QATAR Today in "Me Or Your Lying Eyes," it's Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir: "There is no blockade of Qatar. Qatar is free to go. The ports are open, the airports are open," Jubeir said alongside a silent Tillerson who had called last week for the embargo on Qatar to be "eased". "The limitation on … Continue reading Middle East update: June 13 2017

UNITED STATES Many small updates from Trumpland tonight, including one I'm saving for the end of this update. First, Attorney General Jeff Sessions is testifying on Tuesday before the Senate Intelligence Committee as it investigates links between the 2016 Trump campaign and Russia. Sessions is going to be questioned about his own contacts with Russian … Continue reading Europe/Americas update: June 12 2017

ASIA AFGHANISTAN You ever read a news story and you just have nothing to say about it? I don't mean that you're uninformed on the topic or that you don't have plenty of thoughts related to it, but that you just can't think of the right way to express how, say, awful it is? That's … Continue reading Asia/Africa update: June 12 2017

QATAR First off, here's me on today's Majority Report today talking about Qatar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bN9DyeQbzYo The Qataris have really latched on to Kuwait's efforts to mediate their diplomatic crisis with Saudi Arabia. This makes sense, in that the Kuwait route must seem like the only way out of this mess that doesn't involve turning Qatar into … Continue reading Middle East update: June 12 2017

ASIA AFGHANISTAN An Afghan commando who had gone over to the Taliban opened fire on a group of Americans in Nangarhar province's Achin district on Saturday, killing three US special forces soldiers. Earlier in the day a US airstrike/"friendly fire" incident accidentally killed at least three Afghan soldiers in Helmand province. PAKISTAN Pakistani authorities are … Continue reading Asia/Africa/Europe update: June 10-11 2017

Hey, so I know I said earlier that there likely wouldn't be any updates tonight, but I finally got WordPress to work again and blogging has prevented me from throwing something at my television, and plus writing these things is much easier if I keep up with things on a nightly basis, so I managed … Continue reading Middle East update: June 10-11 2017

Friends, I'm going to level with you. Between Qatar and Iran and now the UK elections, it has been a hell of a week for a person who obsessively blogs about world news. So this update is really kind of a catch-all for bits of news from everywhere else, though I know some things probably … Continue reading Asia/Africa/Americas update: June 8-9 2017

UNITED KINGDOM Sometimes you just have to tip your cap to a master, and while I'm no expert on British political history or the history of electoral politics more generally, I can't help but tip my cap to Theresa May, who yesterday achieved what has to be one of the greatest self-inflicted political wounds of … Continue reading Europe (i.e., UK) update: June 8-9 2017

IRAN We've learned a bit more about five of the men who, along with two other men and one woman, attacked Iran's parliament building and Ayatollah Khomeini's mausoleum on Wednesday, killing 17 people in the process. On Thursday, the Iranian government said that these five attackers had been recruited by ISIS from inside Iran. They were … Continue reading Middle East update: June 8-9 2017

COMEY TIME Former FBI Director James Comey will testify tomorrow before the Senate intelligence committee regarding his firing and allegations that President Donald Trump tried to "encourage" him to drop the investigation into ties between Trump's campaign and Russia. First, I would suggest you read this summary of recent developments in the Trump-Russia story leading … Continue reading Europe/Americas update: June 7 2017