Good morning. Here’s your Daily Situational Awareness for Friday, 04 November 2022.
TODAY’S BRIEFING:
- Inside the Beltway
- Geopolitics Brief
INSIDE THE BELTWAY
WHITE HOUSE: President Biden will deliver remarks on the CHIPS and Science Act at an American technology company in San Diego, California.
CONGRESS: Nothing Significant To Report (NSTR)
DEFENSE: Assistant Secretary of Defense for Space Policy will discuss the 2022 Missile Defense Review at a Center for Strategic and International Studies event.
STATE: Secretary Blinken will participate in the G7 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Munster, Germany.
GEOPOLITICS BRIEF
CHINA’S PRIVATE SECURITY CONTRACTORS DEPLOY WORLDWIDE: Following remarks by Chinese President Xi Jinping during the recently concluded 20th Communist Party Congress, China’s Private Security Contractors (PSC) are beginning worldwide deployments to protect Chinese Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) projects. In Xi’s remarks, he said China would “strengthen our capacity to ensure overseas security and protect the lawful rights and interest of Chinese citizens and legal entities overseas.” Chinese workers on BRI projects and manufacturing facilities have been the target of recent attacks by separatist movements in Pakistan and Myanmar.
SOUTH KOREA WON’T SEEK NUCLEAR WEAPONS PRESENCE, FOR NOW: South Korean Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup said Thursday that South Korea would not pursue deploying U.S. nuclear weapons on South Korean territory. Lee told reporters after a meeting with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin at the Pentagon, that despite North Korean provocations that included missile launches and threats of live nuclear weapons tests, he did not see a change to the country’s denuclearization policy, for now.
IEA WARNS OF CRIPPLING 2023 EUROPEAN GAS SHORTAGES: The International Energy Agency ( IEA) warned gas shortages are likely to cripple Europe in 2023 in its predictive outlook for next year. Citing a rising import demand for LNG from China and a likely cessation of Russian gas deliveries to Europe, the IEA warned that key market factors which enabled Europe to fill storage sites this year would likely disappear in 2023 amid gas shortages. IEA officials said already strained European governments needed to take “immediate action” to meet an even “greater challenge” in 2023 which could see European gas storage levels reaching only 65% before the 2023/24 winter heating season.
JAPAN & GERMANY AGREE ON MILITARY PACT FORMATION: Japanese and German officials had agreed to negotiations to form a military logistics pact. These talks would see the formation of an acquisition and cross-servicing agreement, (ACSA) providing a legal framework for the mutual sharing of fuel, food, ammunition, and other supplies to better facilitate joint operations. The agreement comes as both countries announced their strong opposition to unilateral attempts to alter the status quo in the region by force.
In today’s Early Warning, we look at the threat of rail strikes, increasing food insecurity, and prolonged inflation. The team also covers a wide scope of geopolitical events. Get access to the full brief here: https://forwardobserver.com/subscribe