Good morning. Here’s your Daily Situational Awareness for Thursday, 30 December 2021. You can receive this daily briefing by signing up at https://forwardobserver.com/daily-sa
You can also watch each DailySA show here: https://youtube.com/forwardobserver
ADMIN NOTE: There will be no report tomorrow in observance of New Year’s Eve. Additionally, there’s no show for today or tomorrow, as I’ve given the team some extra time off before expanding our show schedule next week. Have a great weekend, everyone. See you next year. – M.S.
TODAY’S BRIEFING:
- USDA issues food safety alert for Chinese imports
- Blackwater founder pushes US hybrid capabilities
- Norway blames Moscow for cyber attack
- Media invents Russian troop withdrawal
UPGRADE TO EARLY WARNING AND GET THESE BRIEFINGS:
- Economic Warning INTSUM
- Bottom Line Up Front: Prepare for instability in 2022
- Ray Dalio on civil war, inflation
- Gundlach’s economic “crescendo”
- BlackRock 2022 global outlook
SITUATIONAL AWARENESS
USDA ISSUES FOOD SAFETY ALERT: The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) issued a public health alert over an unknown quantity of meat and poultry products imported from China. No recall has been issued as the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is reportedly still struggling to identify the source of the food. While the USDA FSIS reports no confirmed cases of adverse reactions, they do describe these food shipments as “ineligible for human consumption.” (Analyst Comment: At best, this is a case of improperly labeled food exports from China. This is one area where Country of Origin Labeling, or COOL, legislation for meat could be helpful. – M.S.)
BLACKWATER FOUNDER PUSHES US HYBRID WAR: Erik Prince, founder of the private military contractor firm Blackwater, is pushing the United States to adopt hybrid conflict capabilities. Prince argues that the future of warfighting is better suited for using unconventional assets such as intelligence agencies, special operation units, and private military contractors (PMC).
NORWAY BLAMES MOSCOW FOR CYBERATTACK: Norway’s intelligence chief Nile Stensones says the greatest threat in cyber comes from Russia. Since 2020, Norway has suspected Russian cyber actors of executive persistent attacks against the maritime industry, intelligence services, and diplomatic services. Russia rejected the accusation, despite being credited last year with hacking the email of Norway’s parliament.
MEDIA INVENTS RUSSIAN WITHDRAWAL: Reports from Western media sources of 10,000 Russian soldiers rotating away from Ukraine are false. Rather than a disinformation campaign, poor translation or analysis by Reuters framed the completion of a training exercise as a “withdrawal from near Ukraine.”
HAZARDS/WX:
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