Speaking at the Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies on 3 April 2006, Secretary of State for Defence John Reid emphasised changes to the strategic landscape as part of a series of speeches he has given in recent weeks about new security challenges.

Defence Internet | Defence News | Reid addresses RUSI

In an important speech delivered Monday in London, the British Defense Minister John Reid suggested that we consider revising the Geneva Conventions regarding conduct in war. He wants to accommodate the altered reality of modern terrorism. "I believe we need now to consider whether we--the international community in its widest sense--need to re-examine these conventions," Mr. Reid said. "If we do not, we risk continuing to fight a 21st-century conflict with 20th-century rules." The Geneva Conventions were shaped 50 years ago, Mr. Reid said, but "warfare continues to evolve, and, in its moral dimensions, we have now to cope with a deliberate regression towards barbaric terrorism by our opponents."

Twentieth-century rules will not win a 21st-century war.

the personality differences between Democrats and Republicans are minimal, even if their opinions are sometimes polar opposites. They are all subspecies of "nerd."

"self-absorbed" — children became liberals, and whiners went to the right.

Two Species of Nerd

The meeting began with Jimmy Carter's announcement: “Gentlemen, I want you to know that I am seriously considering an attempt to rescue the hostages.”

The Desert One Debacle

The Department of Defense has released details on major defense acquisition program cost, schedule, and performance changes since the September 2005 reporting period.

DoD News: DoD Releases Selected Acquisition Reports

The authors of the article warn of the dangers of our natural over-optimism. “Almost all of us,” they write, “believe ourselves to be in the top 20% of the population when it comes to driving, pleasing a partner, or managing a business.” This applies to managers making strategic decisions, including decisions whether to acquire or merge with other companies. Over-optimism, for example, leads to the underestimation of the technical challenges involved in large infrastructure projects, or the time needed to complete them – hence the extraordinary frequency with which such projects over-run their budgets and their deadlines.

The article also warns of the risks of “sunflower management”, the tendency of all heads to turn in the same direction as that of the boss. The authors say that managers should become more aware of how biases can affect their decisions, and then take measures to counter them. But don’t almost all of us think we are doing that exceptionally well already?

Don’t exaggerate | Economist

A new breed of paternalists is seeking to promote virtue and wisdom by default. Be wary

The state is looking after you | Economist

In “Why?” (Princeton; $24.95), the Columbia University scholar Charles Tilly sets out to make sense of our reasons for giving reasons. In the tradition of the legendary sociologist Erving Goffman, Tilly seeks to decode the structure of everyday social interaction, and the result is a book that forces readers to reëxamine everything from the way they talk to their children to the way they argue about politics.

HERE’S WHY, by MALCOLM GLADWELL | The New Yorker

ONE OF THE LEAST VISITED memorials in Washington is a waterfront statue commemorating the men who died on the Titanic. Seventy-four percent of the women passengers survived the April 15, 1912, calamity, while 80 percent of the men perished.

Being a Man

The truth is that the recent economic growth seen in the US has been, in large part, the result of a massive increase in consumer debt.

More Americans this year will file for bankruptcy than for divorce, or get a heart attack, or get diagnosed with cancer, or graduate college.

Jeremy Rikin on Economic-Political Panel