Independence Day, 2014

After a brief holiday last week, I returned to some heavy reading courtesy of the federal government. Some of the materials that I read were gratifying, and one was terrifying. In one week, the Supreme Court told the police that if they want to examine the contents of...

read more

The Risk of a Ukraine Bloodbath

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko – by thumbing his nose at the leaders of Russia, Germany and France as they repeatedly appealed to him to renew the fragile ceasefire in eastern Ukraine – has left himself and his U.S. patrons isolated, though that’s not the...

read more

The Perfect Arrogance of the Warmongerer

One of the easiest ways to confirm that there is no difference between (mainstream) Republicans and Democrats is to compare the latter’s vision of perfectible economic meddling with the former’s right-wing dreamworld of international democracy and low, low oil prices....

read more

Old Iraq Rivalries Stirred Up, 138 Killed

Supposed allies fought allies today in Iraq. The Shi’ite-led government tried to arrest a Shi’ite cleric, but they only managed to have a violent clash with his followers. Meanwhile, Naqshabandiya Army militants fought with ISIS/DAASH members. Although the two militant groups have tried to combine forces, they frequently quarrel. Overall, at least 138 people were killed and 75 more were wounded across Iraq.
read more

The Return of Ahmad Chalabi

A recent New York Times account of the reemergence of Ahmad Chalabi as one of the leading candidates to replace Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki opined "everything old seems new again in Iraq" – as if to confirm the growing sense here in the US that Iraq...

read more