World roundup: February 12 2026
Stories from Israel-Palestine, Bangladesh, Cuba, and elsewhere
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TODAY IN HISTORY
February 12, 1502: Queen Isabella of Castile promulgates an edict outlawing Islam in her kingdom. The edict built on previous forced conversions in Granada and indeed was premised on the somewhat dubious rationale that it would be unfair to keep Islam legal in the rest of Castile when it had been outlawed in Granada. Muslims living in the kingdom were obliged to leave or convert, and since leaving cost money and meant uprooting one’s entire life, most chose conversion. Of course that only bought people about a century before King Philip III of Spain expelled the Moriscos, the descendants of converted Muslims, in 1609.
February 12, 1912: Puyi, the final emperor of both the Qing dynasty and China overall, abdicates, giving way to the Republic of China and marking the end of the Xinhai Revolution. Rebel leader Sun Yat-sen succeeded him as the first president of the provisional government of the Republic of China. Puyi would later serve as the “ruler” of the “Empire of Manchuria,” a puppet state established by Japan in northern China and Inner Mongolia that existed from 1932-1945.
MIDDLE EAST
SYRIA
The US military announced its withdrawal from its southern Syrian base at al-Tanf on Thursday, the facility having been turned over to the Syrian government. The US had been squatting at al-Tanf since 2016, when a rebel faction supported by Washington seized the facility from Islamic State. Ostensibly the US presence was intended to support and train those rebels to combat IS, but its position at an important checkpoint on the Syrian-Iraqi border was also useful from the standpoint of interrupting connections between Iran-friendly elements in both countries. With Damascus under different management now that concern is no longer relevant, and the Trump administration is as we’ve noted previously heading toward a Syrian exit.
ISRAEL-PALESTINE
There’s a bit more detail about next week’s momentous first meeting of Donald Trump’s “Board of Peace.” According to Reuters, Trump will use the occasion to announce Gaza’s “multi-billion dollar reconstruction plan” and to unveil the “international stabilization force” that is supposed to assume security duties in the territory. The agenda will apparently be all Gaza-focused, perhaps to assuage international (mostly European) concerns that Trump wants the board to compete with the United Nations. It’s unclear whether Trump will make a pitch for reconstruction funds, but he will at least announce that some countries have already donated to the cause.
Al Jazeera reports on the Israeli government’s newly adopted rules governing the West Bank and the concern they’ve raised among Palestinians:
Israeli government moves to change rules around land registration in the West Bank, making it easier for Israeli Jews to buy property in the illegally occupied territory, are raising alarm among Palestinians, fearful that the new rules will establish defacto Israeli annexation.
The Israeli cabinet announced the decisions on Sunday. In addition to allowing Jews to buy property in the West Bank – a Palestinian territory that Israel has occupied since 1967 in defiance of international law – the Israeli government has also ordered that land registries in the West Bank be opened up to the public.
That means that it will be easier for Israelis looking to take territory in the West Bank to find out who the owner of the land is, opening them up to harassment and pressure.
The cabinet also decreed that authority over building permits for illegal Jewish settlements in Hebron, and the Ibrahimi Mosque compound, would pass to Israel from the Palestinian Hebron municipality.
IRAN
The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday that the United States “covertly sent” some 6000 Starlink terminals into Iran after the government crackdown on protesters last month. The terminals were intended to offer the protesters a communications alternative after Tehran throttled the country’s internet and phone services. The revelation lends some credence to Iranian officials’ claims that the US fomented last month’s unrest, though the timing of the Starlink shipments isn’t clear in the reporting so they may have arrived after the protests (and the crackdown) tapered off. The administration repurposed funds from other programs intended to boost internet access in Iran, though some of those programs (like providing VPNs to Iranians) are useless when the internet has been shut down entirely.
Speaking of Elon Musk-owned companies, Wired suggests that X The Everything Site is violating US sanctions by allowing Iranian government officials, agencies, and news outlets to buy premium subscriptions. The site apparently stripped the premium “blue checks” from several Iranian accounts after the Wired story was initially published, but it’s unclear whether it actually removed their premium status or stopped taking their money. In at least one case an Iranian official appeared to be using his account to solicit donations, which would seem to be a particularly clear sanctions violation.
ASIA
ARMENIA
The Turkish and Armenian governments have taken a step toward economic normalization, according to Al-Monitor, by dropping a complicated “re-export” structure that has hitherto governed their overland commerce. Since Armenia and Turkey do not have diplomatic relations and their border is closed, trade between the two countries has to be routed through Georgia. Previously goods had to be “exported” to Georgia and then “re-exported” to the intended destination, but this new arrangement will remove that step. The trade will still flow through Georgia while the countries continue to negotiate a political normalization and opening of the border. Air commerce between the two countries is already conducted directly.
This development comes as the Trump administration has been pushing diplomacy between Armenia and Turkish ally Azerbaijan. Vice President JD Vance was in the region earlier this week and, when he wasn’t posting and deleting politically fraught messages about the Armenian Genocide he was trying to advance the “Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity” project to create an Azerbaijani transit corridor through southern Armenia. Vance also announced a new civilian nuclear cooperation deal between Armenia and the US that may not go over terribly well in Russia given its expectations of hegemony in the southern Caucasus, and a “Strategic Partnership Charter” with Azerbaijan.
BANGLADESH
Bangladeshi voters headed to the polls on Thursday for the country’s first general election since protesters ousted former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina back in 2024. As polling had anticipated, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party emerged victorious, taking 185 of the 299 seats that were contested at last count. Normally 300 seats are up for grabs in a Bangladeshi parliamentary election, but voting in one district was postponed due to the death of a candidate. There are 350 seats in the legislature, but the final 50 are reserved for women and are elected indirectly by the other 300 legislators, so this result means that BNP should have a comfortable majority in the new parliament. The party is holding out hope that it can win 200 seats or more, giving it a two-thirds supermajority. BNP leader Tarique Rahman is in line to become the country’s next PM. Local media was reporting a turnout in the neighborhood of 60 percent, though that’s far from an official tally.
TAIWAN
US and Taiwanese representatives have reportedly reached a trade deal that will reduce US tariffs on Taiwanese products to 15 percent, the same rate that applies to Japanese and South Korean goods. According to US officials, via the AP, Taiwan will “remove or reduce 99% of its tariff barriers” and invest $250 billion in various US tech sectors while also offering $250 billion in “credit guarantees” for small businesses to back their investments in the US.
AFRICA
KENYA
Kenyan President William Ruto says that his government will partially reopen the Kenyan-Somali border in April. The Kenyan government closed the border back in October 2011 due to repeated attacks from the Somali jihadist group al-Shabab, while also launching a military intervention in Somalia. The attacks continued nonetheless, but meanwhile thnic Somalis living on the Kenyan side of the border have been largely cut off from their relations in Somalia.
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO
The United Nations peacekeeping force in the DRC (MONUSCO) announced on Thursday that it will begin reconnaissance flights over the eastern Congolese city of Uvira to monitor the ostensible ceasefire between the Congolese military and the M23 militant group. This could be the first step toward a bigger UN operation, after the combatants agreed last week to begin implementing the monitoring portion of their Qatari-mediated ceasefire. The mission may be complicated by ongoing fighting, particularly in the areas around Uvira, as Reuters reported last week.
EUROPE
NATO
At Foreign Policy, Rebecca Lissner argues that European NATO leaders must confront the fact that, despite their attempts to salvage it, NATO is already kaput:
With dust barely settled from Davos, global leaders will convene again in Europe this week for the Munich Security Conference. On the conference’s main stage and in countless private meetings, the future of the trans-Atlantic alliance will top the agenda. Some leaders, such as NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, may attempt to explain away the recent crisis over Greenland, asserting that any post-American concept for European security is nothing short of delusional. But that perspective, however hopeful, is losing credibility. Worse, it undermines the urgency that this moment of crisis requires.
Rather than lulling themselves into a false sense of security, the United States’ European allies must accept an uncomfortable—and unfortunate—reality: NATO has become a zombie alliance. Formally, its procedural features remain intact. There is a bustling headquarters in Brussels, an empowered American supreme allied commander, and formidable military capabilities deployed across the continent.
But the alliance’s animating spirit—the U.S. commitment to collective defense under Article V of the founding charter—is gone. Without that life force, NATO lacks the credibility and trust that have reassured allies and deterred adversaries for decades. A revival is possible, but it will require Europeans to take ownership of the alliance before it’s too late.
UKRAINE
Another massive overnight Russian bombardment left several people wounded across Ukraine and cut power and water service to some 300,000 people in the western city of Odesa. Another round of Russia-Ukraine-US peace talks is starting to take shape, though details are still up in the air. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Wednesday that the Trump administration has proposed holding them sometime next week in either Abu Dhabi or Miami, but nothing has been settled yet and Zelensky added that “so far, as I understand it, Russia is hesitating.”
UNITED KINGDOM
The metastasizing Jeffrey Epstein case may claim its first major international figure in the person of UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, as CNBC outlines:
The release of further Epstein files last week triggered a series of events that left U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer fighting for his political life, despite the fact that he never knew the late financier and sex offender.
Starmer is under pressure over his decision to appoint Peter Mandelson as U.S. ambassador, despite knowledge of Mandelson’s connections to Epstein. The latest document release by the U.S. Department of Justice revealed more messages between Mandelson and Epstein, including after Epstein had pleaded guilty in Florida to a state charge of felony solicitation of prostitution, a case that involved an underage girl.
Starmer, who is facing calls to step down, has apologized to the victims of Epstein for believing Mandelson’s “lies.”
Several other countries have been rocked by Epstein revelations, including Norway, though to my knowledge Starmer is the only head of state/government who seems to be in real danger thus far. That may (and probably should) change as the story progresses.
AMERICAS
BARBADOS
Barbadian voters went to the polls on Wednesday for a parliamentary election that ended happily for Prime Minister Mia Mottley and her Barbados Labour Party. Results as of Thursday morning gave the BLP all 30 seats in the National Assembly for the third straight election, giving Mottley a third term in office.
CUBA
Two Mexican naval vessels arrived at Havana on Thursday bringing humanitarian supplies to a Cuban nation that may be on the brink of economic collapse. They did not bring any fuel to forestall that collapse, however, as the Mexican government remains cowed by US tariff threats. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has promised additional aid shipments and suggested on Thursday that she’s trying to play a mediating role between the Cuban and US governments. The Trump administration has also pledged to send some $6 million in humanitarian aid to Cuba, though it will do so via the Catholic Church rather than the Cuban government.
UNITED STATES
Finally, Donald Trump has taken a major step toward eliminating climate regulations in the United States:
The Trump administration on Thursday revoked a scientific finding that long has been the central basis for US action to regulate greenhouse gas emissions and fight climate change, the most aggressive move by the Republican president to roll back climate regulations.
The rule finalised by the Environmental Protection Agency rescinds a 2009 government declaration known as the endangerment finding that determined that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases threaten public health and welfare.
The endangerment finding by the Obama administration is the legal underpinning of nearly all climate regulations under the Clean Air Act for motor vehicles, power plants and other pollution sources that are heating the planet.
Trump claims that the endangerment finding is “one of the greatest scams in history,” and “had no basis in fact.” Both of those statements are of course bullshit, but on the plus side his heavy lifting on behalf of carbon polluters this week did get him named the “undisputed champion of beautiful clean coal” by the Washington Coal Club on Wednesday. So that’s nice.