OxBlog

# Posted 8:20 PM by Ariel David Adesnik

HONEY, YOU FORGOT MY BLOGIVERSARY: I am almost forgot to mention it, but one year ago today was when I first posted on OxBlog. After introducting myself, I put up my first substantive post, in which I wrote that

Today's war on terrorism has much in common with the war on Soviet expansion. It will only end when our enemies cease to be who they are. While negotiations on specific points may be possible with certain of our enemies (Iran comes to mind), we can not negotiate an end to the war on terror. By the same token, we were able to negotiate specific arms-control pacts with the Soviet Union but never an end to the Cold War.

As such, it may be best to think of the war on terrorism as war in which our enemy is an ideas as much as it is a state or a terrorist network. We are fighting against the idea that violence against civilians is legimitate.

And so we still are. In my next post, I set the tone for the coming year by declaring my disappointment with the NYT and WaPo. I also had some very harsh words for President Bush, who marked the first anniversary of Sept. 11th with a NYT op-ed that came close to advocating an amoral sort of realpolitik that was almost Kissingerian in nature. Thankfully, the President seems to have learned a thing or two since then.

And I myself have learned a lot more than that. It has been absolute pleasure to be a part of OxBlog and I don't hesitate to say that I have learned just as much from contributing to OxBlog as I have from my academic research. I am deeply grateful to Josh for the opportunity to join OxBlog, and I owe many thanks to all those other bloggers and audience members who have inspired and challenged me with their original thoughts.

Here's to another great year!

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