My newest piece at LobeLog looks at the bleak human rights situation in Iran, a situation that may ultimately be improved by the nuclear deal but that, in the short-term, is clearly being harmed by the nuclear deal, as hardliners seize on judicial cases as a place where they can flex their muscles and deny … Continue reading Human rights in Iran after the nuclear deal, my latest at LobeLog

The US and Russia have apparently reached a "de-confliction" agreement for their dueling coincidental air campaigns over Syria: The Pentagon and Russian military have agreed on a list of rules designed to ensure the two countries' pilots will not mistakenly run into -- or fire upon -- one another as they conduct daily bombing runs … Continue reading At least the possibility of World War III has been slightly lessened

Canada elected a Liberal government yesterday, and the new Prime Minister-elect, Justin Trudeau, actually looks like he's...a pretty doctrinaire centrist (in Canadian politics, the Liberal Party is on the center-left, as opposed to the Liberal Party in Australia, which is center-right, because every place that isn't America is a land of many contrasts). Of course, … Continue reading Everything is always “lurching left”; that’s the point

I mean, you might as well skip right to the main event instead of dithering around about it: If Hillary Clinton wins the presidency, Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL) wants to impeach her on day one. ..."In my judgement, with respect to Hillary Clinton, she will be a unique president if she is elected by the … Continue reading Well, that WOULD save us a lot of time…

The United States hasn't paid its UNESCO dues (which had made up over a fifth of UNESCO's overall funding) since 2011, when the organization admitted Palestine as a member state and thereby triggered a couple of obscure Foreign Relations Authorization Act provisions (from 1990 and 1994) that require the government to stop sending money to … Continue reading UNESCO and US national security, at LobeLog

How do you stop a flood of refugees from migrating from Syria to the EU? Why, you pay Turkey to keep more of them, obviously! At least, that seems to be Angela Merkel's plan: German Chancellor Angela Merkel has offered Turkey the prospect of support for faster progress on its bid to join the European … Continue reading Back-scratching, EU-style

Paul Ryan really doesn't want to be Speaker of the House. I get that. It's a very, very shitty job right now. John Boehner did want to be Speaker of the House, badly, and it took the nihilist branch of his own party less than five years to retirement seem preferable to another day on … Continue reading Well, he’s got his dream spin, anyway

Last week, Iran test fired a medium-range ballistic missile, the Emad, that may be capable of carrying a nuclear payload. It's reportedly accurate to within 500 meters at a distance of 1700 kilometers, far enough to hit Israel on the fly, without having to skip it across the western Iraqi desert or something. This would … Continue reading Testing the limits of the nuclear deal