Syria Aleppo is, for all practical purposes, back in the Syrian government's hands: Syrian state media said President Bashar al-Assad’s forces had captured 98% of the eastern areas of Aleppo that have been largely rebel-held since 2012. The rebels and the opposition monitoring group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said regime forces were in control … Continue reading Conflict update: December 12
Author: DWD
writer, blogger, lover, fighter
Muhammad’s birthday mob
Today (actually beginning at sundown yesterday) is, on the Islamic calendar, the date traditionally identified as Muhammad's birthday, or Mawlid al-Nabi. While your immediate assumption might be to equate Mawlid with Christmas, they're really not analogous (just as Muhammad's role in Islam is not analogous to Jesus's role in Christianity), and Mawlid is not a … Continue reading Muhammad’s birthday mob
Conflict update: December 11
Egypt A major bomb (12 kg of TNT) hit St. Mark's Cathedral (see the photo above) in Cairo this morning, killing at least 25 people, wounding at least 49, and from the photos I've seen absolutely pulverizing the interior of the church. No group has claimed responsibility yet as far as I can tell, but … Continue reading Conflict update: December 11
Conflict update: December 10
Turkey At around 11 PM tonight local time, two bombs hit downtown Istanbul, killing at least 29 people and injuring another 166. First, a car bomb exploded outside the Beşiktaş Vodafone Arena. Shortly after that, a suicide bomber detonated a smaller explosion a short distance away. Suspicion, as it always does in these cases, will … Continue reading Conflict update: December 10
Conflict update: December 9
Tonight's roundup is going to be short and to the point (and a little earlier than usual), my apologies. Iraq The Iraqi military says that it captured another neighborhood in eastern Mosul today, in the process destroying (via airstrike) three facilities where ISIS has been manufacturing car bombs. In Baghdad, meanwhile, multiple bombing attacks today … Continue reading Conflict update: December 9
Cause of death: late-stage capitalism
According to the National Center for Health Statistics, in 2015 average life expectancy in the United States dropped, from 78.9 years to 78.8 years, the first time that's happened since 1993. We know that the drop in 1993 had a few particular causes (AIDS and high homicide and accidental death rates, for example), and while … Continue reading Cause of death: late-stage capitalism
Abbas and Fatah keep on keeping on
Shortly after the year 2016 went live, I wrote about how one of the growing fears related to the Middle East was that the Palestinian Authority might fall apart. This is not because anybody has any great love for the Palestinian Authority--seriously, does anybody?--but because of the potential for chaos that could follow the PA's … Continue reading Abbas and Fatah keep on keeping on
Worst roller coaster ever
If you're the kind of person who pays attention to oil prices, then first of all I share your pain and alienation, but second of all, you may have noticed that it's been doing a lot of rising and falling lately around a midpoint of about $48-$49/barrel. We seem to be in the middle of … Continue reading Worst roller coaster ever
Corruption Matters
Amid all the post-election "how the hell did we get here" analysis, a lot of which has focused squarely and rightly on the myriad failures of the Democratic Party, another piece of the puzzle has gotten lost a bit, and that has to do with what Donald Trump represented to a lot of voters--a vote … Continue reading Corruption Matters
Conflict update: December 5
Libya After a surprisingly long operation, it appears that Sirte is fully under the control of the militias that have been battling ISIS there: The drawn-out capture of Sirte, the last major Islamic State (Isis) stronghold in Libya, has been completed after months of fighting and a stubborn resistance by snipers. Rida Issa, a spokesman … Continue reading Conflict update: December 5
The Foreign Exchanges Companion 