Sunday, May 15, 2005
SUNDAY MORNING RECOMMENDED READING AND A BIT OF A RANT
" France fell because there was corruption without indignation" is a quote about the tragic Third Republic that might now fit the Fifth Republic as well. See Marc Schulman at the American Future about Saddam's view of French politicians.
CKR of Whirledview uses the Foreign Policy article by the formerly respected Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara as a starting point for an intelligent analysis of the upkeep of our nuclear forces.
The esteemed Pundita has a two part series on how Mexican-American relations intersect with the GWOT. In Part I. Pundita puts the need for Mexican reforms in context with disaster planning for a catastrophc Terror attack. In Part II. Pundita sums up the problem of elite reality avoidance rather pithily " If only there was some way to get across to the Mexican government, and the American oil company executives who don't want to rile the Mexican government, that Ayman al-Zawahiri is not Pancho Villa."
Dr. Von laments the decline of young Americans going into the hard sciences as a threat to the American technological edge that we hold over China, Japan, India and the EU.
My view is somewhat different - the decline of Americans goping into the hard sciences coupled with fewer foreigners entering American PhD. programs due to post-9/11 Visa restrictions is a serious problem. Many of these super-bright foreigners never go home - except as newly minted American citizens. Discouraging 180 IQ Chinese or Indian students from going to MIT through a pile of paper work and long delays hurts us economically without impinging on al Qaida in the least.
The answer is thoroughly vetting Pakistani and Arab Muslim male Visa applicants -including those residing in Europe holding citizenship in Allied countries- for contacts with Islamist organizations when they are still at home, the way we once looked hard at people who might have been potential Eastern Bloc spies.
Having relatives or membership in the Muslim Brotherhood, Hizb-ut-Tahrir or HAMAS or merely worshipping at Mosques frequented by such people ought to be enough to bar entry into the United States. I realize both our European allies and American Muslim advocacy groups will screech at this policy change but so did leftist front groups that back in the day who pimped for Soviet interests when we scrutinized fellow travellers. It's to be expected and to be ignored. This kind of change in Visa security might also have the salutory effect of encouraging Arab-Muslim family networks whose senior men have economic ties to the U.S. to police their own junior members behavior instead of enabling it.
Finally, a general admonition to go to Registan.net today for Nathan's latest updates and always excellent commentary on the latest in the current crisis in Uzbekistan. ¶ 7:56 AM
" France fell because there was corruption without indignation" is a quote about the tragic Third Republic that might now fit the Fifth Republic as well. See Marc Schulman at the American Future about Saddam's view of French politicians.
CKR of Whirledview uses the Foreign Policy article by the formerly respected Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara as a starting point for an intelligent analysis of the upkeep of our nuclear forces.
The esteemed Pundita has a two part series on how Mexican-American relations intersect with the GWOT. In Part I. Pundita puts the need for Mexican reforms in context with disaster planning for a catastrophc Terror attack. In Part II. Pundita sums up the problem of elite reality avoidance rather pithily " If only there was some way to get across to the Mexican government, and the American oil company executives who don't want to rile the Mexican government, that Ayman al-Zawahiri is not Pancho Villa."
Dr. Von laments the decline of young Americans going into the hard sciences as a threat to the American technological edge that we hold over China, Japan, India and the EU.
My view is somewhat different - the decline of Americans goping into the hard sciences coupled with fewer foreigners entering American PhD. programs due to post-9/11 Visa restrictions is a serious problem. Many of these super-bright foreigners never go home - except as newly minted American citizens. Discouraging 180 IQ Chinese or Indian students from going to MIT through a pile of paper work and long delays hurts us economically without impinging on al Qaida in the least.
The answer is thoroughly vetting Pakistani and Arab Muslim male Visa applicants -including those residing in Europe holding citizenship in Allied countries- for contacts with Islamist organizations when they are still at home, the way we once looked hard at people who might have been potential Eastern Bloc spies.
Having relatives or membership in the Muslim Brotherhood, Hizb-ut-Tahrir or HAMAS or merely worshipping at Mosques frequented by such people ought to be enough to bar entry into the United States. I realize both our European allies and American Muslim advocacy groups will screech at this policy change but so did leftist front groups that back in the day who pimped for Soviet interests when we scrutinized fellow travellers. It's to be expected and to be ignored. This kind of change in Visa security might also have the salutory effect of encouraging Arab-Muslim family networks whose senior men have economic ties to the U.S. to police their own junior members behavior instead of enabling it.
Finally, a general admonition to go to Registan.net today for Nathan's latest updates and always excellent commentary on the latest in the current crisis in Uzbekistan. ¶ 7:56 AM
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mark,
It did not take long before universities lobbied Congress to get away from restricted numbers (post-9/11) of foreign students in graduate schools around the nation. We absolutely depend on foreign students to keep our research programs running. One point that I wanted to make is that fewer of these bright foreign students are remaining in the U.S., but rather a growing percentage are now returning to their native lands (where, quite frankly, there are more technical job opportunities than here, as well as them being contributors to their nations' growth in the R&D sectors of industry).
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It did not take long before universities lobbied Congress to get away from restricted numbers (post-9/11) of foreign students in graduate schools around the nation. We absolutely depend on foreign students to keep our research programs running. One point that I wanted to make is that fewer of these bright foreign students are remaining in the U.S., but rather a growing percentage are now returning to their native lands (where, quite frankly, there are more technical job opportunities than here, as well as them being contributors to their nations' growth in the R&D sectors of industry).
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