I just have one question: How would John McCain or other Republicans react if a Syrian senator were to sneak across the border from Mexico and have clandestine meetings with an armed militia group whose goal was to overthrow the United States government ( Read more... )

Say what you will about Iran, but when it comes to white collar crime, they apparently don't screw around.

I can't help but wonder if the United States would have fewer underlying economic problems if we just executed a few Wall Street bankers so the rest of them would get the message.

An NPR story this week discusses the increasing sophistication of Iran's secret police organizations to identify, arrest, and torture online writers who are critical of the regime. Many Iranians are deleting their blogs and deactivating their Facebook accounts to stay safe ( Read more... )

Iranian President Ahmadinejad (pronounced 'I'm-a-nut-job') wants to be sent into outer space. I think that's a wonderful idea. Now my question is, would it be possible to just leave him there? Please?

While I understand the concern that Israel has about stopping the flow of weapons to Hezbollah, this sentence stood out to me:

Among Israeli officials' chief fears is that Assad will pass chemical weapons or sophisticated anti-aircraft missiles to Hezbollah - something that could change the balance of power in the region and greatly hinder Israel' ( Read more... )

Meet the new boss in Egypt -- same as the old boss. Sigh.

Speaking of renewed protests because of betrayed revolutions, isn't it about time for Occupy to come back in force? A recent column in The Atlantic raises new concerns that the big banks may be poised to wreck the economy again if we don't start putting some of these people in jail.

“ ( Read more... )

There's been a lot of furor over President Obama's intention to nominate former Nebraska Senator Chuck Hagel -- a Republican -- to replace Leon Panetta as Secretary of Defense. Supposedly the disapproval has to do with questions about his commitment to the US alliance with Israel. There is apparently also concern over comments he's made about the ( Read more... )

Here we go again. A French paper has published cartoons that demean the prophet Mohammed, threatening to inflame the Middle East further. France has closed twenty of its embassies across the Middle East in what is certainly an understandable precaution after the assault on the American consulate in Benghazi that killed Ambassador Christopher ( Read more... )

While I was, as usual, critical of Mitt Romney in yesterday's post, I at least gave him credit for not pissing anyone else off after his gaffe at the London Olympics. It turns out I spoke too soon. I wrote that post before he gave a speech in which he started babbling some incredibly creepy theories about "cultural superiority" that predictably ( Read more... )

It's possible that we may be close to another war. While I don't like the idea of Iran with a nuclear weapon, I'm not sure we've exhausted all the other options yet. At the same time, I can't blame Israel for not just taking the word of other countries who say "Don't worry, let us handle it" when faced with a threat to its very existence. ( Read more... )