The case that there is no such thing as a "Palestinian" finally got a supporting argument worthy of its intellectual heft last week, when an Israeli parliamentarian named Anat Berko uncovered the Truth about the Arabic language: The name “Palestine” is a borrowed term, Ms. Berko said, presumably referring to the ancient Greek “Palaistine” and … Continue reading Finally, somebody spells out the truth

At least one of Libya's parliaments is planning to vote this week to approve, or not, the national unity government that was proposed by the country's Presidency Council last month. Two of the council's nine members refused to sign on to the unity cabinet proposal, and so far at least two of the proposed 18 … Continue reading Missing the forest

Everybody's supposed to be ceasing hostilities in Syria this week, so I guess it's Russia's last chance to really go after its really high-value targets: hospitals and schools. You know, those bastards: Almost 50 civilians were killed when missiles hit at least five medical facilities and two schools in rebel-held areas of Syria on Monday, … Continue reading Post-hostility Syria still seems pretty hostile to me

If you were under the impression that the Gulf War air campaign was all precision strikes, the Amiriyah bombing should disabuse you of that notion. Amiriyah was an air-raid shelter in Baghdad that the US military concluded was some kind of command-and-control center because of all the people (terrified civilians, as it turned out) who … Continue reading Today in Middle Eastern history: the Amiriyah shelter bombing (1991)

I am working without wi-fi, so this is going to be shorter than I'd like. But there's major news about the civil war, and it's good bad just okay puppies completely incomprehensible: MUNICH — The United States, Russia and other powers agreed to a “cessation of hostilities” in Syria’s civil war, to take place within the next week, and … Continue reading Ceasing…something, in Syria

Since I'm on semi-break, and continuing the tradition of sending you to Michael Collins Dunn's blog when there's not much going on around here, this would be a good time to catch you up on his most recent World War I series, on the Senussi Campaign, which began in late 1915. After Italy jumped into … Continue reading World War I reading: the Senussi Campaign

At least it's a classic episode: The Obama administration is "on the verge of taking action" against the Islamic State in Libya, where the terrorist network has flourished in recent months, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee told POLITICO on Tuesday. Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) declined to describe what kind of action the … Continue reading The Obama administration is in reruns