FUTURE BUREAUCRAT

Recipe - 15 British soldiers. 2 boats. 1 disputed border. 1 small military confrontation. Add 2 parts media circus. Knead. Mix.

Yields: $10 spike in oil prices and millions in the public coiffers.

YUMMY!!

Go read Sudarsan Raghavan’s tragic account of the scene of a Baghdad bombing in the Washington Post today…

When asked how he knew his son was buried there, he replied: “My heart tells me so.”

He wouldn’t give his name. When asked his son’s name, he answered: “His name is Iraq.”

A few minutes later, he broke into tears again.

I once listened to a lecture by a renowned Muslim constitutional scholar, during which he presented his argument that constitutions should protect group rights in addition to individual rights.  Where these rights clash, his argument goes, socieites should have the choice to elevate certain rights of the group over personal liberties. As applied to Muslim countries, his theory would allow constitutions to elevate certain Islamic traditions, like those enshrined in Sharia Law, over rights like free speech and freedom from discrimination.

I accept the fact that this is an exercise in semantics (what is liberty?) that depends largely on how one’s experience informs their understanding of the individual’s relationship with the larger community.  The argument for group rights is controversial in that it clashes with the constitutional history of the United States, which one can argue shows steady development and expansion of individual liberties. Continue Reading »

Every once in a while I find an article or a book that totally changes my perspective on an issue. It happened this week after I read a small piece in the New Yorker by James Surowiecki. Surowiecki outlines the “risk premium” affecting the price of oil. Essentially, the “risk premium” is the extra price traders are willing to pay for a barrel of oil today to account for the chance of disruption in supplies sometime in the future. By some accounts the “risk premium” could add an extra $10 - $15 to the price of oil, depending on current events.

What makes his article so interesting is that he goes on to analyze the rhetoric of President Ahmadinejad of Iran with the “risk premium” in mind. Ahmadinejad is by no means universally liked or supported domestically in Iran. He was elected on a populist platform by promising to tackle high unemployment and a stagnant economy. His programs have not been successful. The official unemployment rate is still something in the range of 10 - 15%, but most economists believe it is actually somewhere above 20%. Inflation continues to be a problem. The oil infrastructure is in desperate need of upgrades and repairs. So what does Ahmadinejad do? Well, think about it… Continue Reading »

Listen to a heart-warming story of love from the folks at This American Life.

Can an Iraqi POW and an American soldier be together?  Find out…

In a story about the recent increase in helicopter crashes in Iraq, the New York Times hits the nail on the head:

“Historically, improved tactics in shooting down helicopters have proved to be important factors in conflicts in which guerrillas have achieved victories against major powers, including battles in Somalia, Afghanistan and Vietnam.”

The US military needs to get this situation under control.  If the insurgents control traffic along Iraq’s road through the use of IEDs, and they can make helicopter travel dangerous, too, then the Americans really will be trapped in the Green Zone.  This is bad news for the military project, but it is far worse for American diplomatic efforts.  The State Department is already finding it difficult to convince senior diplomats to serve in Iraq.

If you read the news you’ve surely heard the drumbeat. It’s a steady drip now. Almost a daily dose.

Depressing, really.

Say what you want about the conduct of the Bush administration and its foreign policy, but (and I’ve said it before) you must recognize their intelligence and political skill. They’re down now, but not out. These are brilliant, motivated people. So as they turn up the heat on the Iranians in the hopes that Ahmadinejad does something stupid, and provides them with the casus bellum they seek, remeber the following: this war will not start in the same way the Iraq war began. Continue Reading »

There was an interesting article in the New Yorker last week written by Michael Specter. The article focuses on the killing of Anna Politkovskaya in Moscow in October of 2006. Politkovskaya was a journalist and outspoken critic of Russian policies in Chechnya, and was particularly critical of Putin’s leadership. Her death was noted widely in the Western press and in liberal circles within Russia. Despite a dramatic funeral in Moscow, however, Specter notes that few Russian media outlets covered her killing in any detail. Putin himself, when asked about her death at a press conference, dismissed her influence on Russian politics as “very minor.” Continue Reading »

Want to know why our patent and trademark system is so screwed up? Go read about Blackboard, Inc., over at Techdirt. Blackboard holds a patent for - no kidding - “implementing education online by providing institutions with the means for allowing the creation of courses to be taken by students online.” Continue Reading »

Remember Manuel Noriega, the former leader of Panama? He is scheduled to be released on September 9 from Federal Prison in Miami. However, it’s unlikely he will become a free man. Panama has requested that he be extradited to stand trial for the crimes committed during his leadership.

Something tells me he won’t have a cushy apartment in a Panamanian jail…