Just a few followup items I thought I’d get into the habit of posting:
– With regard to my observation about the lack of Iraq or Afghanistan War literature or cinema, Jonathan Bernstein makes the obvious point, which I myself had noticed on reading the post afterwards, that all the novels and films I mentioned with regard to WWII and Vietnam were published or released well after the end of those wars. He also makes a less obvious, but just as astute, observation about the relation between a war’s popularity and the kind of works of art (propaganda vs. critical) we’re likely to see, and when.
– Via e-mail, Sam Roggeveen sends along a possible explanation of the weapons-carrying, China-bound UAE cargo plane detained in India. Still no definitive answer on what was in the crates, but it clears up why it’s no surprise that there were weapons on board.
– Regarding NATO’s future in the event of failure in Afghanistan, Zbigniew Brzezinski is far less sanguine than either James Joyner or myself. Triple-Z is obviously someone I’m never very enthusiastic about disagreeing with. Although in fairness to Joyner and myself, the phrasing of the NY Times reporting — “If the United States is left alone in Afghanistan, Mr. Brzezinski saidFriday night, ‘that would probably spell the end of the Alliance.'” — suggests that his concern focuses on U.S. reaction to being abandoned there than on questions of credibility.
– Paul Allen pushes back against Jamie DeCoster’s WPR briefing on Somaliland in the Discussion section for that article. (You still need to be a registered subscriber to use the Discussion section of either blog posts or articles, but it is considerably more user-friendly these days, and will be even more so shortly.)