Donald Rumsfeld is questioning George W. Bush's plans for post-war Iraq, and not a moment too soon only about 12 years too late: The man who once talked about the breakdown of Iraqi society by saying "stuff happens" and "freedom is untidy" told the Times of London on Friday that he didn't agree with President … Continue reading Timing is everything, I guess?

Yesterday when I was writing about Tayyip Erdoğan's big electoral setback, I started going off on this long tangent about how he wants to transition Turkey from a mostly parliamentary system (with a weak presidency) to a mostly presidential system (albeit with a prime minister and cabinet appointed from among the parliament sharing executive responsibilities). … Continue reading Presidential vs. Parliamentary systems, and why Tayyip Erdoğan cares

Yesterday, at the G7 meeting in Germany, President Obama said this about the effort to counter ISIS in Iraq: Obama said that the 3,000 US service personnel in Iraq sometimes find themselves with "more training capacity than we've got recruits". "We want to get more Iraqi security forces trained, fresh, well-equipped and focused and Abbadi … Continue reading US strategy in Iraq and Syria depends on Iraqis and Syrians

George W. Bush, 2004: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=haQzdW7hg4A Vladimir Putin, 2015: Asked about his biggest regret in life, about what mistake he would not repeat, he offered this gem of a reply. I will be quite frank with you. I cannot recollect anything of the kind. Evidently, God built my life so that I would have nothing to regret. … Continue reading Has anybody ever actually seen George Bush and Vlad Putin in the same room?

Dan Drezner argues that the US and Russia are happy to let Ukraine continue to simmer until they get what they want: So it appears that both Russia and the United States have a vested interest in continued conflict. Russia wants to weaken Ukraine, not be seen as knuckling under to sanctions, and wait for … Continue reading The world’s worst game of chicken

The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in the case of Zivotofsky v. Kerry (remember?) that Congress is not within its prerogative to order the executive branch to recognize Jerusalem as "Jerusalem, Israel" on the passports of US citizens who are born there. Official US policy is and has been since 1948 that Jerusalem is an "international" … Continue reading Jerusalem is still just “Jerusalem” as far as your passport is concerned

Since all the way back in last August (and presumably well before that), when Tayyip Erdoğan gave up (or was term limited out of) his gig as Turkey's Prime Minister and instead became that country's first popularly elected president, he's had big plans to make his mostly ceremonial office a lot less ceremonial and a … Continue reading Erdoğan defeats Truman

This is a major shot in the arm for the Bush campaign: “I’ve promised that during this next campaign season, I will not talk,” Mrs. Bush said Monday on NBC’s Today show.  “No, I won’t give any interviews … I don’t tweet … No Instagram …. I’m not gonna be musing about someone who does … Continue reading JEB 2016 gets a big boost

The sides in the Ukraine/Donbas civil war look about ready to resume serious violence again after clashes earlier this week between government troops and fighters for the "Donetsk People's Republic" in the town of Marinka, on Donetsk's western outskirts, killed somewhere in the neighborhood of 21 people. Shockingly, Kiev and Western governments have blamed the … Continue reading Ukraine on the brink of heavy fighting again

CENTCOM confirmed on Wednesday that a US airstrike hit a factory in Hawija, a city in Iraq's Kirkuk Province, where ISIS makes giant car bombs ("Vehicle-Borne Improvised Explosive Device," or VBIED) of the type that were used to devastating effect in its capture of Ramadi last month. Per VICE, the Kurdish news service Rudaw is … Continue reading No-win scenario? Or bad choices in arms sales?