The Kurds’ fortunes have ebbed and flowed in recent years, but the fall of the Assad regime in Syria in December 2024, the 2025 decision by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) to dissolve and engage in talks with the Turkish government, and the 2026 U.S.-Israeli war with Iran had enormous ripple effects on the lives of Kurds in the Middle East and Kurdish hopes for autonomy. We asked four experts to assess how recent regional events are presenting risks and opportunities for the Kurds in Turkey, Iraq, Syria, and Iran.Read more below.
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The Ukraine War Comes from Moscow: Russia’s Vladimir Putin is scared. It seems like every night comes a frightening Ukrainian bombardment by one-way drones and ballistic missiles.
These strikes have sent the dictator and many of his citizens cowering in shelters while the projectiles punish Russian energy infrastructure to make gasoline more expensive. Ordinary Russians are reeling.
MiG-29 Fighter. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
To better protect the Kremlin and civilian sites, Russia is now bolstering its aerial defenses.
In January of this year, Iran’s regime faced its biggest protests in years as anger spread over spiraling prices and a crumbling economy.
The regime murdered thousands in a vicious crackdown.
Iran’s Drones That Russia Is Using. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
Now, despite its bellicose talk, the country’s military has been battered by war and suffocated by a U.S. naval blockade; the country is now in even worse shape economically as Washington and Tehran once again have an uneasy truce after fresh fighting last week.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov admitted on Tuesday, June 30, that Moscow is considering importing fuel to address domestic shortages. Peskov framed the problem as a matter of panic buying rather than a major supply shortage and distribution bottlenecks. Russia is facing growing pressure from Ukraine as its long-range strike campaign continues through the summer.
You know the horror film currently creeping the crap out of audiences? The one that was made by a twentysomething YouTuber and has gone on to make $371.1 million globally (so far)? You know the one I’m talking about (BECAUSE I WROTE ABOUT IT LAST WEEK).
Also Read: ‘Widow’s Bay’ & ‘Obsession’—the horror genre is having a moment
“Obsession.” Yeah. That one. It’s an indie film.
An indie—or independent—film is one created, produced, financed, and often distributed outside of the traditional Hollywood studio system.
Kyiv is following through on its promise of an intensified 40-day, long-range strike campaign against Russia, announcing on Tuesday, June 30, that a Moscow satellite communications center was struck overnight. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed the strikes in a statement and on social media, accompanied by video footage of the attacks. Moscow also announced that hundreds of drones were shot down over its territory overnight.
The fight over the Strait of Hormuz has moved off the water and into the wording of diplomatic statements. Months after Iran’s blockade of the world’s most important oil chokepoint sent crude prices above $120 and stranded thousands of sailors, the question now is not whether ships can pass but whether they will have to pay Tehran for the privilege. Iran wants to charge them.
A geyser of water shot into the air when the decommissioned amphibious transport dock USS Juneau was struck by a torpedo fired by the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force as part of a live-fire ship sinking exercise, photos recently posted by the U.S. military show.
The torpedo was the final salvo used to sink the Juneau earlier this month as part of Valiant Shield, a biennial exercise with U.S. and allied forces, said Lt. Cmdr. Katie Koenig, director of the Combined, Joint Information Bureau for the exercise.
Six time zones east of Moscow, in the Siberian region of Zabaikalye, the line of cars waiting to reach a working fuel pump stretched three kilometers. In some districts, garbage collection has stopped because the trucks have no diesel. In parts of the Pacific region of Khabarovsk, where the governor says about 40 percent of stations are dry, residents have reported fighting wildfires themselves because the fire trucks cannot be fueled.
The Pentagon and Office of Personnel Management announced a recruiting effort Tuesday that officials are calling “War Force.”
The initiative doesn’t seek to hire trigger-pullers but rather AI experts and other software engineers that could “embed down to the unit level across the department” to support operational needs and “ensure a more lethal United States military,” according to an OPM press release.