If it's seemed like things have been a little sparse around here this week, it's because, at the cost of a little sleep and a lot of sanity, I've been heavily covering the Trump transition for LobeLog. I haven't been posting links to those stories here because I wanted to wait until I had … Continue reading All the news that’s fit to make you sick
Author: DWD
writer, blogger, lover, fighter
Meet General Ripper, our next National Security Advisor
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1KvgtEnABY The role of National Security Advisor is a funny one, insofar as it has no constitutionally-defined duties so it can be, more or less, whatever a particular president wants it to be. Sometimes the National Security Advisor can be more bureaucratic, helping a president centralize national security policy with the National Security Committee in … Continue reading Meet General Ripper, our next National Security Advisor
Conflict update, November 17
Iraq Another day, another ISIS atrocity discovered: Iraqi security forces have discovered two mass graves near the city of Mosul containing around 250 bodies, police said Thursday. The graves were found near the town of Hammam al-Alil and were created by ISIS militants, Iraqi Federal Police Commander Brig. Gen. Faris Radhi Abbas told CNN. Their … Continue reading Conflict update, November 17
If you can’t win, don’t try
Joseph Kabila, the President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, appointed a new prime minister today: Samy Badibanga, a member (I think, we'll get to that) of the opposition Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS) party. Seems like a normal story, right? Presidents appoint prime ministers all the time. The thing is, in … Continue reading If you can’t win, don’t try
Conflict update, November 16
Syria Stop me if you've heard this one before: Jet fighters and helicopters bombing east Aleppo hit a children’s hospital and a blood bank on Wednesday, as medics and patients sheltered in the basement waiting for the hours-long assault to end. An ambulance driver and at least two children were among at least 20 civilians … Continue reading Conflict update, November 16
Another one bites the dust
Will the last country left in the International Criminal Court please turn off the lights? Russia has said it is formally withdrawing its signature from the founding statute of the international criminal court, a day after the court published a report classifying the Russian annexation of Crimea as an occupation. The repudiation of the tribunal, … Continue reading Another one bites the dust
Conflict update, November 15
Syria The only really big conflict news today, and it is big, is that the Russian/Syrian pause in bombing the shit out of eastern Aleppo, and rebel-held Syria in general, has definitely ended: Warplanes resumed airstrikes on the besieged rebel-held sections of Aleppo, Syria, on Tuesday, as Russia began a major new offensive against insurgents … Continue reading Conflict update, November 15
Checking in with America’s Best Friend and Ally in the Whole Wide World
Hey, I wonder what our best pal is up to these da- Agriculture Minister Uri Ariel thought it would be a nice going-away present for visiting Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev: an unmanned helicopter used for agricultural research. Now it emerges that Israel may run into trouble with the United States for handing over the … Continue reading Checking in with America’s Best Friend and Ally in the Whole Wide World
What He Said (second in a series)
So the piece I wrote yesterday got a lot of attention, and a lot of positive feedback, for which I'm grateful. When I stray beyond foreign policy and world affairs I'm the first to admit that I'm out of my comfort zone, and I certainly didn't intend that post to be anything more than a … Continue reading What He Said (second in a series)
Things I Think (first in a series)
As I process what happened last Tuesday, and how I can help do something about it, I'm going to start an irregular series here where I lay out some of my thoughts. Maybe, hopefully, this will spur some discussion about how we--all of us who want to--can organize a real left opposition to what is … Continue reading Things I Think (first in a series)
The Foreign Exchanges Companion 