It's not often you get a raw look at what center-right upper-class technocrats really think of the rest of us, so we should thank the Chicago Tribune for providing us with one: A member of the Chicago Tribune's editorial board wrote Thursday that she is praying for a storm that will transform Chicago — similar … Continue reading A rare look behind the curtain
Author: DWD
writer, blogger, lover, fighter
Today in European history: the Martyrs of Otranto (1480)
When the Ottomans conquered Constantinople in 1453, Mehmed II (who would subsequently be known as Mehmed the Conqueror) decided to bestow upon himself the title of Caesar (Kaysar-i Rum, in Persian). It seems pretty obvious that, although today we think of the “Fall of Constantinople” as the end of the Byzantine/Roman Empire, in 1453 the … Continue reading Today in European history: the Martyrs of Otranto (1480)
Two years later, Rabaa still defines Sisi’s Egypt
Two years ago today, at least 817 Egyptian protesters were massacred by their own government in what Human Rights Watch's Executive Director, Kenneth Roth, has called "one of the world’s largest killings of demonstrators in a single day in recent history." This is what it looked like: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUtFM9L6ago The people who had encamped in the … Continue reading Two years later, Rabaa still defines Sisi’s Egypt
In Baghdad, a huge explosion of the intended variety
ISIS has been carrying out terrorist attacks all over Iraq as the military operation to drive them out of Anbar Province has gotten underway, but none of them have been as devastating as the one that was carried out earlier today in Baghdad's majority Shiʿa Sadr City area: At least 76 people were killed and … Continue reading In Baghdad, a huge explosion of the intended variety
Time for another NATO Article 4 meeting
Speaking of America's close Turkish ally, apparently whatever leeway they bought themselves at that NATO Article 4 meeting a couple of weeks ago has run out, as far as some folks in the Pentagon are concerned: A senior U.S. official said Turkey gave American officials assurances last week that it planned to wrap up attacks … Continue reading Time for another NATO Article 4 meeting
Turkey’s election was so nice, they’re about to do it twice
Negotiations between Turkey's plurality Justice and Development Party (AKP) and its main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) haven't been able to produce an agreement on forming a coalition government. The two parties reportedly differed on foreign policy and the role that President Tayyip Erdoğan should play in directly governing the country, among other issues, and … Continue reading Turkey’s election was so nice, they’re about to do it twice
Back among the living
MIA Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri sends proof of life: Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri has pledged allegiance to the new Afghan Taliban chief in an audio message posted online. The pledge to Mullah Akhtar Mansour was issued by al-Qaeda's media arm al-Sahab and was Zawahiri's first message since September last year. The chances that Zawahiri was … Continue reading Back among the living
Today in European history: the Battle of Mohács (1687)
Today is the anniversary of the second of two major Ottoman battles at Mohács, in southern Hungary. The anniversary of the first, which took place in 1526, will come around in a couple of weeks. Although they shared a setting and one combatant, the two battles of Mohács couldn’t have gone more differently. In the … Continue reading Today in European history: the Battle of Mohács (1687)
Today in Middle Eastern history: the Battle of Ascalon (1099)
Most modern historians of the Crusades agree that the way we separate and number the multiple Crusade expeditions is ahistorical at best and misleading at worst. For one thing, the flow of European warriors to the Holy Land was not nearly as organized and episodic as the numbering system suggests. For another thing, treating the … Continue reading Today in Middle Eastern history: the Battle of Ascalon (1099)
So something huge exploded in China earlier today
Overnight in the port city of Tianjin, one of the largest cities in China, this happened: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeXBME2YVQo Latest casualty figures are 13 dead and "hundreds" (300-400 so far) hospitalized. At least two firefighters are missing; unfortunately, both that number and the overall number of fatalities can be expected to increase. The largest explosion had the … Continue reading So something huge exploded in China earlier today
The Foreign Exchanges Companion 