Weekend Reading: October 2–4 Edition
War games, peace games. You need to read this fascinating (if overly idealistic) essay on games of war, peace, imagination at Nautilis. One of the threads pulled out by the author, Jonathan Keats, is the fascinating story of Buckminster Fuller (yes, that’s his name).
Xi kicked butt in America and it’s all good. Or so the Chinese press says (as per their orders). In The Interpreter, Merridan Varrall and Jackson Kwok break down Chinese press coverage of Xi Jinping’s visit to the United States.
And now, from our friends in Europe…Constanze Stelzenmuller has a fascinating take on the state of transatlantic relations. She lays out the good, the bad, and – of course – the ugly, but also points to where she thinks where relations between the United States and Europe should focus on next. She closes on a note that many of us at War on the Rocks agree with: “Only if Europe resolves its own security dilemmas will it ever be able to join the United States in providing stability and security on a more global level.”
Isn’t it (the South China Sea) ironic? James Kraska thinks so. He lists the nine ironies of the South China Sea mess over at CIMSEC.
Questions for the Traitor Snowden. Benjamin Wittes has a few queries for this former systems administrator turned international fugitive. What’s the occassion? Well, as you might have heard, Edward Snowden joined Twitter so he can be pompous and naive (great combination) on yet another medium. Ben has started tweeting questions at Snowden that he has yet to answer. Why? To see if Snowden will “answer serious questions directed his way, in a respectful fashion, by people who don’t necessarily approve of his behavior and conduct or agree with his views of surveillance?” Help this hashtag take off: #LetsAskSnowden
Adventures with Russia in Syria. There are a number of good pieces on this subject by Faysal Itani at the Atlantic Council, Seth Weinberger at Duck of Minerva, Gvosdev in The National Interest, an interview with Jeremy Shapiro at Vox, Dan Drezner at PostEverything, Paul Schwartz at CSIS, and our very own Kofman here at War on the Rocks from last week.
Satellite fight. Over at RealClearDefense, Gary Bearden points to a low-intensity war between Russian and American satellite navigation providers. Obama has waded in. Will that voice from your GPS be speaking to you with a Russian accent sometime soon?
Photo credit: Airman 1st Class Philip Bryant, U.S. Air Force
