EUROPE UKRAINE Hundreds of people protested in Kiev on Thursday demanding the impeachment of President Petro Poroshenko. Presumably they won't be voting for him in next month's presidential election then. On top of his failure to end the war, boost the Ukrainian economy, eliminate or even sightly reduce corruption, and, well, you get the idea, … Continue reading Europe/Americas update: February 28 2019

AFGHANISTANA group of Taliban fighters attacked a police outpost in Balkh province on Thursday, killing five police officers in what Afghan officials described as a five hour battle. US Afghan envoy Zalmay Khalilzad described this week's meetings in Doha between his team and Taliban representatives as "productive" via Twitter on Thursday. The two sides reportedly … Continue reading Asia/Africa update: February 28 2019

SYRIA Donald Trump, perhaps looking for a distraction after his summit with Kim Jong-un fell apart (more on that later), told US soldiers during a stopover in Alaska that the Syrian Democratic Forces have retaken the last bit of Syrian territory still held by ISIS. This was a big revelation, and would probably come as … Continue reading Middle East update: February 28 2019

ASIA KASHMIR I wish I could say things are cooling off here, but, well, that would be a lie. Both Pakistan and India claim to have shot down one another's aircraft on Wednesday, after the Pakistanis apparently carried out an airstrike on Indian territory. The Pakistanis claim they shot down two Indian planes and initially … Continue reading World update: February 27 2019

SYRIA People are apparently still pouring out of Baghouz to try to escape the eventual Syrian Democratic Forces assault on Syria's last ISIS-held town. Hundreds reportedly evacuated on Wednesday, including both people who have been held captive by ISIS (including some Yazidis captured back in 2014 in Iraq) and ISIS supporters who either decided to … Continue reading Middle East update: February 27 2019

ASIA GEORGIAGeorgia's ruling party appears to be slowly breaking up: A series of defections from the ruling Georgian Dream party has left the party without the dominant majority it held in parliament and has exposed a growing fault line in the party ahead of elections next year. Over the last several days, four GD members … Continue reading World update: February 26 2019

SYRIA Activists in Idlib province are saying that the Syrian government conducted an airstrike on the town of Khan Sheikhoun on Tuesday that killed at least three people. Monitor groups, like the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, are claiming that the Syrian military has stepped up the frequency of its air and artillery strikes against Khan … Continue reading Middle East update: February 26 2019

ASIA KAZAKHSTANKazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev appointed a new prime minister on Monday--Askar Mamin, who had previously served as first deputy PM. Nazarbayev forced the resignation of his entire cabinet last week, citing its economic policy failures. KASHMIRIndia and Pakistan are both mobilizing their forces in Kashmir, and Kashmiris living along the Line of Control are … Continue reading Asia/Africa update: February 25 2019

So this post began as a world update, but then some extremely extra stuff happened around Kashmir and so I broke the Asia-Africa material out into its own post, which is now here. EUROPE CYPRUSExxonMobil is expected to announce soon that it's discovered a major gas field off of Cyprus's southern coast. This could be … Continue reading Europe/Americas update: February 25 2019

SYRIA With thousands of people, mostly civilians but with a few ISIS fighters trying to sneak out of trouble, having fled Baghouz over the past week or so, Syrian Democratic Forces officials have no idea how many people--combatants or otherwise--are left there. They're guessing around 5000, but they seem to have been underestimating the count … Continue reading Middle East update: February 25 2019