by aelkus | Jan 8, 2013 | Monitor
Here is another way of understanding some of the common themes that Dan Trombly and I have written about during our brief time blogging on Abu Muquwama: For the purpose of argument, imagine American governance as a kind of market. A political process produces policy,...
by aelkus | Jan 8, 2013 | Monitor
Intelligence reform is once again in the air, and this time the bogeyman is the “militarization” of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). As Mark Safranski notes, there is something deeply bizarre about the idea that an organization created from the bones...
by aelkus | Dec 29, 2012 | Monitor
Academi (formerly Blackwater) and other military contractors received an early Christmas present on the 20th: a windfall in future profits from diplomatic security: [B]oth the influential independent commission on the September attacks in Benghazi and a Senate hearing...
by aelkus | Nov 29, 2012 | Monitor
Having plowed through Tom Ricks’ book on generals, I expected to write a review here. Unfortunately, I realized that I lack the background in the history of American military management and leadership to properly evaluate Ricks’ arguments. I found some of...
by aelkus | Nov 23, 2012 | Monitor
The Internet is abuzz with theorizing about who won and lost the short Israel-Hamas duel in Gaza. Unfortunately, the standards by which victory and defeat is tallied are fairly impressionistic. How else to explain the fact that so many actors have both won and lost in...
