BLACKWATER USA | DAILY BRIEF - Blackwater Worldwide

Posted by BW Actual on Oct 31st 2025

China

Analysts offered mixed assessments of the outcome of yesterday's talks between Presidents Xi and Trump. Most agreed that both sides won some key victories that were easy for the other to concede, but those minor concessions were largely temporary reversals of escalating measures imposed in the fierier days of their trade war.
Many see the de-escalating measures - e.g., reductions to higher U.S. tariff rates, pauses on restricting Chinese rare earths exports - as mere reversions to the status quo rather than a long-term truce in the still-simmering trade war.
That seems to be the sentiment among Chinese exporters, too. Bloomberg reported that exporters it interviewed in China were pleased with the promise of lower tariff rates for their U.S.-bound goods, but planned to continue to reduce their dependence on the U.S. market in case the détente fails.

Sudan

As evidence mounts that the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) are committing atrocities in El Fasher, calls are growing for the RSF's main backer, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), to face consequences for abetting the atrocities by arming the militia.
The Sudanese army's foreign backers - which include Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Iran - condemned the RSF's actions in El Fasher, but stopped short of calling for the UAE to face consequences for what the RSF did with its guns - lest the army's backers be held accountable for the other side's misdeeds.
Confronted with video evidence of its fighters committing atrocities, RSF leaders acknowledged some "violations that occurred during the liberation" of El Fasher, and made a show of arresting some of the most egregious violators.
However, the RSF "categorically denied" the World Health Organization's claim that its fighters had killed 460 civilians at El Fasher's main hospital as part of an "intensive propaganda campaign." The RSF claims the hospital was barely operating anyway, which does little to address the WHO's accusations.

Afghanistan

Afghanistan and Pakistan agreed to extend their temporary truce by another week until Nov. 6, when they'll meet in Istanbul for a second attempt at sealing a long-term ceasefire deal.
They'll struggle to resolve the long-simmering underlying resentments that led to recent skirmishes in just a few days of talks. Pakistan still accuses the Afghan Taliban of harboring Pakistani Taliban (TTP) militants, and the Afghan Taliban still denies any links with the TTP and resents Pakistan's intrusions to go after TTP leaders inside Afghanistan.
But both want to avoid a costly broader war, so they're likely to continue agreeing to disagree.

Tanzania

Tanzania is still counting votes from its presidential election on Wednesday, but it's no surprise that the incumbent, Pres. Samia Suluhu Hassan, has taken an early lead.
It's perhaps more surprising that she's only won 97% of the votes counted so far, given that her two serious rivals were barred from running and none of the 16 unserious rivals allowed on the ballot bothered to campaign.
Turnout was low, and police preemptively cracked down on protesters who turned out to decry the tainted vote. Unrest is mounting.

Israel

Around 200,000 Haredim joined demonstrations against the Israeli government's efforts to end longstanding exemptions allowing most ultra-Orthodox seminary students to avoid military service. The issue has long divided Israelis, and it's become more urgent since Israel's military estimated it needs another 12,000 soldiers to replenish its war-worn ranks.