A couple of years ago, you may recall, Fareed Zakaria, "one of the top 100 global thinkers," was caught lifting material from somebody else's column for one of his pieces. After an exhaustive review a somewhat thorough review a review who the hell knows what, both Time and CNN suspended Zakaria for a month and … Continue reading Fareed Zakaria, plagiarist?

The FAA is banning US overflights of Syria, citing the risk of an MH17-style shootdown. Their decision came just prior to the release of a report from a European research firm called Small Arms Survey said that rebel groups have likely acquired MANPADS (despite the Obama Administration's resistance to supplying them with any) by capturing … Continue reading So, maybe the Syrian rebels got ahold of some MANPADS anyway

I'd recommend reading Robert Farley's piece at Lawyers, Guns, & Money on the strains of Putin apologia found on the far left and particular at The Nation. I don't think the folks he's talking about are necessarily Putin fans or apologists in the abstract, but they're so attuned to the notion that the US is … Continue reading While we’re on the subject of Russia-Ukraine

It seems to me that when you're writing about something as sensitive as the current crisis between Russia and Ukraine, you might want to be sure that you're reporting exactly what's happening, and not being careless about wording in a way that could inflame the story. But at Vox (which, full confession, I read regularly … Continue reading The importance of being precise: an ongoing series

While you're busy calling out the Missouri National Guard to Ferguson, to assist local and state police officers with such important duties as tear gassing children and threatening to shoot reporters, maybe you should put some thought into, I don't know, finding and arresting Darren Wilson? You remember Officer Wilson, don't you? He's the Ferguson … Continue reading Free advice for Governor Nixon

Iraqi officials are claiming that Iraqi and Kurdish forces have taken control of Mosul Dam back from IS: Iraqi state television quoted Gen. Qassim Atta, an Iraqi military spokesman, as saying that Iraqi special forces and Kurdish forces were in command of the dam, the largest in Iraq. Hoshyar Zebari, a Kurdish leader and the … Continue reading The battle for Mosul Dam is over, maybe?

Yes, Congressman Steve King of Iowa, you wanted to reach out? King appeared on Newsmax TV on Wednesday where host J.D. Hayworth asked him about the escalating conflict in Ferguson. When asked about the concerns raised by members of the Congressional Black Caucus about the possibility of racial profiling, King said those were unsubstantiated. "This … Continue reading Checking in on the GOP’s minority outreach

I'm slow on the uptake on this because, well, I'm slow on the uptake. But on Monday, Salon published a report by Eli Clifton that is absolutely a must-read if you care about the forces trying to maneuver this country away from a peaceful nuclear deal with Iran and toward war. Clifton looked into a shady … Continue reading The money behind the push for war

Did Russia-Ukraine turn into a shooting war last night? NATO and Ukraine said that a column of military vehicles crossed into Ukraine from Russia Thursday night, and Ukraine later said that most of them had been destroyed by artillery fire. It was not clear whether Russian soldiers or rebel separatists were driving the vehicles. President … Continue reading We got a great big convoy, rockin’ thru the night

No, that title wasn't the opening to a vaudeville routine. Turns out that Ken Isaacs was probably, and unfortunately, correct when he told Congress that the official statistics for the Ebola breakout were underestimating the problem by as much as 75%. The WHO is now saying the same thing:The magnitude of the Ebola outbreak in … Continue reading WHO says the Ebola outbreak has been “vastly underestimated”