BLACKWATER USA | DAILY BRIEF - Blackwater Worldwide

Posted by BW Actual on Aug 21st 2025

Gaza

The Israeli military began what a spokesman called "the next phase of the war" in Gaza and called up 60,000 reservists for the effort. Its troops have reached the edges of Gaza City and are preparing to encircle it and take control.
Meanwhile, a planning committee issued final approval for a contentious 3,400-unit West Bank settlement project called East One, or E1 for short. E1 was first proposed in 1995, but its approval was long delayed until now - in part over widespread concerns that E1's central location will disrupt the contiguity of the Palestinian-populated West Bank.
To Israeli hardliners like finance minister Bezalel Smotrich, that's exactly the point: after yesterday's approval, Smotrich gloated that the idea of a Palestinian state "is being erased from the table." Smotrich has been a driving force behind the recent acceleration in settlement approvals, and critics say Prime Minister Netanyahu has given Smotrich unprecedented - and unwarranted - authority over settlement plans because he needs Smotrich's party's support to stay in power.
Both moves - in Gaza and the West Bank - suggest Netanyahu isn't seriously considering the temporary ceasefire proposal Hamas agreed to this week.

Ukraine

Russia's Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, said that Russia would insist on being party to any future security guarantees for Ukraine, including those the U.S. is considering that Pres. Trump suggested could be "NATO-like." I suppose that means that if Russia attacks Ukraine post-peace, it will be obliged to retaliate on Ukraine's behalf against...itself?
Lavrov's bizarre comment seems like yet another example that Russia isn't ready to talk peace.
Meanwhile on the battlefield, Russian troops continue to inch forward using inefficient but sneaky tactics like sending small groups of footsoldiers across to regroup behind Ukrainian lines and attack.
Russia's broader goal appears to be to capture as much ground as possible so it can start peace talks from a better negotiating position - if its valiant stalling efforts fail and it's forced to start talks.

China

China's Foreign Minister, Wang Yi, returned from a two-day state visit to India with several trade and diplomatic agreements to rebuild and strengthen ties between the two Asian giants. Ties gradually frayed over their superpower rivalry, but cleaved in 2020 over a border dispute.
China and India now plan to reopen their shared (and still disputed) border in three places and facilitate visa approvals to improve trade flows. They'll also resume direct flights, which had been suspended since pandemic lockdowns.
Some analysts see the diplomatic rekindling as a result of U.S. trade pressure on India that has encouraged India to turn to other trade and geopolitical allies instead.
Separately, Chinese leader Xi Jinping paid a rare and unannounced visit to the Tibetan capital of Lhasa yesterday. Xi - who hadn't visited Lhasa since 2021 - said Beijing would "guide Tibetan Buddhism to adapt to socialist society," which probably means it will continue to impose the Communist Party's devoutly atheist values on resolutely spiritual Tibetan Buddhists in the region.

Afghanistan

After Chinese Foreign Minister Wang's visit to India, Wang flew to Kabul to offer Afghanistan's Taliban government new Chinese investment - particularly in infrastructure and mining (especially of lithium, iron, and copper) - and to invite Afghanistan to formally join the Belt and Road Initiative.
China's 176 construction contracts and investment pledges to Belt and Road members in the first half of 2025 totaled $124 billion. That's already more than the $122 billion that China pledged to members in all of 2024.

Venezuela

Pres. Trump ordered the U.S. Navy to deploy three guided missile destroyers to the northern coast of South America as part of a counternarcotics mission to intercept seaborne drug shipments.
Venezuela's Pres. Maduro will doubtless see the deployment as a direct threat against him, given the recent doubling of the U.S. bounty on his head over allegations of his government's deep entanglement in narco-trafficking.
It indeed seems like a show of force intended to send Maduro a signal: ex-Navy analysts say the multibillion-dollar destroyers are "overkill" for a job that Coast Guard cutters could do equally well.

Syria

The U.S. brokered talks between an Israeli delegation and Syria's Foreign Minister in Paris yesterday, marking only the second time Syria's new government has openly engaged with "Occupied Palestine" (as Syrian officials call Israel).
The main issue they're discussing is instability in southern Syria, where the minority Druze population - with Israel's backing - has been resisting Damascus's efforts to be folded into interim president Ahmed al Sharaa's vision for an "inclusive" Syria.

Sudan

Sudan's military government - which recaptured the capital of Khartoum in March, but is still very much at war with the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in the east - announced plans to evacuate and then rebuild Khartoum into a "proud national capital."
The UN estimates that Khartoum's full reconstruction "will take years and several billion dollars." The junta ambitiously aims to reopen Khartoum International Airport to commercial flights in October 2025.