Some of us our on our way to the ISA conference today, leaving behind cold, still slightly snowy Berlin for California, while others remain, trying to remember what the sun looks like. So, to go along with the weather, here is a roundup of fairly bad, IR related news:
Live in the EU? You might be one of the 19.07 million people currently without a job according to the latest Eurostats.
Feeling smug because you’ve got a stipend (or you’re not European) so don’t have to worry about being jobless for at least a few more years? Don’t get too comfortable. Despite our earlier hopes, the US Senate has passed an amendment that prohibits the NSF from funding any work that does not promote the “national security or the economic interests of the United States”.
Not everyone thinks this is a bad idea, however. Whether you agree or disagree, it’s certainly a debate we should be having (and one that Joseph Nye weighed in on back in 2009).
Outside of the ivory tower, of course there’s this but… that’ll probably be fine.
The use of US drones in Pakistan may be creating more terrorists than it kills. The drone strikes have certainly led to a lot of civilian casualties and the US is, not surprisingly, forgetting the soft power side of the war on terror. The damage is well-illustrated by this infographic if you are sick of reading words.
Also, because, why not, Canada continues to ape Bush-era USA international politics.
Finally, to end on a slightly more positive note (in my opinion).