Wonks vs. Nerds

by Joshua Foust on 3/13/2010 · 4 comments

Back in January, Drew Conway, Thomas Zeitzoff, and I co-wrote a response to a high-profile study on ecologies of conflict. Our primary complaint wasn’t that quantitative study per se was wrong—after all, Thomas and Drew are primarily quantitative in their work—but that it requires a lot of context and understanding to give the numbers meaning [...]

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Book Review: The KGB’s Fascination With Potions

by Joshua Foust on 3/12/2010 · 0 comments

Originally posted to Steve LeVine’s excellent Oil and Glory blog.
It can be difficult to stand out in the somewhat crowded field of Russian scare-books. Whether arguing for the resumption of a “new cold war” or whatever conspiracy happens to be topical, recent years have seen an avalanche of books arguing that Russia is not the [...]

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Oh, the Shinwari

by Joshua Foust

It’s almost like no one could have seen this coming.
JALALABAD, Afghanistan — Six weeks ago, elders of the Shinwari tribe, which dominates a large area in southeastern Afghanistan, pledged that they would set aside internal differences to focus on fighting the Taliban.
This week, that commitment seemed less important as two Shinwari subtribes took up [...]

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Kazakhstan’s Libel Laws

Thumbnail image for Kazakhstan’s Libel Laws by Joshua Foust

I’m genuinely confused by this:
A U.S. media group has criticized Kazakhstan for effectively banning an opposition newspaper, saying the move violated the core values of Europe’s main democracy watchdog, chaired by Kazakhstan this year.
Distribution of the main opposition Respublika newspaper was halted in February after a court ruled a story published by the paper last [...]

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Romancing Hekmatyar (and other related monsters)

by Joshua Foust

Blake Hounshell is on to something:
There’s been a lot of chatter recently over bringing Hekmatyar and/or Haqqani over on the the government side… There’s no question these are nasty men, but they don’t strike me as particularly worse on human rights issues than say, Abdul Rashid Dostum, Mohammad Qasim Fahim, or any number of petty [...]

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Thinking Big, Thinking Small

by Asher Kohn

…or perhaps not thinking. Not at all. Seuss-ian writing aside, there are a few different ways to view how ISAF is trying to change the built environment in Afghanistan. I’ve been bullish on architectural changes for a while now, and the military wings its way besides. I’d imagine the impulse to make wholesale changes is [...]

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Means-testing the Drone War

by Joshua Foust

The London Times runs a story claiming that the U.S. drone war in Northwest Pakistan is creating fear and paranoia:
The effects of the campaign, however, are beginning to veer dramatically off course as the strikes intensify, according to tribesmen. “Before the drone attacks began the Taleban weren’t so obvious among us and the militancy wasn’t [...]

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Subscribe to Steppe Magazine

Thumbnail image for Subscribe to Steppe Magazine by Joshua Foust

I know we issue this call periodically, but I just recently bought a subscription to Steppe Magazine and back ordered an issue I wanted to see. It is everything I hoped it would be—solid design, wonderful travelogues from the area, genuinely skilled photography (Chris Herwig is really good), and pretty decent writing on top of [...]

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Attacks in Khost; Police Respond Again

Thumbnail image for Attacks in Khost; Police Respond Again by Joshua Foust

There was another suicide attack in Khost today.
A Reuters reporter in the town heard an explosion and shooting near the headquarters of the Khost provincial department for tribal affairs.
Smoke could be seen rising over the area. Afghan forces had cordoned off the road leading to the site of the blast and a helicopter was [...]

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How to Move Forward in Marjeh

by Joshua Foust

“As the United States and its Western allies renewed their commitment to the Afghan war in recent months,” reports Alyssa Rubin, “they stressed that it cannot be won without good government.” So what?
But news reports that a newly chosen top leader for that city may have a criminal background underscore the difficulties of finding leaders [...]

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