Iran has taken 15 British sailors and marine captive, according to the AP. Iran says that the Brits were in Iranian waters, the British government disagrees and says that they were in Iraqi waters.

Iranian naval vessels on Friday seized 15 British sailors and marines who had boarded a merchant ship in Iraqi waters of the Persian Gulf, British and U.S. officials said. Britain immediately protested the detentions, which come at a time of high tension between the West and Iran.| MORE ›

CNN has a news alert up, saying that Ahmadinejad has cancelled his planned visit to the United Nations because, according to Tehran, the U.S. didn’t issue visas for his crew in time.

I’m keeping an eye on the news websites to find out more about it. If what Iran says is true, it’s quite a stupid mistake of the U.S. to make: Ahmadinejad will now cry foul, argue that America isn’t giving Iran a chance, that the U.S. is obstructing diplomacy, etc.

It’s truly unbelievable. The Bush administration seems to be determined to make itself look as suspicious and unpopular as possible. Instead of giving in to the pressure, playing open card, and, by doing so, making it impossible for Democrats to use the issue of the USA’s as a partisan weapon…

Unless, that is, if the administration already has lied about certain matters.| MORE ›

Well… I’m not sure what’s in the air suddenly, but Tony Snow, who suffered from colon cancer two years ago, has to undergo surgery to remove a growth in his lower abdomen.

Luckily, though, that’s where the similarities between his and Elizabeth Edwards’ situation seems to end: tests have been negative – but doctors want to remove the growth just to be sure.

Lets hope that surgery will confirm the tests…

Snow on Elizabeth Edwards:| MORE ›

Simon Tisdall reports for the Guardian that it’s becoming increasingly difficult for the U.S. to keep Turkey from invading Northern Iraq.

Ankara fears that Kurdish terrorists are planning attacks against Turkey. Not just ‘preparing’ of course, members of the PKK are fighting against Turkey already – they have turned the Qandil mountains, on the Iraq-Iran-Turkey border, into a true safe haven for themselves.

As Simon notes, a Turkish invasion of Northern Iraq would be “disastrous”:| MORE ›

Pete Abel, who wrote several posts in the past about the direction the GOP has taken the last couple of years, has decided to join the Missouri chapter of the RLC, “to apply some much-needed CPR to the GOP, wresting it from the hands of those who have practically killed it”.

And yes, it is time for people like Pete to stand up and to take the fate of the Republican party in their own hands:| MORE ›

I’m currently reading Barry Goldwater’s The Conscience of a Conservative (which I received from a reader who appreciated my blogging. To that reader: thank you very much, it’s a great gift). When I finish it, I intend to write a long post on it, probably a review with some thoughts of my own on conservatism added (to it). For now, I will keep it short: it’s, thus far, an incredibly inspiring book. Goldwater seems to capture the soul of conservative liberalism perfectly.| MORE ›

“In his first weeks as defense secretary”, the New York Times reports, “Robert M. Gates repeatedly argued that the detention facility at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, had become so tainted abroad that legal proceedings at Guantánamo would be viewed as illegitimate, according to senior administration officials.| MORE ›

Great.| MORE ›

Dr. Rusty Shackleford writes for The Jawa Report that anti-Semitic terrorism supporter, according to Shackleford, Dr. Hassan A. El-Najjar teaches Sociology at Dalton State College, Georgia.

Dr. Hassan A. El-Najjar runs the website ALJazeerah.info.

Rusty writes that he finds it “surprising” that “the people of Georgia aren’t demanding the immediate firing of Dr. Hassan A. El-Najjar.” James Joyner responds and explains:| MORE ›