Reihan Salam is hoping that a hypothetical 2016 campaign would finally let "Mitt" be, um, "Mitt" (?): Imagine if Romney, having been caricatured as a cat’s-paw of the Wall Street overclass, decided to rail against the outsize power of the megabanks and in favor of a more competitive and inclusive capitalism. If we let Romney … Continue reading Imagine if this roll of aluminum foil were actually a delicious steak dinner!

The West African Ebola outbreak (the recent outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo appears to be unrelated) continues to expand, now into Senegal: The first case of Ebola has been confirmed in Senegal, a major hub for West Africa’s business and aid community, Health Minister Awa Marie Coll Seck told a news conference on … Continue reading Just in time for the long weekend

On August 28, 1189, a Crusader army under the command of "King of Jerusalem" (in reality Saladin had captured Jerusalem almost 2 years earlier) Guy of Lusignon laid siege to the city of Acre, which Saladin had also conquered on his way to Jerusalem. The siege would last almost two years until the Crusaders, by … Continue reading Today in History: The Third Crusade’s Siege of Acre begins (1189)

Thoughts on the August 26-27 Russian escalation in Ukraine

Well, this was worth busting in on vacation to mention: Israeli and Palestinian negotiators have agreed to an Egypt-brokered, open-ended ceasefire agreement. The terms reportedly include the easing of the blockade on Gaza, reduction of the buffer zone that Israel imposed inside Gaza's borders, an extension of Gaza's permitted fishing zone in the Mediterranean from … Continue reading Israel, Hamas agree to do this all again sometime

You may remember a 2009 earthquake in L'Aquila, Italy, that killed 308 people and wound up causing seven members of Italy's National Commission for the Forecast and Prevention of Major Risks to be convicted of manslaughter for their failure to predict the quake. I had forgotten all about it until I found a piece on … Continue reading Failure to communicate

Hey, if you've been wondering what former British PM Tony Blair has been up to, and I can't see why you wouldn't have been, you'll be pleased to know that he's found a real niche as an image consultant for repressive dictators (via): Tony Blair gave Kazakhstan’s autocratic president advice on how to manage his … Continue reading Where are they now

I thought I'd give this Medium thing that the kids are talking about a try, and I've been wondering why the murder of James Foley has resonated so much with so many people while the equally innocent and equally irreplaceable people who are dying in places like Syria, Gaza, Iraq, and Ferguson aren't evoking our … Continue reading At Medium: “On James Foley and grieving”

This kind of thing just makes it harder for Baghdad to bring unhappy Sunnis back on side: At least 73 people have been killed after a Shia Muslim armed group opened fire inside an Iraqi Sunni mosque in the village of Bani Wais in the country's eastern Diyala province, medical sources have said. A security source said bodies had been arriving at the hospital in … Continue reading Mosque attack in Diyala sets back the cause of Iraqi unity