Syria: From Deadly to Deadlier

Who were the officials killed in the Damascus bombing?

A bombing in Damascus killed two of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s top security officials, the Post reported, and the opposition Free Syrian Army claimed responsibility for the attack. Dawoud Rajha and Asef Shawkat were reportedly central to the Assad regime.

In one of the boldest strikes yet against the Syrian leadership, terrorist bombs killed advisers close to President al-Assad.

Of course, one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter. What effect will this development have on the situation inside Syria and/or the global response to it?

Mid-course Evaluation: How'm I Doin?

Tomorrow we will be about halfway through the course. This seems like a good a time as any to get feedback from you on the course so far.

The answers you provide will help me determine what's working and what isn't. I will do my best to make any changes that would improve your learning experience.

You can access the survey at this link: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/8MFBRMY . Remember that your responses are fully anonymous.

The Internationalization of the Sudanese Conflict

A playground for proxies: Iran and Israel may become more involved in the Sudanese imbroglio

Since an Islamist-backed military coup brought Sudan’s president, Omar al-Bashir, to power in 1989, Shia-run Iran has seen Sunni-dominated Sudan as a useful ally in north-east Africa... Israeli ties to the southerners go back to the 1960s, when they first received arms and training. More recently Israeli security experts have reportedly been working with South Sudan’s revamped military.

Jake sent in this story about international involvement in the conflict between Sudan and South Sudan. What are the implications of this involvement for the region and for international security?

Questions and Considerations for Thirteen Days

Pres. Kennedy and Sec. McNamara

Think of these questions and issues while watching the movie and afterwards.

If you have any questions about the movie, or would like to put forward some answers to these questions (only one or two at a time, please) feel free to do so in the comments.

1. Keep track of the people who are involved in each decision and what their official jobs are. 
2. What methods did the Kennedys use to go about making a decision?
3. What are the different solutions that are put forward in Thirteen Days?
4. What are the pros and cons of the different solutions?
5. Who supports which options?
6. How unified is the administration in developing and choosing solutions?
7. Why are some are some members of the administration so worried about world opinion?
8. Why is it so important that the surveillance pilots lie about being shot at?
9. Why is MacNamara so concerned about the Navy firing “star shells?”
10. Which conceptual models (from Allison: Rational Policy; Organizational Process; Bureaucratic Politics) do you think best explains the events of the Cuban Missile Crisis? Why?
11. Are there certain episodes in the Cuban Missile Crisis that are better explained by one conceptual model or another? When and why?

How We Feel about Child Soldiers

The image above is a "word cloud." A word cloud (or tag cloud) is a visual representation of a set of words. In this case, the size of the words is in proportion to how frequently they appeared in the set (the colors are random). I drew the set from the responses you all submitted in response to the child soldiers presentation by Group #2 (Jeremy, Vishal, John & David).

To create the image, I used the Wordle tool. You can design word clouds of your own: just click on the Wordle link and enter a URL or a word list.

Feel free to share in the comments any thoughts you might have about this terrible issue.

A "Legal Coup" in Paraguay

Behind the Paraguayan coup

Following a skewed vote in the opposition-controlled Congress, Lugo was removed from office for allegedly encouraging land seizures. In an upset, Vice-President Federico Franco of the Liberal Party assumed the presidency... There's no evidence that the US played a role in the impeachment, though to be sure the US defence establishment had plenty of reason to be unhappy with Paraguay's left-leaning president.

What is it mean for a coup d'etat to be "legal?" Can you think of similar historical examples? What might this mean for democracy in Latin America?

Update and Materials Added

Update: review sheet for first assessment now available.

As you may have read in my email, I have set up a review session for tomorrow afternoon. I have reserved 1108 Tydings Hall beginning at 1:45 PM.

You should have a review sheet by then, and you're welcome to ask me and your classmates questions about the upcoming assessment.

If you had intended to meet with me during office hours, please let me know and we can meet before, after, or at another time by appointment.

I have also posted slides from yesterday's and today's classes. You can view them above under the Slides tab.