I plan to take a brief break from regular blogging as I work on several larger pieces I want to write.

While I will occasionally link to comments at other sites and blogs, my main focus for the next couple of months is to work on three major writings.

1) A piece focusing on Kissinger and his "romantic" view of statesmanship as an almost aesthetic "creation" where great historical actors are able to manipulate the systemic forces of history to achieve some type of balance.

2) A piece focusing on the paradox of the quest for absolute security and how the very desire for impregnability leads to instability.  While this is not a novel conception, I intend to show that simply because "absolute" security has never (and almost by definition cannot be) achieved, it is not prudent for statemen to avoid seeking the closest thing to absolute security as possible.  In this sense, I intend to buck the contemporary wisdom that the very paradox of absolute security should preclude it being sought after.

3) A piece on "Existential Conservatism."  While I think the general idea has been referred to elsewhere, it is striking to me how Kieerkegaard's Fear and Trembling may represent the only method through which faith in the transcendent can be achieved.  Given the importance I place on this faith, I want to delve deeper into how we to "believe" based upon our experiences, even the paradoxical experiences that eliminate the ability to enthrone reason as the sine qua non of knowledge.  This, in turn, can be turned into a more intellectually astute defense of tradition than being merely reactionary.