IRAQ Iraqi forces took the last Kurdish-held district in Kirkuk province on Friday, following--and here's where it gets bad--a three hour battle with Kurdish peshmerga. That's the first fighting between the Iraqis and the Kurds since those skirmishes that took place during the Iraqis' initial move into Kirkuk, and reports suggest that it's been much … Continue reading Middle East update: October 20 2017

Happy Diwali to those who are celebrating! I confess to knowing little about Hinduism and even less about Diwali, so if somebody wants to educate the rest of the class in the comments please feel free. (As an aside, though there's usually not much activity in the comments around here, be aware that I have … Continue reading World update: October 19 2017

Happy Diwali to those who are celebrating! I confess to knowing little about Hinduism and even less about Diwali, so if somebody wants to educate the rest of the class in the comments please feel free. (As an aside, though there's usually not much activity in the comments around here, be aware that I have … Continue reading Middle East update: October 19 2017

EUROPE RUSSIA Russian socialite Ksenia Sobchak, daughter of former St. Petersburg Mayor Anatoly Sobchak and possibly Vladimir Putin's goddaughter, announced that she's running for president next year. She, like all Russian opposition candidates, is definitely a legitimate candidate who has as good a shot at winning the election as Putin or anybody else in Russia's totally fully … Continue reading Europe/Americas update: October 17-18 2017

ASIA KAZAKHSTAN If you're a fan of trees, then today was a pretty good news day. Deforestation is apparently down in Brazil (I'll get to that) and also we learned from the Rockefeller Foundation, via the Guardian, that Kazakhstan's efforts to plant a million trees in a ring around the city of Astana are starting to … Continue reading Asia/Africa update: October 17-18 2017

ISIS It shouldn't be breaking news that ISIS is losing ground fast. It also shouldn't be breaking news that the group has plans for reverting back to its roots as a predominantly terrorist organization now that its territorial insurgency is being defeated. ISIS isn't going anywhere, is the point. Even after losing every major city … Continue reading Middle East update: October 17-18 2017

MIDDLE EAST IRAQ This is obviously the day's big story. Last night's Iraqi advance into Kirkuk province appears in the light of day to have ended with Baghdad in control of pretty much all of its targets--oil fields, the K1 military base, and even the city of Kirkuk itself. Aside from a few small skirmishes … Continue reading World update: October 16 2017

ASIA KYRGYZSTAN Sooronbai Jeenbekov appears to have won today's presidential election to succeed his mentor, Almazbek Atambayev. With 97 percent of the vote in Jeenbekov has won just over 54 percent of the vote, which would put him comfortably above the 50 percent threshold needed to avoid a runoff. Omurbek Babanov, his main rival, won less than … Continue reading World update: October 14-15 2017

IRAQ BREAKING/NOW: Well, you could read everything below, written earlier today. There's some important material in there. However it's also been, to say the least, overtaken by events: https://twitter.com/barzansadiq/status/919700959130943488 The "comprehensive attack" part of this is still unconfirmed at this point, but Reuters did report this evening that Iraqi forces were "advancing" on Kurdish held oil … Continue reading Middle East update: October 14-15 2017