BLACKWATER USA | DAILY BRIEF - Blackwater Worldwide

Posted by BW Actual on Aug 19th 2025

Ukraine

Pres. Trump's meetings with Pres. Zelensky and European leaders yesterday went smoothly.
Most of the discussions took place behind closed doors, but a few telling moments unfolded before the cameras. Trump notably dropped his earlier insistence on a ceasefire and encouraged Ukraine and Russia to start peace talks now - rather than wait for a truce they may never agree to.
Trump offered to join Zelensky's first direct talks with Pres. Putin since 2022 in a "trilat" that could take place in the next two weeks.

Gaza

Hamas said it had accepted a new Egyptian and Qatari ceasefire proposal for Gaza that would trade Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners.
Israeli officials familiar with the latest proposal told the NYT that Hamas has now agreed to concessions on nearly every issue that stood in the way of a ceasefire last month - though it notably still hasn't publicly accepted Prime Minister Netanyahu's demand for its disarmament as a necessary condition for a truce.
Hamas's assent sends the proposal to Netanyahu's desk, where it's likely to be ignored or rejected. Netanyahu can't accept a truce on any terms Hamas would possibly agree to without losing his far-right support - and likely his premiership with it.
Despite rising international and domestic pressure for a truce and hostage deal, the Israeli Prime Minister has thus far shown more concern for saving his political hide than for ending the war. He stubbornly ignored calls for a hostage deal from Sunday's 400,000-person nationwide demonstrations, and instead criticized the protesters for "toughening Hamas’s stance" and "ensuring that the atrocities of October 7 will recur time and again."

Myanmar

Myanmar's ruling junta announced that it will hold the first phase of the first election it has allowed since its 2021 coup on Dec. 28.
Two subsequent phases will follow sometime in January on dates still to be specified due to "security concerns" - namely, the ongoing civil war and the fact that the junta controls less than half the country.
The junta's many critics have already denounced the planned poll as a "sham" designed to confer legitimacy on the illegitimate military government. Genuine opposition parties have either been banned from participating - like Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy - or are boycotting the vote. Aung San Suu Kyi remains jailed.

DRC

The UN's peacekeeping mission in DRC, MONUSCO, said that Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) jihadists terrorized the North Kivu cities of Beni and Lubero over a weeklong spate of attacks that left at least 52 civilians dead and about 100 missing.
The Islamic State-linked ADF is unaffiliated with Rwanda-backed M23 rebels, but both groups operate in mineral-rich North Kivu.

Venezuela

Speaking on state television, Pres. Maduro called the recent doubling of the U.S. bounty on his head a "renewal of extravagant, bizarre, and outlandish threats" against him, and issued an extravagant, bizarre, and outlandish threat of his own in response.
Maduro announced plans to mobilize "more than 4.5 million militiamen" nationwide and supply "rifles and missiles for the peasant force to defend the territory, sovereignty, and peace of Venezuela."
There are only about three million reservists and part-time personnel in Venezuela's National Militia, so Maduro seems to be applying some of the same double counting he used to "win" last year's election.