Israel-Palestine The UN Security Council will vote tomorrow on a resolution, authored by Egypt, demanding a stop to the construction of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. This will not be the first time the Security Council has taken up the issue of Israel's illegal, slow-rolling annexation of occupied Palestinian territory, and … Continue reading Conflict update: December 21 2016

Germany The death toll from yesterday's truck attack in Berlin is now up to 12, and ISIS has claimed responsibility. Their statement used language that the terror group typically uses to describe "inspired"/"lone wolf" attacks for which it later claims credit. To make matters worse, the man who was arrested last night on the belief … Continue reading Conflict update: December 20 2016

Turkey Obviously the Russian ambassador Andrey Karlov's assassination in Ankara was the big story of the day, but I don't have anything more to say about it right now so, uh, let's move on? Syria I haven't been able to keep up with this feature the past couple of days, which is probably for the … Continue reading Conflict update, December 19 2016

South China Sea Here's today's story that's most likely to eventually end in our deaths: The Pentagon on Friday demanded the return of an underwater drone that was seized by China as an American crew was moving in to retrieve it. The episode threatens to increase tensions in a region already fraught with great-power rivalries. … Continue reading Conflict update, December 16, 2016

This has to be short again tonight. I've had very little time to spare today. Syria Roughly 3000 people were evacuated from eastern Aleppo today, the first full day that the ceasefire/evacuation deal between the rebels and the Syrian government was in place. That's barely a fraction of the 50,000 people estimated to still be inside … Continue reading Conflict update: December 15, 2016

Just a short one tonight. I'm traveling and it's late. Syria Schrödinger's Ceasefire appears to be back on.  First Aleppo was under ceasefire, then it wasn't, and then rebel forces announced this evening (well, technically tomorrow in Syria, I guess) that it is again. Though so far there's been no confirmation of the resumption of the … Continue reading Conflict update: December 14, 2016

Lots to cover today, unfortunately. Syria Russia's UN ambassador, Vitaly Churkin, told the UN Security Council today that the Syrian government is now fully in control of Aleppo and that military operations in the city have stopped. Now, this is the second or third, or tenth or whatever, time that the Russians have said the … Continue reading Conflict update: December 13, 2016

Syria Aleppo is, for all practical purposes, back in the Syrian government's hands: Syrian state media said President Bashar al-Assad’s forces had captured 98% of the eastern areas of Aleppo that have been largely rebel-held since 2012. The rebels and the opposition monitoring group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said regime forces were in control … Continue reading Conflict update: December 12

Egypt A major bomb (12 kg of TNT) hit St. Mark's Cathedral (see the photo above) in Cairo this morning, killing at least 25 people, wounding at least 49, and from the photos I've seen absolutely pulverizing the interior of the church. No group has claimed responsibility yet as far as I can tell, but … Continue reading Conflict update: December 11

Turkey At around 11 PM tonight local time, two bombs hit downtown Istanbul, killing at least 29 people and injuring another 166. First, a car bomb exploded outside the Beşiktaş Vodafone Arena. Shortly after that, a suicide bomber detonated a smaller explosion a short distance away. Suspicion, as it always does in these cases, will … Continue reading Conflict update: December 10