ASIA CENTRAL ASIA The Carnegie Endowment's Paul Stronski looks at how Russia and China have, thus far, managed to avoid conflict over their competing interests in Central Asia. Russia has been very accommodating toward China's Belt and Road Initiative, though to be sure it's not like Moscow has the economic leverage to compete with Beijing. China, … Continue reading Asia/Africa update: April 4 2018

THE ISLAMIC "STATE" A bunch of ISIS-related online outlets have published a statement in which the group's fighters "renew" their loyalty pledges to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi: “To infuriate and terrorise the infidels, we renew our pledge of loyalty to the commander of the faithful and the caliph of the Muslims, the mujahid sheikh Abu Bakr … Continue reading Middle East update: April 4 2018

Hey, how's it going? Long time no see. As usual when I take an extended break, there's a lot to get through here and I'm not even going to try to cover every single thing that happened while I was gone. This update is mostly going to consist of stuff that's happened in the past … Continue reading Europe/Americas update: April 3 2018

Hey, how's it going? Long time no see. As usual when I take an extended break, there's a lot to get through here and I'm not even going to try to cover every single thing that happened while I was gone. This update is mostly going to consist of stuff that's happened in the past … Continue reading Asia/Africa update: April 3 2018

Hey, how's it going? Long time no see. As usual when I take an extended break, there's a lot to get through here and I'm not even going to try to cover every single thing that happened while I was gone. This update is mostly going to consist of stuff that's happened in the past … Continue reading Middle East update: April 3 2018

This will be the last update for March. I'm taking next week off and will return the first week of April. It's also going to be an early and abbreviated update. Apologies. HUNGER The United Nations World Food Program boss, David Beasley, said on Friday that the number of "acutely hungry" people in the world--people … Continue reading World update: March 23 2018

ASIA AFGHANISTAN Balkh governor Atta Muhammad Nur, who has been resisting an order from Afghan President Ashraf Ghani to step down since December, agreed to finally step down on Thursday. In return for finally acquiescing, he reportedly got to name a new police chief for the province as well as a new education minister in Kabul … Continue reading World update: March 22 2018

SYRIA While it's being overshadowed by events in the rest of the country, fighting in Idlib province hasn't stopped even if it has declined from where it was a few weeks ago: https://twitter.com/AP/status/976893051066109952 Now, about those overshadowing events. In Eastern Ghouta on Thursday, Ahrar al-Sham fighters and their families began evacuating Harasta. Their agreement with … Continue reading Middle East update: March 22 2018

WATER A new report finds that water is getting scarcer and access to it more unequal: Water inequality is increasing in the world’s most environmentally stressed nations, warn the authors of a report that shows more than 800 million people need to travel and queue for at least 30 minutes to access safe supplies.   … Continue reading World update: March 21 2018

SYRIA Monitors reported on Wednesday that 20 civilians were killed in an airstrike on the village of Kafr Batikh, in Idlib province. No word as to who carried out the strike. Meanwhile, the death toll from yesterday's rebel shelling of Damascus has reached 44, and comes amid confirmation that Ahrar al-Sham fighters will begin evacuating the … Continue reading Middle East update: March 21 2018