Thanks to some incredible investigative work by The Economist, new information has emerged about the Iranian people: apparently, they have sex. With each other. On the regular, even: An 82-page document recently issued by Iran’s parliamentary research department is stark in its findings. Not only are young adults sexually active, with 80% of unmarried females … Continue reading Five bizarre facts about Iranians

You may recall that a year ago this week (August 14 to be exact) the Egypt's coup interim government massacred about 600 or so pro-Muslim Brotherhood protesters in two protester camps in Cairo, and then followed up by killing another couple hundred over the next few days. Well, now that Egypt is under a new, … Continue reading Sisi’s Egypt has a great human rights record because SHUT UP, that’s why

So there's a little more meat to the preliminary reports that were coming out of Baghdad last night, and if you're a fan of stable transfers of power, it's not good. In an address yesterday, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki accused President Fuad Masum of violating the Iraqi Constitution, first by pushing back the deadline for … Continue reading What’s happening in Iraq?

Not sure what to make of this report by the BBC: In his televised address, Mr Maliki said he intended to take President Masum to court for violating constitutional rules. Mr Maliki's coalition won the most seats in April's elections but parliament has not agreed to give him a third term and President Masum has … Continue reading Is Nouri al-Maliki trying to seize power in Baghdad?

If this guy can be believed, this is, shall we say, Very Bad: In stark, often chilling congressional testimony on Thursday, an official with a relief organization responding to the Ebola crisis in West Africa labeled efforts to control the virus a failure. Ken Isaacs, a vice president with Samaritan’s Purse, a North Carolina-based Christian … Continue reading Should we be sending experimental Ebola treatments to Africa?

We're bombing Iraq again: U.S. fighter jets bombed an Islamic State position outside Irbil on Friday, the first use of munitions by American forces since President Barack Obama authorized military action to defend the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan from Islamist attack. In a statement, Pentagon spokesman Navy Rear Adm. John Kirby said that the strike … Continue reading Just when we thought we were out

South Sudan is not only the newest country on the planet, it may be about to surpass even Iraq, Syria, Gaza, Ukraine, the Ebola-stricken countries in West Africa, or any other country in terms of the scale of human suffering happening there. A civil war between the government and rebel forces under the command of … Continue reading As bad as things are everywhere else, they may be getting even worse in South Sudan

One of the best reporters in Iraq right now is Mitchell Prothero with McClatchy, and if you're interested in following events there I'd recommend reading his stuff regularly and following him on twitter: @mitchprothero. He did a great piece earlier today on Kurdish preparations for an IS push toward Irbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan. … Continue reading With the Kurds outgunned, US airstrikes in Iraq may be inevitable (or may have already started)

So Russia didn't invade Ukraine last week, but there seems to be a growing consensus that they will. From a tactical standpoint I'm still not sure what Putin is waiting for; if he's decided to invade then waiting just means the rebels' position will have deteriorated that much further by the time the invasion does … Continue reading If Ukraine is worried about a Russian “humanitarian” intervention, why not stop giving them the excuse?