politicalviolenceataglance
What happens in Syria doesn’t stay in Syria (via Jon Western).
Nadav Morag on Syria’s broken sense of nationhood: “the idea that some sort of common Syrian civil identity can be created, especially in the wake of such bitter and bloody sectarian warfare, is highly misguided.”
The “war of the holy tombs” and why the US should stay out of Syria.
Olga Khazan talks to Admiral James Stavridis about Syrian air defense systems. Micah Zenko notes a discrepancy between Stavridis’ description and Gen. Martin Dempsey’s. And how much would a no-fly zone cost anyway, and what does the recent Israeli airstrikes in Syria say about the difficulty of establishing one?
The myth around China’s growing military supremacy (though I’m pretty sure the title image is more due to Photoshop than the PRC’s increasing defense budget…).
Jay Ulfelder on sovereignty without territoriality: “Contemporary drug cartels arguably exemplify the possibility of organizations that compete for power in trade space without asserting sovereignty over territory or society…”
Edward Hugh asks what happens when countries depopulate. Joshua Keating and Robert Farley have more. Contributor Tanisha M. Fazal’s book State Death seems at least tangentially related to this discussion.
