The year 1912 does not stand in the history books as a particularly good one for the Ottoman Empire. There was the January-August Albanian Revolt, which ended with the Ottomans forced to grant substantial autonomy and other concessions to their restive Albanian minority. There was the Italo-Turkish War, which began in 1911 and ended, badly … Continue reading Today in European history: a bad day for the Ottomans (1912)

You won't often (or ever again, maybe) see me link to something from Josh Rogin, the Bloomberg View columnist who, along with his fellow traveler Eli Lake, covers matters of war and peace well, mostly war. But he's got the only reporting on this story that I can find, and I really wanted to write … Continue reading Don’t invite an Assad to Capitol Hill

I don't know about you, but this seems pretty ominous to me: A potentially catastrophic landfall is expected Friday evening as a very powerful and dangerous Hurricane Patricia moves towards Mexico's Pacific coast. Hurricane Patricia became the most powerful tropical cyclone ever measured in the Western Hemisphere on Friday morning as its maximum sustained winds … Continue reading Calm before the (actual) storm

Among the Euromaidan's many complaints about the government of former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych's government was over the fact that it was really, really corrupt. Don't take my word for it; it's right here on their blog: The spark that lit the Ukrainian revolution was Yanukovych’s rejection of a trade pact with the European Union, … Continue reading Ukraine’s old habits die hard

Trey Gowdy and totally not political committee are spending the day asking tough questions of Hillary Clinton, to get to the bottom of the key issues around the 2012 Benghazi consulate attack. These questions cut right to the heart of the whole matter, like "how about that Sidney Blumenthal," "what's the deal with Sidney Blumenthal, … Continue reading Meanwhile, in the actual Benghazi…

Well, OK, that's a little harsh, blaming it all on you like that. But apparently the increasing demand for pine nuts here in the US really is doing serious environmental damage. Most of the pine nuts imported into the US (and most pine nuts bought in the US are imported) come from the Korean pine, … Continue reading Your pesto addiction is wrecking an ecosystem

Sorry for the light posting today. I wound up getting called up to do a TV spot, which necessitated an emergency trip to a barber, which necessitated a long wait at the barber, and, well, the whole day didn't allow much time for writing. I did manage to compile a long collection of tweets by … Continue reading Bill Kristol gets a thing wrong

Remember that 14 year old kid, Ahmed Mohamed, who tinkered around with a clock to try to show off his engineering skills in his Texas school, and wound up almost being arrested because he's a Sudanese Muslim and therefore is presumed terrorist (at least when carrying around unfamiliar-looking electronics) here in US America until proven … Continue reading What gives, clock kid?