It's only Monday, so who knows what could happen, but at the moment this is looking like a pretty consequential week, isn't it? First there's the Iran deal deadline, which is theoretically tomorrow but really Thursday, the last day a deal can be submitted to Congress before its "review period" under the Corker bill goes … Continue reading Looks like this might be an interesting week

Protesters have been filling the main avenue of the Armenian capital, Yerevan, since June 23, when the government of Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan announced a hefty electricity rate hike to pay the country's electrical grid (smaller protests are also taking place in other cities throughout the country). Armenia is an economic basket case these days, … Continue reading Is Armenia about to experience its own Maidan?

All due respect to Syria, Iraq, Iran, Turkey, et al, the most volatile situation in the Middle East right now is in the Sinai and its vicinity. The more that's learned about Wednesday's attack against the town of Sheik Zuwayd in northern Sinai by ISIS's Wilayat Sinai group, the more disturbing it seems: The attack … Continue reading Sinai update

I sense that something...terrible has happened. I wonder what it co- Yep, that's it. President Obama still has a year and a half left in office, so his record remains incomplete and it is far too early to know how he will be regarded by history. But he does have a sufficient record thus far … Continue reading Even Reagan is no Reagan these days

Atrios flagged this Washington Post op-ed on the failure of President Obama's diplomatic overtures to improve human rights conditions in Cuba. He notes the hypocrisy of the concern for human rights in Cuba when the US regularly does business with countries with human rights records that are worse than Cuba's. In the WaPo editorial board's … Continue reading Something about this Cuba poll just ain’t right

I missed this story when it was really big news, because I try to avoid the writings of crazy people and/or those who prey on crazy people, but I was searching for some kind of Fourth of July/Middle East hook yesterday and I wound up on Snopes reading about how Independence Day has been ruined … Continue reading Barack Obama cancelled the Fourth of July to do Sharia, haven’t you heard?

Following the assassination of Prosecutor-General Hisham Barakat on Monday, a double car bomb in the Cairo neighborhood of 6 October City killed 3 people yesterday. Then, today, a wave of attacks on military facilities in the northern Sinai resulted in over a hundred militants killed against 15 Egyptian soldiers, according to government reports. By the … Continue reading Critical situation developing in the Sinai

Journalist Peter Schwartzstein is reporting that, in addition to the Kurds in the north and the Sunni Arabs in the north and west, people in the mostly Shiʿa region around Basra, in the south of Iraq, may be looking for more autonomy from Baghdad: For decades, Saddam Hussein’s cadre of Baathists kept a tight lid … Continue reading Oh, cool, another part of Iraq wants out

Cuba is off my usual beat, but President Obama just gave a statement about resuming diplomatic relations with Cuba and reopening the US embassy in Havana (Cuba will also reopen its embassy in Washington). The embassy likely won't look much different from the US interests section that already exists there; it will occupy the same … Continue reading Havana Affair

Mt. Zion AME Church in Greeleyville, South Carolina, caught on fire last night. Now, there are lots of reasons why a building might catch on fire, including lightning, which was a possibility last night as strong thunderstorms swept up the entire eastern seaboard. Understandably, the investigators looking into any particular fire need to consider all … Continue reading Quite a coincidence