BLACKWATER USA | DAILY BRIEF

Posted by BW Actual on Jan 25th 2023

BLACKWATER USA | DAILY BRIEF

Ukraine

  • After much deliberation and waiting for the other to make a move, both the U.S. and Germany agreed to transfer tanks to Ukraine. The U.S. will send up to 50 M1 Abrams and Germany will send its Leopard 2s - and presumably authorize other countries like Poland to send their Leopards too.
  • Russia previously warned the West against sending more powerful weapons to Ukraine and threatened that doing so would "lead to a global catastrophe." However, analysts think that's just a bluster since there's not much more Russia can do without risking a dangerous escalation.

Haiti

  • UN SecGen Guterres said that Haiti's gang-related violence has reached a multi-decade peak. Nonetheless, the U.S. and Canada - the likeliest countries to lead a military coalition to stabilize Haiti - remain reluctant to do so.
Somalia
  • AFRICOM targeted Al Shabaab in a pair of airstrikes over the past few days. The first was a response to a Shabaab suicide attack on a Somali National Army base in Galguduud; the second took out remnants of Shabaab forces after the rest of the militants withdrew from Xaradheere in Mudug.
DRC
  • Rwanda said a Congolese Sukhoi-25 violated its airspace "for the third time." Rwandan forces fired two shots at the plane - one of which seems to have hit its target - but the plane was able to land safely at Goma.
Defense
  • The Pentagon announced that it plans to boost its production of 155 mm howitzer artillery shells sixfold to around 90,000 per month - many of which will go to Ukraine.
Other News
  • Nigeria's Pres. Buhari inaugurated the $1.5 billion, Chinese-built and majority Chinese-owned Lekki Deep Sea Port. It's already operational but still under construction; when complete, it will have the capacity to handle around six million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) on ships up to "super-post-Panamax" size. It will also create up to 200,000 jobs - hence the importance to the ruling APC party of inaugurating it right before the Feb. 25 presidential election.
  • Finland's Foreign Minister suggested that his country is considering joining NATO without Sweden if Turkey continues to hold up Sweden's application - which Turkey's Pres. Erdogan has threatened to do.