When Yoweri Museveni stood for a second term as Ugandan president in 2001, he pledged that his second term would be his last term. It's now 2016 and Museveni was just sworn in for his fifth term in office, so clearly he had a change of heart somewhere along the way (though I think he … Continue reading International justice for thee, but not for me

Again, I’m trying to get back to some regular blogging after an extended break. But in order to do that, I’ve got to make some sense of what’s been going on while I’ve been away–for my own sake far more than for yours. This is part of a series of pieces in which I’ll try … Continue reading Catching up: Libya

This is some D-minus evangelizing, folks: Last year, televangelist Jim Bakker prophesied that all sorts of bad things might happen on September 13 of that year, including typhoons, earthquakes, bombings, a financial collapse and/or an unspecified incident involving Pope Francis. Since none of those prophesies ended up coming true, Bakker has now started making much … Continue reading Could you be a bit more specific?

A couple of weeks ago I kind of offhandedly expressed some, well, skepticism with respect to Iraqi cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's newfound appreciation for good governance. There have been a number of recent takes on Sadr and what he's trying to accomplish by leading (or asserting leadership over) the popular movement to push Iraqi leaders toward … Continue reading Muqtada al-Sadr’s motives

Three car bombings, all claimed by ISIS, killed at least 93 people in Baghdad today: In the largest attack of the day, a car bomb ripped through a commercial area in the predominantly Shiite neighborhood of Sadr City Wednesday morning, killing at least 63 people and wounding at least 85. Later in the afternoon, two … Continue reading Baghdad attacks kill almost 100 people

Again, I'm trying to get back to some regular blogging after an extended break. But in order to do that, I've got to make some sense of what's been going on while I've been away--for my own sake far more than for yours. This is part of a series of pieces in which I'll try … Continue reading Catching up: Yemen

Late last week the US and Russia agreed to extend a piecemeal ceasefire covering parts of Syria to Aleppo, the focal point of most of the recent fighting between Bashar al-Assad's army and the Syrian rebels. This apparently came, at least initially, as news to the people who are actually doing the fighting, though, because … Continue reading Aleppo’s ceasefire is great except for all the fighting

You're reading that title and expecting some kind of rant, I can tell. But there's no rant here, just a pretty cool story. I assume you've heard of Hannibal, yes? What? No, not that Hannibal. I'm talking about the other Hanniba- That's the same Hannibal played by a different actor. Look, do I have to … Continue reading History in horse shit

This is possibly the most incredible piece of video ever filmed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZ444y_b0Vg At least Ted finished his campaign they way he started it: awkwardly and in a way that made most people supremely uncomfortable.

Consider this: if somebody had told you a year ago that by early May the Democratic primary would be closer than the Republican primary*, without Joe Biden getting into the race, would you have believed them? I don't think I would have. * I realize that both contests are effectively over, math-wise, but with Cruz … Continue reading Deep electoral thoughts