SYRIA The Iraqis conducted another airstrike against ISIS in Syria on Thursday. This time they struck an alleged ISIS command and control building in the town of Hajin, in Deir Ezzor province. This is at least the second time the Iraqis have bombed Hajin in the past 2-3 weeks. Meanwhile, during his annual Telethon For Motion … Continue reading Middle East update: June 7 2018

G7 The G7 is meeting in Quebec over the weekend, and already--you might want to sit down for this, because it's going to shock you--Donald Trump is planning on being a dick to everybody else there: In a sign that Trump is looking to stoke divisions, White House officials are discussing ways to impose additional … Continue reading World update: June 6 2018

SYRIA The Manbij Military Council, the Syrian Democratic Forces-created institution currently in charge of Manbij, says that it "will not accept" a Turkish presence in that town. This would appear to be a major complication to the roadmap to which the United States and Turkey just agreed on Monday for evacuating the YPG from the … Continue reading Middle East update: June 6 2018

There are new things on the horizon here, at my Patreon site, and elsewhere. Please check it out! UNITED NATIONS Ecuadorean Foreign Minister María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés will be the next president of the United Nations General Assembly after winning Tuesday's vote. She is only the fourth woman to hold that office in the UN's history. … Continue reading Europe/Americas update: June 5 2018

There are new things on the horizon here, at my Patreon site, and elsewhere. Please check it out! ASIA PAKISTAN Two ISIS suicide attackers killed three Pakistani police officers on Tuesday in Mastung, a town in Baluchistan province. The Diplomat has more on Sunday's attack against a meeting of the Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement in South Waziristan. … Continue reading Asia/Africa update: June 5 2018

There are new things on the horizon here, at my Patreon site, and elsewhere. Please check it out! SYRIA The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says that a US-led coalition airstrike in Syria's Hasakah province on Monday killed 11 civilians. The strike occurred near one of the small pockets in northeastern Syria still occupied by … Continue reading Middle East update: June 5 2018

EUROPE RUSSIA Folks, Vladimir Putin isn't looking to break up the European Union: He told Austria's ORF station he wanted a "united and prosperous" EU, calling the bloc Russia's most important commercial and economic partner. He also played down reported links between his United Russia party and Austria's far-right Freedom Party. Mr Putin will meet … Continue reading Europe/Americas update: June 4 2018

ASIA AFGHANISTAN A suicide attacker struck a meeting of the Afghan Ulema (religious scholars) Council in Kabul on Monday, killing at least 14 people. The scholars had just issued edicts declaring that the Afghan insurgency has no religious basis and suicide bombings are counter to Islamic law. It's unknown who was behind the attack but ISIS … Continue reading Asia/Africa update: June 4 2018

SYRIA US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu have reportedly reached agreement on a "roadmap" for the Kurdish-occupied Syrian town of Manbij after a meeting in Washington on Monday. It's unclear what exactly the roadmap entails beyond a phased YPG withdrawal from Manbij--it's hard to imagine Turkey agreeing to anything less--with … Continue reading Middle East update: June 4 2018

ASIA AFGHANISTAN An archeologist was killed and four other people wounded on Saturday by a roadside bomb near the Mes Aynak dig site. No group has claimed responsibility but the goal may be to delay or undermine plans to mine copper at the site. Mes Aynak contains Afghanistan's largest copper reserves but it's also a … Continue reading World update: June 2-3 2018