ASIA AFGHANISTAN Afghans will vote in their parliamentary election on Saturday under threat of violence from both the Taliban and ISIS. It very much remains to be seen how much the risk of violence will tamp down turnout, but in the lead up to the election nine candidates were assassinated and hundreds of people killed … Continue reading World update: October 19 2018

SYRIA Syrian media and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights are both reporting that multiple civilians (the SOHR says at least 46) have been killed in US airstrikes on the town of Sousa over the past two days. Sousa is in the pocket of territory still controlled by ISIS around the town of Hajin, where … Continue reading Middle East update: October 19 2018

EUROPE KOSOVO The Kosovar parliament voted overwhelmingly on Thursday to create a 5000 man standing army (with 3000 reserves) against objections by the country's Serbian minority (whose legislators boycotted the vote), the Serbian government, and NATO, which still has a peacekeeping force there. Kosovo already has a 2500 man security force that this measure would … Continue reading Europe/Americas update: October 18 2018

ASIA ARMENIA Eurasianet's Peter Liakhov looks at how Armenian President Armen Sarkissian has managed to strengthen his position even though he's a member of the increasingly discredited Republican Party: When parliamentarians from Armenia’s old guard joined forces in early October to try to block Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s ability to hold early elections, Pashinyan dubbed the move … Continue reading Asia/Africa update: October 18 2018

SYRIA Russia and Turkey have reportedly agreed to extend their deadline for meeting the terms of their deescalation agreement in Idlib, which is good because we're already three days past the old deadline and those terms still haven't been met. Anything that delays fighting in Idlib is good, but obviously this only kicks the can … Continue reading Middle East update: October 18 2018

ASIAGEORGIA The Georgian Orthodox Church is apparently split internally over whether or not to recognize an autocephalous Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Politically this makes sense--while Georgia certainly has no love for Russia these days, it's also in no position to antagonize Moscow. AFGHANISTAN A suicide bomber killed at least two Afghan civilians in an attack near … Continue reading World update: October 17 2018

SYRIA United Nations Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura is leaving his post for, uh, "personal reasons" at the end of November. I don't use those quotes to make fun of de Mistura, who has failed but in a job at which there never was much chance for success. On his way out de Mistura says … Continue reading Middle East update: October 17 2018

ASIA ARMENIA Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan resigned on Tuesday in order to trigger an early election that will probably be held in December. Pashinyan became PM at the head of a wave of popular support in May but the opposition Republican Party still controls a majority of seats in parliament. Pashinyan wants a new … Continue reading World update: October 16 2018

SYRIA The Syrian Democratic Forces say they're having a tough time defeating ISIS in Hajin and that their operation there "will take much longer than expected." Meanwhile, the United Nations says the operation is having a "devastating" impact on civilians in Deir Ezzor province, displacing at least 7000 of them and leaving thousands more at … Continue reading Middle East update: October 16 2018

ASIA MYANMAR It's been pretty well established by now that the Rohingya genocide was fueled in part by a massive Facebook campaign, but the New York Times reported Monday on just now much of that campaign was run directly by the Myanmar military: Members of the Myanmar military were the prime operatives behind a systematic campaign … Continue reading World update: October 15 2018