A source of info about Iran
Okay, I'm not completely on vacation -- yet.Philip Kantaros, who teaches at Mercersburg Academy in Mercersburg, Pennsylvania, wrote a note about a new web site, the AEI's Critical Threats Project.
The American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research has created a Critical Threats Project. It's first topic is Iran Tracker.
According to AEI, "The website examines Iran in many dimensions, including Iranian soft power, hard power, support for terrorism, the nuclear program, trade, [and] domestic politics... [It] will help assess how specific threats and actions affect American interests and policies..."
While this site will offer possibly valuable information, keep in mind that it's purpose is "to assess how specific... actions affect American interests..." That's a bit off target for comparative politics and more in the realm of international relations. (Which our colleague Dr. Charles Hauss would argue ought not to be so distinct from one another.)
Another thing to keep in mind is that this site is not an academic one. AEI is an ideologically-driven organization. It's the think tank that helped produce the neoconservative Bush Doctrines of the last presidency. Among the active participants in the second Bush administration's foreign policy and AEI are Paul Wolfowitz, John Bolton, Irving Kristol, Richard Perle, Dick Cheney, and John Yoo (the author of controversial legal opinions about the Geneva Conventions and the treatment of "detainees"). It's time to keep your critical thinking cap firmly in place.
Those of you who teach about US government and politics might note that James Q. Wilson has been the chairman of the Council of Academic Advisors to the AEI since 1991. And if you teach economics, you might recognize name of visiting AEI scholar (2005-present), N. Gregory Mankiw.
Labels: Iran
posted by Ken Wedding @ 7:14 PM
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