[FIRST POSTED ON AUGUST 18 2008; UPDATED ON OCTOBER 10, 2008] I am not a political activist – my activism is “in the trenches”, building up the community of Christ rather than than trying to lobby the government. But as a citizen in a democratic country who pastors the same, and as an amateur political […]
AF President – NIMBY on Bombing
August 14, 2008 By
Last weekend, the beleaguered President of Afghanistan made a passionate plea on behalf of innocent civilians for an end to airstrikes. This is not the first time that he has done this (last year he was moved to tears on the subject), and it does point to the difficulty of the situation. On the one […]
Should Clergy Talk about Politics from the Pulpit
August 3, 2008 By
The Johnson Amendment of 1954 changed the IRS code so that churches that support or oppose candidates for public office would lose their non-profit status. This past Sunday, a group of pastors challenged this by using Scripture to analyze the campaign positions of Senators McCain and Obama. They did this hoping to challenge the constitutionality […]
PK PM Gilani Defends COIN Strategy
July 29, 2008 By
The Prime Minister of Pakistan said almost everything he needed to say if he is to have any hope of keeping aid flowing and keeping us out of PK territory. FWIW, this is the same script that the Musharraf regime used, although PM Gilan did not mention (or at least the APP did not report) […]
A Funny Thing about Memory and Analysis of Change
July 28, 2008 By
When I was working for the government, I got to spend a lot of time researching why objective analysis was so difficult. I am out of that business now, but it is neat to see that problems of analysis are not confined to the world of international/comparative politics. Even simple parish priests get to see […]
Throwing a Wet Blanket on Campaign Promises
July 24, 2008 By
Bottom Line Up Front: Government programs can help improve life “on the margins”, but the potential harm they can cause is immense. This belief leads me to support limited government that protects liberty, markets, and provides those necessary goods that cannot be provided by markets or charity and to oppose programs that would increase the […]
Measurement Errors and Sample Bias in the FATA
July 24, 2008 By
It is very difficult to get good information about insurgencies. This is because they: 1. IO. They run their own information operations through their own dissemination channels, traditional channels (e.g. bazaar, mosque), and local, national, and international media of all types. In the case of the Taliban, they are very adapt at dissinformation (especially regarding […]
Looking at a Surge in Afghanistan
July 23, 2008 By
It is nice to see the insurgency in Pakistan getting more news coverage. Today I want to pull out some points made in a recent AP story, Suspicion, terrain are foes for US in Afghan surge). The general point of the story is that “surging” troop strength in Afghanistan might be counterproductive. Before I go […]
In Praise of Civility – and a warning about love
July 23, 2008 By
Today’s gospel lesson from the Orthodox lectionary is on the parable of the leaven, and how a little bit really improves everything. In general, the leaven is love: you can change the world around you if you genuinely love. This is a fundamental truth, but the world has so damaged the concept of love, that […]
Signing Peace Accords with Insurgents
July 22, 2008 By
Pakistani COIN has a definite rhythm to it: increase military pressure in an area then, when things are near a breaking point, sign a peace agreement with insurgent leaders (or their proxies), according to which the insurgents promise to stop attacking Paksitan military and government forces/facilities, stop cross border operations into Afghanistan, stop creating parallel […]
