Here's the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (though not for much longer), General Martin Dempsey, in April, when Ramadi seemed like it was on the verge of falling to ISIS (the situation has since stabilized somewhat but the city is still at risk): If the Iraqi city of Ramadi, which is under imminent … Continue reading Sour grapes in Iraq

Things aren't looking good for Bashar al-Assad these days. He's almost totally lost control of Idlib Province in the past two months, to a rebel coalition mostly controlled by Jabhat al-Nusra and the equally Islamist, albeit not al-Qaeda affiliated (there are links, but they fall short of outright affiliation), Ahrar al-Sham. That loss gives the … Continue reading Tide turning against Assad, my newest at LobeLog

Crisis averted, I guess. Benjamin Netanyahu cut a deal with Naftali Bennett literally minutes before the deadline, so he's the proud leader of a brand new 61-seat majority coalition in the Israeli Knesset. Bennett himself will serve as Education Minister, which just makes sense given his zero experience in education, and Jewish Home MK Ayelet … Continue reading Netanyahu in under the wire

Apparent Israeli election winner Benjamin Netanyahu has until midnight tonight to cobble together a 61 seat majority in the Knesset before Israeli President Reuven Rivlin has to give somebody else a crack at the job. It appears that he's scrambling to meet the deadline: Mr. Netanyahu, who exulted in what looked like a strong mandate … Continue reading Bibi-sitter hanging on by the skin of his teeth

Back in 2011, social scientist Steven Pinker wrote a book called The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined, wherein he argued that we're living in the most peaceful time in human history thanks to humanity's general embrace of a more empathetic, reason-centric, moral view of the world. He won a lot of … Continue reading New evidence that violence, or at least its impact, isn’t declining

The thing about Lindsey Graham is that he's normally dumb enough that when he says a thing that could either be a bad joke or something extra dumb, you're never sure which way to go with it. So it is with this gem of a quote: "Everything that starts with 'Al' in the Middle East … Continue reading “…and then there’s, um, alcohol, and algorithms, and Al Gore, and…”

A Tunisian journalist named Asma Ghribi writes about recent developments there over at Foreign Policy: On April 8, the Council of Ministers approved a controversial new draft law that would grant additional powers and protections to the military, internal security forces, and the customs service — and curb constitutionally granted civil liberties. The law has … Continue reading Not a good sign

You may remember several months back, when there was a popular uprising in Burkina Faso over then-president Blaise Compaoré's decision to try to buy himself another term in office despite the fact that he'd already served 27 years of a maximum 10 year presidency. Due in large part to public outcry, Compaoré was removed from … Continue reading In Burundi, another president tries to overstay his welcome

In case you haven't heard, two gunmen, at least one of whom is alleged to have been a man with serious jihadi inclinations, were killed by police last night as they attempted to attack a "Muhammad Art Exhibit" event in Garland Texas, sponsored by something called the American Freedom Defense Initiative. AFDI is one of … Continue reading Feeding the extremism industry

I don't want to convey the impression that I have literally had nothing to say about Freddie Gray's death (murder, really, though maybe it's premature to call it that) and the subsequent protests/riots that have gripped Baltimore because I don't care about that story. I simply can't figure out what to say about this case, … Continue reading A good place to start