WORLD WAR III I was all set to roll my eyes out of my head when I saw this piece in Foreign Policy, headlined "Report: Hypersonic Missiles Could Trigger a War." But then I read the piece and, unfortunately, it actually makes a pretty good argument: Crunched for time with dire stakes, countries might adopt a … Continue reading World update: October 2 2017

IRAQ The Hawijah operation proceeded on Monday with the Iraqis capturing the Rashad air base, about 20 miles south of the town, from ISIS. Rashad is in a fairly strategic position for deploying helicopters to Hawijah and in cleanup operations around northern Iraq, so this is a positive development. Over the weekend, ISIS apparently set … Continue reading Middle East update: October 2 2017

SPAIN Let's talk about nationalism for a minute. Nationalism sucks. It's tribalistic, inherently discriminatory, often violent, exclusionary, and antithetical to values like liberty, egalitarianism, peace, and harmony. Nationalist parties are among the most loathsome political parties in the world: the National Front in France, Britain's UKIP and the Tory right, Alternative for Germany, Turkey's MTP, … Continue reading World update: September 30-October 1 2017