whew.

Why such light blogging this week?  Well, I finished two articles at last; details once they're out.  Since I'm too busy and exhausted to do much of anything else right now, here are a few bits of recommended reading:

• Barry Posen, The Case for Restraint. (in The American Interest) Makes the case for a new US grand strategy which abandons the bipartisan consensus on international activism.  In my opinion, Posen is one of those International Relations scholars who is always worth reading, agree or not (and I remember having a heated but fascinating argument with Posen about some of the ideas in this essay when I spoke at MIT last year).  Here's how he lays out his thesis:   "Once the Cold War ended, the United States has been affected by four important facts: the great concentration of capability in the United States relative to other consequential powers, a condition often shorthanded as “unipolarity”; the re-emergence of identity politics, especially amalgams of religion and ethno-nationalism, as the key ideational foundations of modern domestic and, to a lesser extent, international political conflict; the diffusion of power—especially military power—to nominally weak states and to non-state actors alike; and, finally, globalization. These four facts each have discrete effects on the international environment, but they also interact. The consequences of their interaction have been costly to the United States and will likely continue to be so. Put simply, the great power of the United States has proved a constant temptation to action for policymakers, even as the other three factors have combined to increase the costs of U.S. action."   Followed by 14 responses. 
• John Podesta, Lawrence Korb, and Brian Katulis, "Strategic Drift in Iraq" (CAP) and Ilan Goldenberg, "What is the President's Strategy in Iraq?" (NSN) Both pieces do a really good job of pushing forward the questions I raised last weekend, make arguments with which I largely agree - and hopefully will drive some real thinking. 
• Jeff Chang, "It's a Hip-Hop World." (in Foreign Policy magazine). Fascinating look at the global spread of the form;  much more in depth than my little Guardian piece on hip hop and public diplomacy in the Muslim world earlier this year.

And a heads up on my next round of appearances:

November 12:  The Institute for Middle East Studies Inaugural Year continues, with a research conference on theme of citizenship in the Middle East.  I am chairing and also presenting research at a panel entitled "Egypt: Challenges of Islam, Democracy, and Citizenship." The other speakers are Ellis Goldberg and and Mona el-Ghobashy. 10:00-12:00, at the Elliott School.

November 15:  Panel discussion on Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, an IMES event in conjunction with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.  With me, Nathan Brown, and Amr Hamzawy, chaired by Diane Singerman.  4:00 at Carnegie, 1779 Massachussetts Ave.

November 18-20.  I'll be at the Middle East Studies Association annual meeting in Montreal.  I'll certainly be at the awards ceremony on the 18th, since I chaired this year's Malcolm Kerr Award committee for best dissertation in the social sciences (Mona el-Ghobashy - see above - won last year.)   Hopefully I'll see many of you there.

And then, it's off to the turkeys.