IN MEMORIAM Over the past few days, both hardline anti-communist historian and neoconservative icon Richard Pipes, 94, and Middle East historian and neoconservative icon Bernard Lewis, 101, passed away. They say it's wrong to speak ill of the dead, so...let's move on. EUROPE RUSSIA Yekaterinburg Mayor Yevgeny Roizman resigned on Tuesday to protest the end of mayoral … Continue reading Europe/Americas update: May 22 2018

ASIA AFGHANISTAN A car bomb killed at least 16 people and wounded 38 others in Kandahar on Tuesday. Afghan authorities were attempting to defuse the bomb, which they believe was going to be used for a much larger attack during the upcoming Eid celebration at the end of Ramadan, when it exploded. There's not much … Continue reading Asia/Africa update: May 22 2018

Hi. Perhaps you've noticed that I've been gone for a while. I'm not going to recap everything that happened while I was gone, but be forewarned that this is going to be a long post. And by "long," I mean I'm at 1800 words as I write this and I haven't even gotten to Iran … Continue reading Middle East update: May 22 2018

Remember that tonight's updates are the last I'll be doing until next Tuesday. Ramadan Mubarak to anyone who is observing the fast and thanks for reading. See you next week. ASIA AFGHANISTAN The Taliban say they've captured Farah city, in western Afghanistan, after a daylong battle. Afghan authorities are promising to drive them out of … Continue reading World update: May 15 2018

RAMADAN There's a little confusion about when Ramadan is going to begin this year. For a while now most outlets have been saying it will start on Wednesday (which means Tuesday night). But the final word from the people who decide these sorts of things in the Middle East now seems to be that Ramadan … Continue reading Middle East update: May 15 2018

FYI, tomorrow night's updates will be it until next Tuesday. For family reasons I'll be unavailable later this week, and I need a day or two to wrap up a few obligations beforehand. It also feels like a good time to take a little break. Not that I don't enjoy doing this but between the … Continue reading World update: May 14 2018

We have another impending thunderstorm situation and a reliably unreliable electricity situation. So I’m posting this early and hoping I’ll get to come back later and update it/do a world update. We’ll see. I’m also posting from my phone so if anything about the formatting is screwy that’s why. I’ll fix it later. ISRAEL-PALESTINE Donald … Continue reading Middle East update: May 14 2018

ASIA AFGHANISTAN ISIS fighters attacked a government building in Jalalabad on Sunday, killing at least 15 people in the process before Afghan police were able to kill the attackers and end the fighting. The attackers used a car bomb and then rushed the building armed with machine guns and RPGs. It was the exclamation point … Continue reading World update: May 12-13 2018

I'm posting this a little early in case the thunderstorm we're about to get knocks out our power. There should be at least one more post tonight if the electric grid permits. IRAQ So this is kind of a big deal: Moqtada al-Sadr was leading in Iraq’s parliamentary election with over half of the votes … Continue reading Middle East update: May 12-13 2018

Just one and done tonight, sorry. MIDDLE EAST SYRIA If you're terrified that Israel and Iran are about to go to war in Syria, Ha’aretz reporter Anshel Pfeffer is here to tell you it's all going to be OK: This year, the Iran-Israel war has suddenly come out in to the open, with both sides directly challenging … Continue reading World update: May 11 2018