EUROPE HUNGARY An investigation into the use/misuse of European Union project funds could wind up costing Hungary a cool $1.8 billion. The European Commission has been looking into Viktor Orbán's habit of, say, funneling EU project funds to his friends and relatives, which puts "corruption" on the list of problems Brussels has with Orbán along … Continue reading Europe/Americas update: September 25 2018

OIL Donald Trump has been demanding that OPEC (i.e., Saudi Arabia) increase oil production to account for US sanctions against Iran and the resulting loss of Iranian production. But the Saudis and Russia--the world's largest non-OPEC oil producer, have decided they'd rather not increase production, and, would you look at that, the price of oil … Continue reading Asia/Africa update: September 25 2018

SYRIA Syria's deputy foreign minister, Faisal Mekdad, strongly suggested to state media on Tuesday that the Idlib province deescalation agreement reached between Russia and Turkey was merely phase one of a process that will see the province returned to the Syrian government's control. Mekdad described the agreement as similar to the kind of deescalation agreements Damascus … Continue reading Middle East update: September 25 2018

It's United Nations General Assembly Week, a magical time when heads of state, heads of government, and foreign ministers from all over the world gather in New York City to try to bullshit one another for a change instead of trying to bullshit the rest of us. I tend not to get too invested in … Continue reading World update: September 24 2018

It's United Nations General Assembly Week, a magical time when heads of state, heads of government, and foreign ministers from all over the world gather in New York City to try to bullshit one another for a change instead of trying to bullshit the rest of us. I tend not to get too invested in … Continue reading Middle East update: September 24 2018

ASIA AFGHANISTAN At least eight children were killed by a roadside bomb, presumably planted by the Taliban, in Faryab province on Saturday. It's nearly impossible to get an official count of the number of Afghan police and soldiers killed by the Taliban and ISIS, mostly because the number is so high that actually releasing it … Continue reading World update: September 22-23 2018

SYRIA So the good news is that the National Liberation Front says it will comply with the deescalation agreement Turkey and Russia reached on Monday in Idlib province. Though since the NLF is basically a paramilitary arm of the Turkish military at this point, it's unclear what choice it really had. NLF leaders say they … Continue reading Middle East update: September 22-23 2018

EUROPE RUSSIA Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Friday effectively accused the US of using sanctions policy as a way to force other countries to buy US weapons. And hey, I know it's Russia and we hate them now or whatever, but he's got a pretty strong case. ROMANIA Romanian Social Democratic Party boss Liviu … Continue reading Europe/Americas update: September 21 2018

ASIA PAKISTAN Most predominantly Muslim countries have been conspicuously reluctant to criticize China over its brutal repression of its Uyghur population. Obviously nobody wants to offend a country as economically powerful as China over a bunch of Uyghurs, even though they are Muslim. It is frankly a little remarkable, then, that some of the first--albeit … Continue reading Asia/Africa update: September 21 2018

SYRIA One little-mentioned aspect of the Syrian Democratic Forces' assault on Hajin is that there's a reasonable chance--assuming he's still alive--that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is in that area somewhere, and the SDF might come across him. Baghdadi does in fact seem to still be alive, as he or at least somebody who sounds like him … Continue reading Middle East update: September 21 2018