Latest News

Photo: Qasem Soleimani


There used to be an established order to the world. A structure to things. You couldn't print a gun like a term paper. It was impossible to wreck a nuclear production plant with a few lines of code. Flying robots didn't descend on you in the dead of night and kill you in your home.

But that order has been upended. Cheap videos in California help spark riots in Cairo. Lynchpins of the Middle East now rant about 'Planet of the Apes' in public, and Iranian generals trash-talk David Petraeus over SMS. The world has gone a little haywire — sometimes for better, sometimes for worse. Here are our choices for the 15 people most responsible for making it that way.

Who did we miss? What did we get wrong? Sound off in the comments, or find us on Facebook or Twitter (we'll retweet the best suggestions). .

Read more ....

My Comment: Iran's Gen. Qassem Suleimani is on top of my list.

Photo: Frederick and Kimberly Kagan in Basra. Wikipedia



Frederick and Kimberly Kagan, a husband-and-wife team of hawkish military analysts, put their jobs at influential Washington think tanks on hold for almost a year to work for Gen. David H. Petraeus when he was the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan. Provided desks, e-mail accounts and top-level security clearances in Kabul, they pored through classified intelligence reports, participated in senior-level strategy sessions and probed the assessments of field officers in order to advise Petraeus about how to fight the war differently.

Their compensation from the U.S. government for their efforts, which often involved 18-hour workdays, seven days a week and dangerous battlefield visits?

Zero dollars.

Read more ....

My Comment: I have posted many of the Kagans commentaries in this blog over the years. And while I have disagreed on many of their observations and opinions, I have always valued point of view.

Hat Tip: Prairie Pundit

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) says the film “Zero Dark Thirty” is a combination of “fact, fiction and Hollywood” that dangerously links the use of torture with the killing of Osama bin Laden.

Feinstein and Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Carl Levin (D-Mich.) are sending a letter to Sony Pictures, the film studio distributing the Oscar contender, to make their complaints known.

“I thought it was terrible," said Feinstein, one of a handful of lawmakers to see the film ahead of its limited release this week. “It is a combination of fact, fiction and Hollywood in a very dangerous combination.”

Read more ....

My Comment: We are going down a very slippery slope if these Senators get there way. They may not agree with one of the film's premises (there is nothing wrong with that) .... but to send an official letter to the distributors of the film criticizing the decisions that they made in making the film opens doors of censorship and using political pressure on what can be filmed or not. I say let the public decide .... after-all .... we are the ultimate judges on what to watch (or not).

NAIROBI, Kenya — When M23 rebels marched on the eastern Congolese city of Goma last month, the United Nations’ largest peacekeeping mission at first struck back like a force that costs $1.4 billion a year, pounding the advancing columns from the air. But as the Congolese army quickly dissolved, so did the U.N. resistance, and days later the rebels rolled into Goma with barely a fight.

Congo’s neighbors proposed a solution: If the United Nations was unwilling to put its 19,000 men more directly in the line of fire, African countries would send in 4,000 troops of their own to comb through the militia-ridden vacuum and eradicate the armed thugs.

Read more ....

My Comment: It is true that the West no longer has the political (or public) will to become directly involved in wars and conflicts a continent away. But if our allies are willing to do the dirty work .... as long as we pay the bill .... I say that this is an approach that we should (at least) investigate but with one very strict provision .... always be aware that Africa's wars are a mix of tribal and ethnic animosities that goes back generations and have nothing to do with us .... but if we become involved in supporting one side we may end creating millions of enemies and animosities that will then be directed at us.

BEIRUT: Lebanon appealed Monday to the international community to come forth with its promised aid to help it cope with an increasing influx of Syrian refugees fleeing the war in their country as several cases of tuberculosis have been discovered among the refugees.

In addition to the Syrian refugee crisis, fear of an increase in Palestinian refugees has arisen after hundreds Palestinian refugees living in Syria fled to Lebanon following clashes between Palestinian factions loyal to and opposed to Syrian President Bashar Assad at a camp on the outskirts of Damascus.

Read more ....

My Comment: As the civil war continues to escalate .... and refugee numbers are expected to hit 1,000,000 by early 2013 ....widespread disease and death is all but guaranteed.

BEIRUT — Talks were held on Wednesday aimed at removing both rebel and pro-government fighters from a Damascus Palestinian refugee camp after deadly clashes, a Palestinian relief official told AFP, as the UN spoke of residents fleeing in droves.

"Palestinian organisations that have remained neutral are overseeing talks between the (rebel) Free Syrian Army and Syrian troops, to keep the camp out of the conflict," the official said on condition of anonymity.

"So far, the talks have been unsuccessful."

A plan to put the Yarmuk refugee camp in the south of the Syrian capital under the control of "neutral" Palestinian officials is under discussion.

Read more ....


Battles rage near Damascus, Palestinian refugees flee -- Trend.az
Abbas to UN: help Syria refugees enter West Bank -- AFP
Abbas seeking to shelter Palestinian refugees fleeing Syria -- Haaretz/AP
Abbas to UN: Let Palestinians in Syria enter W. Bank, Gaza -- Jerusalem Post
MP Ghanem: influx of Syrians, palestinians a” time bomb” -- Ya Liban

My Comment: Will Israel permit tens of thousands of Palestinians living in Syria to flee to the West Bank .... I doubt it.