Finally, my life strategy of being too poor to have any investments is paying off. What's the problem? Well, lots of things, apparently: Weak U.S. economic data has not helped matters today. December retail sales dipped 0.1% in December. Manufacturing in the New York region came in much weaker-than-expected in January and industrial production for … Continue reading Riding the roller coaster

The Arab Spring began on December 17, 2010, when a Tunisian street vendor named Mohamed Bouazizi set himself on fire on the streets of Sidi Bouzid to protest his perceived mistreatment at the hands of a city inspector. The city inspector was probably just doing her job, but Bouazizi's self-immolation set off a national protest … Continue reading Today in Middle Eastern history: the Arab Spring makes its mark (2011)

In that last piece, I mentioned that ISIS also carried out an attack in Jalalabad, Afghanistan this week. One quote from the Reuters piece I cited sums up Afghanistan's current situation just about perfectly: "This is a major concern for us if they carry out more attacks like this," an Afghan security official said. "We … Continue reading Afghanistan: “we have enough problems to deal with already”

On the heels of Tuesday's suicide attack near the Blue Mosque in Istanbul and another suicide attack yesterday on the Pakistani consulate in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, ISIS has claimed responsibility for a sprawling attack today on a shopping mall in Jakarta, Indonesia. Today's attack seems to have been an attempt to recreate ISIS's November attack in … Continue reading ISIS widens its scope in a major way

One of the keys to taking down a terrorist/paramilitary organization like ISIS is drying up its pool of recruits by combating "radicalization." ISIS is very, very good at getting its message out to potential recruits in ways that capture their attention, and the United States government, is...very, very bad at countering it: They say even … Continue reading Who would actually read a US alternative to Dabiq?

As they said they would, this morning the Iranians released all ten of those detained US sailors and their boats. It seems pretty apparent (because the US isn't challenging it) that both boats did somehow slip into Iranian territorial waters before they were picked up by the Revolutionary Guard Navy, although the initial story that … Continue reading Hopes for war once again dashed by peace, thanks Obama

Al Jazeera America is signing off: Executives of Al Jazeera America (AJAM) today are holding a meeting at 2 p.m. Eastern Time to tell their employees that the company is terminating all news and digital operations in the U.S. as of April 2016, resulting in the loss of hundreds of jobs. The announcement marks a stunning and … Continue reading Another victim of cheap oil

I was going to write something about how the Iran deal's "Implementation Day" is fast approaching, but then this happened: Iranian military forces seized two U.S. Navy boats Tuesday and are detaining them on Iran's Farsi Island in the Persian Gulf, senior U.S. officials told NBC News. The 10 American sailors aboard the small riverine … Continue reading Iran “holding” 10 US sailors, claims it will release them tomorrow

ISIS only survives in the long-run (at least in Syria and Iraq) to the extent that it's able to continue taking advantage of Sunni alienation and anger at the governments in Baghdad and Damascus. Their leadership is well aware of that, which is why on Monday they did this: At least 32 people were killed … Continue reading This is what provocation looks like

Today's suicide bombing near the famous Blue Mosque in Istanbul's Sultanahmet district, an attack that killed at least 10 people and injured another 15, was likely perpetrated by ISIS, though nobody has directly claimed responsibility. Nobody ever directly claimed responsibility for last year's attacks in Diyarbakır, Suruç, and Ankara either, but ISIS was probably/certainly behind … Continue reading Turkey is at war with ISIS, whether it wants to admit it or not