April 29, 2008. By all accounts, the Provincial Reconstruction Teams in Afghanistan and Iraq are pretty popular. Everyone -- be it military and civil service team members on the ground, Washi... Cheney in Ankaraposted on Tuesday, March 25, 2008. You'll recall that last month I mentioned an increase in Turkey's troop commitment in Afghanistan and a more active Turkish role in pushing back against Iran's nuclear program... Arts & LettersTaps: A Vision Of Military Honourposted on Sunday, February 24, 2008. Continuing with the theme of Hollywood and the post-Vietnam rehabilitation of American militarism, it occurred to me that no discussion of the subject would be complete withou... An Officer And A Gentleman: The Return Of American Militarismposted on Friday, February 22, 2008. I'd been meaning to write a piece yesterday about what I thought was my very insightful observation that this week's events in Kosovo serve as a sort of bookend for th... Oscar Petersonposted on Saturday, December 29, 2007. I just learned that Oscar Peterson, the man Duke Ellington called "the Maharaja of the keyboard", died over the holiday. Barry Ritholz has got an informative Friday Evening Ja... Blogging The LouvreBlogging The Louvreposted on Monday, January 21, 2008. Today I set out for the Louvre with the mud of the French countryside on my boots leftover from a Sunday afternoon outing to Chevreuse. If at first it seems like an affront (t... Blogging The Louvreposted on Monday, January 14, 2008. Before leaving my apartment, I consult the Louvre floor plan and decide on a large room on the first floor of the Richelieu wing labelled Renaissance. To get there I wander pa... Blogging The Louvreposted on Monday, January 7, 2008. Monday morning at 10am. The Louvre is almost empty when I arrive. Empty and vast. Imposingly vast. Here I am to begin my ambitious project, a room by room exploration of this ... BlogommageFriday Sheep Bloggingposted on Friday, February 9, 2007. This is how they mow the lawn in Provence. Seriously, the closest thing to a traffic jam we get around here, outside of tourist season, is during the Transhumance, when the s... Chess, Jazz & EthicsYour Moveposted on Friday, June 8, 2007. I'm seriously tired of getting my butt kicked by my mediocre chess program. I especially take issue with the way it takes its time analyzing run-of-the-mill moves, but snaps u... Words Of Wisdomposted on Tuesday, March 20, 2007. Direct quote from a conversation I had today with an Englishman of uncertain but advanced age:"Everything is alright until you die. Then they start asking questions."... ChinaThe Big Threeposted on Thursday, April 24, 2008. If it weren't for all hell breaking loose in the Middle East, the tectonic shifts going on in South Asia would probably be the decade's storyline. As it is, they still might b... Election Surprise, Pekin Editionposted on Saturday, March 15, 2008. In a major surprise out of China, President Hu Jintao suffered a stunning electoral reversal and lost 9 votes out of 2,965 cast by China's parliament members. Hu will remain i... We Try Harderposted on Friday, January 25, 2008. That's the ad campaign that Avis launched in the early sixties to turn its no. 2 position in the rent-a-car business into a strength:The results were dramatic… ... Dear LeaderPen Palsposted on Friday, December 7, 2007. Could it be that President Bush is considering using Pyongyang for a Nixonian "Peking Moment" before the end of his term? There's a lot of row left to hoe, but t... License To ILposted on Sunday, November 25, 2007. Laura Rozen directs our attention to this Yossi Melman Haaretz piece, which adds yet another veil of uncertainty onto the Israeli airstrike in Syria two months ago. Melman cit... Syria Snapshotsposted on Saturday, October 27, 2007. Now that administration hawks have established (in the popular imagination) a Syrian-North Korean proliferation link, it looks like the "Rice-Gates-Keep Cheney Away From The L... Domestic PolicyFair Taxposted on Friday, January 18, 2008. It took a while of reading about Mike Huckabee's 30% sales tax, which he dubs the Fair Tax, before it occurred to me that here in France, we pay 20% sales tax on goods and... PACS On Both Housesposted on Wednesday, October 10, 2007. Confirming my belief that the government doesn't belong in the marriage business, a study on French civil unions (known as PACS) has found that the closer their legal status r... French Medicineposted on Thursday, September 6, 2007. I'm not a policy wonk, and I'm certainly no expert on healthcare. But with the subject getting alot of recent attention, and with Michael Moore's SiCKO just openin... European UnionSarkozy the Europeanposted on Monday, June 30, 2008. I've got a new piece up over at World Politics Review titled, Sarkozy the European: France's EU Presidency: On July 1, France will assume the rotating presidency of the Europe... Swedish FISAposted on Thursday, June 19, 2008. It's not easy, but with a little imagination you could probably come up with some sort of category that groups together America, Saudi Arabia and China. Consolation pool for t... A Widening Focusposted on Wednesday, June 11, 2008. Part three of the series on France's strategic posture review is up over at WPR. Today's installment explores the widening geographic focus of France's strategic vision:In ass... Featured LinkFree Lunchposted on Sunday, October 14, 2007. As you can tell by glancing at the top of the sidebar, I've added a new feature to the site. It occurred to me that while I might not be able to sell ad space, I can give some... Foreign PolicySarkozy's Worldposted on Saturday, June 14, 2008. If you have an interest in French politics, you probably already know about Art Goldhammer's blog, French Politics. It's the most in depth and intelligent English language tre... Interview with Hubert Vedrineposted on Friday, June 13, 2008. The last installment of the French strategic posture review series is up over at WPR. It's the full text of my interview with former French Foreign Minister, Hubert Vedrin... Intervention Fatigueposted on Thursday, June 12, 2008. I'm not sure about Phil Carter's take on the Madeleine Albright NYTimes op-ed that's generating a good deal of discussion. Here's the key passage from Albright's piece:. . .An... Global War On TerrorSyber Warposted on Sunday, June 29, 2008. The new Sy Hersh piece is up at the New Yorker and -- with the caveat that it might be time to coin a term along the lines of a "Friedman Unit" to describe Hersh'... Swedish FISAposted on Thursday, June 19, 2008. It's not easy, but with a little imagination you could probably come up with some sort of category that groups together America, Saudi Arabia and China. Consolation pool for t... The Big Picture on the Long Warposted on Thursday, May 15, 2008. Amidst the signs of progress in Iraq, two cautionary notes: despite the Maliki government's solidification of its hold on power by military means, very few of the major po... Good News Of The DayGood News Of The Dayposted on Friday, October 26, 2007. Genarlow Wilson was freed from prison by the Georgia Supreme Court today. The Attorney General for Georgia declined to appeal the case.... Good News Of The Dayposted on Friday, September 28, 2007. For anyone unfamiliar with it, the French school schedule is in-sane. In primary school, the kids have Wednesdays off and morning classes every other Saturday. Later on, it's ... Good News Of The Dayposted on Monday, June 11, 2007. A judge has voided the ten-year prison sentence given to Genarlow Wilson, a 21-year old Georgia man who was convicted of receiving oral sex when he was 17 from a consenting 15... Hoops, Hardball & FisticuffsIn Defense Of The Asteriskposted on Friday, December 21, 2007. Everyone seems to be reading the Mitchell Report on steroid use in baseball as a reason to call into question various players' stats. And it's true that if you compare a guy l... Really?posted on Monday, October 29, 2007. It turns out that for some reason they played the World Series this year, even though the Yankees had already been eliminated. And here, I'd always assumed people just los... Rugby, Etc.posted on Saturday, October 6, 2007. There's something extraordinary going on here in France during the World Cup of Rugby, a convergence of the athletic with the political in a way that happens only rarely in th... Human RightsTorture as Permanent Exileposted on Monday, April 14, 2008. I'd been mulling over a couple points that I've yet to see mentioned in the debate about the use of physical coercion in terrorist interrogations, trying to figure out... Chad, Europe & Darfur, Reduxposted on Monday, February 11, 2008. I mentioned the other day that what was really at stake in the fighting in Chad, besides the survival of President Idriss Deby's regime, was the conditions on the ground for ... Chad, Europe & Darfurposted on Saturday, February 2, 2008. A little heads up on the fighting going on in Chad's capital: there's actually quite a bit more at stake there than whether the rebels manage to replace Chad's thu... IndiaThe Big Threeposted on Thursday, April 24, 2008. If it weren't for all hell breaking loose in the Middle East, the tectonic shifts going on in South Asia would probably be the decade's storyline. As it is, they still might b... India Roundupposted on Monday, March 10, 2008. The Times of India reports that the government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is unlikely to jeopardize its ruling coalition by greenlighting the US-India nuclear energy dea... The Beat Goes Onposted on Wednesday, February 27, 2008. Yesterday I mentioned that India had successfully test-launched an undersea missile. Today the head of Pakistan's navy declared that the test would trigger a regional arms-rac... International RelationsInterview with Hubert Vedrineposted on Friday, June 13, 2008. The last installment of the French strategic posture review series is up over at WPR. It's the full text of my interview with former French Foreign Minister, Hubert Vedrin... Intervention Fatigueposted on Thursday, June 12, 2008. I'm not sure about Phil Carter's take on the Madeleine Albright NYTimes op-ed that's generating a good deal of discussion. Here's the key passage from Albright's piece:. . .An... No Solutions, No Problemposted on Monday, June 9, 2008. The funny thing for me about Robert Kagan is that I very rarely ever disagree with his analysis of the problem. It's his solutions that I usually have trouble with. So I reall... IranSyber Warposted on Sunday, June 29, 2008. The new Sy Hersh piece is up at the New Yorker and -- with the caveat that it might be time to coin a term along the lines of a "Friedman Unit" to describe Hersh'... Engagement vs. Provocationposted on Tuesday, June 24, 2008. Diplomatic engagement with Iran is inevitable, not because they're "ten feet tall and on a roll," as this WaPo article (via Laura Rozen) puts it, or even because they're "dang... Iran Proposal Signals American Shiftposted on Tuesday, June 17, 2008. In case you haven't seen it yet, ISIS (via Laura Rozen) has posted an English-language version (.pdf) of the EU3+3 Iran proposal I referred to yesterday. And in comparing it t... IraqQuantum War, Quantum Warfareposted on Monday, June 23, 2008. Dr. iRack over at Abu Muqawama has emerged recently as an authoritative analyst of the Iraq War (and everything that term implies), so I recommend this rundown of the current ... To the Fallen, and the Standingposted on Wednesday, May 28, 2008. I would have liked to post this on Monday, but I was in NY with my son on a surprise visit for my Dad's 80th, and between jet lag and family time, I didn't get a chanc... Sons of Iraqposted on Wednesday, May 21, 2008. If you haven't already, give David Ucko's piece on the Sons of Iraq a read. I'm probably guilty of dismissing that particular aspect of the improved security situa... La France PolitiqueSarkozy the Europeanposted on Monday, June 30, 2008. I've got a new piece up over at World Politics Review titled, Sarkozy the European: France's EU Presidency: On July 1, France will assume the rotating presidency of the Europe... Sarkozy's Worldposted on Saturday, June 14, 2008. If you have an interest in French politics, you probably already know about Art Goldhammer's blog, French Politics. It's the most in depth and intelligent English language tre... Interview with Hubert Vedrineposted on Friday, June 13, 2008. The last installment of the French strategic posture review series is up over at WPR. It's the full text of my interview with former French Foreign Minister, Hubert Vedrin... La PresidentielleWhat The American Press Left Outposted on Tuesday, May 8, 2007. The American press' analysis of Nicolas Sarkozy's victory has so far amounted to the condescending party line about France turning its back on its stifling Socialist legacy in... Sarkozying Up To Americaposted on Monday, May 7, 2007. A lot has been made in the American press about Nicolas Sarkozy's "pro-American" posture during the French presidential election. But the truth is, his positions have been a l... Election Resultsposted on Sunday, May 6, 2007. The results of the French presidential election are in and, as expected, Nicolas Sarkozy won with 53% of the vote according to the earliest exit polls. I've been having so... Las AmericasIngrid Betancourt Freedposted on Thursday, July 3, 2008. I don't know how much coverage it's gotten in the States, but because she's a dual citizen of France, Ingrid Betancourt has been a cause célèbre here for the past six years. A... Fidel Castro Retiresposted on Tuesday, February 19, 2008. Frankly, it's not the kind of headline I ever expected to see. Granted, his brother Raul (no spring chicken at 76) is likely to succeed him, and Fidel might still play a s... Sign Of Lifeposted on Friday, November 30, 2007. It's hard to know how to feel about the video recovered by Colombian police showing that Ingrid Betancourt is still alive. On the one hand, relief that there's still h... Markets & FinanceThe Wealth Subsidyposted on Monday, March 31, 2008. With capital gains taxes at a 70-year low, making effective tax rates on wealth lower than that on labor, maybe a little Reagonomics wouldn't be such a bad thing after all:Rea... Sweet Home Alabamaposted on Sunday, March 2, 2008. A quick word on the EADS tanker contract that's getting so much blog attention. (Kevin here, Art here, Danger Room here and here.) Some mention was made of EADS' promi... Reverse Peter Principleposted on Friday, January 25, 2008. There are two really spectacular aspects of the Jerome Kerviel story, the French rogue trader responsible for $7 billion in losses at Societe General. The first leaped out at ... Media CoverageChad Dispatchesposted on Friday, June 27, 2008. I'd just like to flag a couple of WPR articles for any readers who might enter the site directly through the blog. David Axe, who is a frequent WPR contributor, has travelled ... Media Appearanceposted on Friday, May 23, 2008. I'm not sure I'll have a chance to post again beforehand, so for any Sirius Satellite Radio listeners, I'll be representing the WPR blog on Sirius' The Blog Bu... The War That Never Wasposted on Sunday, April 20, 2008. The NY Times story detailing how the Pentagon used "military analysts" to spread administration talking points on the Iraq War is sure to dominate the news cycle, an... Morning News RoundupMorning News Roundupposted on Friday, January 25, 2008. Top of the news and stories of interest from the American and global press:NY Times endorses Hillary Clinton and John McCain for primaries. (NY Times) Bush administration begi... Morning News Roundupposted on Thursday, January 24, 2008. Top of the news and stories of interest from the American and global press:Sunni Awakening leaders increasingly targetted in Iraq. (NY Times)French bank reveals $7 billion fra... Morning News Roundupposted on Wednesday, January 23, 2008. Top of the news and stories of interest from the American and global press:Tens of thousands of Palestinians pour into Egypt after Gaza wall is destroyed. (AP/NY Times)Asian m... Odds & EndsHappy Fourth of Julyposted on Friday, July 4, 2008. "Other states indicate themselves in their deputies . . . . but the genius of the United States is not best or most in its executives or legislatures, nor in its ambassadors o... No Place Like Homeposted on Friday, July 4, 2008. Me and the Not-So-Lil' Feller ran around most of the afternoon getting him ready for his summer vacation. At the shopping center where we found his sandals, swimming gear ... Dept. of Proud Plugsposted on Monday, June 9, 2008. Here's the introduction to a weeklong series of articles going up over at World Politics Review titled, "France's Strategic Posture Review." It's the product of a month's wort... Open ThreadOpen Threadposted on Monday, June 25, 2007. Posting will be light for the next few days. If you've run across anything interesting, pop it in the comments. I'll be back on Wednesday.... Birthday Open Threadposted on Saturday, June 2, 2007. On a lighter note, and as alluded to in the comments yesterday, today also happens to be my birthday. As of 10 a.m. New York time, I'll have completed thirty-nine revoluti... Gone Fishin'posted on Friday, April 13, 2007. For all intents and purposes, I'll be offline for the next week. There's a possibility that a guest host will do some posting during that time (you know who you are). I'll let... PakistanThe Big Threeposted on Thursday, April 24, 2008. If it weren't for all hell breaking loose in the Middle East, the tectonic shifts going on in South Asia would probably be the decade's storyline. As it is, they still might b... The Beat Goes Onposted on Wednesday, February 27, 2008. Yesterday I mentioned that India had successfully test-launched an undersea missile. Today the head of Pakistan's navy declared that the test would trigger a regional arms-rac... Recount!posted on Tuesday, February 19, 2008. If this is how they rig elections in Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf needs to come take a refresher course from the Washington state GOP. It's still unclear whether Benazir Bhu... PoliticsThe Pivotposted on Friday, June 6, 2008. If you haven't read today's WPR cover piece by Shawn Brimley and Vikram Singh, you should. I've been convinced for a while that more than any individual issues, or even collec... America's Obama Momentposted on Thursday, June 5, 2008. I'm pretty deep in the weeds of a series of articles for WPR, and time has been in short supply the past few weeks, so I've let a few stories slip by without much comment. I'm... An Eleventh Reasonposted on Sunday, June 1, 2008. Anyone feeling a bit uneasy about Barack Obama's chances come November against John McCain would do well to read Gerry Scorse's guest post over at Voices of Reason, 10 Reasons... Quote Of The DayDiplospeak Quote of the Dayposted on Monday, June 30, 2008. "We are willing to make joint efforts with the U.S. to cohere to the dialogue and consultation mechanism and take each other's concerns into consideration to better ... Quote Of The Dayposted on Thursday, February 21, 2008. "It would be politically incorrect to start surmising what the new leadership [in Washington] would do a year from now. A year in the life of the Middle East is a millennium."... Quote Of The Dayposted on Saturday, February 9, 2008. "Don’t buy something with someone you just met."-- Pam Fica, an agent with DJK Residential, on love and real estate. ... Race In AmericaAmerica's Obama Momentposted on Thursday, June 5, 2008. I'm pretty deep in the weeds of a series of articles for WPR, and time has been in short supply the past few weeks, so I've let a few stories slip by without much comment. I'm... Wright's Politics, and Obama'sposted on Thursday, May 1, 2008. I think Ezra Klein's right here, in that the essential problem posed by Jeremiah Wright is the political content of his remarks, and not the racial content. In fact, outsi... Obama's Speech: The Explainer in Chiefposted on Tuesday, March 18, 2008. I just got a chance to watch Barack Obama's speech, after having read the transcript earlier today. Most of the commentary has focused, for obvious reasons, on his treatment o... RussiaNo Trade-offs, Good Dealposted on Wednesday, May 14, 2008. Apparently, House Committee on Foreign Affairs Chairman Howard Berman didn't get the memo that U.S.-Russia relations are no longer based on trade-offs. More seriously, as the ... U.S.-Russian Nuclear Agreementposted on Tuesday, May 13, 2008. Richard Weitz' roundup of the nuclear agreement signed last week between the U.S. and Russia is the most thorough I've read so far. I'd been under the impression that the agre... Russian Uraniumposted on Wednesday, March 26, 2008. Usually when the Bush administration appeals a lower court ruling to the Supreme Court, I start feeling a little queasy. Not this time. As Miles Pomper points out in this WPR ... Say What?Crystal Mathposted on Tuesday, June 10, 2008. I think this is proof that Sudoku will eventually become punishable as a criminal offense. The first time I saw it in an airport bookstore, I recognized Sudoku for what it was... These Go To Elevenposted on Saturday, December 29, 2007. It seems that after some early confusion, America has finally come to its senses and decided that the moral of the story of Dr. Seuss' "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas... Subtleposted on Friday, November 2, 2007. If you've been following recent events in Pakistan, you'll know that the situation there is tense on a number of fronts. Recent military operations on the Afghanistan border a... The Middle EastThe Middle East, Sort Ofposted on Friday, May 30, 2008. For an optimistic take on how recent events in the Middle East might advance American interests, there's Bob Kenner in The National Review, and Scott Peterson in the Chris... The Iran Fallacyposted on Friday, May 23, 2008. In case you haven't noticed the front page, WPR has got a pretty solid one-two punch of must read articles today. The first, by Charles Crain, discusses the ways in which the ... Easy Targetsposted on Monday, May 19, 2008. Odd convergence when the news wires carry stories of President Bush and Osama bin Laden both chastising Arab leaders on the same day. Here's Bush:After basking in a showy cele... The Natural WorldRiver Tsunamiposted on Thursday, April 10, 2008. Things that make you go, Whoa:Melting ice in southern Chile caused a glacial lake to swell and then empty suddenly, sending a "tsunami" rolling through a river, a scientist sa... The Sodfatherposted on Wednesday, January 30, 2008. Every now and then, one man's insanity becomes so powerfully sane that it's worth paying attention to. Tim Dundon is just such a man:Instead of studying what he was doing and ... Cell Reproduction And The Happy Microbeposted on Monday, December 17, 2007. I remember a book I read when I was about twelve called "Who Should Play God" that dealt with recombinant DNA -- the insertion of tiny snippets of genetic material i... TurkeyMiddle Power Mojoposted on Friday, May 2, 2008. I got some pushback via email on this post about Turkey, and the idea of formulating American foreign policy to take advantage of the leverage offered by regional "Middle Powe... Cheney in Ankaraposted on Tuesday, March 25, 2008. You'll recall that last month I mentioned an increase in Turkey's troop commitment in Afghanistan and a more active Turkish role in pushing back against Iran's nuclear program... Nabucco in Jeopardy, Againposted on Tuesday, March 25, 2008. Turkish President Abdullah Gul met with Turkmenistan President Gurbanguli Berdymukhamedov yesterday, and while both leaders expressed their ". . .mutual will for improvin... Verse & ProseYouth Shows But Halfposted on Saturday, September 8, 2007. From where I’d sit on the porch nights, I could see everything. They’d move from room to room like cats. One would retreat, the other would follow, then they&rsquo... The Thing About Slimposted on Tuesday, August 21, 2007. The thing about Slim was, he had no shot. Not that it mattered, really. Slim was such a good ballplayer, he almost didn’t need one. He could dribble through rush hour traff... l.a. winter blues (sonnet)posted on Wednesday, July 25, 2007. dear dad, i'm in los angeles. it's notas warm as you would think. the sky is onebig cloud all day, and nights, i haven't gota chance against the damp. without the sunto heat t... |
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