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Ukraine – Background Outline, Scenarios, and Comments
Petro Poroshenko “You don’t understand, George, that Ukraine is not even a state.” Vladimir Putin to George W. Bush, April 2008 FACT SHEET Size of country – largest totally in Europe (size of Texas) Borders seven countries (see map), mostly Russia and Belarus Russia or pro-Russian countries and regions (Moldova) on three…
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The Crimea, Russia, and U.S. Options
Ukraine President Russia’s illegal invasion and annexation of the Crimea will set off a chain of events that could strengthen U.S. power and influence, especially in Eastern Europe. Putin is gambling that President Obama and conservative Republican leaders lack the will to energetically react to Russian expansion. First U.S. reactions have been weak. Unless there…
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Limits to Strategic Planning
Strategic and Tactical Planning For thirteen years, I was a corporate economist and a corporate planner manager for three Fortune 500 companies. I discovered that I could do my job as a corporate economist while ignoring all but the simplest of economic concepts. As a corporate planner, I learned that the planning processes of large…
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President Obama Learns Some Game Theory
INTRODUCTION For background, see prior post on The Limits of Negotiation. ECONOMIC NEGOTIATIONS Basic game theory works best in economic negotiations. The players have the same assumptions (act rationally, make money), enter into the negotiations voluntarily and negotiate which positive payoff matrix they will agree on. Economists usually assume that people are playing a positive sum…
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The Limits of Negotiation: A Little Applied Game Theory
INTRODUCTION Much of the political news is about negotiations. American politicians, in both domestic and foreign disputes, don’t seem to know much about negotiation strategy. Maybe a little applied game theory would help. IS NEGOTIATION POSSIBLE? The first question is whether or not negotiation is possible or just a waste of time and effort. Negotiations…
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Taking a College Course: What are You Buying?
Eric Kandel Receiving Nobel Prize There is a private liberal arts college near me. They allow outsiders to audit summer courses (applying the profound wisdom that if there are empty seats, the marginal cost of one more student is zero. Any revenue is pure gain.) I was interested in a course Introduction to Neuroscience. I…