Greater Middle East
Turkey: Kurds mount resistance to war drive
In response to the new offensive by the Turkish government, Kurds in the country's east are declaring their own regional autonomy and throwing up roadblocks.
Tag: autonomy
The Caucasus
New war brewing between Russia and Georgia?
The government of Georgia accuses Russian military forces of encroaching on its territory in the contested South Ossetia enclave, seizing a section of BP’s Baku-Supsa pipeline. (Map: Perry-Castañeda Library)
Greater Middle East
Erdogan-ISIS pincer against Kurds
The Turkish army is shelling and burning Kurdish villages in the country's east, while just across the Syrian border ISIS continues to harass Kurdish towns with suicide attacks.
Southeast Asia
Bangkok blast as southern insurgency simmers
Thai authorities have been slow to name suspects in the deadly Erawan Shrine blast, hoping to bring Muslims insurgents in the country's south back to the negotiating table.
North Africa
Mali: ceasefire with Tuareg rebels breaking down
Fighting erupted between Tuareg militias in northern Mali, breaking the ceasefire and threatening peace talks scheduled to resume this week in neighboring Niger.
Greater Middle East
Syria: ‘ceasefire’ signals Great Power carve-up?
A partial ceasefire in Syria was brokered by the great regional enemies Turkey and Iran—and may signal the division of the country into "spheres of influence."
East Asia
Taiwan: protesters occupy Education Ministry
Student protesters are occupying the Education Ministry grounds in Taipei to demand an end to planned textbook revisions that emphasize the "One China" view of history.
Inner Asia
China releases imprisoned Tibetan nomad
A Tibetan nomad imprisoned eight years for calling for the return of the Dalai Lama was released, but his home county is tense over the death in custody of an activist monk.
Iraq
US betrays Rojava Kurds (inevitably)
Washington has given Turkey a green light to crush the revolutionary Kurds—in Turkey, Syria and Iraq alike—as the price of Ankara's cooperation against ISIS.
The Amazon
Peru: Amazonians suspend dialogue over oil bloc
Citing a lack of cllarity from Peru's government, traditional leaders of indigenous peoples suspended dialogue in the "consultation" process over oil operations in the Amazon.
North America
Gullah nation hit hard by Charleston massacre
Some of those slain at Charleston's Mother Emanuel church were members of the Gullah people, a "nation within a nation" that preserves West African cultural traditions.
Greater Middle East
Kurds punished for success against ISIS
As Syrian Kurdish forces advance towards Raqqa, the ISIS capital, Turkish state media have launched a campaign charging them with ethnic cleansing of Arabs in seized territory.