EUROPE CYPRUS Cypriot leaders and UN representatives are meeting in Switzerland on Wednesday for "open-ended" talks to try to settle the island's reunification issues once and for all. As nobody has yet proposed a way to break the main deadlock that currently separates the two sides--Greek Cypriots want Turkey to remove its troops from the … Continue reading Europe/Americas update: June 26 2017

ASIA AFGHANISTAN Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Joseph Dunford is in Afghanistan this week to try to put together a strategy to go along with the decision to send thousands of additional American forces to that country to try to turn around its war with the Taliban. The additional forces should, in theory, … Continue reading Asia/Africa update: June 26 2017

IRAQ The commander of Iraq's elite Counter Terrorism Service, Lieutenant General Abdul Ghani al-Assadi, says the full liberation of Mosul will be over "in a few days," and given that "few" is a pretty vague term, I guess he's probably right. The Iraqis estimate that about 350 ISIS militants remain in the Old City, and Assadi … Continue reading Middle East update: June 26 2017

EUROPE RUSSIA Russia's US ambassador, the seemingly ubiquitous (at least among people involved with the Trump administration) Sergey Kislyak, is reportedly being recalled to Moscow. It seems the ongoing Trump-Russia investigation has quashed plans to move Kislyak into a role at the United Nations: The decision to bring Kislyak back to Russia rather than appoint him … Continue reading Europe/Americas update: June 24-25 2017

ASIA AFGHANISTAN Taliban fighters killed ten Afghan police officers on Saturday in an attack on a checkpoint outside of the city of Herat. All told, Agence France-Presse says that Afghanistan just suffered its deadliest Ramadan since the US invaded back in 2001, with over 200 people having been killed. Well, you know what they say: … Continue reading Asia/Africa update: June 24-25 2017

IRAQ OK, even I'll admit this is a nice story: People in the Iraqi city of Mosul celebrated their first Muslim Eid holiday without Islamic State in years on Sunday after the militants were ejected from much of the city, and hoped the battle to recapture the remaining area would soon be over. Children gathered … Continue reading Middle East update: June 24-25 2017

EUROPE RUSSIA In what is a strong contender for least surprising news of 2017, Russia's electoral commission has said that potential presidential candidate Alexei Navalny will not be allowed to run for office because of a past criminal conviction. Navalny wasn't going to win the 2018 election anyway, but his presence in the race might … Continue reading Europe/Americas update: June 23 2017

ASIA AFGHANISTAN The Taliban have made no secret of the fact that one of their demands before negotiations with Kabul can begin is a full American withdrawal from Afghanistan. Of course, it's possible that a full American withdrawal from Afghanistan would obviate the need for talks, so quickly would the Taliban be likely to regain … Continue reading Asia/Africa update: June 23 2017

QATAR Well, the long-awaited list of Saudi demands is in, and it's quite something. If you had no knowledge of the context and you just happened to come upon this list, I think you'd probably conclude that Qatar must have lost a war: — Curb diplomatic ties with Iran and close its diplomatic missions there. … Continue reading Middle East update: June 23 2017

EUROPE EUROPEAN UNION The EU has announced agreement on a handful of collective defense measures: European Union leaders launched their the most ambitious defense plan for decades on Thursday, agreeing a multi-billion-euro weapons fund, shared financing for battlegroups and allowing a coalition of the willing to conduct more missions abroad. It comes as tensions with Moscow … Continue reading Europe/Americas update: June 22 2017