I have a new piece up today on the Turkey-Koboni-Kurd saga. Turkey has no interest in lifting a finger that might help the Kurds, which puts them (kind of) at odds with the United States, but let's just say I'm skeptical about the neocon right's plans to punish Turkey for the transgression of not doing … Continue reading Talking Turkey at LobeLog

The New York Times has published a dynamite investigative report into the negligent and/or deliberate exposure of U.S. soldiers to Saddam Hussein's stockpile of rusted out 1970s and 80s-era chemical munitions in the aftermath of the Iraq War: The United States had gone to war declaring it must destroy an active weapons of mass destruction … Continue reading Please stop missing the point on the Iraqi chemical weapons story

While I remain pessimistic about the current state of the nuclear negotiations, if anything could get the Iranians to budge on uranium enrichment, it would be the impact of falling oil prices on the Iranian economy: Iran's economy, weakened by years of mismanagement and Western sanctions, has enjoyed something of a resurgence in recent months. … Continue reading Falling oil prices might salvage Iran talks

...don't be surprised when they don't understand it: On Monday, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) reiterated that he doesn’t think climate change is worth fighting, or that human beings are to blame. Ryan is running for re-election in his Wisconsin district against Democratic challenger Rob Zerman. According to a report by the Associated Press, the question … Continue reading When someone’s paycheck depends on not understanding a problem…

Today is Eid al-Ghadir (or Eid al-Ghadeer if you prefer), a Shiʿa festival commemorating Muhammad's final sermon, delivered at a place called Ghadir al-Khumm in 632. During this sermon, Muhammad is said to have told the thousands of people assembled that "Of whomsoever I have been mawla, Ali [Muhammad's cousin and son-in-law] is also to … Continue reading Deadly ISIS attack on Baghdad during Shiʿa holiday

I think it's pretty clear where I stand on the Iranian nuclear talks. This is a once in a blue moon chance to bring Iran back into the global community and thereby effect the kind of moderating force on its regional and international behavior that 35 years of ostracism has clearly failed to do. That … Continue reading The definition of insanity, Iran talks edition

A couple of recent items about teaching social sciences kind of struck me, so I'm sharing them with you. First, Talking Points Memo has a piece about the former teacher-turned-crusader who is leading the right-wing backlash to the new AP U.S. History curriculum: This can largely be traced to one man: Retired history teacher Larry … Continue reading Choose your own history

Joe Biden finished his "I'm Sorry I Accidentally Told the Truth About You Guys" tour with a mea culpa phone call yesterday to Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal. He's of course already apologized to Turkey and the U.A.E. for suggesting that either of them may have provided material aid and support to the group … Continue reading A word about our Saudi allies

Sullivan has been on a multi-day kick commenting on the Event Which Shall No Longer Be Mentioned Here, siding (albeit in a slightly more nuanced way) with the "Islam is the problem" crowd. Today he took the interesting step of completely undercutting Harris and Maher's argument and then proceeding as if he hadn't. After suggesting … Continue reading In which Andrew Sullivan loses his own argument

The Secret Service hearings last week -- not the fact that they were held, but the terrified tone of the questioning -- got me thinking about how members of Congress seem to spend a lot more time shouting about how scared they are of stuff than they do actually trying to address the things that … Continue reading New piece at Medium about our constantly terrified Congress