Author Archive: Michael Totten

A SUSPECT LINKED TO THE BENGHAZI ATTACK was just killed in Cairo in a shootout with security forces.

JACK REACHER ON THE BIG SCREEN. I can’t vouch for this movie starring Tom Cruise as Jack Reacher, but I can say I’ve read five of Lee Child’s Jack Reacher novels and they are outstanding.

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Lee Child writes brilliant stories with compelling characters that completely take over your life.

ISLAMISTS IN MALI ban music. These creeps aren’t run of the mill Islamists like the Muslim Brotherhood. They’re obviously Al Qaeda. France is about to go in there and kick their asses. Good for France! It’s nice to see we’re not the lone globocop after all.

ASSAD’S CHILD VICTIMS: Vice magazine, the folks behind the outstanding Vice Guide to Travel, just uploaded some grim footage from a field hospital in Syria where children are taken after having their guts ripped out by the government. They aren’t kidding around with the content warning. Don’t watch this if you’re squeamish.

I LINK, YOU DECIDE: Stephen S. Roach argues that blaming China’s current manipulation is tempting, but wrong while Peter Navarro says confront China now.

THE REAL HOUSEWIVES of the Middle East. Also starring Hillary Clinton and Ri Sol Ju of North Korea.

SYRIA’S BASHAR AL-ASSAD BANS GENETICALLY MODIFIED FOODS: “The law is meant ‘to preserve the health of human beings, animals, vegetables and the environment.’” He used to do a good job mimicking the prejudices of silly Westerners and saying exactly what they wanted to hear, but no one’s buying this crap anymore.

EGYPTIAN MOB VIOLENCE: Yet another Western woman—Sonia Dridi, a journalist for France 24 TV—was seized and assaulted by a mob in Cairo. Fortunately she wasn’t harmed as badly as Lara Logan was last year. She credits someone named Ashraf Khalil, whom I presume is her fixer, for getting her out of there.

A MASSIVE CAR BOMB just exploded in Beirut near an anti-Hezbollah organization’s office. Lebanese police say the head of police intelligence was the target.