SYRIA Bashar al-Assad's next big target in Syria is retaking Idlib province, into which he and Moscow have cleverly funneled most of the northern rebel forces and a disturbing number of displaced civilians. The Century Foundation's Sam Heller makes a reasonable suggestion as to what role the West should play when the Idlib fight begins … Continue reading Conflict update: April 24 2017

FRANCE You may have heard that there was a little presidential election in France today. Well, after a lot of uncertainty and polling and analysis and more polling and oh man that one dude is coming on, what does that mean, this is so unpredictable...it looks like Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen will be … Continue reading Conflict update: April 22-23 2017

Hopefully a short one tonight. I'm getting a bit of a late start and actually don't think there's much to report for a change. SYRIA The first phase of that major four-town evacuation (Fuʿah, Kefraya, Zabadani, and Madaya) has concluded successfully with an additional agreement for the Syrian government to release hundreds of detainees. The … Continue reading Conflict update: April 21 2017

FRANCE Details are still sketchy, but a gunman earlier this evening shot and killed a police officer on the Champs-Élysées in Paris before being shot and killed in turn by other police officers. There was a search for accomplices immediately after the shooting, but it seems at this point like the shooter was acting alone. … Continue reading Conflict update: April 20 2017

Hey! So, instead of finishing this and posting it at 11:58 like I usually do, tonight I'm going to try, you know, not doing that, and hopefully being asleep at 11:58 instead. I'd like to make that the new normal with these posts going forward, but we'll see. SYRIA At The Nation, James Carden asks whether … Continue reading Conflict update: April 19 2017

AMERICA TO THE RESCUE If you're worried about the state of human rights around the world, I've got great news--this afternoon, America was on it: The Trump administration is seeking to highlight its commitment to human rights around the world, and so its envoy to the United Nations, Nikki R. Haley, is presiding over what it … Continue reading Conflict update: April 18 2017

Happy Easter again to everyone who celebrated, and Pesach Sameach to those observing Passover, which ends tomorrow. And if any Egyptians happen to be reading this, happy Sham el-Nisim. TURKEY The weekend's biggest story was, as expected, Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdoğan I's formal coronation. By a slim margin, also as expected, Turkish voters on Sunday approved … Continue reading Conflict update: April 15-17 2017

First off all, apologies for not doing one of these earlier this week. I had intended to crank something out on Wednesday but, well, when Wednesday rolled around I didn't want to anymore. Second, Easter and Passover greetings to my Christian and Jewish readers. This is one of the rare years when the Orthodox and … Continue reading Conflict update: April 10-14 2017

First a note to readers: I'm probably going to take a few days off from writing about current events, unless something major happens while I'm away. Everybody needs a break here and there and I sense I'm approaching that point right now. Plus it's my daughter's spring break week so she'll be home from school, … Continue reading Conflict update: April 8-9 2017

Most of this post, for reasons that I assume are clear, is going to deal with the ongoing fallout from last night's/this morning's US missile strike on Syria's Shayrat air base. I'll have a handful of updates from other parts of the world tacked on at the end. There's a lot to cover so I'll … Continue reading Conflict (i.e., Syria) update: April 7 2017