Suddenly things are going pretty well for Yemeni forces loyal to President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi. They're claiming to have gained control of Yemen's largest air base, Al-Anad field north of Aden, which they retook a couple of weeks ago. Anad was lost to the Houthis and their allies in March. Saudi air power and … Continue reading Yemen: government forces win another important victory

It took just under 2 years from the end of the Iran-Iraq War for Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's relations with his two biggest allies, Kuwait and the United States, to be irrevocably destroyed. Yesterday, of course, was the 25th anniversary of Saddam's decision to invade Kuwait and officially kick off the Gulf War, aka "The … Continue reading Happy 25th birthday to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait

In June, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), a trade bloc in the Horn of Africa/Upper Nile/Great Lakes region that includes Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti, Sudan, South Sudan, Uganda, and Rwanda, unveiled a plan for a sustainable long-term settlement to the almost two year-long civil war in South Sudan. It called for power-sharing between the … Continue reading Haven’t you had your chance?

On Thursday, Burundi took a step towards forming a much-needed national unity government, to try to heal the rift that exists over President Pierre Nkurunziza's decision to run for a third term in office (which, of course, he won, in part because everybody else boycotted the election). Agathon Rwasa, the leader of one of Burundi's … Continue reading Burundi: one (small) step forward, one (pretty big) step back

Veteran Roger Ailes Expert Gabriel Sherman wrote last week about the most distasteful aspect of this two-part Fox News debate on Thursday: the fact that Roger Ailes is essentially winnowing the Republican field down to 10 candidates at his own whim: As everyone knows by now, Fox has said that only 10 of the 17 … Continue reading The Roger Ailes Primary

If you're a fan of morbid humor, you undoubtedly took some notice back in early July, when Secretary of Defense Ash Carter testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee. Carter told the committee that, so far, the half-a-billion-dollar US effort to train a force of vetted, moderate Syrian rebels, the centerpiece of America's plan to … Continue reading Nobody could possibly have seen this coming

LobeLog has really been blanketing the coverage of the opposition to the Iran deal this week, so if you're interested you should check out a few of their recent pieces. Ali Gharib, for example, had a lot of fun picking apart Leon "why is this man still getting paid writing gigs" Wieseltier's anti-deal argument (assuming … Continue reading Here’s your “opposition to the Iran deal” update

Potentially huge progress has been made in terms of developing an Ebola vaccine: When Ebola flared up in a village, researchers vaccinated all the contacts of the sick person who were willing – the family, friends and neighbours – and their immediate contacts. Children, adolescents and pregnant women were excluded because of an absence of … Continue reading Good news on the Ebola front

Let me say upfront that of all the announced 2016 candidates, I identify most closely with Bernie Sanders at this point. I know this because I am a reasonably thoughtful adult human being who is pretty well-informed about politics and about my own political preferences, and also because every time I take one of those … Continue reading Bernie Sanders needs some better answers

Grotesque: A one-and-a-half year-old Palestinian infant was burned to death and three of his family members were seriously wounded late Thursday night after a house was set on fire in the village of Douma, near Nablus. According to reports, settlers were those who set the house on fire after targeting it with firebombs and graffiti. The … Continue reading By all means, let’s keep giving these guys more settlements