It is often remarked, mainly by frustrated parents and disrespected teachers, that two wrongs do not make a right. But then what do they make? The scolds never tell us that. Well, judging from the skein of events, now more than two years old, that appear to be leading to a U.S.-led attack on Syria, […]

This is a guest post by Adam Garfinkle, editor of The American Interest. It is cross-posted from his blog elsewhere on this site. Be sure to bookmark his page!It is often remarked, mainly by frustrated parents and disrespected teachers, that two wrong do not make a right. But then what do they make? The scolds never […]

Readers of this blog will by now have become familiar with my cognitive preference for free association. I read something about Brazil, which reminds me about something in China, the two items together have an implication for a theory of mine. If the currently fashionable brain science is right, this predilection of mine may be […]

The last of the ancient kings of Rome, Tarquin the Proud, was approached one day by a woman who offered nine books of prophecy at a steep price. The king refused; the price was too high. The woman burned three of the books and offered the remaining six at the original price. Nothing doing, said […]

We are saddened to learn that David S. Landes, economic historian and author of canonical works such as The Wealth and Poverty of Nations and A Revolution In Time passed away on August 17. If you by chance are not acquainted with his work, we encourage you to start by reading Chapter 1 of his Prometheus Unbound, excerpted […]

In early August, TAI editor Adam Garfinkle sat down with General Michael V. Hayden in his Washington office to talk about recent intelligence-related headlines and what is behind those headlines. General Hayden, a retired Air Force Four-Star, has served as director of the National Security Agency (1999–2005), as Principal Deputy to the Director of National Intelligence (2005–06) and as director of the Central Intelligence Agency (2006–09). Here is a lightly edited transcript of that conversation.

The British Catholic journal The Tablet carried a story on August 3, 2013 that I found suggestive (although its topic is not terribly interesting in itself). The story reports on the surprising growth in England of the Roman Catholic Congregation of the Oratory. This is not a monastic order but a community of secular priests, […]

The US Army’s incorporation of mission orders into its combined arms doctrine described in an earlier post was an example of a government agency that was delegated an appropriate degree of bureaucratic autonomy, a delegation that extended down to the lowest levels of the organization.  This kind of delegation is extremely rare in government operations, […]

President Obama has had a rude awakening in the Middle East. The region he thought existed was an illusion built on American progressive assumptions about the way the world works. In the dream Middle East, democracy at least of a sort was just around the corner. Moderate Islamists would engage with the democratic process, and […]

Earlier this summer U.S. Ambassador to NATO Ivo H. Daalder stepped down from his posting to become president of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. TAI editor Adam Garfinkle recently spoke with him about his tenure in Brussels, focusing on some of the key issues that continue to animate Transatlantic discussions. Adam Garfinkle: Looking back […]