KeepNet 20 June 2008
More news and views from the blogosphere and beyond.
First on the parade ground, Abu Muqawama’s newest recruit, Troy (Six of Seven?) kicks off with an easy one, How Do You Solve A Problem Like The Pashtun? and concludes that the wisdom of some convincing commentators “runs diametrically opposite” to current strategy.
Stephen Corman asks what the US can do to address foreign perceptions of unilateralism, Narrowing the Listen-Do Gap in US Public Diplomacy. Within this piece he cites the “numbers showing 2 out of 3 Americans said the Iraq War was not worth it” argument, which ties in nicely with a debate at CTLab in response to my post on Joseph Stiglitz and cost-benefit analysis. James Denselow in The Guardian suggests applying just such an analysis to the British role in Untangling Afghanistan.
Matt Armstrong is putting together a reading list on public diplomacy.
Shi’ites bombing Shi’ites in Baghdad? Who Are the Target Audience? asks Sic Semper Tyrannis 2008.
Olivier Roy says, “all the ethnic maps of Afghanistan are inaccurate”. With that in mind Ghosts of Alexander has fun with a series of such maps. The CNN one is, as GOA says, truly dreadful. Hand me the crayons.
How I learned to love the bomb: Why bad science fiction informs Department of Homeland Security policy. The title says it all in a great post by Sam Liles.
Is Sweden really implementing a full internet monitoring strategy on the Chinese model based on “vague arguments about terrorism”?
Evan Kohlmann interviews Hamas spokesman Ahmad Said al-Hamad. The internet as global madrassa? And more on Irhabi007, this time Tsouli’s links to the US [all via The Jawa Report]
