Bloggers from the ITT List reflected today on these words of Martin Luther King and the history of racism in public discourse during their lifetimes: “Hatred paralyzes life; love releases it. Hatred confuses life; love harmonizes it. Hatred darkens life; love illuminates it.” —Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. For ITT List writers, the resurgence of [...]
Editor’s note: Posting will be light for The Conversationalist this week as Daniel Strauss, the blog editor, has contracted a particularly nasty stomach virus. Things should be back to normal on Tuesday (after the weekend and MLK Day). John Beyrle, the US ambassador to the Russian Federation, delivered a lecture to a full house at [...]
After Hugo Chavez passed a constitutional referendum removing Venezuelan presidential term limits, he jubilantly declared that “this soldier is a pre-candidate for the presidency, for the period 2013-2019.” So far though, he’s got a long way to go. While Chavez is still the dominant force in Venezuelan politics, 2010 has started poorly for him. The [...]
The NYT ran an article on how the military is “awash in data” from its remote-controlled drones. In short, the aircraft produce more video than can be watched and analyzed. It’s worth noting here that information sans analysis is not intelligence. Drone-camera video of people with guns in the Afghan desert is almost meaningless without some [...]
Recent reporting by The New York Times on the cover-up of immigrant detainee deaths in U.S. detention facilities follows close on the heels of what appears to be a genuine attempt to make security more transparent since Obama’s election. What happened to immigrants in privately-run security facilities as they were awaiting trial is often described as “horrible” and [...]
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 [...]
