Russ Wellen is not exactly a rogue, as in cop or elephant. And, since he didn’t graduate from college, he’s more of an autodidact than a scholar. Come to think of it, though, that would make him a Rogue Scholar. (Usually, punning isn’t among his vices.)
Russ writes about:
1. Nuclear deproliferation.
2. Foreign relations with the Middle East.
3. Understanding what makes Americans tick.
He spends much of the rest of the time trying to figure out what makes his 12-year-old son tick.
"It's hard to tell people not to smoke when you have a cigarette dangling from your mouth."
-- Mohamed El Baradei, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency
Aggression by a state, once considered just an act of war, ultimately became viewed as a pathological act. I’ve been re-reading Sir Lawrence Freedman’s landmark work The Evolution of Nuclear Strategy (Third […]
Can nuclear weapons be justified if arsenals are kept small enough to prevent the threat of nuclear winter if used? Nuclear war, like a nuclear warhead, is actually multiple threats in one. […]
Many are aghast at the treasonous nature of the open letter to Iran signed by 47 Republican senators. As you have no doubt heard by now, 47 Republican senators wrote an open […]
By burning alive Jordanian fighter pilot Moaz al-Kasasbeh, the Islamic State reinforced an apparent commitment to behave like a terrorist organization, not a state. It’s well known that revolutionary movements and/or terrorist […]
Nor does glossing over the Islamic State’s ultraviolence help make the case for non-intervention. On Dec. 18, the Guardian published a report by a team of reporters, including Focal Points contributor Ali […]
Since Sandy Hook, there have been nearly 100 school shootings. How many more Pakistani children need to die? On Dec. 16, a Taliban attack on the Army Public School in Peshawar, Pakistan […]
Tattoos not only wear out their welcome, but brand their wearers as philistines. I appreciate tattoos as much as the next person. I’ve even considered getting one — a target painted on […]
New sanctions legislation against Iran would alienate Europe, Russia, and China. “Buoyed by the failure of the US and five other powers to reach a comprehensive agreement with Iran over its nuclear […]
Was Chuck Hagel scapegoated by a White House inner circle that he failed to penetrate? Was fired Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel simply a scapegoat for charges that the Obama presidency was […]
Unfortunately, a lot more than battlefield requirements goes into the design of war planes. In Harper’s, Andrew Cockburn writes: President Obama’s war against the Islamic State will represent, by a rough count, […]
Progressive Culture | Scholars & Rogues 