Feeling Numbers
I’m not good at math (or maybe I am but never worked at it), I sort of stopped trying somewhere around algebra. But I am good at arithmetic. I can do addition and subtraction, multiplication and division, decimals, fractions, and percentages in my head fairly quickly and accurately. I even enjoy it. When running on […]
Attention Deficit: U.S. and Latin America
At the International Political Science Association World Congress, held in the beautiful and fascinating city of Buenos Aires (a few pics below), one term I heard a lot, lot, lot is hegemony. That’s because Latin America has been under U.S. hegemony for quite a long time. Our military hegemony is unquestioned – although of limited […]
Iraq 20 years later: Humbled and Conflicted
I thought, at the time, that invading Iraq and overthrowing Saddam was the right thing to do and a good idea. The extent to which I was wrong, absolutely wrong, leaves me, two decades later, humbled and also conflicted. With that, I thought I’d share a few thoughts. I knew some of the people who […]
A Sorting Hat for National Security Advisors
In an attempt to keep my class on American Foreign Policy Process relevant to the youths, I ask them to apply a sorting hat to National Security Advisors. The sorting hat is the magical device from the world of Harry Potter that tells wizards arriving at Hogwarts which House suits them. I blatantly stole the […]
Social Science Revolution at the White House
Generally the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) is not the focus of much public attention. If you are in science world, of course it is pretty important (full disclosure, in my day job I get to interact with them, very occasionally), but much of what they do (even during COVID) is […]
9/11 Finding Help and Hope
In Judaism the day begins in the evening and the day before is known as erev. So, as I write this it is erev 9/11 and its 20th anniversary is a day of contemplation. As an analyst and a scholar, I have many thoughts on what happened and what has come since. I’ll save them […]
Beyond Tourism: Billionaires in Space
Updated from original post of July 11, 2021. We have a full-blown billionaire space race going. Elon Musk is launching cars into space for … reasons. Richard Branson is now the first private astronaut – he rushed to beat Jeff Bezos. What to make of this? Where will this private space race go? The technical […]
July 4 Thoughts about Juneteenth and Reparations
It’s July 4, one of our oldest national holidays, but I keep thinking on our newest national holiday – Juneteenth – and how the two fit together nicely. July 4th celebrates the Declaration of Independence on the founding of the United States as a new nation. Juneteenth represents a small step in commemorating that our […]
On Canada Day: Words and Numbers
I’m an American fan of Canada. Not for its generous social welfare programs, although those are nice. Nor do I claim any particular expertise on Canadian politics or history (although I am interested.) I am first, grateful to have such a fantastic neighbor. The Canadian-American border is a marvel, the longest peaceful border in the […]
Are the supply chains ok?
In his PostEverything post yesterday morning, Daniel Drezner argued against conventional wisdom, stating that global supply chains are fine. A year ago, we were all worried about toilet paper. More recently, the world watched as the ginormous container ship the Ever Given was stuck in the Suez Canal and now the world auto industry is […]