Iraq
Syria: a No-Fly Zone for Rojava?
Following Turkish air-strikes on their forces in northern Syria, Kurdish leaders in the region issued a call for a "no-fly zone"—heightening the contradictions for Washington.
Tag: autonomy
The Andes
Colombia: popular power defeats mega-mining
Mining multinational AngloGold Ashanti announced it will abandon its planned mega-project at La Colosa, Colombia, following a popular vote by local residents to reject the project.
North America
Trump lifts restrictions on offshore drilling
President Donald Trump signed an executive order to lift restrictions placed on offshore oil drilling by the previous administration, opening vast areas to exploitation.
The Amazon
Indigenous protesters clash with police in Brasilia
Thousands of indigenous protesters clashed with police outside the congress building in Brasilia, during a demonstration over territorial and land rights in the Brazilian Amazon.
Greater Middle East
Syria: Russia and Assad dropping Rojava Kurds?
Insistence on regional autonomy and a federal solution for Syria is straining the de facto alliance between the Rojava Kurds and Damascus, despite their mutual enmity for Turkey.
Europe
ETA still wants independent Basque Country
Separatist group ETA said in a communique that it will not abandon its goal of an independent Basque state on the French-Spanish borderlands despite surrendering its arms.
Greater Middle East
Hawks fear anarchist haven in Syria
The ultra-hawkish Henry Jackson Society warns that the US-backed Kurdish forces in Syria are allied with anarchists and elements of the Turkish and European armed left.
Southeast Asia
Control of oil, water at issue in Burma peace talks
As Burma's government tries to lure hold-out ethnic rebel armies to the negotiating table, Chinese-backed oil and hydro projects emerge as a last obstacle to peace.
The Caucasus
Alania re-emerges from history, Georgia pist
The vote over the name change from South Ossetia to Alania reveals how the autonomist aspirations of the Ossetians (however legitimate) have been exploited in the Great Game.
Greater Middle East
Syria: carnage and betrayal in Raqqa endgame
The US air-lifts Kurdish fighters into ISIS territory in preparation for a final assault on Raqqa—while bombing the city, deepening the growing enmity between Kurds and Arabs.
Africa
Pirates or protesters in Somalia sea stand-off?
Somalis who captured an oil tanker later released it with no ransom paid, and said they had seized it to protest toxic waste dumping and over-fishing in their waters.
North Africa
Mali: Tuareg rebel militias again seize Timbuktu
Installation of an interim authority in Timbuktu under a peace deal with Tuareg rebels in Mali's desert north was blocked as hardline factions erected street barricades.