BLACKWATER USA | DAILY BRIEF

Posted by BW Actual on Jan 23rd 2023

BLACKWATER USA | DAILY BRIEF

Ukraine

  • Germany still hasn't agreed to send Ukraine Leopard 2 tanks, but its foreign minister said she was ready to approve Poland's request to send Polish Leopards to Ukraine (Germany has to authorize other countries' transfers of the tanks since they're made in Germany).
  • Poland hasn't yet asked Germany for permission to transfer the tanks to Ukraine.
Russia
  • U.S. and EU officials say Russia was behind the mail bombs that were sent to high-profile targets in Spain late last year. They think Russian intelligence officials directed a white supremacist group to carry out the attacks as a "warning shot" to signal Russia's ability to muster terrorist proxies in European cities.
Sahel
  • Burkina Faso's junta ordered French troops to leave the country in the next month.
  • France hasn't formally responded to the demand, but an anonymous French official informally told AFP that the 400 troops currently in Burkina Faso will probably redeploy to Niger, where they'll join another 2,000 French soldiers already there.
Somalia
  • Al Shabaab staged an attack on the Mogadishu mayor's office that killed at least five civilians before security forces neutralized the militants.
China
  • A prominent epidemiologist in China estimated that 80% of the population has now had COVID. Some in China are concerned that Lunar New Year travel will bring a second wave of infections to the countryside, but if 80% of Chinese have already overcome infection then there's probably a high level of resistance to the virus.
Other News
  • Almost all of Pakistan is facing a blackout after a technical mishap that broke the country's grid this morning. The Ministry of Energy says it's "rapidly" making repairs.
  • Argentina and Brazil proposed a common South American currency that could be called the "sur." They hope a common currency would reduce transfer costs and volatility, and they'll discuss the idea at a summit in Argentina this week.