Category Archives: Libya

May 17, 2013

Benghazigate and Russia/Syria Follow-Up

It’s no fun blogging at moving targets. Since I tried on May 8 to make the simple point that Gregory Hicks’s testimony was being used for partisan purposes, and hence deflected attention from the Obama Administration’s real, seminal errors on Libya—which date … Continue reading

Posted in Libya, Syria | 1 Comment
May 8, 2013

Benghazigate: Republicans Missing the Point

It may be that, even as I am writing this very sentence, a mid-level State Department official named Gregory Hicks is testifying before a Senate Committee and, in effect, connecting former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (never mind the hapless … Continue reading

Posted in Libya | 24 Comments
November 1, 2012

Will Obama Pull out a November Surprise?

It’s too late in the 2012 campaign season for an October surprise. But it isn’t too late for an early November surprise. With President Obama apparently now behind in the projected popular vote (although who knows with these polls?), what … Continue reading

Posted in Libya | 2 Comments
July 12, 2012

“After Notes” on the Middle East

The past several days have elapsed without my having made a comment here on matters Middle Eastern. That does not mean nothing has been going on, but nothing has happened of such a dramatic nature as to focus any extended … Continue reading

Posted in Egypt, Israel, Libya, Syria | 4 Comments
June 25, 2012

NYT, WaPo Get It Mostly Right on Egypt, Libya

I had planned to spend most of yesterday, Sunday, working in the garden, particularly harvesting and culling our plums. I have three trees: two standard purple, and one golden blush Japanese hybrid. But it got hot, I got most of … Continue reading

Posted in Egypt, General, Libya, Syria | 1 Comment
June 13, 2012

The Muddled East [Updated]

The news from the region over the past few days constitutes, as always, more of the same and yet something new. Let me take you on a selective tour, ending with the most attention-arresting story of our time—Syria. Of all … Continue reading

Posted in Egypt, Iraq, Libya, Sahel, Syria | 3 Comments
May 9, 2012

The Never-Ending Consequences of Libya

Today’s local prestige newspaper, the Washington Post, brings two items on Libya, one a short news clip and the other a column by a well-known commentator—in this case, David Ignatius. Taken together, the two items furnish further evidence that all … Continue reading

Posted in Libya | 1 Comment