I got a late start today because I was working on a piece for LobeLog and also because I am extraordinarily spacey today. So if this update is briefer than usual, or if it meanders off and doesn't make any sense--either is possible--then that's why. SYRIA One child was killed and six other people were … Continue reading Middle East update: September 18 2017

EUROPE CYPRUS Oh boy, this is a bit embarrassing: A leaked list of names of those who have benefited from Cyprus’s citizenship-by-investment programmes represents a detailed insight into the panoply of clients behind schemes providing passports to the super rich. It also reveals the extent to which interest from the Russian and Ukrainian elite has driven … Continue reading Europe/Americas update: September 16-17 2017

ASIA AFGHANISTAN Two bombings in eastern Afghanistan on Sunday--one in Khost province and the other in Laghman province--killed at least six people in total. These are likely to have been Taliban attacks. Hey, exciting news! Kabul's Green Zone is getting bigger: Soon, American Embassy employees in Kabul will no longer need to take a Chinook … Continue reading Asia/Africa update: September 16-17 2017

SYRIA You may have noticed the Syrian army paying considerably more attention to ISIS in recent weeks. That's partly a function of the fact that the civil war in western Syria is all but over or at least frozen, with Bashar al-Assad clearly ascendant, so ISIS is the next logical target for Damascus. But it's … Continue reading Middle East update: September 16-17 2017

UNITED KINGDOM At least 29 people were injured on Friday when an improvised explosive device went off on a London metro train at the Parsons Green station. The device only "partially" exploded, apparently, so things could have been substantially worse. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack, and British authorities raised their terror alert level to … Continue reading World update: September 15 2017

IRAQ The death toll from Thursday's ISIS attack in Nasiriyah has now risen to 84, and as more details come out it seems to have been a fairly intricately planned effort involving multiple pieces and sequential targeting of a police checkpoint followed by two restaurants popular with residents and pilgrims. The main takeaway from something … Continue reading Middle East update: September 15 2017

ASIA KAZAKHSTAN So this happened recently: https://twitter.com/joshuakucera/status/908291441570586625 I have nothing constructive to say here but I did get a little chuckle out of it. AFGHANISTAN A roadside bomb killed the chief of police for Ghazni province on Thursday. PAKISTAN After 14 years, Doctors Without Borders has been ordered to vacate Pakistan's tribal areas along the … Continue reading World update: September 14 2017

IRAQ At last count at least 60 people had been killed Thursday in a series of ISIS terror attacks in the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah. The strikes targeted two restaurants and a police checkpoint and were undoubtedly meant to send the message that ISIS isn't as weak as you (or, more importantly, potential recruits) … Continue reading Middle East update: September 14 2017

Sorry, but today's update needs to be another short and early one MIDDLE EAST IRAQ The Kurds have a major supporter in their independence movement: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Which is, on some level, just astonishing. Israel has cultivated good relations with Kurds of all stripes for decades, so this makes sense viewed through … Continue reading World update: September 13 2017

EUROPE RUSSIA Russian media is reporting that Moscow has no intention of ordering further cuts to America's diplomatic presence in Russia. This would seem to suggest they're hopping off the tit-for-tat see-saw they've been on with Washington for the past several weeks, but there could always be some other kind of diplomatic retaliation in store. … Continue reading Europe/Americas update: September 12 2017