Irving over at Tacitus very kindly provided a comment that has links to the reading lists of all the branches of the armed forces (other than the Army's, which were are covered in our previous post). He also links to a list put together by Rep. Ike Skelton of Missouri.

There's quite a variety of approach. But somewhere within this collection there's almost sure to be at least a good start    more »

I'm always in the market for good reading lists, and a few months ago I became aware that each of the branches of the US military puts out a reading list for its officers and enlisted. The updated reading list for the Army, recently by Army Chief of Staff General Schoomaker, is both fascinating and useful. The previous list was produced by General Shinseki in 2000. This Boston Globe article provides some interesting background.    more »

The end of the Cold War, September 11, and the continuing war in Iraq have produced a large and noisy global idea industry devoted to rethinking America's role in the world and, here in the US, how we organize major sectors of American society. The failure of communist ideology to produce social, political and economic benefits dreamed of by its proponents is not the same as a "global liberal capitalism triumphant." No single world view or ideology has yet to emerge as a serious opponent to global liberal capitalism. On any given topic, however, there are a host of challengers and pretenders trying to elbow their way into the marketplace of ideas and influence.

Out of this constant stream of new products from the global idea industry, Chez Nadezhda will collect items we find especially informative, provocative or substantive. Our goal is not only to keep a current inventory of the newest theory or the state of play within these grand debates. We're also trying to help our own thinking about these issues, to find (or impose) some coherence within the cacophony, to filter or reduce the noise level so we can hear whether some conversations are taking place.   more »

I created a "blog design" category that's restricted to you and me. So we can put ideas or exchange suggestions or have a sandbox there.

I've set this first post to bubble up to the main page, but it shouldn't be visible to those who don't have reading permission. I'll give it a try now.

Reactions Victor Hanson Davis' "Feeding the Minotaur -- Our strange relationship with Islamofascists continues," National Review Online, June 14, 2004. 

Tom Wolfe already did radical chic three decades ago. It's getting shopworn. I find it hard to swallow the claim that the biggest threat to our civilization's survival is some university professors and contributors to the NYRB who are not exactly household names and whose worldview is rarely to be found on PBS, let alone on CNN. I simply do not believe that "retrograde clarity" (defined by Hanson as the defense of the bounty of capitalism, the delights of personal freedom, and the security of modern technological progress) would cost anyone a university deanship, a correspondent billet in Paris or London, a good book review, or an invitation to a Georgetown or Malibu A-list party (Oh... OK, maybe the Malibu party).    more »

With the American attacks intensifying amd tanks drawing closer to the Ali shrine, Dr. Allawi shows no signs of compromise.

The NYT has a piece, datelined today, reporting on the dwindling number of Mahdi militia in and around the shrine as well as a growing number of young men departing the city in small groups. Areas which had been the source ofmortar attacks have fallen silent.

Contrary to some speculation in previous days, Sadr has yet to accept a face-saving ending to the confrontation, and Allawi appears in no mood for negotiation.   more »

Beginning today, the Christian Science Monitor is running a five-part series, "Tibet Journal." Although access by foreign journalists is largely forbidden, the Chinese government has since 2002 been sponsoring groups of foreign journalists in controlled visits. Robert Marquand provides a context form the trip of 32 foreign journalist with which he travelled.

The trips, although controlled, show how confident China has become. Authorities say that Tibetan popular unhappiness has ended, Chinese infrastructure is firmly established, tourism is on the rise, and that time has exhausted the human rights outrage of a religious civilization overrun by a modernizing socialist state.

The issue isn't simple. Beijing has a story: In the past four decades China has raised Tibetan literacy from 2 to 95 percent. Radio and TV have been installed. A country with no roads previously now has 20,000 miles of them. Life expectancy has nearly doubled. Those are the claims, and over the next week our talks will often refer to the 19th century American west as a corollary.

The waiting game has finally started to yield some results for Sistani and the military forces pressing alSadr and the Mahdi Army. If Allawi is able to successfully marginalize alSadr without total destruction of the Ali Mosque and the young fighters inside, it will be because of the moves Sistani has made throughout the crisis. And if the government and the Americans are not the ones primarily blamed by the Shi'a and the Iraqi population in general for the death and mayhem of weeks of armed confrontation, again the credit can be laid at the feet of Sistani for taking measured, credible but non-negotiable positions on the proper place of Sadr's militia (and other renegade armed resistance) in Iraq today.