Multilateral Public Vs. Unilateral Officials
Interesting paper:
Data from the 2006 CCGA national survey once again indicate that the American public is much more multilateral than U.S. foreign policy officials. Large majorities of Americans favor several specific steps to strengthen the UN, support Security Council intervention for peacekeeping and human rights, and favor working more within the UN even if it constrains U.S. actions. Large majorities also favor the Kyoto agreement on global warming, the International Criminal Court, the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, and the new inspection agreement on biological weapons. Large majorities favor multilateral uses of U.S. troops for peacekeeping and humanitarian purposes, but majorities oppose most major unilateral engagements.
Something to think about:
Analysis of more than one thousand survey questions asked of both the public and foreign policy officials over a thirty year period by the CCGA (formerly CCFR) indicates that significant disagreements between officials and the public have been very frequent, occurring 73% of the time. Disagreements between majorities of officials and majorities of citizens have occurred 26% of the time.
Ties into the “democracy doesn’t scale” theory. Anyone writing a book on that topic?
Gelman On Taleb
Pretty extensive reading notes of Taleb’s The Black Swan.
Training No Longer A Priority
RC- Pouring more and more resources into a whirlpool –
Military planners have abandoned the idea that standing up Iraqi troops will enable American soldiers to start coming home soon and now believe that U.S. troops will have to defeat the insurgents and secure control of troubled provinces.
Training Iraqi troops, which had been the cornerstone of the Bush administration’s Iraq policy since 2005, has dropped in priority, officials in Baghdad and Washington said.
A Spattering of Recent Developments
Guardian – They’re all over the place with this report on what to expect in terms of warfare for the next 30 years; not even one real mention of energy –
This is the world in 30 years’ time envisaged by a Ministry of Defence team responsible for painting a picture of the “future strategic context” likely to face Britain’s armed forces. It includes an “analysis of the key risks and shocks”. Rear Admiral Chris Parry, head of the MoD’s Development, Concepts & Doctrine Centre which drew up the report, describes the assessments as “probability-based, rather than predictive”.
Times – Important preliminary step –
Diabetics using stem-cell therapy have been able to stop taking insulin injections for the first time, after their bodies started to produce the hormone naturally again.
MIT –
Now, in a paper to be published in an upcoming issue of Physical Review Letters, MIT researchers report that they have visualized for the first time a convoluted tangle underlying turbulence. This work may ultimately help engineers design better planes, cars, submarines and engines.
And finally, build your own branded mobile phone network.
"The Empty Battlefield Is Full"
Incredibly fascinating post over on PostPolitical on the idea. Ties in history, hollow states, architecture and future-think.