credit where credit is due

We don't give the Russians (Soviets) enough credit for winning WWII at tremendous cost to their soldiers and citizens.

An except from a poem by Ilya Ehrenburg that Richard Overy uses in his book "Why the Allies Won":

We speak of deep night, deep autumn
when I think back to the year 1943,
I feel like saying 'deep war.'

finally done with midterms

I had two midterms on Tuesday, and a review of a book due today for Strategy and Policy.

A rundown of how it went. The corporate finance midterm was ok, but I somehow skipped a page. That page had only ten points on it, I did pretty well on other parts, and the exam is curved, so I am trying to remain calm about that.

The trade exam was, I thought, very easy.

The review essay for Strategy and Policy: I should have picked something shorter. A lot of other people reviewed essays, and I reviewed a book The assigment was hard and I am afraid that I summarized too much. I really agreed too much with the authors to be very critical of him. He was simply very persuasive.

I am so glad to finally be done. After class I"m going to do a few administrative things in Nitze, then go home and sleep and go out to dinner. Eli and I have been planning to have Indian food as a reward for this week for days now. I'm looking forward to samosas and curry.

The wisdom of Henry Kissinger

"Russia has always been an empire. Russia had always tried to dominate its surrounding states. Russia has never had separation of church and state, so that the church has really been a state institution. And all of these factors have produced a tremendous tendency toward a solitarianism and toward conquest. And when a nation behaves a certain way for 400 years, you have to assume that it has a certain proclivity in that direction."

Back to studying

I have a corporate finance midterm, a trade midterm, a book review for Strat and Policy, and a job interview next week. Time to return to the books.

Big News

My strategic studies prof was just named an advisor to Secretary Rice . I think this is another good sign that the Bush administration (with the apparent exception of Cheney, who is all ideology and no common sense) is through with what Professor Cohen himself termed "happytalk." After listening to him speak on the fly about any number of military policy issues this semester, I think he knows a heck of a lot, thinks sharply, and expresses himself vividly. They're lucky to have him.

Doh!

Apparently the Swiss don't have GPS .