I've written before about America's narcissistic foreign policy, where every independent decision made by another country that doesn't correspond directly to American interests is perceived as some kind of affront or insult. Well, we're not the only ones who exhibit that particular tendency. Take our good friends, the Saudis, who last week turned down a … Continue reading Well, good luck with that, you crazy Saudis, you

So apparently our former vice president had the wireless capability in his implanted defibrilator turned off so that he wouldn't wind up being the plot of the second season of "Homeland." Sure, why not? Paul Waldman has a fair take on Cheney's paranoia, but I do have to quibble with a couple of parts. Did … Continue reading If a cow ever got the chance, he’d eat you and everyone you care about

One of the "great" things about being a pundit in America is that, since most US Americans can't be bothered to learn (or aren't ever really taught, I'm flexible on this point) their own history, you can play with that history a lot. I mean, a lot. Peggy Noonan apparently knows this, which is why … Continue reading (Mis)Appropriating history

The UN General Assembly elected five new members to the UN Security Council yesterday: Chad, Chile, Lithuania, Nigeria, and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). They will replace Azerbaijan, Guatemala, Morocco, Pakistan, and Togo, whose terms expire this year, and join permanent members China, France, Great Britain, Russia, and the United States as well as … Continue reading Why are the Saudis trying to turn down a seat on the UNSC?

("Look! It's the Russian Tea Party!") Imbecilic bigotry crosses cultures and even great political divides (via): That's Stephen Fry embarrassing Russian politician Vitaly Milonov, one of the prime figures behind Russia's criminalization of homosexuality. The very-funny Fry, maybe best known as one-half of the comedy team of Fry and Dr. Greg House, produced a documentary … Continue reading Смотри! Это русский чае партия!

The New York Daily News interviewed a neighbor of Mr. Constantino, who had a story to tell that is at odds with the Constantino family's statement that his self-immolation was "not a political act or statement, but the result of his long battle with mental illness." John Constantino "didn’t like the government for some reason," … Continue reading Is John Constantino’s story slowly emerging?

Famous historishan (like a historian, except you write about history-ish instead of history) and Very Important Opinion-Haver Niall Ferguson (FULL DISCLOSURE: I'm a big, big fan) has long had a beef with Paul Krugman, rooted in Krugman's repeated and offensive habit of pointing out that Ferguson doesn't know what the hell he's talking about most … Continue reading Like Nialls on a chalkboard

Details are starting to emerge about the man who died after setting himself on fire last Friday on the National Mall. His name was John Constantino, 64, of New Jersey, and his family says that he had been battling mental illness for some time and that "a clear motive may never emerge." They may be … Continue reading The man with no cause

In one sense I'm a little late to the story of the man who died after setting himself on fire on the National Mall on Friday, but in another sense I'm not, given that almost nobody is talking about it. Self-immolation as political protest (an act that has a long history) is increasingly common worldwide, … Continue reading Are we really not going to talk about the guy who set himself on fire?

I stopped doing daily updates on Iraq because I'd run out of things to say apart from reporting casualty figures, and there are better places to check for that kind of thing. But the situation there is still awful: While July is still the month with the highest death toll at 1,057, September was not … Continue reading Iraq continues to suffer while being mostly ignored