Miscellaneous
The scale of the humanitarian tragedy unfolding in Syria is hard to comprehend. Close to 1-million civilians — the majority women and children — have fled towards the Turkish border in the depths of winter. Western nations, though, appear unwilling to do anything. Germany’s president criticises the US, and Mike Pompeo insists the transatlantic alliance remains strong. We’ll look at those competing claims, and why the UK only sent a very junior representative to the first big international security conference since Brexit. Sir William Patey talks about the impending peace deal in Afghanistan, the way the Taliban has managed to win a key role in deciding the country’s future, and the political pressure pushing Trump to sign the deal. A lot has changed in the two decades since the government lifted the bar on gay and bisexual people serving in the armed forces. Now a group of veterans and serving personnel - some of them instrumental in fighting to remove that ban - are giving their backing to a new charity called "Fighting with Pride". Follow us @bfbssitrep