BLACKWATER USA | DAILY BRIEF - Blackwater Worldwide

Posted by BW Actual on Aug 22nd 2025

Gaza

The UN-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification's (IPC's) latest report on food (in)security in Gaza classified the dire situation at the IPC's highest Phase 5, formally - and for the first time outside of Africa - declaring a "Famine / Humanitarian Catastrophe."
Israel said it "firmly rejects" the IPC's assessment.

Sahel

Niger announced that its army killed Boko Haram leader Ibrahim Mahamadu, aka Bakura, in a "surgical operation" - apparently involving airstrikes - on an island in Lake Chad.
Bakura led Jama'atu Ahlis Sunnah lid-Dawah wal-Jihad (JAS), an unscrupulous splinter of the original Nigerian-born terrorist group that split with its now-larger rival, the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), in 2015-6.
In recent years, JAS and ISWAP had spent as much energy fighting each other as they (in particular, JAS) did terrorizing civilians. This year, however, has seen a resurgence in attacks against civilians in Niger, Nigeria, and Chad, which share porous borders in the region. JAS - which has fewer qualms than ISWAP does about stealing from or killing Muslim civilians - seems responsible, which is probably why Niger targeted its leader now.

Ukraine

Italian police arrested a Ukrainian national who German investigators identified as the "mastermind behind the bombing of the Nord Stream pipelines" in 2022. The man, identified only as Serhii K., will be extradited to Germany to face trial.
Separately, The Economist noted that Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov's insistence on Russia holding veto power over security guarantees for Ukraine raises doubts over Pres. Putin's sincerity in agreeing to accept guarantees when he met Pres. Trump last week.
Meanwhile, Russia carried out yet another massive barrage against Ukrainian targets, including a factory making civilian electronics for an American company called Flex. Ukraine's Pres. Zelensky commented that the ongoing airstrikes prove Russia's disinterest in peace.

North Korea

North Korea recalled its top military officers from Russia, where their units supported - and in some cases served as cannon fodder for - Russian forces fighting against Ukraine in Kursk and elsewhere.
The WSJ reported that the North Koreans' combat role in the Ukraine war has been waning in recent months anyway, and their formal recall now serves two possible purposes for Moscow: first, it signals that Russia is confident it no longer needs outside help in Kursk. And second, it ensures that Pyongyang's involvement in the war won't become a sticking point in possible future peace talks (if Russian efforts to avoid or delay them fail).
North Korea continues to help Russia's war effort in other ways: it sends regular shipments of munitions westward, and has offered 6,000 additional workers to rebuild parts of Russia that were damaged in Ukrainian attacks.

Colombia

Suspected remnants of the disbanded FARC guerilla group staged two separate attacks against police in Colombia this week, killing at least 18. The first used a drone to down a police helicopter involved in coca eradication programs, and the second involved a car bomb that exploded outside a military aviation school in Cali.

Trade

The U.S. and European Union (EU) released more details about the trade deal that Pres. Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen agreed to last month.
To Europeans' relief, the detailed version contained no major surprises and merely reaffirmed the 15% tariff rate established in the high-level version - even for pharmaceutical products, which are the EU's top import to the U.S. and are being considered for far higher global tariff rates of up to 200%. [The U.S.-EU deal would preserve a 15% rate for European pharmaceutical goods, regardless of the rates slapped on pharma imports from other countries.]
EU car imports, however, will still face a punishing U.S. tariff rate of 27.5% until the EU drops its tariffs on U.S. imports from other sectors, including agricultural products.