Rethinking Afghanistan on facebook
Signing up to facebook groups, internet blogs and magazines, suggested by Mike as part of our Digital History course, has been very helpful to my research for my dissertation. The last section of my paper will cover the legacy of the Iranian Revolution and the hostage crisis for US – Iranian relations. Although I have been aware of and consulted the websites of the International Crisis Group and Amnesty International in the past, I have now signed up to the newsletters and blogs of a number of journals, magazines and blogs. This means the information comes to me via my email or facebook page rather than I needing to seek it out. I receive updates, reports and snippets of articles from The International Crisis Group, Foreign Policy Magazine, Enduring America, Rethink Afghanistan, National Security Archives, Foreign Affairs and The Atlantic magazine, The Slate and (just lately) Mother Jones.
Enduring America is a blog almost totally devoted to contemporary political events in Iran. As well as providing its own analysis the blog relays posts from within Iran by members of the ‘Green Movement’ which rejects the results of last year’s Iranian presidential elections and has been involved in organising a protest campaign. Just last week I attended a lecture at UCC by Houchang Chehabi, an Iranian professor of International Relations and History at Boston University, where he highlighted the increasing use of the internet (twitter, facebook, etc) by twentysomethings within Iran to organise, protest and disseminate information. Though some commentators on the situation in Iran have sought to downplay the influence of technology, surely the ability to communicate, especially with some anonymity, is vital for organising demonstrations amongst large groups of individuals and for finding others who share your political or cultural views. It is like downplaying the influence of the printing press on the Reformation!
Foreign Policy magazine started life as an academic quarterly but now is a bimonthly glossy magazine. It is owned by the Washington Post Company. It offers detailed analysis on US foreign policy issues by respected academics and reporters. I receive a ‘morning brief’ every afternoon (due to the time difference), containing world news relevant to US foreign affairs which basically covers nearly all world news. The magazine’s January cover questions whether there are parallels between aspects of Obama’s and Carter’s foreign policies possibly leading to similar problems in the future. I have stuck the article in my folder to read for the third section of my dissertation. This month’s cover features an iPhone under the title ‘Killer Apps’- a special issue about the future of war and US military strategy. In ‘The New Rules of War’ John Arguilla explores how the US military needs to change to successfully confront the rise of ‘network based conflict’ aka ‘netwar’. Networked organisations such as al Qaeda are difficult to confront and contain using traditional military strategy and while the US military have upgraded their technology and information systems Arguilla argues that these tactics are seen as augmenting existing strategies which shows that the military lack ‘deep understanding’ of the potential of networking such as collective intelligence and collective power which the internet facilitates. The US military needs to embrace these practices to fight more smartly and successfully in present day Iraq and Afghanistan and in future wars, according to the article.
Foreign Affairs sends me a weekly newsletter and ‘tasters’ of current articles and essays. Should I see anything of interest to my research I can log on to the journal via the university library website for free and read further. The journal is published by the Council of Foreign Relations in America – a non-partisan think-tank promoting debate and understanding on US foreign relations with the international community focussing on political, economic and historical issues. The front cover this month headlines with ‘After Iran gets the Bomb; How Washington Can Limit The Damage From Iran’s Nuclear Defiance’. On the same page are links to former articles which deal with Iran’s supposed nuclear ambitions from other viewpoints – very useful particularly when dealing with Iran as no-one is really sure what is happening internally so one must be wary of accepting opinions as fact.
I also signed up to The Atlantic and The Slate updates on facebook. Both cover foreign affairs but also domestic issues – political, cultural and economic. I have never been to the US and consequently have no deep understanding of the domestic issues which both exercise and inspire ordinary Americans and ultimately help shape their choice of leader and foreign policy stance. I hope that browsing the headlines of The Atlantic and The Slate will help ‘round out’ my knowledge in this area. While researching for this post I spotted Mother Jones which offers ‘smart fearless journalism’ and is run by a non-profit organisation so I have signed up for that too! Now, I just have to watch the amount of time I spend reading these every day… (just remembered The New Yorker – must sign up for that too!).
Rethink Afghanistan is a website and related facebook group looking for alternatives to the present US strategy in that country and was recommended to me by Enduring America. It began life as a 2009 documentary discussing the situation on Afghanistan and potential outcomes. It now seeks to find a non-military solution and promote debate within America on the war in Afghanistan. I also joined the National Security Archives which collects and publishes declassified US government documents.
Image of advert seeking funding in the US for the Contras in Nicaragua from the National Security Archives
This website has an extensive collection of primary source material invaluable for any US foreign policy researcher. Last year, during my dissertation on the invasion of Afghanistan, I used the archives’ ‘Electronic Briefing Book’ on the Taliban containing telegram communications between the Taliban and the US Department of State in the late 1990s which provided useful primary source material backing up my argument.
Undoubtedly, all this information I now have directed to my facebook and email account will help enhance my research and writing, I just need to be aware of the danger of spending too much time reading articles I find interesting but don’t need for my research. Or else find a way to squeeze another few hours out of the day!
