SYRIA Fighting in Afrin is still centered around Bursaya hill, a strategic high-ground position that could enable someone to, say, position mortars to target other parts of Afrin, or to target the nearby Turkish city of Kilis, depending on that person's interests. On Sunday it appeared as though Turkish and allied Free Syrian Army forces … Continue reading Middle East update: January 27-28 2018

Tonight's update is going to be condensed again. News is lighter than usual, and anyway I've been having some trouble with WordPress that is making it difficult to blog. Your heart is breaking for me, I know. MIDDLE EAST SYRIA Syrian opposition negotiators announced just this evening that they will not attend Russia's upcoming Syrian … Continue reading World update: January 26 2018

DOOMSDAY CLOCK The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists moved us all a little closer to Armageddon on Thursday, bumping their Doomsday Clock from 2 minutes and 30 second to midnight to a flat 2 minutes to midnight due to concerns about climate change, North Korea, and nuclear arms more generally. This is as close as … Continue reading Europe/Americas update: January 25 2018

ASIA AFGHANISTAN The Chinese government is denying reports from Russian and other media that it's planning to build a military base in Afghanistan's Badakhshan province. So I guess that, uh, settles it...? PAKISTAN American and Pakistani officials are peddling two different accounts of Wednesday's drone strike that reportedly killed at least one Haqqani Network bigshot … Continue reading Asia/Africa update: January 25 2018

SYRIA The Turkish government essentially threatened to go to war with the United States on Thursday, warning US forces embedded with the Kurds around Manbij that if they don't skeddadle they could be in for a very bad time. This is likely bluster--Ankara and Washington don't get along very well, but Turkey actually attacking American … Continue reading Middle East update: January 25 2018

There doesn't seem to be all that much news today. My theory is that most of the people who normally make news are at Davos. Here's the thing: I don't give a shit about Davos, and I particularly don't give a shit about the stuff that happens at Davos that gets made public. Add to … Continue reading World update: January 24 2018

ASIA AFGHANISTAN The fact that America's intervention in Afghanistan is in year 17 should be bad enough. The only lesson the US foreign policy establishment seems to have learned from Vietnam is that you can't lose if you don't stop fighting, even if the only reason you're still fighting is so you don't have to … Continue reading World update: January 23 2018

SYRIA The Turkish military said on Tuesday that its forces have killed over 260 Kurdish and ISIS fighters in Operation Olive Branch so far. "And" is doing a lot of work in that sentence. Similarly, so far in this post I've written over 50 words in English, German, and Tamil. I'm a polyglot! Also, this … Continue reading Middle East update: January 23 2018

INEQUALITY Whatever else may be going on the world, it's nice to see that unfettered crony capitalism is keeping on keeping on: The gap between the super rich and the rest of the world widened last year as wealth continued to be owned by a small minority, Oxfam has claimed.   Some 82% of money … Continue reading World update: January 22 2018

SYRIA Rebel shelling of Damascus's old city on Monday killed at least nine civilians and wounded over 20 more, according to Syrian state TV. And that pretty much does it for Syria, I guess, so let's move o- Oh, right, the other thing. Turkey's invasion of Afrin continues, with Turkish forces and their Free Syrian … Continue reading Middle East update: January 22 2018