Michael J. Totten's Blog, page 42

The Beginning of the End for Hezbollah

The Middle East taught me pessimism. Much of the region goes in circles instead of progressing, and I’ve seen one country after another circle the drain.

Optimism is very American. It’s not exclusively American, and of course we have our own setbacks and failures, but things have generally trended toward the better in American life since the nation was founded.

The Middle East, though, teaches another way of looking at history’s trajectory. My own naïve optimism was dashed on the rocks in Leban...

A Primer on Chechnya from Thomas Goltz

I met Caucasus expert Thomas Goltz in Tbilisi during Russia's invasion of Georgia. He and I took a nail-biting taxi ride behind Russian lines before furious soldiers at the third checkpoint on the road to Gori turned us back. I wrote about this in my book, Where the West Ends, and will never forget our encounter with terrifying Chechen irregulars on our way back to the capital.

Goltz is back now with a primer on Chechnya for Americans in the wake of the Boston bombing. He's the man to write it...

One Suspect Down, Massive Manhunt Underway for a Second

One suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing is dead, and a second is running.

Suspected bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev was killed in a shootout with police officers. He was treated at Beth Israel Medical Center where he was later pronounced dead from gunshot wounds.

Suspected criminals (and terrorists) are supposed to be presumed innocent until proven guilty in this country, but it doesn’t look good when a suspect gets in a firefight with police officers.

Tsarnaev’s brother is currently on the run. The...

The Boston Massacre

Obviously the twin explosions near the Boston marathon’s finish line yesterday was a terrorist attack.

I’m not saying anything else yet, though, because two-thirds of the interesting details I’ve seen in the news have been walked back already. The fog of war isn’t only a problem in war zones.

I've read a lot of dumb things about this incident on the Internet in the last couple of hours, and it's probably best that I not add to that pile.

What if North Korea is Serious?

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North Korea appears to be acting crazy again. This week we’re waiting to see if Pyongyang will carry out its promise to fire a Musadan missile which is theoretically capable of flying 2,180 miles before detonation.

I say North Korea appears to be acting crazy because making scary-sounding noises and threats like an out of control adolescent in desperate need of attention has been its modus operandi for as long as I can remember.

It’s a well-established method of international blackmail. Step on...

My New Book is Now Available

You can now purchase my new book, Taken--A Novel , at Amazon.com. It is available in trade paperback and Kindle editions.

It’s live at Amazon a little sooner than I expected. Barnes and Noble, Powell’s, Kobo, etc will have it shortly, but Amazon has it early.

Your Books Have Shipped

To those of you who pre-ordered autographed copies of my first novel, I have now signed and shipped all of them. The last batch was taken to the post office today.

They went out Priority Mail, so you should receive them right away if you live in the United States. Those of you who live overseas will have to wait a little bit longer.

The book will be officially released in a couple of days, so those of you who didn’t buy one from me can soon get one from Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, etc.

The Looming Battle of Damascus

The Syrian capital of Damascus, one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities on earth, may be largely destroyed in the coming months. The terrific Michael Weiss, who has been covering the Syria war like few others and was actually brave/foolish enough to go there as a witness himself, writes a chilling analysis for NOW Lebanon.

The new, dramatic claims of Bashar’s overdue demise aren’t mere fantasy telegraphing, however. They reflect a new stage of relentless psychological warfare by the Sy...

The World's Most Dangerous Places

The CBC created an interactive map from the Canadian government’s travel warnings for tourists that gives every country in the world (aside from Canada itself) one of five scores, ranging from “take normal security precautions” for the safe countries to “avoid all travel” for the most dangerous.

I’m rarely a tourist when I travel, but I nevertheless have a keen interest in travel warnings for tourists. Not a single country I have ever reported from is listed here in the safe column. Some of th...

Egypt's Lurch Toward Autocracy

Eric Trager at the Washington Institute has a new piece about Egypt’s lurch toward autocracy. I know Eric. He’s a smart guy. And he knows Egypt, better than I do and better than most. He has been clear-eyed about the revolution there from the very beginning.

Egypt's prosecution of comedian Bassem Youssef for allegedly insulting President Muhammad Morsi and denigrating Islam is the latest indication of the Muslim Brotherhood-dominated government's undemocratic disposition. The move will likely...