I've been occupied with other projects today and on top of that WordPress wasn't working for me for most of the afternoon. So you're getting a compressed update this evening, sorry. SYRIA Negotiators for the Syrian government and Syrian rebels did not meet face to face in Geneva on Thursday, despite indications from United Nations … Continue reading Middle East update: November 30 2017

EUROPE UKRAINE Kiev and leaders of the Donbas rebellion have agreed on a prisoner swap including roughly 470 prisoners on both sides. The exchange is supposed to happen before the end of the year. BOSNIA A truly wild scene played out at The Hague earlier today: A former Bosnian Croat military commander swallowed what he … Continue reading Europe/Americas update: November 29 2017

ASIA AFGHANISTAN Russia analyst Samuel Ramani looks at Moscow's efforts to curry favor in Afghanistan--even as it's allegedly providing military aid to the Taliban and despite, you know, lingering bad blood from the Afghan-Soviet War--through the magic of business deals: On October 30, 2017, a delegation of 20 prominent Russian businessmen arrived in Afghanistan to … Continue reading Asia/Africa update: November 29 2017

CLIMATE CHANGE While it probably wouldn't surprise you to learn that climate change is expected to (already has, really) hit the Middle East and North Africa quite hard, it's still helpful to see just how dire the projections are: MENA is the world’s most water-scarce region. While about five percent of the world’s population lives … Continue reading Middle East update: November 29 2017

EUROPE RUSSIA The State Department says that a new Russian law allowing the government to categorize foreign media outlets as "foreign agents" threatens freedom of the press. And they're absolutely right about that. But if I may, it also threatens freedom of the press when the US registers foreign media outlets as "foreign agents," as … Continue reading Europe/Americas update: November 28 2017

ASIA AFGHANISTAN Good news everybody: America has turned the corner in Afghanistan! At least that's what the US commander there, General John Nicholson, says: After 16 years of war, the United States and its Afghan partners “have turned the corner” and “momentum is now with Afghan security forces,” the top U.S. general there told reporters on … Continue reading Asia/Africa update: November 28 2017

IRAQ Settlement talks between Baghdad and the Kurdistan Regional Government appear to be at an impasse, partly due to Masoud Barzani. The now-former Kurdish president hasn't disappeared from public life despite his resignation, and if your interest is in seeing tensions between the Iraqi government and the KRG reduced, well, he's not helping: The ex-Kurdish … Continue reading Middle East update: November 28 2017

Obviously I've been away for a bit. I'm not going to even begin to cover everything that's happened in the past week, but I will try to get caught up on a few major things. ENVIRONMENT Keep eating French fries--it turns out your fast food addiction could be saving the planet: Fatty acids released into … Continue reading Europe/Americas update: November 27 2017

Obviously I've been away for a bit. I'm not going to even begin to cover everything that's happened in the past week, but I will try to get caught up on a few major things. ASIA AFGHANISTAN Afghanistan's next general election is scheduled for July, and as you may know Ashraf Ghani just canned the … Continue reading Asia/Africa update: November 27 2017

Obviously I've been away for a bit. I'm not going to even begin to cover everything that's happened in the past week, but I will try to get caught up on a few major things. SYRIA Another round of UN-led peace talks is about to begin in Geneva, and you know I think there's a … Continue reading Middle East update: November 27 2017