Hi everybody! I'm on a deadline that may keep me from posting anything else today (stay tuned if you like), but in anticipation of just such a thing I've been holding on to Michael Collins Dunn's two-part look at the Battle of Rafah, which took place 100 years ago this month. Rafah wasn't a huge … Continue reading Deadline posting: the Battle of Rafa (January 2017)

If it seems like we have a lot of wars going on all over the world right now, well, that's because we do--e.g., Syria, Iraq, Nigeria, Kashmir...shall I continue? I'm not here to talk about any of those. Instead, this is a look at a handful of places that could flare into brand new wars … Continue reading Welcome to 2017: Get your war on

As President Obama heads off to, well, whatever it is he plans on doing, everybody and their NatSec Granny has been doing foreign policy retrospectives of his administration. Some of them have been mostly positive, others largely negative, and that's just among the analysts who are generally straight shooters rather than rabid partisans whose assessments … Continue reading Barack Obama and American foreign policy

UK Prime Minister Theresa May delivered her long-awaited (?) Brexit speech yesterday. I say "long-awaited" because, for a while there, people were starting to complain that May had offered no guidance as to how her government would approach exit talks with the European Union, to the point where she had to deny earlier this month … Continue reading Welcome to 2017: Time for a reality check

Here's a little tip from the Republican Party for all you little people out there: make your own world. Don't rely on others to get the job done for you. Only you can control your destiny. It's on your shoulders. That's the American way. For example, if you are having a problem adhering to basic … Continue reading More than one way to skin a very crooked cat

Prices for prescription drugs in the United States are out of control and multiple times higher than they are in other countries around the world: U.S. prices for the world's 20 top-selling medicines are, on average, three times higher than in Britain, according to an analysis carried out for Reuters. The finding underscores a transatlantic … Continue reading With Democrats like these…

One of the more optimistic things to consider heading into the new year is that there's a genuine possibility that 2017 will finally see an accord reached in Cyprus. Back in July 1974, a coup by the Cypriot National Guard, supported by Greece, installed a government that, by most accounts, was there simply to steer … Continue reading Welcome to 2017: changing borders

Donald Trump is a bit over 14 days away from becoming president and he's already managed to go to war with the US intelligence community. Now, if you're like me then you have no great love for the US intelligence community. At best it's a necessary evil, at worst it's just plain bad. And so … Continue reading Off to a fantastic start

Here's something interesting. Earlier today, the University of Maryland’s Program for Public Consultation (PPC) released the findings of a poll showing that almost two-thirds of Americans oppose the idea of withdrawing from the Iran nuclear deal (the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA) and attempting to renegotiate its terms. Overall, 63.7% of respondents prefer … Continue reading Most Americans oppose scrapping the Iran nuclear deal

You have to wonder whether the guy who recently wrote this: Why shouldn’t the president surround himself with successful people? Wealthy folks have no need to steal or engage in corruption. Their business success demonstrates that they know how to achieve goals and convince skeptics that good deals can be made to the benefit of … Continue reading The best stupidity money can buy