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What is really happening in Tigray, Ethiopia

  The first thing you need to know is that anyone who tells you they know exactly what is going on in Tigray and northern Ethiopia is probably not the sort of person you should be listening to. If you’ve been paying at least passing attention to events you’ll know that there has been fighting between the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) and the Ethiopian Army since last November. Numerous accusations of crimes against humanity and human rights abuses have…

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Dear Terrorists

Dear Terrorists I have to say I am not happy. Admittedly I am not normally jumping up and down like some demented puppy at your usual work but this time its got personal. Twice in one week you’ve launched attacks just around the corner from where my friends live, first in Abidjan, Ivory Coast and now in Istanbul. Of course there are a lot more people who are entitled to be far more annoyed with you than I am, after…

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What we dont know about Ukraine…… or anything

Is it possible to know less about what is going on in a country after you have visited? I certainly came away with this impression on leaving Ukraine. Sure, I learnt a bit about the history, food and the lengths of skirts but what about the big stuff in the news? As with other controversial geopolitical issues such as Israel/Palestine, Syria, Turkey and the Kurds, you only have to read the comments sections on many internet news sources to know…

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Soul of the city: Kiev, Ukraine

It took me two weeks to work out what was wrong with Kiev and that’s because, on the surface of it, there’s nothing particularly wrong with it at all. Eventually I came to realise that all was not as it should be. Strolling its boulevards and broad streets, the European will feel at home amongst the grand 19th century architecture, after all this was an era when Tsarist Russia was so enamoured by life to their west that French was…

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Nagorno Karabakh: the land that doesn’t exıst

In the unlikely event you don’t share my passionate interest in small wars, in forgotten corners of the world, your response to the name Nagorno Karabakh may well be, “where”?  So let me fill you in.  Back in 1998 in the heady days of the downfall of the USSR the mostly Armenian population of this neighbouring region of Azerbaijan reopened their long simmering claim for independence, which kicked off with peaceful protests in the capital Stepanakert.  As you can imagine…

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