(no subject)
Listening to NPR and obsessively copyediting my CV.
Discussion: responses to the Iraq Study Group's report.
People keep saying they don't want to psychoanalyze the President.
Interesting.
Perhaps because they would have to quite quickly use the term "Oedipal complex"?
While I'm on the topic of Iraq, which I think about a lot but never post about,The New Republic currently has a great special issue on Iraq. Tons of smart columnists, with lots of different viewpoints, ordered so that they dialogue with one another. And I found myself agreeing with Niall Ferguson! I still think he's a British Empire apologist, but I'm starting to suspect that all his thinking on British imperialism might have led him to a few insights on American imperialism.
A quote:
"From the historian's perspective, it is not hard to see what went wrong in Iraq. Not enough men in the wake of Saddam Hussein's defeat. Not enough money to incentivize local collaboration. Not enough ruthlessness when the insurgency first began. Not enough diplomacy to buy and hold international support. Oh yes, and not enough historical knowledge. (It's only in the Star Wars movies that an empire can create its own reality.)"
My list of historically-considered reasons why things went wrong would be a bit different, and I could never make such a list without mentioning neocons and Haliburton etc. etc. etc., but I definitely agree with his last point: too much Palpatine-quality fantasy, not enough historical knowledge.
Ok. On to the cover letter.
Discussion: responses to the Iraq Study Group's report.
People keep saying they don't want to psychoanalyze the President.
Interesting.
Perhaps because they would have to quite quickly use the term "Oedipal complex"?
While I'm on the topic of Iraq, which I think about a lot but never post about,The New Republic currently has a great special issue on Iraq. Tons of smart columnists, with lots of different viewpoints, ordered so that they dialogue with one another. And I found myself agreeing with Niall Ferguson! I still think he's a British Empire apologist, but I'm starting to suspect that all his thinking on British imperialism might have led him to a few insights on American imperialism.
A quote:
"From the historian's perspective, it is not hard to see what went wrong in Iraq. Not enough men in the wake of Saddam Hussein's defeat. Not enough money to incentivize local collaboration. Not enough ruthlessness when the insurgency first began. Not enough diplomacy to buy and hold international support. Oh yes, and not enough historical knowledge. (It's only in the Star Wars movies that an empire can create its own reality.)"
My list of historically-considered reasons why things went wrong would be a bit different, and I could never make such a list without mentioning neocons and Haliburton etc. etc. etc., but I definitely agree with his last point: too much Palpatine-quality fantasy, not enough historical knowledge.
Ok. On to the cover letter.