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Remember the Melians
Remember the Melians? Melos was a city-state on an Aegean island that was besieged by Athens in the Peloponnesian War. During the siege, the Athenians and the Melians held a parley, which Thucydides dramatized in his History. Thucydides’ dialogue is one of the urtexts of realism in international relations. The Athenians gave the Melians an……
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Sneak Attack!
For a long time, President-elect Donald Trump has long made it clear that he views unpredictability in foreign policy as a virtue and a strength. At a recent rally in New Hampshire, Trump promised his supporters a foreign policy that neither they nor America’s enemies could ever anticipate. “I want to be unpredictable,” Trump declared.……
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President-Elect Trump: The First Two Weeks
I would be interested in hearing from readers: do my recent political posts work for you? Are they a distraction? I am open to considering publishing them somewhere other than the front page of Letters Blogatory if you would prefer that I stick to my usual fare. In the immediate aftermath of the election, I……
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The Electoral College For Dummies
As everyone knows by now, President-elect Donald Trump expects 306 electoral votes when the electors cast their votes. Since 270 is a majority of the electoral college, he will be the next president. And as everyone knows, there’s been a lot of heated talk about the electoral college in the aftermath of the election, particularly……
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Letters Blogatory’s Trump Listening Tour
A conservative blog called MercatorNet (“Navigating Modern Complexities”) was kind enough to repost my post-election reflections, where I focused on the need to reach out and listen to Trump supporters. Well, some Trump supporters, and some conservatives who did not vote for President-elect Trump, took the time to respond, for which I’m grateful. I think……