World brief: June 22 2026
Stories from Iran, the United Kingdom, Colombia, and elsewhere
PROGRAMMING NOTE: As I mentioned yesterday, I have a family commitment this evening that precludes writing a full newsletter. Rather than skip it altogether I’m going to try a different and abbreviated format where I recap a handful of significant stories and then briefly run through several other items. This won’t be a regular thing but it might come in handy to have another way of doing the newsletter when time is short. There will unfortunately be no voiceover, so my apologies for that.
TODAY IN HISTORY
June 22, 1527: A force from the Javanese Demak Sultanate under its commander, Fatahillah, liberates the port of Sunda Kelapa from the Portuguese and renames it “Jayakarta.” I wonder whatever happened to that place.
June 22, 1593: Local Ottoman forces from the Eyalet of Bosnia are routed by a Habsburg army at the Battle of Sisak (which is located in central Croatia today). This was one of the first serious Ottoman defeats in the Balkans, and the Ottomans’ desire for revenge contributed to the 1593-1606 Long War against the Habsburgs (there are some historians who consider Sisak part of that war). That war ended indecisively, which was typical for Ottoman-Habsburg conflicts until the late 17th century.
TOP STORIES
IRAN
US Vice President JD Vance is trumpeting substantial progress in US-Iran negotiations in Switzerland, arguing that the two sides have laid a “good foundation for a successful final deal.” Vance and honesty haven’t been seen in the same room together in several years and he’s got every reason to overhype these talks since they’ve become his project, so I wouldn’t take much away from anything he’s saying unless Iranian officials and/or the mediators confirm it. Talk of “mechanisms” to oversee the negotiations and to “deconflict” the Israeli occupation in Lebanon, for example, don’t mean anything unless they’re followed with meaningful actions (especially in the latter case).
