Last night's Republican debate was entertaining if viewed as a sort of ridiculous spectacle, the ongoing descent into madness of our entire political system. But given some recent events in eastern Europe, I have to wonder if we're getting the maximum amount of enjoyment out of our political leaders. Take, for example, Romania. The Romanian … Continue reading Americans, I don’t think we’re getting the most out of our political system

Since we commemorated National Day in the United Arab Emirates a couple of weeks ago, it wouldn't be right not to commemorate Bahrain's National Day today, right? Happy National Day, everybody! Bahrain's National Day is slightly different from the UAE's. UAE National Day (December 2), if you recall, marks the actual date (in 1971 when … Continue reading Happy Bahrain National Day!

Last week, a major Taliban attack in the Afghan city of Kandahar, starting last Tuesday evening and lasting through most of the day on Wednesday, killed as many as 50 people (not counting the nine Taliban who were killed). The Taliban assault initially targeted a Kandahar military airfield where around 2000 American military personnel are … Continue reading Taliban schism means more attacks in Afghanistan

Good news, everybody! Terrorism is over! Yes, it had a good run, but like all passing fads, it finally overstayed its welcome and now people are actively hating on it. I guess it might come back as kitsch in a couple of decades, but for now, this is clearly the end of the line: A … Continue reading Saudi Arabia forms international coalition to combat atheism and ladies who drive cars

The Egyptian government apparently doesn't agree that ISIS brought down Metrojet Flight 9268, a stance that pits them against the prevailing view in Russia, the US, the UK, and ISIS itself. Cairo is saying that its probe has found "no evidence" of terrorism behind the crash: However, the head of the Egyptian committee investigating the … Continue reading Well this is interesting…

The World's Deadliest Terrorist OrganizationTM continues to rack up bodies across Africa. On December 5, a suicide bombing on Koulfoua Island on Lake Chad killed 27 people, and while that attack is still unclaimed it's likely that Boko Haram was behind it. On Friday, another Boko Haram attack, this time in Cameroon, killed 10. Meanwhile … Continue reading Boko Haram has been on quite a run lately

I know I can be a bit hard on the Saudis, what with all the authoritarianism, and the corruption, and the extremism, and the regional destabilization, and the support for bad actors, and the human rights violations, and the...well, we're getting off the point. It's only fair that I note a case where they're trying … Continue reading You have to start somewhere

Don't look now, but the Iraqi army is almost in position to try to recapture Ramadi from ISIS: More than six months after falling to the Islamic State, the city center of Ramadi is under siege by Iraqi security forces and tribal fighters backed by American air power. Commanders say that as few as 300 … Continue reading The Iraqi army is closing in on Ramadi

Today is the 20th anniversary of the signing of the Dayton Agreement, which ended the Bosnian War after 3 and a half years. As if on cue, Bosnian experts have just discovered a mass grave from that conflict: Forensic experts say they found a mass grave in northeast Bosnia most likely containing victims' remains from … Continue reading Morbid, but somehow appropriate

In advance of UN-brokered peace talks scheduled to begin in Geneva tomorrow, the Houthi-Saleh and pro-Hadi sides in Yemen's civil war have agreed to a seven-day ceasefire starting at midnight tonight, local time (about five hours from when I'm writing this). I have no idea whether those talks have any chance of ending the war, … Continue reading Yemen is also on ceasefire watch