Friday’s Reading List
By Taylor Marvin

John William Godward, “In the Days of Sappho”, 1904. Via Wikimedia.
What I read this week:
What effect do timetables for withdrawal have on insurgencies?
“Rational but dangerous”: Would a nuclear Iran make the Middle East More secure?
China’s new 052D destroyer — game changer?
The politics of the Hunger Games.
Russia’s next generation bomber takes shape. In related news, India has cut its PAK-FA order by a third, which will certainly have implications for the unit price of the program.
11 leaders of Syria’s creative blogosphere.
“The Shah may not like it, but he is manageable. He’s nothing like the Israelis.” Kissinger, 1975 (via Micah Zenko).
Caitlin Fitz Gerald has an excellent review of the politics of Argo. Alyssa Rosenberg offers a more mixed review of the film itself. Also see Dan Drezner’s take.
Why RedBull’s Stratos stunt was overstated.
Slum Village – Conant Gardens.
Note: Painter John William Godward’s neo-Classicist style became dated as the popularity of newer abstract artists grew in the early 20th century. He killed himself in 1922, writing in his suicide note that “the world was not big enough” for both him and Picasso.