For MEB, forever.

Syria is an ancient place and new country, that distinction making it somewhat like Iraq, if unlike Egypt.

People in the Middle East for more than one thousand years would speak of a place named Syria and Iraq, of course in Arabic (and one could go back fart… Read full post »

For MEB, forever.

When a newspaper article appears in USA Today having Air Force officials off the record discuss the possibility of taking down a country's air defense system, Syria of course being the country, that is a non-trivial signal.

Of course, having a large Russian naval deployment at Tart… Read full post »

For MEB, forever.

There is no reason to believe that the President had any knowledge of the actions of the Ohio IRS office in question, although nonetheless, on a scale of 1-10 as to problems, it is somewhat serious, a seven, if fixable.

If that were the case, that he had… Read full post »

 For MEB, forever.

Asad with one S is the correct spelling, although in Levantine Arabic pronunciation, double S works too.

That's also like arguing over spelling Qadhafi, Q or G, although there is a lesson there in a different way, as to the difficulty of passing along a family business.

Saif… Read full post »

Sikes-Picot refers to the 1916 agreement between Britain and France to divide the presumed carcass of the yet to be defeated Ottoman Empire.

That agreement, and its implementation, along with the Balfour Declaration gave us the Arab Middle East as we know it, minus Saudi Arabia (conquered independent… Read full post »

v Oksana da link a, e schto v emenia. oichin xorosho.

An American was found to be conducting "activities inconsistent with his status as a diplomat" and is now about to be persona non-grata-ed back to D.C./Langley.

It could be either or, as sometimes, it's just a volunteer thing, or being… Read full post »

For MEB, forever. 

One almost would say "Rest in War" instead of peace, Ken Waltz (how academics referred to him, as a sign of being a demi-god), and as to a life influentially lived, Kenneth Waltz is undeniably among the most influential in the last sixty years, almost precisely becau… Read full post »

For MEB, forever. And Legionaire "Johnny," with as he said "77 missions, all completed," as a sniper,in his words: "Sometimes, it is necessary that people be killed." He was also called "Crazy Johnny" by locals, as to the long-run price of some activities for at least some people,… Read full post »

Shroomberg News

We at Shroomberg News have just learned that President Obama has a major announcement on a new IRS program, tentatively called Affirmative Harrassment, in the wake of the shocking for anyone who has no clue announcement that the minions of the IRS can be used against politic… Read full post »

For MEB, forever.

Suppose one were a referree of American politics, which seems appropriate enough in the NBA and hockey playoff seasons.

Then I think that would mean that the Harvard trained academic, Jay Goebbels nee Richvine, who just resigned from the Heritage Foundation, for… Read full post »

For MEB, forever. I was raised a Methodist, and adhere to that faith, if I have generally speaking liked most Muslims I have met over the years. I also haven't met jihaddists, if not all Muslims are jihaddists, nor historically speaking have all religiously inspired killings been done by Muslims, if,… Read full post »

For MEB, forever.Eegra menyae, oichin smeshnoy.

There have been reports that Russia is contemplating sending the S-300 anti-aircraft system to Syria, which wouldn't be a good move, even as the time has come for the Thermidor of the Arab Spring in Syria in some sense.

Syria has a very unhappy… Read full post »

For MEB, forever.

As to the names Benghazi and Libya, the bottom line with Libya is that it is loaded with oil and gas and close to NATO allies, easily secured in wartime.

Securing oil supplies in wartime is important, and so therefore is Libya in certain contingencies that if not… Read full post »

For MEB, forever.

The psychiatrist's office is in a nonedescript office complex in the Connecticut suburbs of New York, about five miles short of Greenwich.

The office is furnished sparely, all modern steel and leather furniture in light beige, matching a carpet with indiscerbible pattern.

There is n… Read full post »

For MEB, forever. 

What's in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet;

He's not as well known as Lawrence, another Brit with wanderlust, at the very least, and certainly not as well known as the author Shakespeare, and yet the life,… Read full post »

In response to jittery customer demand, Starbucks has announced a new product line: Xanax Latte.

It seems like many customers were being made anxious by their jolt of caffeine to run the rat race, and wanted a downer with their upper, Xanax having the right properties for such a mass distributed… Read full post »

It hit me when I was watching that nice cartoon about Abilify, that drugs are the answer.

The land of Sex, Drugs, and Rock and Roll has a bad drug problem: Not enough people are on drugs.

Fortunately, almost like Soma in Brave New World, the wonders of modern biology have… Read full post »

For MEB, forever. 

Now it took a long time for this former educator to accept some things about teaching, but once he did, the rest followed naturally.

See, most people don't think teachers really do much, and when I thought about it, reflected on it, I concluded that they were right,… Read full post »

For Richard Mullins, who served his country at Guantamino Bay, Cuba.

Now Richard put up a link about the CIA warhorse Gust Avakratos, who ran the Afghan war program, until people at Langley, as usual, got jealous, and parked him at a desk. They always do that there, just one of… Read full post »

For MEB, forever.

When the U.S. Intelligence Community stated that it had evidence that chemical weapons had been used, many of the opponents of Western intervention argued that perhaps it was actually the rebels that did that, a "false flag."

That "rebel false flag" tack is a dangerous argument to m… Read full post »

For MEB, forever.

The first policy consideration is to remember that if there is a Russian client state in trouble, that is trouble potentially, if Standard Insurance is a good company, if of course, you'd rather not find out how good either.

Of course, just because Russia is unhappy doesn't mean… Read full post »

For MEB, forever.

This makes no claim as to whether destroying Syrian WMD is a good idea or not, and merely looks at the means consideration, which however usually ought to influence what ends one pursues, as if you don't like the demands of the means, that is important feedback on… Read full post »

For MEB, forever.

Japan's new Abe government is making some waves as to its policies relating to the nature of Japan, policies that are important to U.S. interests, especially if not exclusively in the case of the Republic of Korea.

Taking a longer view of Japanese history is important in that… Read full post »

For MEB, forever.

That is becoming something of an issue for the Obama Administration, since it laid out the use of WMD as a "red line," dangerously close in language to that used by Netanyahu as to credibility with Israel on Iran, in terms of independent Israeli actions that might, or… Read full post »

For MEB, forever.

When you look at the state of things as of late April 2013, the Obama Administration has some fairly serious issues developing in Syria, if that has to be seen in broader context, namely Russo-Chinese relations across the Eurasian landmass with Syria, Iran, and North Korea, as well… Read full post »