Posted by BW Actual on Feb 21st 2025
BLACKWATER USA | DAILY BRIEF
DRC
- Yesterday, the U.S. imposed sanctions on Rwanda’s Minister of State for Regional Integration, a spokesman for the M23 rebels Rwanda backs in DRC, and two companies linked to the spokesman accused of helping fuel the fighting in eastern DRC. Washington also called on Rwanda to withdraw from DRC and re-engage Kinshasa in Angola-led peace talks.
- Though the sanctions are unlikely to achieve anything and Rwanda seems uninterested in peace talks, this was the most forceful international rebuke yet of Rwanda's destabilizing actions in DRC.
- Rwanda condemned the sanctions as "unjustified" and said they would "undermine ongoing regional efforts towards a political solution."
Gaza and Israel
- Israel said genetic testing concluded that one of the bodies Hamas released yesterday wasn't that of the hostage Hamas claimed it to be - Shiri Bibas - nor of any known hostage.
- The Israeli army accused Hamas of committing a "violation of utmost severity" of the ceasefire deal and Prime Minister Netanyahu said Hamas would "pay the full price" for its deceit, while Hamas claimed Bibas's remains were mixed with others' after the Israeli airstrike that killed her and her two young sons in late 2023.
- Separately, three buses exploded in three different parking lots in Tel Aviv, causing damage but no injuries. Prime Minister Netanyahu blamed West Bank terrorists and ordered "a massive operation" targeting militants there.
Ukraine
- The U.S. reportedly declined to co-sponsor a UN resolution naming Russia as the aggressor in its war with Ukraine, and objected to a related phrase in a forthcoming G7 statement condemning Russian aggression.
- European media see these moves as further signs that Pres. Trump is turning away from the U.S.-EU transatlantic alliance and embracing Pres. Putin instead. However, the NYT reported that SecState Rubio is working behind the scenes to reassure European diplomats that his boss's direct dealings with Russia weren't intended to blow up the NATO alliance - but were rather "a first step in a process of making a deal."
- Meanwhile, following a meeting between China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov (who met Rubio in Saudi Arabia earlier this week), Wang said China supports the "recent consensus" the U.S. and Russia reached on Ukraine - without the involvement of Ukraine or the EU - and was willing to play a "constructive role" in forthcoming peace talks. The prospect of a China-Russia-U.S. peace plan for Ukraine is bound to further frighten Pres. Zelensky and EU leaders left out of talks.
China
- China's Alibaba reported stellar quarterly earnings and said it would invest "aggressively" in AI - perhaps because of the pep talk Pres. Xi gave tech leaders (including Alibaba founder Jack Ma) this week.
Venezuela
- The U.S. deported 177 Venezuelan migrants from detention in Guantanamo to Honduras, where a Venezuelan plane picked them up and ferried them back to Caracas.
- Pres. Maduro claimed victory for winning their return, saying he'd made a "direct request" to the Trump administration for permission to "rescue" the 177 - 126 of whom faced criminal charges or convictions in the U.S. - from Guantanamo. The arrangement likely stemmed from Maduro's recent meeting with U.S. envoy Richard Grenell in Caracas.