From a very good Los Angeles Times story about Pakistan’s wariness about invading north Waziristan: “These drone attacks are disadvantageous for the U.S.,” said Fakhrul Islam, a tribal areas expert at Peshawar University. “The Pakistani population isn’t happy with these attacks, and they give the Taliban a chance to talk about the killing of innocent [...]

I had taken it for granted that the supporters of the Green Movement in Iran were opposed to new sanctions, as both Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Kerroubi have made statements to that effect. And with the Obama administration moving toward a new international sanctions regime in the new year, I figured that would be a [...]

An extremely affecting quote from the brave demonstrators in Iran that the regime is trying to stifle: “This is the month of blood, Yazid will fall!” the protesters shouted, equating Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, with Yazid, the ruler who ordered Hussein’s killing. I don’t know how long it’ll take, but a theocracy that [...]

That vein in your forehead that throbs when someone says something stupid? I formally petition the American Medical Association to rename it the Lieberman: Sen. Joseph Lieberman, (I-Conn) a renowned hawk and one of the foremost champions of the invasion of Iraq, warned on Sunday that the United States faced “danger” unless it pre-emptively acts [...]

As you may have figured out, I’m not the biggest fan of Christmas. But I love the Pogues’ “Fairytale of New York,” and my most bittersweet Jewish Christmas regret is that my haunt of choice on that day, the Red Room, no longer features it on the jukebox. But Astrobase Go! has come to rescue [...]

After emailing with an FDL friend, I see that the criminal complaint against Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab (I got it through the Times‘ website) identifies the explosive used in his botched attempt to explode NWA flight 253 as PETN, “a high explosive,” though it cautions that lab analysis is ongoing. If so, so much for preliminary [...]

For the sake of argument, let’s take the most expansive theory of how Abdul Farouk Abdulmutallab tried to blow up a Detroit-bound passenger jet. According to the Wall Street Journal, Abdulmutallab gets an explosive device from al-Qaeda operatives in Yemen; takes a couple of layovers to get on the plane; boards with his device; ignites [...]

I woke to see Rear Adm. Greg Smith, the director of communications for Gen. McChrystal’s command in Afghanistan, released a statement about a disgusting event that I didn’t know occurred. I reprint it here to echo its sentiments: “This is a horrible act which exploits a young Soldier, who was clearly compelled to read a [...]

Michael Oren, Israel’s ambassador to an ossifying right-wing percentage of Jewish America the U.S. has been attacking progressive Jews by calling their lobby, J Street, hostile to Israel. This, of course, raises questions about how committed Benjamin Netanyahu actually is to J Street’s agenda of a two-state solution. So it’s good to see Hannah Rosenthal, [...]

Walter Pincus reads through the conference report of the Defense appropriations bill and learns that the Pentagon thinks it can save $44,000 for every contractor it replaces with an actual department employee. Hooray! But the anticipated savings come from those ousted contractors who provide services like “supervising other contractors who provide guard services at forward [...]