Tuesday Linkage
Cleaning out the ol’ Google Reader…
- Stephen Walt lists “Five Inconvenient Truths” that he wishes American policymakers would tell.
- See also Walt for a tribute to the late Glenn Snyder.
- William Sims and the Gunnery Revolution.
- China has its own version of Red Flag.
- How reality based is the reality based community?
- I also don’t understand why a toy RQ-1 Predator is more controversial than a toy F-15.
- Japan continues to grow more militarily assertive.
- The economic benefits of deep military engagement are altogether unclear.
Uncle Kvetch:
February 26th, 2013 at 8:05 am
“We like being #1, and we’re going to stay there just as long as we can.”
Is there really anyone out there naive enough to think that this isn’t the fundamental basis of US foreign policy? Really?
joe from Lowell:
February 26th, 2013 at 9:51 am
The focus on the (supposed) scariness of drones is a function of the weakness of the argument against the war against al Qaeda.
During the Iraq War, opponents didn’t feel the need to go on and on and on about the M1A1 tank. During the Vietnam War, protesters didn’t single out the scary shape of the M-16. They seemed quite confident in the strength of their argument against the actual policies. They doesn’t seem to be the case this time, and it’s not hard to understand why.
In fact, I can remember when the people talking about “the drone wars” used to write columns about how stupid it is to discuss a “War on Terror,” because describing a war in terms of the tactics and weapons used, instead of who was actually fighting whom, over what, was intellectually sloppy, and a deliberate effort to confuse unlike things. Such people were right the first time.
Of course, whenever you point out the weird obsession with pilotless aircraft, they deny that such a thing even exists – immediately before going right back to a “Droney” cartoon or writing a blog post about how disturbing it is to sell toy Reapers.
Shakezula:
February 26th, 2013 at 10:01 am
Did I hallucinate a post re: the sad fate of law schools signed by multiple law proofs? Or did my comments break the thing?
Morbo:
February 26th, 2013 at 10:35 am
Welp, nice knowing you, dissent; you had a good run.
wengler:
February 26th, 2013 at 1:22 pm
I can see political leaders throwing away whole generations making sure this is a continuing reality.
Murc:
February 26th, 2013 at 1:23 pm
About fucking time.
They’re the second largest economy in the world and they’re right next door to China and North Korea. The Second World War ended nearly seventy years ago. While I am pleased by our ongoing highly amicable partnership with the Japanese, it’s about time they started pulling their weight on the world stage rather than outsourcing their national defense to us.
merl:
February 26th, 2013 at 4:21 pm
The “Gun Doctor” makes me miss the days of Battleship Blogging.
Major Kong:
February 26th, 2013 at 7:36 pm
To be fair, we wrote their constitution at the end of World War II specifically so that they wouldn’t be pulling their weight on the world stage.
Yes, they were that scary.