Happy Nowruz to anyone who is celebrating today. My appreciation for spring is being tempered by the eight inches of snow the weather tells me we're about to get tonight, but your mileage may vary. CLIMATE CHANGE A new study from NASA, which is probably going to get its funding cut over this, finds that … Continue reading World update: March 20 2018

CLIMATE CHANGE The World Bank anticipates over 140 million people around the world being displaced by climate change by 2050. The majority, 86 million, would be in sub-Saharan Africa, with another 40 million in South Asia. Assuming that humanity isn't going to do anything serious to arrest climate change, and it's pretty clear we're not, … Continue reading World update: March 19 2018

SYRIA Monitoring groups and journalists reported on Monday that Turkey's Syrian proxy forces have been looting Afrin in the aftermath of the YPG's retreat from that city: Pictures showed soldiers flying a Turkish flag from a building, and rebels tearing down a statue of the Kurdish hero Kawa Haddad.   AFP news agency journalists in … Continue reading Middle East update: March 19 2018

EUROPE RUSSIA The experts said it couldn't be done, but Vladimir Putin proved them all wrong. Through nothing but his indomitable force of will, a deep love for the Russian people, a complete lack of a credible opposition, and nearly total control of state media, Putin eked out an upset win in Russia's presidential election … Continue reading Europe/Americas update: March 17-18 2018

ASIA AFGHANISTAN It was another weekend packed with attacks. On Sunday, five people were wounded in Kabul in what appears to have been a failed suicide attack that has not been claimed. The attacker's bomb vest apparently failed to explode and so he detonated a grenade instead to considerably less effect. The nature of the … Continue reading Asia/Africa update: March 17-18 2018

SYRIA Turkish forces and their Syrian rebel proxies swarmed into Afrin city on Sunday and by the end of the day claimed that they'd taken complete control over the city. The YPG has been denying that the city has fallen but in the end it seems their fighters evacuated without putting up much of a … Continue reading Middle East update: March 17-18 2018

EUROPE RUSSIA US officials from the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI said on Thursday that Russian hackers have been engaged in what appears to be a very serious effort to penetrate major US infrastructure: "Since at least March 2016, Russian government cyber actors" have targeted "government entities and multiple U.S. critical infrastructure sectors," … Continue reading Europe/Americas update: March 16 2018

ASIA AZERBAIJAN The European Investment Bank has approved a loan package of $1.15 billion to support the construction of the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP). That project will bring Azerbaijani natural gas to the European market via Turkey, but its financing has been in doubt over its environmental impact, concerns about human rights in Azerbaijan, … Continue reading Asia/Africa update: March 16 2018

SYRIA Tens of thousands of civilians have fled fighting in Eastern Ghouta and Afrin over the past few days. Conservative estimates put the number at 50,000 but the Syrian government says that over 40,000 fled Eastern Ghouta on Thursday alone, so if their count is accurate the overall number must certainly be well north of … Continue reading Middle East update: March 16 2018

EUROPE NATO Four more NATO members have cleared the alliance's informal two percent of GDP defense spending target for 2018. Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Romania all joined Britain, Estonia, and Greece--who met the target in 2017 and again this year--and the United States, which annually spends approximately 473 percent of its GDP on defense (I might … Continue reading Europe/Americas update: March 14-15 2018