General Eisenhower – #DDay Message
06 Jun 2016 Leave a comment
in defence economics, economics, war and peace Tags: D-Day, World War II
RIGHT NOW in 1944, this was the scene in Normandy #DDay
06 Jun 2016 Leave a comment
in defence economics, war and peace Tags: D-Day, World War II
Gaza’s border with Egypt? #EndGazaBlockade
04 Jun 2016 Leave a comment
in defence economics, laws of war, war and peace Tags: Egypt, Gaza blockade, Gaza Strip, Israel, Middle-East politics, war against terror
Oxfam inadvertently left the neighbour on the western border of Gaza off the map in its YouTube clip but not on its eastern border. An honest mistake despite the Arab Spring drawing the attention of Egypt and its politics to everyone’s ears including ODA activists.
The Gaza Strip has two borders: both Egypt and Israel restrict trade with the Gaza. Through this honest mistake in map reading, Oxfam blames Gaza’s problems on the Israeli blockade. I am sure it will correct its position once it reads a map such as the one adjacent which is identical to that in its YouTube clip in all but one detail. It has all of the Gaza’s neighbours on it.
We're currently helping ~700k people in #Gaza affected by Israeli blockade: oxf.am/gaza-crisis #EndGazaBlockade https://t.co/4BWdGDqo2F—
Oxfam International (@Oxfam) June 04, 2016
Any blockade of Israel of the Gaza Strip is not grounds to attack Israel because it can always trade across its border with Egypt but Hamas backed the wrong side in the recent Egyptian presidential election.
After the military coup, the military leaders closed 95% of the tunnels that connected Egypt to Gaza. In 2013-2014, Egypt’s military has destroyed most of the 1,200 tunnels which were used to smuggle food, weapons and other goods into Gaza, including flooding them with sewage. Egypt is setting-up a 13-mile buffer zone with the Gaza Strip. The includes clearing 10,000 residents from 800 houses.
Hamas derived 40% of its tax revenue from tariffs on goods that flow through those tunnels with Egypt. One estimate puts the economic losses at nearly a fifth of Gazan GDP.
The Israeli blockade of the Gaza may have something to do with Gaza firing missiles randomly at civilian targets in Israel. Hamas now murders Israeli citizens in the street in knife attacks.
The Gaza strip may have political differences with the Egyptian military dictators but it is not actually committing acts of war against them.
There is no good reason why Oxfam is not protesting against Egypt’s blockade of the Gaza in the same way they protest against breaches of international law involved in the Israeli blockade!Passing references to the Egyptian blockade in press releases is not enough.
No peace convoys attempt to break the Egyptian blockade. Plenty were launched against Israel. One reason is the Egyptians are rough customers. There is rule of law in Israel, none in Egypt.
German territory lost in the 20th century
04 Jun 2016 Leave a comment
in defence economics, economic history Tags: East Germany, economics of borders, Germany, maps, World War I, World War II
Drone strikes on terrorist cell phone users by time of day in Yemen
04 Jun 2016 Leave a comment
in defence economics, war and peace Tags: Al-Qaeda, electronic surveillance, ISIS, Middle-East politics, national security, war on terror
I will worry about terrorists in a more serious way when they stop using their mobile phones. I worry even more when they stop blabbing to everyone at the local mosque about their intentions.
Source: Fotini Christia, Leon Yao, Stephen Wittels, and Jure Leskovec | Seven Things Cell Data Shows About Life In Yemen, Foreign Affairs (July 2015).
Why are Al Qaeda terrorists dumber than your Baltimore real-life drug dealer?
04 Jun 2016 Leave a comment
George Orwell on pacifism
03 Jun 2016 Leave a comment
in defence economics, liberalism, war and peace Tags: George Orwell, pacifism, World War II
Military spending since the end of the Cold War
02 Jun 2016 Leave a comment
in defence economics, economic history Tags: Cold Wall, military spending
Can free trade agreements help solidify emerging democracies?
24 May 2016 Leave a comment
in constitutional political economy, defence economics, international economics, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: autocracy, customs unions, emerging democracies, free trade agreements, military coups, preferential trading agreements
Source: “Free Trade Agreements and the Consolidation of Democracy” (April 2014) American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics. American Economic Association.
Sykes-Picot: Would redrawing the borders improve the Middle East?
22 May 2016 Leave a comment
in defence economics, economic history Tags: Middle-East politics
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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