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The American Conservative, 8 October 2007

Andrew Bacevich, a retired colonel best known as the author of The New American Militarism, excoriates General David Petraeus’ recent Congressional testimony, pointing out that if Petraeus were correct and the “surge” were working, then his recommendation that it be discontinued would be preposterous.  Bacevich argues that the elite in Washington is driven chiefly by the fear of admitting that it was wrong.  After reviewing Petraeus’ arguments and contrasting his views with the more cautious pronouncements of other senior commanders, Bacevich concludes:

Politically, it qualifies as a brilliant maneuver.  The general’s relationships with official Washington remain intact.  Yet he has broken faith with the soldiers he commands and the Army to which he has devoted his life.  He has failed his country.  History will not judge him kindly.   

American debates on foreign policy are usually conducted in terms of two, and only two, historical analogies: Munich and Vietnam.  Not only do these analogies grow tiresome, but their use in debate rests on an absurd set of oversimplifications.  Those tired of this idiocy may welcome Paul W. Schroeder’s “Fire Fight.”  Schroeder compares the current position of the USA in Iraq to the position of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in Italy in the period 1848-1859.  Not only does Schroeder draw out intriguing parallels between the way the Hapsburgs weakened themselves by wasting their resources in an unwinnable war in Italy and the way in which America is weakening itself in Iraq, he also acknowledges what the Munich–Vietnam shouters usually overlook, that an analogy is a comparison between things which are in other respects dissimilar.  Given that definition, a “perfect analogy” is a contradiction in terms.  Schroeder specifies the limits within which analogy is useful. 

 Other highlights include Philip Weiss, keeper of the mondoweiss blog, on the apparent inability of the organization Freedom Watch to specify its relationship with the Bush administration or its policy towards Israel; Kelley Beaucar Vlahos on neoconservatives among the top advisors to Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama; and Pat Buchanan on the future of Belgium.

www.amconmag.com

by acilius on October 2, 2007  •  Permalink
Posted in Iraq, The American Conservative, Vietnam
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Posted by acilius on October 2, 2007

https://losthunderlads.com/2007/10/02/the-american-conservative-8-october-2007/

The Nation, October 8, 2007

See the post below for an explanation of what I’m doing.

The cover story is a love letter to Keith Olbermann by Marvin Kitman; several pieces deal with the likely impact of the Iraq war on the 2008 elections.  Alexander Cockburn’s column starts with the arresting sentence “I never thought there’d come a time when, even for a moment, I’d trust Fidel Castro less than a former chairman of the Federal Reserve.” 

The best pieces are in the book reviews.  Ian Hacking considers several books about America’s anti-Darwin movement.  He expounds on Imre Lakatos’ theory of science.  According to that philosopher, Hacking writes, the proper “unit of valuation [in science] was the research program rather than the theory.  A rational program is, he said, ‘progressive’ in that it constantly reacts to counterexamples and difficulties by producing new theories that overcome old hurdles.  When challenged it does not withdraw into some same corner but explains new difficulties with an even riskier, richer, and bolder story about nature.”  Hacking favors Darwinism over fundamentalism not because it is the cut-and-dried, incontrovertible truth that a writer like Richard Dawkins would suggest, but precisely because it is confusing, superficially improbable, full of uncertainty.  Hacking even closes with a feint towards a new kind of argument from design, appealing to Leibniz’ description of a God whose plan calls for combining “the maximum of variety with the minimum of complexity for its fundamental laws” and arguing that a God like that  “would have to be a ‘neo-Darwinian’ who achieves the extraordinary variety of living things by chance.”

J. Hoberman reviews a new study of the Communist-inspired American literature of the World War II era, bringing up some interesting-sounding novels, such as Jews without Money by Mike Gold, I Went to Pit College by Lauren Gilfillan, and The Street by Ann Petry.

http://www.thenation.com/

by acilius on September 26, 2007  •  Permalink
Posted in The Nation, Theology
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Posted by acilius on September 26, 2007

https://losthunderlads.com/2007/09/26/the-nation-october-8-2007/

The Atlantic Monthly, October 2007

For some time I’ve been thinking I ought to take notes when I read magazines.  Not very extensive or systematic notes, just a few jottings of things I might want to remember.   To motivate myself to start doing this, I’ve decided to post these jottings on the blog.  Here’s are my notes on the current issue of THE ATLANTIC.

In a review of C L R James’ BEYOND A BOUNDARY, Joseph O’Neill laments the decline of American cricket since the brief period in the 1760’s when the sport was popular here.  He argues, apparently in earnest, that James’ book is so good that it justifies the lifetime of cricket fandom necessary to appreciate it. 

 Clive Crook notes that several prominent economists have in recent years suggested that globalization might not be the road to paradise and assures us that this is because they are growing senile.  “No empirical work even comes close to supporting the claim that globalization is failing to benefit America in the aggregate.”  Crook does not ask how those benefits have been distributed among Americans, let alone whether globalization will create new forms of inequality and what those new forms of inequality might mean for our society and politics.  For me, these are the essential questions about trade policy. 

Vthunderlad might be interested in Graeme Wood’s “Riders on the Storm,” an article about new technological developments that promise to give us a degree of control over the weather.  Christopher Hitchens’ nasty review of Philip Roth’s latest novel will bring a chortle to any right-wing antiwar types  who are so uncharitable as to enjoy the spectacle of two well-known left-wing hawks at each others’ throats.  And the “Word Fugitive” column’s canvass for words that would mean ” that happy feeling of kinship one feels for a car of the same make and model as one’s own” (the winner is “”badgeraderie”) and “that guy (or girl) who, once he starts dating someone new, abandons all of his friends” (they choose “hiberdater.”)

The cover story is about rich guys like Bill Clinton who try to take control of people and groups to whom they donate money.  Of course, the magazine is owned by David Bradley, who is just such a guy, so they present this as a good thing.  It’s the “new philanthropy”!  Other feature stories deal with “social investing,” the evolution of altruistic behavior, and the future of Pakistan.

http://www.theatlantic.com/

by acilius on September 26, 2007  •  Permalink
Posted in The Atlantic Monthly
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Posted by acilius on September 26, 2007

https://losthunderlads.com/2007/09/26/the-atlantic-monthly-october-2007/

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