SYRIA Turkey seems to be walking back a bit from its "imminent" attack on the YPG in Afrin and Manbij. On Wednesday, Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdağ told reporters that Turkey will take action in northern Syria unless its demands are met, which is a bit less provocative than "the shooting should commence any minute … Continue reading Middle East update: January 17 2018

OIL Don't look now, but oil prices are back up. Brent crude closed at just shy of $70/barrel on Tuesday, the highest it's been in about three years. The joint Saudi-Russian agreement to cut supply is finally starting to have some bite to it as stockpiles are being reduced, which is bringing the oil market … Continue reading World update: January 16 2018

SYRIA Welp, start your engines: Turkey's president has warned of imminent military offensives on two Kurdish-held areas in northern Syria, as tanks and troops mass on the border.   Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Syrian rebels would support Turkish efforts to clear the "terror nests" of Afrin and Manbij.   The areas are controlled by the … Continue reading Middle East update: January 16 2018

ASIA AFGHANISTAN The New York Times has some deep background on the ongoing clash between Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and the fired-but-still-there-anyway Balkh governor Atta Muhammad Nur. Ghani's supporters portray the ex(?)-warlord as corrupt and unaccountable, while Nur contends that Ghani is attempting to sideline him for political reasons. The US may also have a reason … Continue reading World update: January 15 2018

IRAQ At least 38 people were reportedly killed on Monday in a double suicide bombing in Baghdad's Tayaran Square area. Casualty reports are contradictory, as they often are in these situations, but the highest count I've seen says that over 100 other people were injured in the attack. This is the second terrorist attack in … Continue reading Middle East update: January 15 2018

By way of a site update, with tomorrow being a holiday in the US I'm not 100 percent sure I'll be blogging. If not then I'll be back on Tuesday with two days' worth of bad news. ASIA AFGHANISTAN Afghan officials say that peace talks are underway in Turkey between Kabul and the Taliban. They've … Continue reading World update: January 13-14 2018

By way of a site update, with tomorrow being a holiday in the US I'm not 100 percent sure I'll be blogging. If not then I'll be back on Tuesday with two days' worth of bad news. IRAQ I have bad news, good news, and political news, which is probably bad but also silly. Baghdad … Continue reading Middle East update: January 13-14 2018

EUROPEUKRAINE Three Ukrainian soldiers were killed on Thursday as Kiev and eastern Ukrainian separatists accused one another of ratcheting up the violence in the Donbas. POLAND In an effort to prove to the European Union that it really stands for democracy and isn't just trying to amass power, Poland's ruling Law and Justice party on … Continue reading Shithole update #3 (Europe/Americas): January 11-12 2018

ASIA AFGHANISTAN A Friday morning Taliban attack on a police outpost in Farah province killed three Afghan police officers. US forces on Thursday reportedly bombed an Afghan government-aligned militia in Nangarhar province after one or more members of that militia opened fire on US special forces troops amid some kind of argument. At least 13 militia … Continue reading Shithole update #2 (Asia/Africa): January 11-12 2018

SYRIA To the extent that anybody's eyes are still on Syria, right now they're on Idlib province, where fighting has escalated to levels perhaps not seen in western Syria since Bashar al-Assad's forces captured eastern Aleppo back in 2016. More than 100,000 people have already been displaced in this fighting, which kicked up a notch … Continue reading Shithole update #1 (Middle East): January 11-12 2018