I’ve written extensively about my disgust for journalists, but politicians are even worse. Watch this clip of Senator Lindsey Graham questioning US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter. This was theater for morons. Graham knows full well that the Turkish government and the Kurdish YPG work together time and again. Turkish President Erdoğan, who once said…
Cutting the Gordian knot of Syria is beyond OUR power
March 18, 2016
The Gordian knot is a legend from antiquity used to symbolize what seems like an insoluble program. Gordias the peasant was made king of the Phrygians; his son Midas dedicated Gordias’s ox-cart to the Phrygian god Sabazios and tied it to a post with an intricate knot of cornel bark. In 333 BCE, Alexander the…
Ground invasion of Syria: Did it begin today?
March 3, 2016
Most people love bad news. They also love to be afraid. I spent most of my life being disappointed, angry, and fearful, so I’m grateful for every scrap of improvement that I see around me. I think the Muslim Anti-Terror Coalition ground invasion of Syria began today, which is very good news. It means the…
Posturing staves off disaster in the Middle East
February 3, 2016
One of the reasons that westerners can’t solve the problems in the Middle East is that we can’t distinguish between genuine threats and posturing. I admit that I myself have this deficit. It’s not possible for me to tell what’s real and what’s a performance. However, Middle Easterners understand what’s actually going on. There’s always…
Fear is your enemy
November 21, 2015
In the war against the Islamic State, the terrorists have been granted all their victories. These triumphs were not earned. President Obama sabotaged a status of forces agreement (SOFA) with Iraq so that he could bring home all our combat troops, and then the Iraqis decided to flee from the enemy, leaving behind massive amounts…