ASIA AFGHANISTAN Afghan President Ashraf Ghani visited the city of Ghazni on Thursday and was greeted by two Taliban rockets that landed near the facility where he was meeting with local officials. There's been no report of any casualties. In happier news, the US used an F-35 in combat for the first time on Thursday … Continue reading World update: September 27 2018

SYRIA The Syrian government is now basically daring Israel to conduct airstrikes once Russia has delivered its promised S-300 air defense systems to Damascus, which is supposed to happen within the next two weeks. I'm sure this will work out well. On a more positive note, the Israeli government says it's prepared to reopen its border … Continue reading Middle East update: September 27 2018

EUROPE RUSSIA Around 100 people protested on Wednesday in the city of Magas, capital of Russia's Ingushetia region. The regional government has apparently cut a deal with the Chechnyan regional government over some sort of minor land swap, which triggered the correspondingly minor public outcry. BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA Secessionist Bosnian Serb President Milorad Dodik has suddenly … Continue reading Europe/Americas update: September 26 2018

ASIA AFGHANISTAN The United Nations mission in Afghanistan says that 21 Afghan civilians were killed over the weekend in two airstrikes--nine in a Saturday strike in Kapisa province and 12 on Sunday in Maidan Wardak province. It does not know whether these were Afghan or NATO/US airstrikes. MALDIVES So remember how Maldivian President Abdulla Yameen … Continue reading Asia/Africa update: September 26 2018

SYRIA Officials involved with Turkish-aligned Syrian rebel groups in Idlib claim they've seen signs that jihadi groups, including Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, are preparing to abide by the agreement Turkey and Russia reached to establish a demilitarized zone between rebel and government forces in the province. If true that should mean the agreement will hold, for … Continue reading Middle East update: September 26 2018

EUROPE HUNGARY An investigation into the use/misuse of European Union project funds could wind up costing Hungary a cool $1.8 billion. The European Commission has been looking into Viktor Orbán's habit of, say, funneling EU project funds to his friends and relatives, which puts "corruption" on the list of problems Brussels has with Orbán along … Continue reading Europe/Americas update: September 25 2018

OIL Donald Trump has been demanding that OPEC (i.e., Saudi Arabia) increase oil production to account for US sanctions against Iran and the resulting loss of Iranian production. But the Saudis and Russia--the world's largest non-OPEC oil producer, have decided they'd rather not increase production, and, would you look at that, the price of oil … Continue reading Asia/Africa update: September 25 2018

SYRIA Syria's deputy foreign minister, Faisal Mekdad, strongly suggested to state media on Tuesday that the Idlib province deescalation agreement reached between Russia and Turkey was merely phase one of a process that will see the province returned to the Syrian government's control. Mekdad described the agreement as similar to the kind of deescalation agreements Damascus … Continue reading Middle East update: September 25 2018

It's United Nations General Assembly Week, a magical time when heads of state, heads of government, and foreign ministers from all over the world gather in New York City to try to bullshit one another for a change instead of trying to bullshit the rest of us. I tend not to get too invested in … Continue reading World update: September 24 2018