My latest at LobeLog looks at the fringe theory that Ukraine, not Russia or pro-Russia separatists, shot down MH17. Journalist Robert Parry has been pushing this theory since the incident, and it won't go away despite a lack of evidence (Parry's reporting relies entirely on anonymous sources), in no small part because the US government … Continue reading The case of MH17 remains needlessly (?) curious

Mass quarantine, it seems to me, is a highly problematic tool for halting the spread of a deadly epidemic like Ebola. In theory it makes a certain amount of success, but in practice it sure looks like you're isolating whole groups of people and essentially abandoning them to the disease. Couple that with the fact … Continue reading Ebola is destabilizing Liberia

Iran is ready to help out with Iraq's whole Islamic State problem, if the rest of the world makes it worth their while: Iran is ready to join international action against jihadists in Iraq provided the West lifts crippling sanctions, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Thursday. His comments followed a call by French Foreign … Continue reading Today in “stuff that will never happen,” Iran makes a generous offer

Congressman Gohmert: Big fan of your work, especially the part where you say incredibly stupid things, like, all the time. If I could offer just the teeniest critique of your otherwise excellent material, though, it would be this: your theory that the Obama administration has been infiltrated at the highest levels by the Muslim Brotherhood … Continue reading Free advice for Louie Gohmert

Taking a day off, or most of one, and hitting up a museum or two. I may have something later today. As always, thanks for reading. If you're in search of something to read this morning, Michael Collins Dunn has put together a series on Alfred J. Butler (d. 1936), a British Orientalist who pioneered … Continue reading Good reads: Alfred J. Butler and the history of Egypt

Not to steal Atrios's bit, but it's this guy: Background

A couple of years ago, you may recall, Fareed Zakaria, "one of the top 100 global thinkers," was caught lifting material from somebody else's column for one of his pieces. After an exhaustive review a somewhat thorough review a review who the hell knows what, both Time and CNN suspended Zakaria for a month and … Continue reading Fareed Zakaria, plagiarist?

The FAA is banning US overflights of Syria, citing the risk of an MH17-style shootdown. Their decision came just prior to the release of a report from a European research firm called Small Arms Survey said that rebel groups have likely acquired MANPADS (despite the Obama Administration's resistance to supplying them with any) by capturing … Continue reading So, maybe the Syrian rebels got ahold of some MANPADS anyway

I'd recommend reading Robert Farley's piece at Lawyers, Guns, & Money on the strains of Putin apologia found on the far left and particular at The Nation. I don't think the folks he's talking about are necessarily Putin fans or apologists in the abstract, but they're so attuned to the notion that the US is … Continue reading While we’re on the subject of Russia-Ukraine

It seems to me that when you're writing about something as sensitive as the current crisis between Russia and Ukraine, you might want to be sure that you're reporting exactly what's happening, and not being careless about wording in a way that could inflame the story. But at Vox (which, full confession, I read regularly … Continue reading The importance of being precise: an ongoing series