The Putin-Medevedev years have been notable for attempts to refresh Russia’s strategic nuclear arsenal. These efforts are mostly embodied by two missiles – the RSM-56 “Bulava” submarine-launched ballistic missile and the Topol-M/RS-24 – a roadgoing, truck-launched heavy ICBM in the classic Russian fashion. The Topol-M is already in service, and is considered a very reliable [...]

This post did not originally indent and attribute the below blockquotes to The Washington Monthly magazine of which they are from. Consider magazine regrets this error and the post has been corrected. This report on the unsavory dealings of for-profit colleges came to my attention via Mike Konczal, who, for the last few months, has [...]

Fraternities and sororities may be popular and enticing aspects of the University of Michigan’s social scene, but I assure you, they are not how they appear.

What with it being those last two agonizing weeks of the semester, The Conversationalist is going to slow down blogging until 2010. As a parting gift checkout this interesting post on India’s Prime Minister, a master statesman according to The New Yorker‘s Steve Coll. –Daniel Strauss

At this unworldly, busy time in our lives, when studying, papers, and graduate school applications infiltrate even our dreams, it may be worthwhile to reflect on what it means to study in the first place?  What can we do to save ourselves from collapse in a psychological movement that simultaneously asserts to ourselves and in [...]

I’m not quite sure what to say about Obama for America Campaign Manager David Plouffe‘s challenge to potential readers/consumers to see try and sell more copies of his book than of Sarah Palin’s book in one day: Former Obama campaign manager David Plouffe is challenging his fans and political readers to a literary duel with [...]