I. The US Senate prepares for (sending other people off to fight its) war Iran and the P5+1 finally reached an agreement on the implementation of the 6 month interim agreement they reached in November (ah, diplomacy, as always the model of peak efficiency). But if you're a fan of American wars in the Middle … Continue reading Profiles in stupidity and mendacity, Iran sanctions edition

It's presumably impossible for Bashar Assad to "win" the civil war at this point, if "win" means "regain control over the entire country in relative peace and stability, and reestablish diplomatic relations with the rest of the world." The rebellion has gone on too long, the sides have become too entrenched, and Assad has been … Continue reading What is Geneva II supposed to accomplish?

Former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is dead after spending the past 8 years in a coma. I'm not going to write a long obituary here, because for one thing I'm supremely bad at writing obituaries, for another thing there are about a billion of them all over the web that you can go check … Continue reading Ariel Sharon’s Unit 101 legacy

Robert Gates makes a funny: So: It's the fall of 2010, and Gates is meeting with the president and top brass. "Biden, Mullen, Jones, Donilon, Brennan, and Tony Blinken, the vice president’s national security adviser, were there." The subject: How to be ready if a conflict between Iran and Israel ignites. Gates worries that the … Continue reading “I was offended at his suggestion that there might be gambling going on in this casino”

Just to sum up, in his new memoirs Robert Gates is harshly critical of President Obama because Obama: was insufficiently committed to a war effort that we now know has failed; lacked trust in two of his military commanders, the one who was openly insubordinate to him and the one who ran his military command … Continue reading A harsh critique?

Things are not going too well for the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in Syria: The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Isis) threatened to leave the city of Aleppo to government forces unless its rivals stop their attacks against it within 24 hours. Isis has suffered losses in two days of … Continue reading This is what happens when you try to fight two civil wars at once

The term "neoconservative" has evolved over time. It started out in the 1970s meaning more or less exactly what it sounds like: "new" conservatives. These were New Deal liberals who spent the 60s not getting high or laid (so, mostly they were pricks?) and being increasingly irritated that other people were frequently doing both, and … Continue reading Do neocons dream of dismembered body parts?

Still on the subject of Syria, Assad has been striking Aleppo for the last couple of weeks using a particularly brutal contraption known as a "barrel bomb." These are exactly what they sound like: big metal barrels packed with explosives and shrapnel, dropped from a helicopter with a lit fuze timed to go off at … Continue reading Syria’s “barrel bombs” and what they say about Ghouta

In war, and life too I suppose, spillover is sometimes inevitable. For example, it seems like there is no way to keep turmoil in Syria from eventually and unfortunately making its way to Lebanon. The world got a stark reminder of that truism on Friday, when a car bomb killed Mohammad Chatah, a leading Lebanese … Continue reading Spilling over

In Yemen, when Al-Qaeda screws up, they apologize: Qassim al-Rimi, commander of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, said in a video posted on militant websites that the attackers were warned in advance not to enter the hospital within the complex, nor a place for prayer there. But he said one fighter did. “Now we acknowledge … Continue reading Soft power means having to say you’re sorry