QATAR This evening CNN broke the story that the FBI believes that not only was the Qatar News Agency really hacked a couple of weeks ago with a fake news report about an incendiary anti-Saudi, pro-Iran speech by Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim b. Hamad Al Thani, but that Russians were behind the hack. It's not … Continue reading Middle East update: June 6 2017

Hey, so this is going to be very short and mostly excerpts. I've written a whole lot today and I very much would like to go to sleep. EUROPE UNITED KINGDOM British security services are once again facing questions about whether they should have prevented a terrorist attack. Apparently at least one of the three … Continue reading Europe/Americas update: June 5 2017

AUSTRALIA An overnight shooting and hostage situation in Melbourne appears to have been a terrorist attack: Australian police are treating as a "terrorist incident" a Melbourne siege in which a gunman was killed. Officers went to an address in a suburb of the city on Monday after reports of an explosion and found one man … Continue reading Asia/Africa/Australia update: June 5 2017

QATAR OK, so undoubtedly the biggest news of the day is that Qatar has basically been declared an uncountry by half the Middle East (OK, six countries and one pretend government, but whatever). I have tried to explain what's going on here for LobeLog, and if it's all the same to you I'm going to … Continue reading Middle East update: June 5 2017

UNITED KINGDOM Saturday night's terrorist attack in London killed at least seven people, and with 21 people reportedly in critical condition there's still a danger that figure could rise. Just before 10 PM local time, a van struck a crowd of pedestrians on London Bridge, and then drove to Borough Market, where three attackers got … Continue reading Europe/Americas update: June 3-4 2017

ASIA AFGHANISTAN It was a horrific week in Kabul. After Wednesday's massive bombing led to deadly anti-government protests on Friday, on Saturday suicide bombers targeted the funeral of one of Wednesday's victims, killing at least 19 people. The Taliban once again denied what seems like an obvious Taliban attack and tried to blame rivalries within Afghanistan's … Continue reading Asia/Africa update: June 3-4 2017

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES Hackers have apparently compromised the personal email account for Yousef al-Otaiba, the UAE Ambassador to the US, and leaked its contents to several media outlets including The Intercept and Huffington Post. There's some serious stuff in this leak. Otaiba, for those who don't know, is one of the most active ambassadors in … Continue reading Middle East update: June 3-4 2017

UNITED NATIONS Congratulations to the newest members of the UN Security Council: The 193-member United Nations General Assembly elected Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, Kuwait, Peru and Poland to the U.N. Security Council on Friday for a two-year term beginning Jan. 1, 2018. The Netherlands was elected for a one-year term after reaching a deal with … Continue reading Europe/Americas update: June 2 2017

PHILIPPINES At this point, from where I sit, there is almost nothing about Friday's attack on the Resorts World Manila casino that makes sense. The death toll now stands at 38, including the lone attacker, who either died of gunshot wounds or self-immolation. The other 37 seem to have all died of causes related to … Continue reading Asia/Africa update: June 2 2017

IRAQ ISIS may be down to three Mosul neighborhoods now, as Iraqi authorities said today that their forces have captured the city's Sihha neighborhood from the insurgents. I know I keep saying this, but the Iraqis have a tendency to overestimate their progress, so Sihha may not quite be under full Iraqi control yet, but … Continue reading Middle East update: June 2 2017