Category Archives: International issues

Cartoon: How Sanctions Usually Work

Posted on June 1, 2023 by Ampersand

This cartoon is by me and Kevin Moore. Kevin writes: Any time I can draw over-the-top, absurd violence with satiric intent is fun for me. I don’t like guns or violence in real life, but in fiction it can be … Continue reading →

Posted in Cartooning & comics, International issues | Comments Off  

Cartoon: Yemen

Posted on October 4, 2018 by Ampersand

If you enjoy these cartoons, please help me make more by supporting my Patreon! A $1 pledge really matters. My favorite foreign policy writer, these days, is Daniel Larison, who writes for The American Conservative. Larison’s beat is American foreign … Continue reading →

Posted in Cartooning & comics, International issues | Comments Off  

It’s Gross to Use Otto Warmbier’s Tragedy to talk about White Male Privilege

Posted on June 22, 2017 by Ampersand

Otto Warmbier was a 22-year-old American who, early in 2016 was convicted by a North Korean court of stealing a poster. He was put in a North Korean prison, until he was returned to the US in a coma on … Continue reading →

Posted in In the news, Korea, White Privilege | Comments Off  

Everyone Who Reads Rumi in English Should Read This New Yorker Article

Posted on January 22, 2017 by Richard Jeffrey Newman

Written by Rozina Ali, the article is called “The Erasure of Islam from the Poetry of Rumi,” and it says something that Iranians I know have been saying for a very long time—something that I learned from them, in fact. … Continue reading →

Posted in Iran, Islam, Writing | Comments Off  

The Absolute Basics of the US-China-Taiwan Relationship

Posted on December 16, 2016 by Guest Writer

(A post by Ben Lehman, who many of you will recognize from “Alas” comments. Reprinted from Ben’s facebook, with Ben’s kind permission. The illustration, an 1985 1865 map of China and Taiwan, was chosen by Amp.) PREAMBLE: I’m going to … Continue reading →

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Let’s Not Pretend Benghazi Was The Only Objection To Clinton’s Libya Policy

Posted on September 30, 2016 by Ampersand

Issac Saul, a Bernie supporter who has learned to love Hillary Clinton, writes: Perhaps Clinton’s greatest blemish on her record is the destabilizing of Libya, which led to the Benghazi diplomatic compound attack. Certainly, it was one of the career … Continue reading →

Posted in Elections and politics, International issues, Iraq | Comments Off  

Clinton’s Role in the Honduras Coup

Posted on September 28, 2016 by Ampersand

Postmarxed writes: Q: What did Hillary to do Honduras? As secretary of state in 2009, she helped orchestrate a coup against a center-left president there, which resulted in a wave of political killings.  LGBT activists and peasant activists in particular … Continue reading →

Posted in Elections and politics, International issues, Latin America | Comments Off  

Should We Regret The American Revolution?

Posted on July 4, 2016 by Ampersand

Happy 4th of July! Dylan Matthews brings us 3 reasons the American Revolution was a mistake. In a nutshell (although click through for the longer arguments): 1) The Southern States would have had much less power as part of the … Continue reading →

Posted in International issues, Mind-blowing Miscellania and other Neat Stuff | Comments Off  

One Reason It’s Important to Pay Attention to the Elections in Iran

Posted on February 29, 2016 by Richard Jeffrey Newman

  This is important to pay attention to not because it means women are suddenly free of discrimination and oppression in Iran, but because it demonstrates that Iranian women are not the helpless, powerless victims they are often portrayed as in … Continue reading →

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Obama and Clinton’s Libya Policy Has Been Disastrous And Is The Major Reason For Being Unhappy That Clinton Could Be The Next President

Posted on December 9, 2015 by Ampersand

In an earlier thread, responding to me calling US policy in Libya under Obama and Clinton disastrous, Crissa wrote: What ‘disastrous’ Libya policies? Honestly, are we counting as a disaster that thousands of people weren’t murdered by an army? There’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Elections and politics, International issues | Comments Off