From The Wall Street Journal: ‘Charles Hill: The Empire Strikes Back’

July 30, 2012August 4, 2012 / chr1 / 3 Comments

Back to empire if the U.S. doesn’t stand up for liberal democracy?

‘But the message remains dead serious. The “battle” for liberal democracy and some semblance of international order “has been being won because the U.S. has been putting out the effort for it,” he says. “And now we’re not.”‘

What happened to peace through strength?

Related On This Site: Democracy as we envision it requires people to constrain themselves within laws and institutions that maintain democracy…through Mill’s utilitarianism?: Thursday Quotation: Jeane Kirkpatrick – J.S. Mill

Is Bernhard Henri-Levy actually influencing U.S. policy decisions..? From New York Magazine: ‘European Superhero Quashes Libyan Dictator’…Bernhard Henri-Levy At The Daily Beast: ‘A Moral Tipping Point’

Do we try and invest in global institutions as flawed as they are…upon a Kantian raft of perpetual peace?: Daniel Deudney On YouTube Responding to Robert Kagan: Liberal Democracy Vs. Autocracy

Obama’s Decision On Missile Defense And A Quote From Robert Kagan’s: ‘The Return Of History And The End Of Dreams’

From The American Interest Online: Francis Fukuyama On Samuel Huntington

From The WSJ: ‘Taliban Strike Heart of Afghan Capital’

September 13, 2011 / chr1 / 2 Comments

Full piece here.

‘The Taliban launched a coordinated attack on the Afghan capital Monday, paralyzing the city for most of the day as militants set off explosions, took over buildings and attempted to disrupt the swearing-in of new cabinet ministers.’

The security of Kabul has been transitioned to Afghan forces, and many people in Kabul don’t feel very secure today. My pessimism comes from the rank corruption of the current administration, including the current conditions that so easily lead to corruption: poverty, geographical isolation, high illiteracy rates, tribal identities and loyalties, decades of war and economic incentive to grow and move opium, a porous border. The Taliban perhaps can be hoped to have some incentives to disassociate from Al Qaeda, but in many ways, not much has changed, including the logic of why the U.S. is there and why our troops have such a difficult and sometimes confusing mission.

From March 27th, 2009 At WhiteHouse.Gov: Remarks By The President On A New Strategy For Afghanistan And Pakistan…Repost-From Michael Yon: ‘The Battle For Kandahar’…Dexter Filkins Book On Afghanistan And Iraq: “The Forever War”…Monday Quotations-Henry Kissinger

…Repost-’Dexter Filkins In The NY Times: The Long Road To Chaos In Pakistan’

From CATO@Liberty: ‘People Think Of Something As Their Business When It Is Their Business’

July 25, 2011July 25, 2011 / chr1 / Leave a comment

Full post here.

Cato riffs on a Bill Gates interview at the Wall Street Journal, regarding education.

‘Why? Because, as Bill Gates correctly observes, hardly anyone thinks of education as their business. And how do you get masses of brilliant entrepreneurs to think of education as their business? You make it easy for them to make it their business.’

I think it’s going too far, trying to apply libertarian economics onto education, but Milton Friedman on Education is thought-provoking.

Also On This Site: From Reason.Tv: ‘NBC’s Education Summit-Joe Trippi, Michelle Rhee & More’…From The Washington Post: ‘D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee To Announce Resignation Wednesday’

…Michelle Rhee At Newsweek: “What I’ve Learned”…Repost-’Too Much “Quality Control” In Universities?’

Robert Samuelson Via Real Clear Politics: ‘Why School Reform Fails’…From The Bellevue Reporter-Walter Backstrom’s: ‘Educational Progress And The Liberal Plantation’

From The Online WSJ: ‘Henry Kissinger on China. Or Not.’

May 26, 2011 / chr1 / Leave a comment

Interview here. (Link will not last)

Kissinger, at 88, has a new book out titled “On China“. Interesting quote from the interview (unsurprisingly, Kissinger just wants people to read the book):

‘The remarks hint at what may be Mr. Kissinger’s fundamental view of U.S.-China relations—that they are already so fragile that it could be derailed by some candid remarks by him in a simple newspaper interview. Alternatively, he may simply have in mind his own opportunities for “maintaining influence.”‘

Also On This Site: TED Via Youtube: Martin Jacques ‘Understanding The Rise Of China’…From Foreign Affairs: ‘The Geography Of Chinese Power’…From The New Perspectives Quarterly: Francis Fukuyama’s ‘Is America Ready for a Post-American World?’…Repost-From The American Interest Online: Niall Ferguson on ‘What Chimerica Hath Wrought’

Robert Putnam At The WSJ Online: ‘With Libya’s Megalomaniac ‘Philosopher-King’

March 2, 2011March 2, 2011 / chr1 / Leave a comment

Full piece here.

“Students of Western political philosophy would categorize Col. Gadhafi as a quintessential student of Jean-Jacques Rousseau: He made clear that he deeply distrusted any political group that might stand between individual citizens and the “General Will” as interpreted by the Legislator (i.e., Col. Gadhafi himself). When I argued that freedom of association could enhance democratic stability, he vehemently dismissed the idea. That might be so in the West, he insisted, but in Libya it would simply strengthen tribalism, and he would not stand for disunity.”

A potentially drawn-out civil war?

Also On This Site: From CSIS: ‘Audio: Arnaud De Borchgrave on Muammar el-Qaddafi and Continuing Unrest in Libya’…From The New Yorker: ‘How Qaddafi Lost Libya’ From Abu Muqawama: ‘Mubarak And Me’…Walter Russell Mead At The American Interest: ‘Mubaraks, Mamelukes, Modernizers and Muslims’…Fareed Zakaria At Time: ‘Why There’s No Turning Back in the Middle East’

From March 27th, 2009 At WhiteHouse.Gov: Remarks By The President On A New Strategy For Afghanistan And Pakistan…From CSIS: ‘Turmoil In The Middle-East’…From The New Yorker: ‘How Qaddafi Lost Libya’

Peter Suderman At The WSJ: ‘Obamacare And The Medicaid Mess’

February 16, 2011February 16, 2011 / chr1 / Leave a comment

Full post here.

‘Medicaid currently covers 53 million people at an overall cost of $373.9 billion (states are responsible for about half). But starting in 2014, ObamaCare rules will add about 20 million more, according to Richard Foster, the program’s chief actuary.’

Medicaid is already having some problems, is a political third-rail, and the gap between Obamacare and Medicaid state budgets might not be able to be closed at the moment. From his wife, Megan McArdle’s piece, a quote from the comments section:

“My sister is a physician and her clinical position is funded by the University (and a private foundation) where she is a Assistant Professor — she teaches one day each week and sees patients as general practitioner four days each week. Due to the unique financial status, her clinic doesn’t have the same profit/loss concerns that other physicians face but clinical revenues are still a concern for her department’s budget. She says virtually every Medicaid patient costs more to see than the reimbursements provide. Furthermore, because of their public service mandate, their clinic is one of only a handful of doctor offices in the area that accepts new Medicaid patients — which means that their new patients are disproportionately more likely to be Medicaid patients. The more Medicaid patients they see, the more unstable their budget gets. If you lower reimbursement rates then fewer physicians will accept Medicaid patients, leaving this clinic with an even greater proportion of Medicaid patients.“

Paul Ryan from a previous post tried to discuss the ‘doc fix:’

Atul Gawande At The New Yorker: ‘Testing, Testing’…From The New Yorker: Atul Gawande On Health Care-”The Cost Conundrum”

From If-Then Knots: Health Care Is Not A Right…But Then Neither Is Property?…A Few Health Care Links-03/18/2010…what about rising costs…political consequences?: From KeithHennessey.Com: ‘How To Repeal Obamacare’

From The WSJ: Graham, Lieberman and McCain “Only Decisive Force Can Prevail In Afghanistan’

September 14, 2009September 16, 2009 / chr1 / Leave a comment

Full post here.

Our 2 Republican senators and Lieberman acknowledge that the war has been mismanaged and misallocated during the last 8 years, and only now:

“At last, we have the right strategy and the civilian and military leaders on the ground in Afghanistan to carry it out. This is a must-win war. And now is the time to commit the decisive military force necessary to prevail.”

We need to thrust forward on the military front (as opposed to the many other points of contact America and Islam are having, sometimes much more productively), and…stamp out the Taliban. It’s not the fault of Afghans, but rather ours, for not making a good plan and sticking to it:

“Moreover, in the absence of basic security, the other crucial components of successful counterinsurgency—fostering the emergence of effective, legitimate government and economic development—simply cannot get off the ground.”

Yet, surely there are politics (ours) involved here. One of the central problems in Afghanistan is the lack of infrastructure, education, literacy, national identity etc that is filled, at times,by poppies, tribal identity, corruption, and the Taliban (as well as space for Al Qaeda). This is why reasonable Americans are nervous. I am suspicious that any Afghan government will sink back down upon these support (or lack thereof) structures.

Add to that the republican party’s disarray right now and I’m even more nervous.

The stakes remain high, and allowing the region to become utterly lawless (except by perhaps the Taliban’s version of Islam) and once again a haven for Al Qaeda is nearly a non-starter.

From The Wall Street Journal Via AL Daily: Buckminster Fuller’s World

May 19, 2009May 19, 2009 / chr1 / Leave a comment

Full article here.

Terry Teachout takes notice of the traveling exhibit: Buckminster Fuller: Starting With The Universe (at the Whitney in late June). So was Fuller comparable to Frank Lloyd Wright?:

“…Fuller was a Wright-like figure, a high-octane utopian who believed in the life-enhancing potential of modern technology. The difference was that Fuller lacked Wright’s ruthless determination.”

Both have their followers and left some interesting work behind. The discussion also reminds me of the explosion of science fiction this past century, and some of its darker mystic, utopian…and even religious (cultlike-this is alleged of course) tendencies that can make for good reading.

This is one point Teachout wants to address when such ideas are pulled into the political realm:

“Was modernism totalitarian? That’s coming at it a bit high, but it’s true that more than a few top-tier modernists were also one-size-fits-all system-mongers who thought the world would be improved if it were rebuilt from top to bottom — so long as they got to draw up the plans.”

I first came across that argument here. Do such visions have potentially harmful consequences in the political arena?

Perhaps, but in the meantime Fuller’s geodisic dome (platonic solids, ever-existing?) is still pretty interesting.