SYRIA Russian and Syrian airstrikes pummeled Idlib province on Moday, with dozens of strikes reported but no casualty figures as yet. Even if the Russians didn't intend, in their various peace initiatives, to sucker Syrian rebel groups and their supporters into Idlib only so as to get them in one place and make it easier … Continue reading Middle East update: February 5 2018

ASIA AFGHANISTAN Afghan election officials say they're ready to hold parliamentary elections but that they likely won't be able to do so until at least October due to security concerns. And hey, there's no rush. Technically they don't need to hold this vote until, uh, [checks notes] July 2015. So they have plenty of time. … Continue reading World update: February 3-4 2018

SYRIA Obviously the weekend's big news was the downing of a Russian Sukhoi SU-25 aircraft over Idlib province on Saturday. Hayat Tahrir al-Sham claimed credit for the shoot down and for killing the pilot, who bailed out and made it to the ground but was killed in a subsequent firefight. Assuming HTS did shoot the plane … Continue reading Middle East update: February 3-4 2018

EUROPE UKRAINE Al Jazeera reports on the largely ignored plight of Crimean Tatars, who never wanted the Russian annexation and have been paying for it ever since: The Kremlin praises Crimea's "comeback to Russia" as bloodless and voluntary.   But a day before the March 18, 2014 "referendum", Tatar activist Reshat Ametov was found dead … Continue reading Europe/Americas update: February 1-2 2018

ASIA AZERBAIJAN Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev is going to run for a fourth term in October. I know you were all wondering if he would so I thought I'd let you know. AFGHANISTAN An American drone strike in Ghazni province earlier this week reportedly struck a Taliban "meeting" and killed at least 26 of the group's … Continue reading Asia/Oceania/Africa update: February 1-2 2018

SYRIA BuzzFeed has a decent roundup of what's been happening in Afrin. No "news" as such, but if you haven't been following the story and want to get caught up you could do worse. The Trump administration says it may Do Something if it continues to receive reports of the Syrian military using chemical weapons. … Continue reading Middle East update: February 1-2 2018

EUROPE RUSSIA Russian journalist Kamil Galeev reports on Moscow's efforts to stifle separatist impulses in one of its own troublesome ethnic regions--Tatarstan: In September 2017, Russia’s central government started to enforce Putin’s instructions and push local governments into abolishing local language courses in the ethnic republics. Such measures, introduced at the beginning of an academic … Continue reading Europe/Americas update: January 31 2018