SYRIA The Lebanese newspaper al-Akhbar, which has links to Hezbollah, reported on Tuesday--and an unnamed official in the pro-Bashar al-Assad coalition later acknowledged--that a delegation of US officials visited Damascus in June to meet with Assad's national security adviser, Ali Mamlouk. A couple of anonymous US officials later acknowledged that the US is communicating with Assad's government, … Continue reading Middle East update: August 28 2018

EUROPE UKRAINE A spate of attacks against Roma in Ukraine has raised concerns both about the violence and about the police response: However, police stand accused of failing to protect the Roma from a growing number of ethnically-motivated attacks by far-right groups. In recent months there have been at least eight brutal incidents, with two … Continue reading Europe/Americas update: August 27 2018

ASIA TAJIKISTAN According to Afghan officials, either the Russian or Tajik military conducted airstrikes in northeast Afghanistan's Takhar province on Monday, but whatever did or did not happen there is being lost amid a flurry of denials from just about everybody who might have been involved. The Afghans say that Tajik helicopters or possibly jets … Continue reading Asia/Oceania/Africa update: August 27 2018

SYRIA Well, it sure seems like somebody is fixing to do something in Syria and then somebody else might retaliate in some way for whatever that is. You can fill in the blanks there. Russia has already warned that it has evidence that Hayat Tahrir al-Sham is preparing to stage a fake chlorine gas attack … Continue reading Middle East update: August 27 2018

ASIA TAJIKISTAN Artillery fire struck Tajikistan's Khatlon province on Sunday, killing at least two people. Most of the details of the attack remain unclear but it's thought that the shelling came from across the border in Afghanistan. AFGHANISTAN A suicide bomber killed at least seven people outside an electoral commission office in Jalalabad on Saturday. … Continue reading World update: August 25-26 2018

SYRIA The Russian Ministry of Defense warned on Saturday that a "private British contractor" is helping Hayat Tahrir al-Sham prepare a chemical (chlorine) false flag attack in Idlib that would be blamed on the Syrian government. Russia makes these kinds of warnings periodically, and whether you think they're genuine warnings about rebel activity or pre-cover … Continue reading Middle East update: August 25-26 2018

ASIA GEORGIA The hypothetical Republic of South Ossetia will celebrate its tenth year of "independence" on Sunday (Russia recognized said "independence" on August 26, 2008). It's planning a big bash with a lot of high-profile guests: Nicolás Maduro, Bashar al-Assad, Daniel Ortega, the leaders of the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics. Very high profile, assuming … Continue reading World update: August 24 2018

SYRIA Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu visited Moscow on Friday, and while I'm sure they had a rich and full agenda, foremost on it was the future of Syria's Idlib province. Çavuşoğlu warned of a "humanitarian catastrophe" if the Syrian military were to attack the province and called on Russia to help Turkey separate extremists in the … Continue reading Middle East update: August 24 2018

HUMAN RIGHTS Say, remember back when the United States government used to pretend to care about human rights? When sometimes it would complain that this or that country was doing awful human rights things, and then we would all look over at Saudi Arabia or Israel--or, say, at a mirror--and laugh? Yeah, me too: President … Continue reading Europe/Americas update: August 23 2018

ASIA AZERBAIJAN A new report from the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project finds that the US showered Azerbaijan's Silk Way Airlines with $400 million in business from 2005 through 2015 ferrying US war materiel into Afghanistan via the so-called "Northern Distribution Network." Those contracts were made possible by a sweetheart $420 million loan deal from the … Continue reading Asia/Oceania/Africa update: August 23 2018