Whee!

Here's an article in the Nation written in March by one of my professors and friends at Dartmouth, Juliet Johnson. As an undergrad at Stanford, she took a class from the one and only Condi Rice, "then just a lowly associate professor," called The Role of the Military in Politics. One of the most useful parts of the class was a simulation in which student teams were split up into several groups mirroring the foreign policy branches of the US executive branch and tasked "to resolve an emerging international crisis peacefully if possible, by force if necessary." (read the article for more detail.)

The article mentions three important things Juliet learned from Professor Rice:

1. Rhetoric Matters

2. Seek International Support

3. Maintain Credibility

Kudos to you (now Dr.) Johnson! You actually learned something that our now National Security Advisor supposedly "taught." The first point especially needs to be made a lot more frequently and forcefully.

"In short," Juliet concludes, "Rice's class taught us that C students rush to war, while A students work diligently and patiently toward peaceful solutions to international problems."

That pretty much says it all.