SYRIA The Syrian Salvation Government, which is Hayat Tahrir al-Sham's political arm, appears to be consolidating political control in Idlib province. Last week they gave the rival Syrian Interim Government a deadline to cease operations, and a couple of days later they decreed that all widows in Idlib must move in with a "sharia-compliant" male family member. … Continue reading Middle East update: December 16-17 2017

IMPORTANT SITE UPDATE: All this time, without realizing it, I've had accelerated mobile posting turned on and as a result anybody coming to this site via a mobile link has been landing on a dull AMP page rather than the nice premium (as in I'm paying for it) theme page that I specifically chose for this … Continue reading World update: December 15 2017

IMPORTANT SITE UPDATE: All this time, without realizing it, I've had accelerated mobile posting turned on and as a result anybody coming to this site via a mobile link has been landing on a dull AMP page rather than the nice premium (as in I'm paying for it) theme page that I specifically chose for this … Continue reading Middle East update: December 15 2017

ASIA AFGHANISTAN Afghan authorities have apparently started arresting teachers working for the Afghan Turk CAG Educational NGO (ATCE), which has been running schools in the country for a couple of decades now. Why, you ask? Well, because the Afghan government and (apparently) the Turkish government believe that ATCE is a branch of the Gülen network. ATCE representatives … Continue reading World update: December 14 2017

SYRIA United Nations-brokered peace talks in Geneva--stop me if you've heard this one before--collapsed on Thursday having made no progress. UN envoy Staffan de Mistura laid the blame squarely on Damascus, saying that its delegates were "not willing to meet anyone who has a different opinion" and had squandered "a golden big opportunity." That last … Continue reading Middle East update: December 14 2017

DEVELOPMENT AID Virginia Tech political science professor Ryan Briggs says that recent gains in the fight against global poverty have essentially come from targeting urban poor, who are often the easiest at risk populations to reach. More work needs to be done to ensure that development and humanitarian aid reaches the poorest and most isolated … Continue reading Europe/Americas update: December 13 2017

ASIA AFGHANISTAN The expansion of the CIA's mission in Afghanistan is already coming at a cost for Afghan civilians in Khost province, who have to deal with the agency-backed Khost Protection Force (KPF) militia: The intelligence’ surveillance complex has become part of the people’s daily life in Khost. Surveillance balloons, antennas on every hill, and … Continue reading Asia/Africa update: December 13 2017

IRAQ Regular readers will know what a big fan I am of Patrick Wing's "Musings on Iraq" blog, which does invaluable work digesting Iraqi media for English-speaking audiences. Wing today is arguing that the Iraqis fudged the completion of their Jazeera operation, the effort to sweep the western Anbar desert for remaining ISIS members, to … Continue reading Middle East update: December 13 2017

Happy Hanukkah to those readers who are celebrating! CLIMATE CHANGE Good news from the Arctic: Permafrost in the Arctic is thawing faster than ever, according to a new US government report that also found Arctic seawater is warming and sea ice is melting at the fastest pace in 1,500 years.   The annual report released … Continue reading World update: December 12, 2017

Happy Hanukkah to those readers who are celebrating! Now on to the bad news: SYRIA Syrian opposition negotiators say the government's negotiating team is refusing direct talks and will not engage on any issue at all other than "combatting terrorism." Which, under Damascus's definition, presumably includes everybody in the opposition delegation. Obviously there's no particular … Continue reading Middle East update: December 12 2017