War

The Syrian army is closer to regaining full control of the ancient city of Palmyra as ISIS militants are being pushed from the UNESCO heritage site. Syria state TV have reported that government troops have regained control of the Syriatel hill close to Palmyra’s castle and are a step closer to retaking the whole city, which has been under Islamic State control since May last year. Syrian army near Palmyra castle Syrian forces battled IS fighters on Saturday inside Palmyra under the cover of Russian and Syrian artillery fire.

To mark the one-year anniversary of the start of the Saudi-led war on Yemen, The Wall Street Journal obligingly gave the Saudi ambassador a platform to repeat his government’s propaganda:

American pop diva Mariah Carey announced on Twitter that she will be cancelling her upcoming concert in Brussels due to safety concerns that have arisen since the recent terror attacks According to Billboard.com Posting an announcement to Twitter on Friday (March 25), the pop diva wrote she would not perform at the Forest National arena on Sunday, as had been planned, “for the safety of my fans, my band, crew and everyone involved with the tour.” I love my fans in Brussels and at this time I am being advised to cancel my show for the safety of my fans, my band, crew and everyone… — Mariah C

Najim Laachraoui, one of the alleged Brussels suicide bombers, was, according to the director of the Catholic high school he attended, a “model student”. Laachraoui was also a “veteran” Islamist fighter in Syria and is suspected of creating the explosive bomb belts that contributed to November’s Paris attacks, the Times of India reports: Security sources told local media that Laachraoui, a 25-year-old Belgian, was one of Tuesday’s airport suicide bombers, identifying him as one of the three men in the CCTV image released by police.

I’m overdue to follow up on my lament for the end of the Obama Administration, specifically with respect to foreign policy, and to respond to Daniel Larison’s cogent criticisms of that piece.

Precisely because I think Larison’s criticisms are cogent, I don’t feel the need to rebut them. President Obama has been anything but anti-interventionist, and specifically started at least one outright dumb war (against Libya) of the precise sort that he ran for office claiming he wouldn’t launch.

But I do want to defend my Eisenhower comparison a bit. Larison says: