ASIA ARMENIA Russian media has started portraying Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan as a "carbon copy" of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, which is obviously fighting words in Russia. Pashinyan has been trying to reassure Moscow that his accession as PM isn't going to change the Russia-Armenia relationship, but he also went to the NATO summit two … Continue reading Asia/Africa update: July 23 2018

SYRIA Though there's fighting ongoing in southwestern Syria and periodically in eastern Syria, and though the complicated issues of Idlib province/the Turkish-occupied northwest and the Kurdish-controlled northeast still have to be sorted out, the AP reports that people in Damascus are beginning to feel like the Syrian civil war is already over: In the capital … Continue reading Middle East update: July 23 2018

EUROPEUKRAINE The Pentagon announced on Saturday that it will send $200 million in aid to Ukraine for non-lethal military spending. The money will be earmarked for things like logistics, training, and medical needs. GERMANY I know we don't usually talk about sports around here, but German footballer Mesut Özil's decision to quit the country's national team, … Continue reading Europe/Americas update: July 21-22 2018

ASIA AFGHANISTAN Afghan Vice President Abdul Rashid Dostum returned home on Sunday after spending the past 14 months in exile in Turkey dodging legal charges that he and his men kidnapped and tortured one of his political rivals in late 2016. He was welcomed home by a suicide bombing, later claimed by ISIS, at the … Continue reading Asia/Africa update: July 21-22 2018

SYRIA Syrian state media is reporting that Israel on Sunday struck a military facility outside of Misyaf, a city in Hama province. Reuters has a source that claims there is "a major military research centre for chemical arms production" outside of Misyaf, so that may have been the target. Russia, meanwhile, claims that its forces shot … Continue reading Middle East update: July 21-22 2018

EUROPE German Chancellor Angela Merkel told reporters on Friday that European militaries need to "unify systems" in the coming years in order to reduce inefficiencies in defense spending on the continent. A case in point: both Britain and a Franco-German partnership are working on competing next generation fighter projects instead of collaborating their efforts, though … Continue reading Europe/Americas update: July 20 2018

ASIA AFGHANISTAN Over the past two days the Taliban has attacked two police checkpoints--one in Ghazni province and the other in Zabul province--killing 12 Afghan police officers. The group tells the AP that it's working to minimize civilian casualties as a concession toward possible peace talks, but it hasn't received any indication that the US … Continue reading Asia/Africa update: July 20 2018

SYRIA Syrian rebels in Quneitra province either have begun or will soon begin evacuating the area, which abuts Syria's Golan region and thus its border with Israel, so that it can be turned over to Syrian government forces. Rebels who wish to remain in Quneitra and surrender will be allowed to do so but bear … Continue reading Middle East update: July 20 2018

EUROPE John Feffer puts Donald Trump's eventful European trip in the context of the global Euroskeptic movement: Why on earth would Trump embark on this surrealistic misadventure in foreign policy? True, his first instinct seems to be to disrupt. His statements also reveal his preference for “strong” leaders over “weak.” Perhaps, as some intelligence community … Continue reading Europe/Americas update: July 18-19 2018

ASIA GEORGIA Georgia is run as a fiefdom by billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, who served one term as the country's prime minister in 2012-2013 but prefers to operate behind the scenes to remain as unaccountable as possible. Earlier this year he stepped back into the spotlight a bit, returning to his previous post as head of the … Continue reading Asia/Oceania/Africa update: July 18-19 2018