BLACKWATER USA | DAILY BRIEF

Posted by BW Actual on Nov 18th 2022

BLACKWATER USA | DAILY BRIEF

Ukraine

  • UN SecGen Guterres confirmed a 120-day extension to the free passage deal that reopened Ukrainian grain exports in early August - despite ongoing Russian efforts to block grain ships in the protected channel.
  • Russia wanted to link the extension to an agreement to restart its ammonia exports, but Ukraine refused to agree to that.
Russia
  • A Dutch court sentenced three Russian men with links to Russia's security services to life in prison for their role in the shooting down of MH17 over eastern Ukraine in July 2014.
  • Russia did its best to hamper the investigation and succeeded in stretching it out to last eight years. It also protected the accused men from facing trial: they were tried in absentia and will probably never face arrest.
Myanmar
  • Myanmar's junta unexpectedly announced an amnesty and freed nearly 6,000 of the prisoners it arrested since taking power in Feb. 2021 - including a former UK diplomat.
  • I'm not sure why the junta suddenly decided to make a concession, but it's certainly not going to be enough to appease its critics: even after this prisoner release, the junta is thought to hold over 10,000 more political prisoners arrested since the coup.
Iran
  • Yesterday was the third anniversary of the start of the last major round of protests in Iran, and some reports suggest it was the most intense day of this round that started 63 days ago.
  • The opposition group People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran says the regime has arrested over 30,000 people and killed more than 550 protesters - that's almost 10 per day - since this round started.
North Korea
  • North Korea tested a long-range intercontinental ballistic missile earlier today. This one particularly worried South Korean and Japanese officials because they believe its range is long enough to reach the U.S.
Venezuela
  • Venezuela asked the International Court of Justice to throw out Guyana's case disputing a large share of its national territory. Venezuela prefers to settle the question through direct talks.
  • The two countries have been arguing over this land since at least 1899, when an arbitration process first defined the contentious border, but the dispute is taking on new importance now that oil and gas have been found off the shores of the contested territory.