ASIA GEORGIA NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg promised on Wednesday that Georgia will one day be a member of the transatlantic alliance. Which is great, I bet the Russians will be really happy for Georgia. ARMENIA Eurasianet's Joshua Kucera has more on the latest political tensions in Armenia: Armenians poured into the streets of Yerevan on … Continue reading World update: October 3 2018

SYRIA Bashar al-Assad told Kuwait's al-Shahed newspaper on Wednesday that "Arab and Western delegations" have started visiting Damascus to lay the groundwork for resuming normal diplomatic relations with Syria. Presumably he was referring to Gulf Arab delegations. The Gulf states have been opposed to Assad since the early days of the civil war in 2011 but … Continue reading Middle East update: October 3 2018

ASIA ARMENIA Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan led a rally of his supporters in Yerevan on Tuesday against what he called a "counterrevolution" by his political opponents. Pashinian's rise to the premiership in May, amid massive public protests against then-PM Serzh Sargsyan, didn't do anything to address the fact that Sargsyan's Republican Party still has a majority in parliament. … Continue reading World update: October 2 2018

SYRIA According to Rudaw, the Syrian Democratic Forces are only about 150 meters away from ISIS's defensive line in the town of Sousa, in Deir Ezzor province. It should be the next part of ISIS's pocket around Hajin to fall to the SDF. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reports at least 211 ISIS fighters and … Continue reading Middle East update: October 2 2018

ASIA AFGHANISTAN Afghan security forces on Sunday night raided the home of Atallah Safi, a candidate for parliament in Kunar province, killing three of his bodyguards. Two additional people were reportedly arrested for some reason--no explanation for the raid has been forthcoming. PAKISTAN The Pakistani government has reduced the Chinese loan backing a major Belt and Road … Continue reading World update: October 1 2018

SYRIA A day after reports (well, one report) said it was quitting the demilitarized zone that Russian and Turkey established in Idlib province--making it the first rebel faction to do so--a spokesman for Faylaq al-Sham said on Monday that the group has done no such thing. In another development that augurs poorly for the success … Continue reading Middle East update: October 1 2018

EUROPE RUSSIA This was probably inevitable, but Vladimir Putin now has his own reality TV show: To many Russians, Putin’s annual news conference and wildly popular question-and-answer program are “circus,” a mix of entertainment and politics. This month, Putin added another tool to his repertoire: a weekly prime time series following his daily activities. The … Continue reading Europe/Americas update: September 28-30 2018

ASIA AFGHANISTAN Two Afghan police officers were killed in Kandahar province late Friday in yet another insider attack by a fellow officer who then ran off, likely to join the Taliban. There were reports this week, based in part on anonymous quotes from Taliban officials, that Taliban representatives were meeting in Saudi Arabia with officials … Continue reading Asia/Africa update: September 28-30 2018

SYRIA The Islamist rebel group Faylaq al-Sham ("The Levant Corps") on Sunday reportedly began withdrawing from the demilitarized zone established in Idlib province under the Russia-Turkey deescalation agreement. It's the first rebel group to make that move. On the other hand, a formerly US-backed Free Syrian Army faction called Jaysh al-Izza ("The Army of Glory") rejected the deescalation … Continue reading Middle East update: September 28-30 2018