SYRIA Today's big story happened not in Syria, nor in Geneva, but in New York, where Russia and China both vetoed a UN Security Council resolution that would have sanctioned Damascus over its military's use, per a UN investigation, of chemical weapons on at least three separate occasions in 2014 and 2015. I don't want … Continue reading Conflict update: February 28 2017

FOREVER WAR President Trump would like to increase the Pentagon's budget by $54 billion next year, an amount that, if you're keeping score at home, is all by itself equal to roughly 4/5 of Russia's entire military budget. This would boost America's capacity to shovel huge piles of money at defense contractors fight MOAR WARS, … Continue reading Conflict update: February 27 2017

THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION New Trump National Security Advisor H. R. McMaster has only been on the job a few days, but I wonder if he shouldn't already be looking for the exits: President Trump’s newly appointed national security adviser has told his staff that Muslims who commit terrorist acts are perverting their religion, rejecting a … Continue reading Conflict update: February 25-26 2017

THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION: A LAND OF CONTRADICTIONS TOTAL BULLSHIT Say, this is interesting: Analysts at the Homeland Security Department's intelligence arm found insufficient evidence that citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries included in President Donald Trump's travel ban pose a terror threat to the United States. A draft document obtained by The Associated Press concludes that … Continue reading Conflict update: February 24 2017

LIKE NO OTHER https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQQZKq5EXz4 I think somebody needs to brief Dumbo again: “I am the first one that would like to see ... nobody have nukes, but we’re never going to fall behind any country even if it’s a friendly country, we’re never going to fall behind on nuclear power. "It would be wonderful, a … Continue reading Conflict update: February 23 2017

TRUMPLAND Yesterday Reuters reported that a week before Mike Pence spoke at the Munich Security Conference and assured all those in attendance that Donald Trump is totally in to Europe and, like, when he keeps giving Europeans swirlies in the White House bathroom that's just because he doesn't want them to know that he like-likes … Continue reading Conflict update: February 22 2017

Iran It finally looks like a major principlist candidate might challenge Hassan Rouhahi in May's presidential election. Ebrahim Raisi was appointed last year to run Astan Quds Razavi, the charitable foundation that manages the Imam Reza Shrine in Mashhad, and that makes him one of the most important religious figures in Iran. Only 56 (that's … Continue reading Conflict update: February 21 2017

McMaster Gets the Gig Donald Trump has a new national security adviser, and it's not a name that was on many candidate lists: Lt. General H. R. McMaster. I'll confess that keeping track of general officers in the US military is not exactly a pastime of mine, so I don't know much about McMaster. John … Continue reading Conflict update: February 20 2017

Trumplandia Say, this seems nice: On any given weekend, you might catch President Trump’s son-in-law and top Mideast dealmaker, Jared Kushner, by the beachside soft-serve ice cream machine, or his reclusive chief strategist, Stephen K. Bannon, on the dining patio. If you are lucky, the president himself could stop by your table for a quick … Continue reading Conflict update: February 18-19 2017

Somalia The United States of America This is Donald Trump's America, and people are prepared to go to great lengths to get the hell out of it: A man from Somalia who risked the freezing temperatures of Manitoba as he crossed into Canada was discovered out in the cold by a CBC journalist. The chance … Continue reading Conflict update: February 17 2017