Yesterday Iranian authorities blocked the use of most VPNs (Virtual Private Networks), technology commonly used to get around internet filters and electronic snooping, especially in places like China. This is apparently one of the final steps as Iran prepares to completely seal itself off from the World Wide Web, creating a domestic “halal” intranet similar to North […]

So why are the North Koreans acting so crazy? In the last few days, they have vowed to tear up the armistice agreement with the South, taken down the cross-border hotline between the two countries, and put their troops on high alert, awaiting a “final strike order” from Kim Jong-un—all supposedly in protest of a ten-day […]

Good news: Saudi Arabia may be doing away with executions by beheading. A committee made up of representatives of the interior, justice, and health ministries is reportedly considering getting rid of the Kingdom’s notorious punishment of death-by-swordsman in favor of firing squads, says Ahram Online.The bad news is that the committee isn’t considering the switch […]

As I finished writing the article “In the Army Now” (for the September/October 2010 issue of American Interest), I was literally en route to a year-long assignment in Afghanistan as part of NATO’s International Security Assistance Force. The mission I joined was a daunting one to execute: a vigorous counterinsurgency strategy in a theater that […]

America’s Polarized Public: A Reply to Fiorina In his essay, “America’s Missing Moderates: Hiding in Plain Sight”, Morris Fiorina reprises many of the claims that he and his co-authors have made in books such as Culture War? The Myth of a Polarized America, and Disconnect: The Breakdown of Representation in American Politics. The central argument […]

As regular readers know, I’m teaching a class at Bard this semester on “The Public Intellectual and the Internet.” The course is a combination of writing workshops and exploring the way in which changes in the media affect the way writers and thinkers connect with public. A lot of our reading in the first half […]

This week, Rand Paul’s filibuster highlighted divisions within the Republican party, but in California, Democrats are waging a civil war of their own: Via Meadia readers know that the most important political battle in America today isn’t the much-ballyhooed battle for the soul of the GOP. It is the blue civil war, pitting key elements of the Democratic […]

China’s “nine dragons”—the array of government departments, police forces, and surveillance agencies that are responsible for maritime policies—operate autonomously from each other, which often results in a disjointed approach to sensitive ocean issues. But not for much longer: Beijing is leashing the dragons and bringing them under the control of one overarching bureaucracy. The FT reports: […]

There will be no announcement of a grand peace plan when Presiden Obama visits Israel later this month, reports the Associated Press: In his meeting Thursday, Mr. Obama said pursuing sweeping peace talks now would be premature, given that Israel is still working to form a new government. […]In addition to his meetings with Netanyahu, […]

US diplomatic failures may be emboldening Iran’s nuclear program. A new piece in Al-Monitor argues that the West blinked in recent multi-party talks in Kazakhstan: Iran received a promise that no new sanctions would be imposed on it in the near future, and it wasn’t asked to give anything in exchange . . .It was no […]