The Useless Tree

Current Affairs

  • Confucian Psychiatry

        I saw this obituary in the NYT today: Dr. Jean Baker Miller, a psychiatrist who disputed traditional notions of social roles and developed a theory that serves as a foundation for treating women’s depression and other disorders through… Continue reading

  • What Kind of China?

         Howard French has a nice piece in today’s International Herald Tribune.  Reflecting on the dizzying pace of development in Shanghai, he asks a good question: The question I am working my way toward, having acknowledged the extraordinary capacity… Continue reading

  • Naming “Civil War” in Iraq

          The news in the Washington Post this morning that the outgoing British Ambassador to Iraq seems willing to use the "c w" words is telling: Britain’s outgoing ambassador to Iraq has advised his government that the country is… Continue reading

  • Robert Pape Channels Sun Tzu

        In an op-ed in today’s NYT, Robert Pape notes: ISRAEL has finally conceded that air power alone will not defeat Hezbollah. Over the coming weeks, it will learn that ground power won’t work either. The problem is not… Continue reading

  • Stretch onto tiptoes

          Here’s a story from yesterday’s Washington Post: Adolescent alienation isn’t a new phenomenon. But the unhappy teenagers clinical psychologist Madeline Levine sees in her practice aren’t merely going through a developmental phase, she writes. In her new book,… Continue reading

  • War Doesn’t Work

        We cannot say that war has never worked – I’m sure we can all think of some instances where war has produced something better than what existed before.  So, maybe I should say that using "Third Generation" war… Continue reading

  • Japan Isn’t a “Confucian Society,” Either

         What country is this quote referring to: In a culture that stresses the need to pull one’s own weight, a profound stigma surrounds welfare. Many needy elderly are too ashamed even to apply for it. Advocacy groups for… Continue reading

  • More Sun Tzu on the Mideast War

        My friend and neighbor, Abu Aardvark, has a great post today on the failures of US strategy for the current fighting in Lebanon.  By not pressing for a ceasefire immediately, the US has isolated itself as the sole… Continue reading

  • Better Late than Never?

        Breaking News! printResizeBFemale descendants included in Confucius family tree for the first time "In China, where men have traditionally been regarded as superior to women, and in a family in which tradition is strictly observed, it is of… Continue reading

  • The Middle East War: What Would Sun Tzu Do?

         Israel’s attack on Lebanon, and the Hezbollah action that provoked it, pose strategic questions.  I want to focus on Israel for the moment, since its very forceful – disproportionate – response is, to my mind, the most significant… Continue reading