World roundup: February 6 2026
Stories from North Korea, Nigeria, Ukraine, and elsewhere
PROGRAMMING NOTE: I can tell I’m at a point mentally where I could use a quick break from The News so with your indulgence I am going to give myself one this weekend. We will return to normal programming on Tuesday barring any major events.
TODAY IN HISTORY
February 6, 1840: British and Māori representatives sign the Treaty of Waitangi, officially making New Zealand a British colony. The Māori were looking for British protection from France and for recognition of their own property and individual rights. Under the terms of the treaty those rights were supposed to be protected, though it only took British colonial authorities a couple of decades to thoroughly breach that part of the arrangement.
February 6, 1981: Uganda’s National Resistance Army rebels against the government of Milton Obote following a disputed election in December. This marked the start of the most important phase of the Ugandan civil war, or Ugandan Bush War, though the conflict had begun in October 1980 with an uprising in the West Nile region. The NRA captured Kampala in January 1986, overthrowing the military government that had ousted Obote in a coup the year before. The rebels then set up a new government under their leader, Yoweri Museveni, who has been president of Uganda ever since.
MIDDLE EAST
SYRIA
The US military has reportedly begun leaving al-Shaddadi airbase in northeastern Syria’s Hasakah province. This is the latest indication that, with a friendly government now in Damascus and the Syrian Democratic Forces conflict apparently progressing toward a resolution, the Pentagon is drawing down its presence in Syria. It’s still unclear how quick or thorough that drawdown will be.
When I say “friendly government,” to be clear I mean friendly to US corporations as well as on a political level. The state-owned Syrian Petroleum Company signed a new agreement earlier this week with Chevron, as well as the Qatari firm Power International Holding, to begin developing Syria’s offshore oil and natural gas resources. The extent of those resources has yet to be determined but given the presence of other deposits in the eastern Mediterranean it seems likely that they will find something to exploit.
