EUROPE RUSSIA Russia's US ambassador, the seemingly ubiquitous (at least among people involved with the Trump administration) Sergey Kislyak, is reportedly being recalled to Moscow. It seems the ongoing Trump-Russia investigation has quashed plans to move Kislyak into a role at the United Nations: The decision to bring Kislyak back to Russia rather than appoint him … Continue reading Europe/Americas update: June 24-25 2017

ASIA AFGHANISTAN Taliban fighters killed ten Afghan police officers on Saturday in an attack on a checkpoint outside of the city of Herat. All told, Agence France-Presse says that Afghanistan just suffered its deadliest Ramadan since the US invaded back in 2001, with over 200 people having been killed. Well, you know what they say: … Continue reading Asia/Africa update: June 24-25 2017

IRAQ OK, even I'll admit this is a nice story: People in the Iraqi city of Mosul celebrated their first Muslim Eid holiday without Islamic State in years on Sunday after the militants were ejected from much of the city, and hoped the battle to recapture the remaining area would soon be over. Children gathered … Continue reading Middle East update: June 24-25 2017

EUROPE RUSSIA In what is a strong contender for least surprising news of 2017, Russia's electoral commission has said that potential presidential candidate Alexei Navalny will not be allowed to run for office because of a past criminal conviction. Navalny wasn't going to win the 2018 election anyway, but his presence in the race might … Continue reading Europe/Americas update: June 23 2017

ASIA AFGHANISTAN The Taliban have made no secret of the fact that one of their demands before negotiations with Kabul can begin is a full American withdrawal from Afghanistan. Of course, it's possible that a full American withdrawal from Afghanistan would obviate the need for talks, so quickly would the Taliban be likely to regain … Continue reading Asia/Africa update: June 23 2017

QATAR Well, the long-awaited list of Saudi demands is in, and it's quite something. If you had no knowledge of the context and you just happened to come upon this list, I think you'd probably conclude that Qatar must have lost a war: — Curb diplomatic ties with Iran and close its diplomatic missions there. … Continue reading Middle East update: June 23 2017

EUROPE EUROPEAN UNION The EU has announced agreement on a handful of collective defense measures: European Union leaders launched their the most ambitious defense plan for decades on Thursday, agreeing a multi-billion-euro weapons fund, shared financing for battlegroups and allowing a coalition of the willing to conduct more missions abroad. It comes as tensions with Moscow … Continue reading Europe/Americas update: June 22 2017

ASIA AFGHANISTAN A car bomb killed at least 34 people on Thursday outside a bank in the city of Lashkar Gah, in Helmand province. The Taliban took credit for the attack, though the location indicated as much anyway. One of the Taliban's favorite tactics in recent months has been to attack banks on payday, when … Continue reading Asia/Africa update: June 22 2017

SYRIA With my focus heavily on the Saudi story yesterday, I feel like I gave short shrift to this Washington Post piece on the Trump administration's thinking with respect to the next (post-Raqqa) phase of its Syria operations. It's not that the piece breaks much new ground in terms of what's happening in Syria--it's been obvious … Continue reading Middle East update: June 22 2017

EUROPE RUSSIA Say, things between Moscow and Washington seem like they're going well: Russia has canceled a planned round of talks with the US in protest at new sanctions imposed this week over Moscow’s military intervention in Ukraine. The deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov, denounced the new sanctions, which expanded the list of individuals and … Continue reading Europe/Americas update: June 21 2017