President Obama is in Ethiopia, and yesterday he decided to say something nice about his hosts: The US president was speaking at a joint press conference with Hailemariam Desalegn, the Ethiopian prime minister, after the two leaders held talks in the capital, Addis Ababa. Although Obama said he had raised issues of good governance – … Continue reading Hey, maybe they’re just really popular

NATO is planning an Article 4 meeting tomorrow at Turkey's request. Article 4 meetings are consultative only; Turkey hasn't made an Article 5 request, which would oblige other NATO members to come to its aid against its enemies, whoever those might be (since the US is de facto allied with the Kurds in Syria, maybe … Continue reading Can anybody figure out how that gambling got into this casino?

If you've read The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire--and, you know, who hasn't--then you may know that Edward Gibbon marks July 27, 1299, as the date of the founding of the Ottoman Empire. It was on this date, according to Gibbon, that Osman I (d. 1326), the Ottomans' founder and … Continue reading Today (sort of) in Middle Eastern/European history: the Ottomans get started (1299, or 1302)

Friends, when it comes to the Iran deal, how can you tell what to believe? On the one hand, you have a lot of people who think it's a good deal. I outlined many of them in my latest piece for LobeLog: Athough opposition to the Iran deal is at a fever pitch on Capitol … Continue reading Gotta hear both sides, you know?

Bashar al-Assad is acknowledging what has been apparent since his forces lost Idlib back in the spring: he's running out of soldiers to keep throwing into the meat grinder: In his first public address in a year, embattled Syrian President Bashar Assad vowed Sunday to win his country's long-running civil war while acknowledging his troops … Continue reading Assad finally allows that he might be in trouble

On Saturday, the Saudi-led anti-Houthi coalition declared a humanitarian ceasefire in Yemen. Yours truly decided not to write about that at the time, because fool me (well, fool me twice, technically)...you can't get fooled again, you know? So, about that: Yemen's Houthi group carried on fighting across Yemen on Monday despite a ceasefire announcement by … Continue reading Better luck next ceasefire

There's a situation happening in Australia that, one way or another, may set a precedent for the way that Western nations deal with one particular subset of the "foreign fighters" problem: the foreign fighter who was coerced into fighting. Adam Brookman is an Australian nurse and a convert to Islam, neither of which is illegal … Continue reading The problem of involuntary (?) foreign fighters

...how many do you figure this one is worth? Unfortunately nymag.com is down at the moment, but when it's up again the piece, which promises to be as damning as that image, should be here.

We're a couple of days into the new phase of Turkey's "war on terror," and so far it looks pretty much like the old phase, where the Turks offer nominal lip-service about opposing ISIS but focus their energy, and ordinance, almost exclusively on the Kurds. Turkey's air force has allegedly flown hundreds of sorties against … Continue reading Should’ve checked the fine print