EUROPE RUSSIA In response to Russia ordering the US mission in that country to reduce its staff from 1200 to 455 people earlier this month, the State Department on Thursday ordered Russia to close three of its offices in the US: a consulate in San Francisco and two annexes in New York City and Washington … Continue reading Europe/Americas update: August 31 2017

ASIA AFGHANISTAN A mine killed three police officers in Afghanistan's western Farah province on Wednesday, while another mine in the country's eastern Paktya province killed a man trying to disarm it on Thursday. Fortunately, help (?) is on the way, I guess. US Defense Secretary James Mattis on Thursday signed orders sending more American soldiers to … Continue reading Asia/Africa update: August 31 2017

EID MUBARAK! Eid al-Adha, or Festival of the Sacrifice, begins/began at sundown today. It commemorates Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son (Ishmael or Isaac depending on your religious tradition--most Muslims believe it was Ishmael though the Quran doesn't specify) at God's command, and always immediately follows the completion of the first part of the Hajj, … Continue reading Middle East update: August 31 2017

EUROPE RUSSIA I've stopped even pretending to keep up with every new turn in Russiagate, but the latest one seems like a pretty big problem for Donald Trump: while he was running for president and taking every opportunity to sing Vladimir Putin's praises, Trump was also angling for a real estate deal in Moscow: The … Continue reading Europe/Americas update: August 30 2017

ASIA AFGHANISTAN A NATO helicopter attack in Afghanistan's eastern Logar province killed at least 11 civilians on Wednesday. The target was a Taliban unit that reportedly took shelter in a civilian home and began firing on the copter. This new atrocity comes at a very convenient time, with the US preparing to significantly increase its … Continue reading Asia/Africa update: August 30 2017

IRAQ The fighting around the town of Ayadiyah has been so fierce that it seems likely that the bulk of the 1000-2000 ISIS fighters who were thought to have been in Tal Afar actually retreated to Ayadiyah instead and are making their last stand there. Iraqi officers are comparing the fighting in Ayadiyah to the … Continue reading Middle East update: August 30 2017

I'm going to be out this evening so you'll have to make do with a compressed afternoon news update today. MIDDLE EAST IRAQ Iraqi forces are clearing out Tal Afar while also pressing their advance against the remaining ISIS forces in the nearby town of Ayadiyah. It's still too early to say what kind of … Continue reading World update, August 29 2017

EUROPE RUSSIA Two Russian journalists, Andrei Soldatov and Irina Borogan, who (literally) wrote the book on Russia's offensive cyber capabilities,have written an update to that book that covers Russian interference in the 2016 presidential campaign and the relationship between the Kremlin and WikiLeaks. One thing I find interesting, if unpersuasive on its own, is their … Continue reading Europe/Americas update, August 28 2017

NORTH KOREA Tuesday is a day ending in the letter y, so I guess that means North Korea shot something into the ocean again. This time Pyongyang fired a projectile that flew over the Japanese island of Hokkaido and splashed down in the Pacific Ocean. It was probably an intermediate-range ballistic missile, but as this … Continue reading Asia/Africa update: August 28 2017

IRAQ The Battle of Tal Afar is...over? Seriously? Eight days and the city is liberated? Well, yes, as it turns out. The battle ended on Sunday, after a lightning Iraqi offensive from three directions that cut through the city and then swept across it much faster than most analysts, yours truly included, expected it would. … Continue reading Middle East update: August 28 2017