Foreign Policy: The Top 10 Stories You Missed in 2005.

December 14, 2005 9:18 PM

The Top 10 Stories You Missed in 2005.Foreign Policy, the political science journal/magazine issues its top 10 stories that went under the radar in '05. Included are Rumsfeld’s Slip of the Tongue in regards to One-China, Oil's Opaque Outlook, and "The New Coalition of the Willing."
posted by j-urb (14 comments total)

No big surprises here, except of course, "Why haven't we heard more about ____?"

Thanks.
posted by Eideteker at 9:25 PM on December 14, 2005

Interesting that ExxonMobil report, given much of the web's interest in peak oil.
posted by wilful at 10:19 PM on December 14, 2005

92 Billion dollars on missile defense. May we think twice the next time we let a defense contractor into the Oval Office - or an oil executive for that matter. I guess the Republicans would say that it's better giving away our entire Treasury to the top 1% than to spend it social programs and safety nets. Fuck the poor and those with bad luck.
posted by any major dude at 10:27 PM on December 14, 2005

I'm bored. Here's my commentary:

Europe’s Zombie Constitution
Not really surprising. All big EU decisions are usually hidden in plain sight. The EU constitution was pretty much doomed when it became a big issue. People are wary of big issues. They are not wary of politicians doing their thing in Brussels.

The New Coalition of the Willing
This might have been missed this year, but I seem to remember it was in the news last year. Maybe I am mistaken. But I, for one, had not missed this story.

Recipe for Successor
Nothing really surprising about it, but interesting nonetheless.

Hot Air’s Shifting Winds
Well, I don't think anyone has missed the EU countries missing their Kyoto targets, it's mentioned in almost every story about those. Between 2000 and 2003, U.S. emissions fell by 0.8 percent. By contrast, global goody-two-shoes Canada saw a 24.2 percent increase in 2003 from its 1990 levels. Comparing the American 3 year trend to the Canadian 13 year trend is just stupid.

Rumsfeld’s Slip of the Tongue
I find it odd that China did not take ritual offense. I would have expected them to at least ask for an clarification, so that Rumsfeld would have to publicly and officially say it was a slip.

Back to (Terrorist) Camp
Still, a Wounded Military
Why am I not surprised?

India Struggles with Maoists
I have totally missed this. And it's a fairly important and interesting story. Certainly number one on this list.

The Navy Does Missile Defense Better
The US Navy has a long experience with shooting down missiles. However as the article says, I don't think this system's success or failure has much bearing on the success or failure of the National Missile Defence System. Different systems with different goals.

Oil's Opaque Outlook
Of course nobody wants to point out this article. Peak Oil alarmists would have to admit that oil companies might actually know something about oil production and that perhaps they're at least somewhat on top of things. Their counterparts would have to admit that peak oil is not just a greenie doomsday prediction.
posted by fred_ashmore at 11:00 PM on December 14, 2005

Europe’s Zombie Constitution

I pay closer attention to the news than the average American, but I thought this was a pretty huge story that was talked about all over the cable news networks and in newspapers. Especially since the failure of the Constitution was mostly France's fault.

Also, I'm with fred_ashmore. How did I miss the mini-revolution in India (well aside from it not being covered)?
posted by panoptican at 12:27 AM on December 15, 2005

Well being in the UK I certainly got the EU constitution story - we have whole newspapers dedicated to rubbishing the EU and all it stands for. They had a field day with the rejections.
posted by magpie68 at 3:21 AM on December 15, 2005

I pay closer attention to the news than the average American, but I thought this was a pretty huge story that was talked about all over the cable news networks and in newspapers. Especially since the failure of the Constitution was mostly France's fault.

Well being in the UK I certainly got the EU constitution story - we have whole newspapers dedicated to rubbishing the EU and all it stands for. They had a field day with the rejections.

Did you two actually read the story? It's not about the rejection, which was indeed big news everywhere; it's about the fact that the Brusselscrats are going ahead with elements of the constitution despite the fact that it was rejected. Pay attention!
posted by languagehat at 5:25 AM on December 15, 2005

I've never worked out why this is meant to be some big scandal. We don't have a European Constitution, but some of the sensible ideas that don't need a new treaty are going ahead anyway. So what?

I'm a fan of referenda, but I don't think you can take a rejection of the constitution as a whole to mean that every item in a god-knows-how-long list has been specifically rejected.

If you doubt me, look at the No campaigns in France and Germany - an odder mix of reactionary left and reactionary right you'd be hard pressed to find. I think the word 'no' is probably the only word their political positions have or had in common.
posted by athenian at 6:40 AM on December 15, 2005

re: the former South American Death Squad members working for Halliburton in Iraq

So, can we call them 'mercenaries' now?
posted by bashos_frog at 8:12 AM on December 15, 2005

Europe’s Zombie Constitution

I, for one, was dissapointed by the coverage. Less EU constitution, more brain eating.
posted by iamck at 8:36 AM on December 15, 2005

"nobody wants to point out this article. Peak Oil alarmists would have to admit that oil companies might actually know something about oil production"

Actually, the Peak Oil people, alarmists, fans, and speculators, were all over that one. It was widely reported in the usual places as being the first time any of the major oil companies publically acknowledged that oil might become a little hard to find in the next few years. I don't remember whether that was an entirely accurate characterization of the what was in the report.

"The most important reason for its drop in emissions was the migration of heavy manufacturing to industrializing countries such as China"

I like the way this story, on the subject of stories that were hidden from casual view, hides away the most important story of the year between some vague and probably misleading (you know how much difference a selective time-scale can make?) measures of carbon dioxide emissions on one side, and a self-evidently meaningless "slip of the tongue" on the other.
posted by sfenders at 9:03 AM on December 15, 2005

Indian maoists.... amusing it's finally come up on the international radar, but the point here is that they've always been there on the sidelines, and no, the Indian Union hasn't quite "ceded" territory as the blurb seems to suggest, but the number of districts that have been declared as "hyper-sensitive" (which is Indian government-speak for 'the local police is overwhelmed; send in more troops') has definitely increased.

More alarmingly though, I understand the Home Ministry thinks that at least one third of all districts in the country could be affected soon, if they aren't already affected; it's basically heartland India, the forests of Dandakaranya and such, that we're talking about.

Here's a three-month-old summary by the South Asian Terrorism Portal.
posted by the cydonian at 11:30 AM on December 15, 2005

athenian: I've never worked out why this is meant to be some big scandal.

Well, according to the link, the story was written by one Daniel Hannan, " a member of the European Parliament who is skeptical of the promises of integration".

"Skeptical" is a bit of an understatement. Daniel Hannan happens to be one of the leading lights of the anti-integrationists. He's been in the news lately, since he appears to have been intriguing like mad to create a new political group in the European Parliament. In fact, he seems to be the one who has extracted from David Cameron the promise to sever ties with the EPP group, much against the will of his fellow Tory MEPs.

Hannan appears to have the backing from "conservative think tanks, including some in the United States and Canada", which appears to be code for these guys. He just doesn't appear to have much backing in the European Parliament, even among his fellow Tories...
posted by Skeptic at 3:01 PM on December 15, 2005

The Naxalites have been fighting in Andhra Pradesh for a lot longer than 10 years. I remember reading about them in India Today back in 1981-82. Wikipedia says they've been around since the 60's. Wikipedia also rightly points out there are Naxalites who aren't in armed rebellion.
posted by QIbHom at 3:50 PM on December 15, 2005