The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in the case of Zivotofsky v. Kerry (remember?) that Congress is not within its prerogative to order the executive branch to recognize Jerusalem as "Jerusalem, Israel" on the passports of US citizens who are born there. Official US policy is and has been since 1948 that Jerusalem is an "international" … Continue reading Jerusalem is still just “Jerusalem” as far as your passport is concerned

Since all the way back in last August (and presumably well before that), when Tayyip Erdoğan gave up (or was term limited out of) his gig as Turkey's Prime Minister and instead became that country's first popularly elected president, he's had big plans to make his mostly ceremonial office a lot less ceremonial and a … Continue reading Erdoğan defeats Truman

This is a major shot in the arm for the Bush campaign: “I’ve promised that during this next campaign season, I will not talk,” Mrs. Bush said Monday on NBC’s Today show.  “No, I won’t give any interviews … I don’t tweet … No Instagram …. I’m not gonna be musing about someone who does … Continue reading JEB 2016 gets a big boost

The sides in the Ukraine/Donbas civil war look about ready to resume serious violence again after clashes earlier this week between government troops and fighters for the "Donetsk People's Republic" in the town of Marinka, on Donetsk's western outskirts, killed somewhere in the neighborhood of 21 people. Shockingly, Kiev and Western governments have blamed the … Continue reading Ukraine on the brink of heavy fighting again

CENTCOM confirmed on Wednesday that a US airstrike hit a factory in Hawija, a city in Iraq's Kirkuk Province, where ISIS makes giant car bombs ("Vehicle-Borne Improvised Explosive Device," or VBIED) of the type that were used to devastating effect in its capture of Ramadi last month. Per VICE, the Kurdish news service Rudaw is … Continue reading No-win scenario? Or bad choices in arms sales?

I realize that there is no such thing as "peak gibberish," even when it comes to Iraq, and that with the 2016 campaign literally just getting started we're in for layer upon layer of new gibberish almost by the day for the next 18 months or so. But it's already getting pretty bad out there. … Continue reading Are we nearing Peak Gibberish on Iraq?

The bulk of The New York Times's coverage of Iran and the nuclear talks is handled by their chief Washington correspondent, David Sanger, who usually collaborates with either one of their foreign affairs reporters or a science reporter named William Broad. On Tuesday they published a piece warning in breathless tones that a new IAEA … Continue reading Looking at the NYT’s reporting on Iran, my newest at LobeLog

Anybody with a normally functioning human brain would not be able to go through this kind of mental contortion without giving himself a stroke: Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum, a Catholic, describes himself as a “huge fan” of Pope Francis. Nonetheless, he thinks the Pope would do better to “leave science to the scientists” and … Continue reading Shouldn’t cognitive dissonance kick in at some point?

I feel obliged to mention this here because when major disasters hit, and when I actually think of it (unfortunately those two things aren't in a 1:1 ratio because I can be thick like that), I try to post links for charitable donations here in case people are able to give something. Often I include … Continue reading Red Cross or Red Flag?

Last Wednesday the Washington Post produced a graphic purporting to show the number of migrant workers who have died in Qatar (1200) on work related to the 2022 World Cup as compared to worker deaths for other major international sporting events (I used it here). Qatar cried foul, saying that those 1200 migrant workers, while … Continue reading Oh, well, by all means carry on then