ASIA AFGHANISTAN The Taliban attacked a couple of police checkpoints in the city of Ghazni early Friday morning, killing at least nine police officers. Ghazni was subjected to a sustained Taliban attack last summer that nearly took the city before it was repulsed by Afghan forces backed by US air power. These attacks may signal … Continue reading World update: March 29 2019

SYRIA Al-Monitor's Amberin Zaman reports that Arab tribes aligned with the Syrian Democratic Forces have been trying to cut their own deals with the Syrian government, potentially leaving the Kurdish YPG militia--the largest faction within the SDF--holding the proverbial bag: On March 23 the YPG-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) declared victory after the fall of … Continue reading Middle East update: March 29 2019

CLIMATE CHANGE Great news: a new report from the World Meteorological Society says the effects of climate change are "accelerating": While some of these figures were published in a preliminary release of the study from last November, the full version has data on many key climate indicators, that the WMO says break new ground.One example … Continue reading World update: March 28 2019

Hello and welcome to our next-to-last week here at WordPress! I'm packing things up and moving to Substack starting next week, when I'll be posting in both places by way of transitioning to the new site. SYRIA According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Wednesday's Israeli airstrike (confirmed by Israel) in Aleppo killed one … Continue reading Middle East update: March 28 2019

Hello and welcome to our next-to-last week here at WordPress! I'm packing things up and moving to Substack starting next week, when I'll be posting in both places by way of transitioning to the new site. AFRICA LIBYA The Libyan and Egyptian governments have reached a preliminary agreement on a mechanism for processing Egyptian workers' … Continue reading World update, part 2: March 27 2019

Hello and welcome to our next-to-last week here at WordPress! I'm packing things up and moving to Substack starting next week, when I'll be posting in both places by way of transitioning to the new site. MIDDLE EAST SYRIA Israeli warplanes targeted an industrial area north of Aleppo on Wednesday, presumably going after facilities linked … Continue reading World update, part 1: March 27 2019

Hello and welcome to our next-to-last week here at WordPress! I'm packing things up and moving to Substack starting next week, when I'll be posting in both places by way of transitioning to the new site. ASIA AFGHANISTAN The Afghan government has recalled its ambassador to Pakistan over a comment from Pakistani Prime Minister Imran … Continue reading World update: March 26 2018

Hello and welcome to our next-to-last week here at WordPress! I'm packing things up and moving to Substack starting next week, when I'll be posting in both places by way of transitioning to the new site. SYRIA ISIS conducted an overnight attack against a Syrian Democratic Forces checkpoint in Manbij, killing at least seven people. … Continue reading Middle East update: March 26 2019

Hello and welcome to our next-to-last week here at WordPress! I'm packing things up and moving to Substack starting next week, when I'll be posting in both places by way of transitioning to the new site. I'm also, in case you haven't noticed, returning from an unplanned week away due to the flu. As with … Continue reading Europe/Americas update: March 25 2019

Hello and welcome to our next-to-last week here at WordPress! I'm packing things up and moving to Substack starting next week, when I'll be posting in both places by way of transitioning to the new site. I'm also, in case you haven't noticed, returning from an unplanned week away due to the flu. As with … Continue reading Asia/Africa update: March 25 2019