Over at LobeLog I've got a new piece that looks at what I could find of Bernie Sanders's statements and record with respect to several core Middle East issues--Israel-Palestine, ISIS, Iran, etc. Sanders doesn't have much of a foreign policy record, so apart from Israel-Palestine I was going mostly on things he's said so far … Continue reading What a President Sanders might mean for the Middle East

Despite their insistence that terrorism did not cause the crash of Metrojet 9268 last October, an insistence with which pretty much nobody else agrees, it appears that Egypt may now have a suspect in the, um, terrorist bombing of Metrojet 9268: An EgyptAir mechanic whose cousin joined Islamic State in Syria is suspected of planting … Continue reading Egypt may have a suspect in the Metrojet bombing

The Syrian rebel High Negotiations Council has decided to send representatives to Geneva after all. Kind of: A senior HNC delegate said the group would send "30, 35 people" to Geneva, the AFP news agency reports. Earlier, Fuad Aliko, a source close to the group, said the delegation would not be acting "as negotiators". Farrah … Continue reading A change of heart, sort of

I'm not one of those "Al Gore is a big fat hypocrite for talking about global warming because he flies on airplanes" clowns. But I think there may be a teeny problem with the way we're describing Paul Allen in the first line of this story: A yacht owned by Microsoft co-founder and marine conservationist … Continue reading Today’s great deed in conservation

I hope you're sitting down, because this is a real stunner: The Syrian opposition said it will not attend peace talks due to begin in Geneva on Friday, derailing the first attempt in two years to hold negotiations aimed at ending the five-year-long war. An opposition council convening in Riyadh said its delegation would "certainly" … Continue reading Totally unforeseen

Any candidates or would-be candidates out there who might happen upon this, let me offer you some advice. I am not a veteran of the war room or the trenches or whatever dumb war metaphor you people like to use to describe taking money from very rich people to pay for the advice of other … Continue reading Free political advice

The Washington Post's editorial board wrote a pretty blistering attack on Bernie Sanders and his "fiction-filled campaign" last night. It includes a few fair points--Sanders does tend to brush off questions about the very real legislative challenges his agenda would face with a lot of way-too-optimistic talk about "political revolutions" and the like--and a bunch … Continue reading The opposite effect

The Nation has a very interesting piece today by Madeleine Schwartz called "The Origins of the Blood Libel." It's a book review for E.M. Rose's The Murder of William of Norwich, which I haven't read so I can't say whether it's worth reading or not, but the review at least is definitely worth your time. … Continue reading Your blood libel reading for today

Rio de Janeiro, as you may know, is hosting the Olympics this August. I'm sure many people are very excited. I'm not sure that any potential participants in the open-water swimming or sailing events are too excited, though, since it appears they'll be competing in the microbial equivalent of an open sewer: A new round … Continue reading Looking ahead to the 2016 Summer Poolympics

Sorry for the light posting today. I realized that I'm very backed up on paid projects and was able to clear one of those and part of another. While we're on the subject, posting may be light for the rest of the week while I try to get back on top of things. Also, I … Continue reading Watching Moldova