ASIA AFGHANISTAN Afghan election officials say they're ready to hold parliamentary elections but that they likely won't be able to do so until at least October due to security concerns. And hey, there's no rush. Technically they don't need to hold this vote until, uh, [checks notes] July 2015. So they have plenty of time. … Continue reading World update: February 3-4 2018

SYRIA Obviously the weekend's big news was the downing of a Russian Sukhoi SU-25 aircraft over Idlib province on Saturday. Hayat Tahrir al-Sham claimed credit for the shoot down and for killing the pilot, who bailed out and made it to the ground but was killed in a subsequent firefight. Assuming HTS did shoot the plane … Continue reading Middle East update: February 3-4 2018

EUROPE UKRAINE Al Jazeera reports on the largely ignored plight of Crimean Tatars, who never wanted the Russian annexation and have been paying for it ever since: The Kremlin praises Crimea's "comeback to Russia" as bloodless and voluntary.   But a day before the March 18, 2014 "referendum", Tatar activist Reshat Ametov was found dead … Continue reading Europe/Americas update: February 1-2 2018

ASIA AZERBAIJAN Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev is going to run for a fourth term in October. I know you were all wondering if he would so I thought I'd let you know. AFGHANISTAN An American drone strike in Ghazni province earlier this week reportedly struck a Taliban "meeting" and killed at least 26 of the group's … Continue reading Asia/Oceania/Africa update: February 1-2 2018

SYRIA BuzzFeed has a decent roundup of what's been happening in Afrin. No "news" as such, but if you haven't been following the story and want to get caught up you could do worse. The Trump administration says it may Do Something if it continues to receive reports of the Syrian military using chemical weapons. … Continue reading Middle East update: February 1-2 2018

EUROPE RUSSIA Russian journalist Kamil Galeev reports on Moscow's efforts to stifle separatist impulses in one of its own troublesome ethnic regions--Tatarstan: In September 2017, Russia’s central government started to enforce Putin’s instructions and push local governments into abolishing local language courses in the ethnic republics. Such measures, introduced at the beginning of an academic … Continue reading Europe/Americas update: January 31 2018

ASIA UZBEKISTAN Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev canned Rustam Inoyatov from his position as head of the country's National Security Service--or, rather, he "promoted" Inoyatov to a presidential advisory position, which is practically the same thing. Inoyatov, along with Mirziyoyev and former Deputy Prime Minister Rustam Azimov, was part of a triumvirate that was expected to … Continue reading Asia/Africa update: January 31 2018

SYRIA The YPG is beginning to wonder who its friends are: "How can they stand by and watch?" Aldar Khalil, a senior Kurdish politician said of the U.S.-led coalition against IS. "They should meet their obligations toward this force that participated with them (in the fight against terrorism.) We consider their unclear and indecisive positions … Continue reading Middle East update: January 31 2018

ASIA AFGHANISTAN Everybody is talking tough about the Afghan war today, after that massive Taliban bombing in Kabul on Saturday. Donald Trump already seemed to spit on the idea of peace talks on Monday, but on Tuesday the Afghan government followed suit: “Believe me, I will take revenge,” President Ashraf Ghani said after an evening … Continue reading World update: January 30 2018

SYRIA Russia's big Syrian congress in Sochi concluded on Tuesday--having accomplished, as expected, nothing--and it appears things went really, really well: Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, helped open the conference on Tuesday by reading out a statement from Vladimir Putin saying the conditions were ripe for Syria to turn “a tragic page” in its history. … Continue reading Middle East update: January 30 2018