At LobeLog today there's an interesting piece by two Africa analysts, Alexis Kedo and Colby Goodman, looking at the US practice of training presidential guards, such as the unit that just recently tried and failed to overthrow Burkina Faso's civilian government. The US often views these presidential guard units, which can be found all over … Continue reading Is the US training presidential guards or future military juntas?

Slate's Joshua Keating and Christ Kirk have done a remarkable job of creating a surreal-but-true "Syrian Conflict Relationship" chart, a focused and updated variation on the equally surreal "Middle East Friendship Chart" they put together last year. The one thing that happens when you see the relationships between all the various players in Syria laid … Continue reading Syria sure has made for some strange bedfellows

It's time, again, to ask whether things are heading toward a third general Palestinian uprising in the West Bank: Israeli police have limited access to the Old City of Jerusalem after two Israelis were killed and three injured by Palestinians in separate stabbing incidents. The restrictions allow only Israeli citizens, tourists, and residents into the … Continue reading Your periodic Third Intifada watch

Here's an interesting bit of campaign trivia: apparently Carly Fiorina has been stiffing contractors from her failed 2010 Senate campaign for five years now, and only deigned to start paying them after she decided to run for president. No, really: Famed California pollster Joe Shumate was found dead in his home one month before Election … Continue reading Putting the blame right where it belongs

I don't know about you all, but I'm feeling really good about where things are headed: NATO has condemned Russian incursions into Turkish airspace as an "extreme danger" and demanded that Moscow halt all attacks against the Syrian opposition and civilians. Counting the Cost: How is Russia financing its war in Syria? The alliance summoned … Continue reading This is very good, definitely a positive development

Hey, that hospital we blew up in Kunduz? We may have blown it up, but it was only because other people asked us to... Gen. John Campbell, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, said today that Afghan forces who were under attack by the Taliban requested the U.S. airstrikes that resulted in 22 deaths at … Continue reading The buck stops somewhere else

Last night I wrote about the interesting differences between America's reactions to Russian-caused civilian casualties in Syria and Saudi-caused civilian casualties in Yemen. Then we got a horrifying reminder that America sometimes gets into the civilian casualty business itself: A hospital run by Doctors Without Borders in Kunduz was badly damaged early Saturday after being … Continue reading Try starting with the man in the mirror

Russian airstrikes in Syria are killing civilians, and the US and its allies are on it: "We express our deep concern with regard to the Russian military build-up in Syria and especially the attacks by the Russian Air Force," said a joint statement from Britain, France, Germany, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United States, which … Continue reading See no evil

I've got Rand Paul dropping out of the campaign next, but I'm starting to worry that JEB is about to overtake him. His poll numbers are in free fall: Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (who earlier in the week was trying to convince early morning television hosts that he was "having fun" on the campaign … Continue reading Are we sure that JEB even wants to be President?

In all honesty, I don't really care who the Pope meets with or why. But the thing is, my mom reads this blog, and she's really irritated that Francis met with Kim Davis for whatever reason, and so I'm doing this so that she'll hopefully read it and calm down a little. But also, while … Continue reading More Popery than you care to know