Friends, when it comes to the Iran deal, how can you tell what to believe? On the one hand, you have a lot of people who think it's a good deal. I outlined many of them in my latest piece for LobeLog: Athough opposition to the Iran deal is at a fever pitch on Capitol … Continue reading Gotta hear both sides, you know?

Bashar al-Assad is acknowledging what has been apparent since his forces lost Idlib back in the spring: he's running out of soldiers to keep throwing into the meat grinder: In his first public address in a year, embattled Syrian President Bashar Assad vowed Sunday to win his country's long-running civil war while acknowledging his troops … Continue reading Assad finally allows that he might be in trouble

On Saturday, the Saudi-led anti-Houthi coalition declared a humanitarian ceasefire in Yemen. Yours truly decided not to write about that at the time, because fool me (well, fool me twice, technically)...you can't get fooled again, you know? So, about that: Yemen's Houthi group carried on fighting across Yemen on Monday despite a ceasefire announcement by … Continue reading Better luck next ceasefire

There's a situation happening in Australia that, one way or another, may set a precedent for the way that Western nations deal with one particular subset of the "foreign fighters" problem: the foreign fighter who was coerced into fighting. Adam Brookman is an Australian nurse and a convert to Islam, neither of which is illegal … Continue reading The problem of involuntary (?) foreign fighters

...how many do you figure this one is worth? Unfortunately nymag.com is down at the moment, but when it's up again the piece, which promises to be as damning as that image, should be here.

We're a couple of days into the new phase of Turkey's "war on terror," and so far it looks pretty much like the old phase, where the Turks offer nominal lip-service about opposing ISIS but focus their energy, and ordinance, almost exclusively on the Kurds. Turkey's air force has allegedly flown hundreds of sorties against … Continue reading Should’ve checked the fine print

In a result that surprised nobody who's been paying any attention, Burundi's incumbent President Pierre Nkurunziza officially won his third term in office today, as Burundi's electoral commission announced the results of Tuesday's election. The election was boycotted by opposition candidates, so the result was a foregone conclusion. Nkurunziza is now getting heat from international … Continue reading In Burundi, all’s well that ends (?) well, or something

The Wall Street Journal, in what appears to be quite a Friday News Dump, is reporting that the Obama administration is looking to release convicted Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard. They say it's possible that his release could come in a matter of weeks, but it's far more likely that he'll be released in November, when … Continue reading Trying to make Bibi happy

Let me start with a disclaimer: I haven't liked Martin O'Malley since I figured out who this Tommy Carcetti guy was (I was years late watching The Wire, sue me), and seeing the legacy of his term as Baltimore mayor engulf that city earlier this year didn't improve my impression of him. But no matter … Continue reading Martin O’Malley is right about ISIS, and we ignore that at our peril