Apparently Mullah Omar is dead, or maybe it would be more appropriate to say that "he has been dead." For a while now: Taliban leader Mullah Omar died two years ago in Pakistan, a spokesman for Afghanistan's security services says. Abdul Hassib Seddiqi told the BBC's Afghan Service that Mullah Omar had died of health … Continue reading Does Hallmark make a “sorry to hear you’ve been dead for a while now” card?

Apparently Mullah Omar is dead, or maybe it would be more appropriate to say that "he has been dead." For a while now: Taliban leader Mullah Omar died two years ago in Pakistan, a spokesman for Afghanistan's security services says. Abdul Hassib Seddiqi told the BBC's Afghan Service that Mullah Omar had died of health … Continue reading That’s a hell of a “belated condolences” card

Because one of the core tenets of American democracy is that it must make everybody's lives as miserable as possible at all times, the first debate of the 2016 presidential campaign will take place next week, roughly (according to scientists I've spoken with) 42 years before the actual election is scheduled to take place. Fox … Continue reading Are any of the kids’ table candidates going to tell Fox to cram it?

I kind of dropped the Greece bailout story a couple of weeks ago, because to be perfectly honest I think I can only deal with one major global agreement at a time around this place. But as we got right up to the brink of a Grexit, it turned out that, well, nobody, least of … Continue reading A funny thing happened on the way to Grexit

Friends, I have a very soft spot for Lebanon, and it's based on a single 4 day trip I took there one time. I just loved the place. The people I met were lovely, the food is amazing, there are enough old ruins to keep an old ruins aficionado like me busy for a long … Continue reading Ah, Beirut, breathe it in

Now, I don't have facts to back this up... ...but is it possible that JEB is getting squeezed out of the Republican primary? A couple of weeks ago I suggested that he was on the 2012 "Mitt" Romney path to the nomination, where nobody really like him, but they try everybody else one by one … Continue reading Is JEB getting squeezed out?

President Obama is in Ethiopia, and yesterday he decided to say something nice about his hosts: The US president was speaking at a joint press conference with Hailemariam Desalegn, the Ethiopian prime minister, after the two leaders held talks in the capital, Addis Ababa. Although Obama said he had raised issues of good governance – … Continue reading Hey, maybe they’re just really popular

NATO is planning an Article 4 meeting tomorrow at Turkey's request. Article 4 meetings are consultative only; Turkey hasn't made an Article 5 request, which would oblige other NATO members to come to its aid against its enemies, whoever those might be (since the US is de facto allied with the Kurds in Syria, maybe … Continue reading Can anybody figure out how that gambling got into this casino?

If you've read The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire--and, you know, who hasn't--then you may know that Edward Gibbon marks July 27, 1299, as the date of the founding of the Ottoman Empire. It was on this date, according to Gibbon, that Osman I (d. 1326), the Ottomans' founder and … Continue reading Today (sort of) in Middle Eastern/European history: the Ottomans get started (1299, or 1302)