This piece was supposed to go up around 11 this morning, but instead spent all day saved locally on my iPad, because I am A Idiot. Here it is anyway. Because I'm most likely going to be out all day, but am committed to bringing you fresh #content anyway, I'm directing you to Michael Collins … Continue reading Today in Middle Eastern History: the Six Day War begins (1967)

I can't believe I missed this, after I helpfully explained the Iranian method for tamping out all unacceptably interesting internet videos, but apparently Sassan Soleimani, the director of the most scandalous video ever produced, in which Iranian youths of opposite genders danced in the same general vicinity of one another to the tune of Pharrell's … Continue reading Unconfirmed reports suggest that it may be safe to be happy in Iran again

There's been a small but I think growing chorus of observers who are critical of Burmese opposition leader and human rights icon (sort of) Aung San Suu Kyi for the way she's handled the ongoing genocide of the stateless Rohingya people in Myanmar's Rakhine province. She hasn't been totally silent; for example, last year she … Continue reading What’s the deal with Aung San Suu Kyi and the Rohingya?

continued from yesterday Has anybody checked what the Bergdahls' kitchen counters are made of? Meanwhile, neocons are very concerned that prisoners of war might start being called "prisoners of war" instead of the much more Orwellian politically useful designation of "detainees," or possibly "unpersons." To which I can only say, hey, if you want a … Continue reading Question on Bergdahl

This morning I attended an event held by the Atlantic Council, called "US-Iran Relations: Past, Present, and Future," that dealt, oddly enough, with US-Iran relations. I know, right? It was a discussion with Hossein Mousavian, a former Iranian diplomat and current professor at Princeton, and John Marks, the founder of an NGO called Search for … Continue reading Talking US-Iran relations at LobeLog

Watching the escalation of the right-wing response to the Bergdahl case, from "why isn't Obama doing anything to free this guy, doesn't he know that we never leave a man behind?" to "why did Obama negotiate with terrorists like this?" to "why did Obama trade Taliban prisoners in exchange for this deserter who should have … Continue reading L’Affaire Bergdahl

My newest looks at the recent Ukrainian presidential election, which saw the legacies of the failed, corrupt, ineffective, neoliberal Yushchenko and Yanukovych regimes swept aside and replaced by...a neoliberal candy billionaire who served in both the Yushchenko and Yanukovych cabinets. Now that's Change You Can Believe In, and the rapidly escalating violence in the eastern … Continue reading Elections and escalating violence in Ukraine, my latest at LobeLog

A member of Egypt's election committee released the committee's turnout figures for the first two days of Egypt's two three day presidential election, and they're better than earlier estimates but still not good: Tareq al-Shibl, a member of the election committee, was quoted by al Ahram, a state-run newspaper, as saying that more than 21 … Continue reading Egypt’s neverending election, continued