Samuel Huntington dies

"Clash of Civilizations" author Samuel Huntington (MA Chicago, PhD Harvard) died on Wednesday.  Here is the AP obituary.  

New perspectives on the Georgian war

New perspectives are emerging on the origins of the Russo-Georgian war this summer. This article in the International Herald Tribune looks at the timing of events on August 7th, and uses evidence gathered from OSCE military observers that may--depending on context and further review--challenge the official Georgian version of events. Here is a slightly different angle, by the BBC. It focuses on Ryan Grist, the former OSCE official and his efforts in the early hours of the conflict.

Mercury poisoning or random illness?

Yesterday, the world press reported that the lawyer for Anna Politkovskaya's family had been "poisoned."   This article in the Herald Tribune says that balls of mercury were discovered in her car in Strassbourg, where the lawyer, Karinna Moskalenko, represents Russian citizens in cases against the Russian government at the European Court of Human Rights.  Ms. Moskalenko's family became ill recently, with one daughter registering a fever of 104 degrees, although French police have said that the quantity of mercury found in the car was not sufficient to cause illness (but more mercury could have been present when the illnesses occurred).  

It's unclear as to whether the mercury in the car is a coincidence or if it was deliberately planted as a warning.  We shall see what further investigation reveals...

More evidence of Iranian nuclear weapons

Thousands of centrifuges not enough?  Go here for apparent evidence of the assistance of a (lone?) Russian scientist in the design of Iranian nuclear weapons.  The article mentions that the document in question "is described by officials familiar with it as a detailed narrative of experiments aimed at creating a perfectly timed implosion of nuclear material."

Implosion? Sounds like a plutonium device.

As you (my students) remember, the Arak reactor is ideal for the production of plutonium.  This article, for instance, delves into the potential of this reactor. 

Georgia admits it miscalculated

One of the most puzzling aspects of the recent war was what the Georgians expected when they launched their artillery barrage to re-take South Ossetia.  Did Saakashvilli really expect the Russians to do nothing as they pushed into the province, wresting control of an area that was virtually a Russian proxy state?  Apparently, the answer is yes, they assumed that the Russian military would not intervene.  Big mistake.  See this piece in the Financial Times for a glimpse into the Georgian miscalculation.

Georgian journalist gets shot by sniper, then finishes her story!

See this link for video of a Georgian journalist getting shot by a sniper!  And see this dramatic footage of Turkish journalists being shot at (and shot) by Russian soldiers in Georgia.  

Thucydides and the Russo-Georgian War

I think the analogy is a bet sketchy, but go here for the article in the New York Times and International Herald Tribune.  

Worldmapper: amazing site!

Since I have a feeling that people are not using the "international research & think tanks" sidebar, I am putting this up as a new post.  But really, whenever you want to research a topic, you should go to the sidebar and find a good research site.  Way too many people are wasting time by going to Wikipedia, which is not a good strategy for informed analysis.  

Try sites such as www.cfr.org or www.fpa.org or others on the sidebar.  

At any rate, I'm putting this amazing site here for now.  The worldmapper home page is here.  

The idea is that they have taken key data in many areas (such as infant mortality or access to clean water or forest depletion or even toy exports) and have then created world maps that reflect each country's usage patterns.  Thus, for something like birth rates, sub-Saharan Africa is huge and most of Europe appears to be tiny.  

Go here to click on any of worldmapper's 366 maps.  That's right; 366 maps.  

Give it a try.  Amazing source.  

Email and print instructions

For your OpEds, print off a copy (make sure you have a bibliography) and also email me a copy at karlrahder at yahoo dot com