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 Middle East update: September 24 2018

ASIA AFGHANISTAN At least eight children were killed by a roadside bomb, presumably planted by the Taliban, in Faryab province on Saturday. It's nearly impossible to get an official count of the number of Afghan police and soldiers killed by the Taliban and ISIS, mostly because the number is so high that actually releasing it … Continue reading World update: September 22-23 2018

SYRIA So the good news is that the National Liberation Front says it will comply with the deescalation agreement Turkey and Russia reached on Monday in Idlib province. Though since the NLF is basically a paramilitary arm of the Turkish military at this point, it's unclear what choice it really had. NLF leaders say they … Continue reading Middle East update: September 22-23 2018

EUROPE RUSSIA Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Friday effectively accused the US of using sanctions policy as a way to force other countries to buy US weapons. And hey, I know it's Russia and we hate them now or whatever, but he's got a pretty strong case. ROMANIA Romanian Social Democratic Party boss Liviu … Continue reading Europe/Americas update: September 21 2018

ASIA PAKISTAN Most predominantly Muslim countries have been conspicuously reluctant to criticize China over its brutal repression of its Uyghur population. Obviously nobody wants to offend a country as economically powerful as China over a bunch of Uyghurs, even though they are Muslim. It is frankly a little remarkable, then, that some of the first--albeit … Continue reading Asia/Africa update: September 21 2018

SYRIA One little-mentioned aspect of the Syrian Democratic Forces' assault on Hajin is that there's a reasonable chance--assuming he's still alive--that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is in that area somewhere, and the SDF might come across him. Baghdadi does in fact seem to still be alive, as he or at least somebody who sounds like him … Continue reading Middle East update: September 21 2018

Best wishes to any readers who are observing Ashura. EUROPE UKRAINE The Ukrainian parliament voted on Thursday to send constitutional amendments to the country's constitutional court that, if passed, would open the door for Ukraine to join NATO and the European Union. In a speech to parliament, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said that the Ukrainian … Continue reading Europe/Americas update: September 20 2018

Best wishes to any readers who are observing Ashura. ASIA AFGHANISTAN The Taliban carried out "a series of coordinated attacks" against three security checkpoints in Ghazni province on Thursday morning, killing at least five Afghan security forces. Additionally, five people were reportedly wounded by a roadside bomb in Nangarhar province. PAKISTAN One of Imran Khan's … Continue reading Asia/Africa update: September 20 2018

Best wishes to any readers who are observing Ashura. SYRIA Unsurprisingly, Turkish and Russian officials explained to the United Nations Syria task force on Thursday that they're still putting together all the details of their big plan to avoid a battle in Idlib province or, at least, to delay one for a few weeks. On … Continue reading Middle East update: September 20 2018

POVERTY A new World Bank report finds that while the number of people living in extreme poverty continued to decline last year, the rate of decline slowed considerably and that's not the only bad news: In its annual report, the Washington-based development agency said the proportion of people living in such conditions had fallen to … Continue reading Europe/Americas update: September 19 2018