I haven’t been able to post for a few days as I have been more or less traveling non-stop since Saturday (and will continue to do so until Friday): London-Venice (where I am now)-Johannesburg (tomorrow) – Durban (Wednesday) – Lusaka (Friday). Sorry to outsource, but Free Range International has another great post on why a more aggressive rules of engagement would have a greater chance of success in Afghanistan than pop-centric coin.

60+ dead; > 100 wounded

MA program co-Director Dan Brumberg argues that the Obama administration can’t rely on supporting civil society alone to foment democratic reform in the Middle East.

Getting stoned is not fun. PS: The gruesome picture is a prop.

Blog, twitter, and now we’re on facebook. Thanks, Mariel.

The caption says “Taliban score decisive points in the guerrilla war.” H/T Abu Muqawama.

Petraeus “is, quite literally, the only man for the job. He is the last man standing with the public who can credibly be called upon to not only win the war, but to do the impossible…It’s difficult to find a war in American history where so much depended on any one man.”