Good morning, and welcome to the Global Situation Report for Friday, 16 August 2024.
- Global Rollup
- Israel-Gaza peace talks are ongoing in Doha, Qatar. Israeli officials said they had been given significant leeway on key issues. Hamas officials refused to attend but are represented by the Egyptians and Qataris. Iran’s threat to carry out a strike on Israel if these talks fail has not changed.
- Palau’s President Surangel Whipps Jr. told American media that the Chinese are threatening to cease tourism to the island unless he switches recognition from Taiwan to China. Tourism is Palau’s largest industry. (Palau’s situation is a microcosm of China’s strategy. China routinely uses immigration, business, and tourism to create a dependency in other nations that it exploits to achieve its strategic goals. – J.V.)
- China and the Philippines are signaling a new potential avenue for clashes around the Sabina Shoal in the Spratly Islands. The Philippines rotates Coast Guard ships in the shoal as semi-permanent outposts similar to the Sierra Madre in the Second Thomas Shoal, and China is seeking to prevent the next rotation.
- The U.K. confirmed that Ukraine used its tanks in the attack on Kursk. Meanwhile, Kiev confirmed that the attack was meant to bring Russia to achieve a better peace negotiation position.
THAT’S A WRAP: This does it for today’s edition. Thank you for reading. If you know folks who would also like to receive this email, would you please forward it to them? We appreciate you spreading the word. – M.S.