KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany — For an excellent and succinct exploration of how slim the hopes for a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians are in advance of the forthcoming direct negotiations, read this Ethan Bronner piece. I’m tempted to quote everything here, particularly about the mutual reinforcement between Abbas’ domestic weakness and Netanyahu’s disinterest. That [...]

KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany — I know, I know. This is hopelessly tribal. Unless you count the day I spent three weeks ago at Ramstein, I’ve never been to Germany. Now I’m at the Barbarossahof hotel, an elegant 150-year old inn about 20 minutes outside the base, a short drive on the Autobahn — all it’s cracked [...]

OUTSIDE RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, IN A QUAINT-ASS GERMAN TOWN, Germany — I hate to say I told you so, starting way back in May. But now that the anti-Muslim bile against the unobjectionable Islamic center called Cordoba House has reached mainstream saturation, look what’s showing up on the internet: Evan F. Kohlmann, who tracks militant [...]

I’m with Ricks–always mind the Friday afternoons on hot summer days. The official memo on recommendations post-Ft. Hood have been released by the DoD. It gets into the weeds further on, but the crux of it is here: These initiatives will significantly improve the Department’s ability to mitigate internal threats, ensure force protection, enable emergency [...]

According to reports, the US has once again managed to convince the Israelis and the Palestinian Authority to participate in another round of direct talks, to begin in Washington in a couple weeks. I cannot for the life of me understand what tactical benefit the Palestinians see in participating in negotiations with the Netanyahu government. [...]

BAGRAM AIR FIELD, Afghanistan — Staff Sgt. Chris Boitz of the United States Air Force informed me of something I should have already known: Alice In Chains have apparently reformed. Yes, despite a dead lead singer. (Actually, the internet tells me they reunited five years ago, so I’m clearly behind the times here.) He played [...]

BAGRAM AIR FIELD, Afghanistan – He acknowledged that he took on that job with no experience and said that a professional security official told him that if he managed to keep the president alive for six months, he would have succeeded. – from Carlotta Gall’s profile of Rahmatullah Nabil, the “relatively unknown figure in Kabul” [...]

BAGRAM AIR FIELD, Afghanistan — I should be in Germany by now, notebook and camera out, covering the movement of wounded warriors from the C-17 conducting their aeromedical evacuation from Afghanistan to Landstuhl. Due to an aggravating bureaucratic train wreck extremely early this morning, I’m back at the media center’s Hotel California, and technically squatting, [...]

Not quite as slick as the Af-Pak Channel, but we make do. Important pieces on Pakistan and the flooding: U.S, Pakistan warn of militant plots over floods [Reuters] Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and a senior U.S. senator warned on Thursday that Taliban insurgents are trying to exploit rising anger over the country’s worst floods [...]

Yeah, so, hey! Been awhile. Turns out my day job pulled me away from posting as much as I’ve wanted to of late, which is terribly impolitic for a guest blogger. But, seriously, it ain’t my fault. And what do you care? Karaka, Mikey, Jenn, and Lewis have been ricking the casbah, and Ack’s thrown [...]