BLACKWATER USA | DAILY BRIEF

Posted by BW Actual on Oct 10th 2025

BLACKWATER USA | DAILY BRIEF

Gaza
  • Israel's cabinet ratified the first phase of the ceasefire that Prime Minister Netanyahu had agreed to, and the truce will formally go into effect early tomorrow morning - 24 hours after it was approved.
  • Israeli forces have already begun to pull back from their front lines, and Hamas has committed to releasing all of the hostages it still holds within 72 hours of the deal's approval - i.e., certainly before early Monday morning, and more likely on Sunday, when Pres. Trump is expected to fly to Jerusalem to herald their release.
  • The next phase of Trump's 20-point peace plan will be hammered out over further talks.
  • Both sides - and the mediators working between them - are cautiously optimistic that this represents the beginning of the end of the war, and seem genuinely committed to working out the details for a lasting peace plan. However, they'll have some thorny details to work out in future phases of negotiations.
  • For one, Hamas is unlikely to agree to give up all of its weapons, as Israel has demanded as a condition for ending the war.

Venezuela

  • This year's Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Venezuelan opposition leader, Maria Corina Machado, for "promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela."
  • Machado has bravely refused to leave Venezuela, and continues to defiantly speak out against the government's abuses of power and election theft from hiding, despite incessant bullying and intimidation campaigns against her.
  • Separately, the NYT reported that Nicolas Maduro's regime quietly tried to offer the U.S. a massive stake in Venezuela's oil and mineral wealth in exchange for overlooking Maduro's election theft and democratic abuses.
  • Though it doesn't seem like the Trump administration seriously considered taking Maduro's bait, the offer allegedly remained on the table until last week, when the Trump administration severed diplomatic outreach to the Maduro regime.
Afghanistan
  • India announced it will reopen its embassy in Kabul following a warm visit by Taliban Foreign Minister Mawlawi Amir Khan Muttaqi to New Delhi this week.
  • While still a step short of diplomatic recognition - which only Russia has rewarded the Taliban government with so far - reopening an embassy is a signal of warming ties between the two nations.
  • It's also a pragmatic move for both. India wants to catch up to its regional rival, China, which got a head start building ties in Taliban Afghanistan. And the Taliban - which has recently traded barbs with Pakistan over security issues (namely, the Taliban allowing Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) terrorists refuge in Afghanistan) - probably sees Pakistan's arch-enemy as its friend.
  • Meanwhile, Afghanistan-Pakistan relations look set to worsen further: early reports suggest that Pakistan tried - perhaps successfully - to kill TTP leader Noor Wali Mehsud in an airstrike on Kabul yesterday.
  • The Taliban was livid about the "unprecedented, violent, and provocative act," but held back from more detailed criticism of the incident. Pakistan hasn't officially commented yet.
DRC
  • Speaking at a forum in Brussels, Pres. Tshisekedi made a direct appeal to his Rwandan counterpart, Paul Kagame - who was in the room - to end the war their armies and proxies are fighting in eastern DRC: "Africa needs to move on, President Paul Kagame, and we are capable of this."
  • Kagame did not respond to Tshisekedi's appeal, and his foreign minister's rebuke of it as "political theatrics which have become ridiculous" seemed to confirm that Kagame is in no rush to shake Tshisekedi's outstretched hand.
Peru
  • Peru's parliament impeached and replaced President Dina Boluarte on a charge of moral incapacity for her failure to halt a nationwide rise in crime.
  • It was the legislature's ninth attempt to oust Boluarte, and she didn't bother to defend herself this time. Congressional leader José Jerí was sworn in to replace her.
Argentina
  • U.S. Treasury Secretary Bessent confirmed that the U.S. had finalized a $20 billion swap line with Argentina's central bank and intervened to buy Argentine pesos to stop the currency's slide. The moves support Argentine President Javier Milei, an ally of Pres. Trump, whose necessary-but-painful economic reforms sparked Argentina's fiscal woes.
Russia
  • Pres. Putin belatedly admitted that Russian missiles were responsible for the downing of an Azerbaijan Airlines Embraer 190 on Christmas Day last year.
  • It was clear Russia was responsible from the day of the crash, but in the initial aftermath Putin only apologized for what he called a "tragic incident" and refused to accept responsibility for it. 
  • Putin's evasion of responsibility sparked a diplomatic row with Azerbaijan, whose strongman, Ilham Aliyev, had otherwise generally been on great terms with Putin as a fellow autocrat. After the row, Aliyev started criticizing Russia's war in Ukraine, and arrested a Russian journalist as a captive of the diplomatic spat.
  • Following Putin's admission of culpability today, Azerbaijan released the detained journalist, and Putin and Aliyev appear to be back on good dictator terms. Aliyev thanked Putin warmly for "keeping the situation under your personal control."