Way back in 2000, the Burkinabé constitution was amended to limit presidents to two five year terms in office; previously they could be elected to unlimited seven year terms. This should have marked the end of President Blaise Compaoré's time in office, since he had seized power in a coup all the way back in … Continue reading Did Burkina Faso’s army just troll everybody?

I'm afraid that when it comes to Israel, Palestine, and a Third Intifada, we may be approaching it: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to "respond harshly" after five people — three of them U.S.-born rabbis — were killed in a synagogue Tuesday by two Palestinians wielding meat cleavers, an ax and a gun. The … Continue reading The point of no return

If you're at all familiar with Arabic society, you know that it has some roots in the pastoral nomadic lifestyle of the Bedouin, who have herded sheep, goats, and camels around the Arabian peninsula and into the Syrian and Egyptian deserts for as long as people have been keeping written records in and about that … Continue reading Money can’t buy happiness, but it sure can buy most anything else

So we're officially less than a week away from the November 24 deadline for the Iran-P5+1 nuclear talks to bear some fruit, and the final round of talks before that deadline has begun in Vienna, so I thought it might be worth summing up where things stand right now and looking at what to expect … Continue reading Iran talks approach crucial deadline to, ah, agree to keep talking, probably

The chilly reception that Russian President Vladimir Putin reportedly received at this weekend’s G-20 summit in Brisbane, Australia, could have been predicted a month ago, when Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott announced his plan to “shirtfront” (Australian rules football slang for roughing an opponent up) Putin regarding July’s downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 near … Continue reading G-20 leaders have hissy fit while Ukraine keeps burning

He's keenly discerned that the way to help people succeed is to unfetter them from the access to health care that has been stifling their chances for economic success: "Beyond that, I just ask the basic question: Why is more people on Medicaid a good thing?"he said. "I'd rather find a way, particularly for able-bodied … Continue reading Scott Walker’s American Nightmare

The Woodrow Wilson Center's Aaron David Miller speculates that a President Hillary Clinton would be better for the U.S.-Israel relationship than Obama has been. On this I completely agree with him, though I suspect we'd disagree about whether that relationship is working to the benefit of either party at this point. Miller cites Clinton's experience … Continue reading What does “being good on Israel” mean?

Via Jim White at emptywheel, the exciting new national unity government in Afghanistan has already broken down over picking a cabinet: The 45-day period President Ashraf Ghani hoped it would take to form the new cabinet ended on Thursday without an announcement of appointments. The spokesman for Chief Executive Officer Abdullah Abdullah said that while … Continue reading The most predictable government shutdown ever

Both Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi at Syria Comment and Scott Lucas at EA WorldView are calling bullshit on this supposed alliance between Nusra and ISIS, for reasons I suggested yesterday. The upshot is that it's pretty clear the stories of an alliance are being fed to the media from people within the "moderate" Syrian Revolutionary Front, … Continue reading About that grand ISIS-Nusra alliance

ISIS still has Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, but they apparently don't have the Iraqi city of Baiji anymore: Iraqi officials say their forces have driven out Islamic State (IS) fighters from the oil refinery town of Baiji, 200km (130 miles) north of Baghdad. Gen Abdul-Wahab al-Saadi told Iraqi state TV that the town "had been completely … Continue reading The hits just keep on coming