Archive for September, 2008
Originally posted here, here, and here.
“Lafayette, we are here.” Part I.
On this day in 1918, the United States launched an attack against the German trenches in the Meuse-Argonne region of northern France. It was the largest American effort since the Civil War; in absolute numbers it was the largest operation the United States [...]
Part I here,
Part II
here.
None of the three main Democrats in the primary campaign had any substantial military knowledge. Rather than attempt to run another war hero, the Democrat voters decided that Iraq would neutralize the national security issue. But that required a candidate who was not tainted by Iraq. Hillary Clinton voted for [...]
The Republicans, by contrast, settled on fantasy. The party fought successfully to use patriotism as an electoral wedge, especially critical in the 1960s to appeal to a newly susceptible South. That use of patriotism was overtly connected to the virtue of the American military and American soldiers and sailors. The image was [...]
Introduction
The political dialogue surrounding matters military is fundamentally skewed by the fixations of both political parties. The Democrats and the Republicans, largely because of the corrosive domestic effects of Vietnam, have adopted delusional or ineffective methods of dealing with the Pentagon, with Iraq and Afghanistan, and with the larger issues of America’s military. Those delusions [...]
Perhaps the most urgent lesson of any war is exactly the need to learn from the conflict. Combat is a harsh teacher but always offers precise tutorials in how, exactly, things can go wrong. Needless to say, Iraq has re-proven that adage. The organizations most eager to learn those lessons are the [...]
Historical Background
Much of the conflict between Russia and Georgia can be explained by looking at a map of the Soviet Union in 1989:
and a map of Russia today:
The end of the Cold War splintered the Soviet Union into numerous different countries. Almost all of them could tell themselves that they were breaking free of [...]
Is an attack on Iran about to happen? A Seymour Hersh article in the New Yorker has spurred a groundswell of speculation. Given the Bush Administration’s near-continuous saber-rattling towards Iran over the past few years and the attractiveness of a ‘wag the dog’ scenario, the prospect seems plausible. Is it possible, [...]
The Jamestown Project- Small Tent April 16, 2009 dsilbey
- Votes Have Consequences, or Regionalization (continued) April 14, 2009 dsilbey
- What A Regional Party Looks Like April 7, 2009 dsilbey
- What Defeat Looks Like March 31, 2009 dsilbey
- The Wrong Question March 30, 2009 dsilbey
- silbey@h-war
- Silbey@twitter
- silbey: My daughter just mooned my wife. Proudest moment of my life.
- silbey: Well, there goes stretching: http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/25/phys-ed-how-necessary-is-stretching/
- silbey: @msilbey Color Me Mine called; your pieces are ready.
- silbey: http://edgeofthewest.wordpress.com/2009/11/23/insert-economist-joke-here/
- silbey: @msilbey Almost no chance.
- silbey: @davezatz Me too. An external keyboard for my iPod Touch is all I need to dump my laptop on trips.
- silbey: @msilbey Smooches. (somewhere, KHop is retching)
- silbey: @kdhopwood You're a doll.
- silbey: @kdhopwood http://www.zatznotfunny.com/2009-11/tales-of-a-geek-squad-recovery/
- silbey: Having emotional crisis. Wish to punch out commenter on wife's blog post. Recognize that this is not professional. Still wish to do it.
