Good morning, and welcome to the Global Situation Report for Friday, 23 August 2024.
- MSC PLANS TO SIDELINE 13% OF THEIR FLEET: The Military Sealift Command (MSC) plans to sideline 17 ships of their 125-ship fleet due to manning. The goal is to move the crews of those 17 ships onto shore and other ships to rebalance the sea-shore rotation.
- The Military Sealift Command is awaiting the Chief of Naval Operations’ approval.
Why It Matters: The MSC carries out critical missions such as underway replenishment, cable laying and repair, hospital ships, and submarine and special warfare support. All of these missions are potentially threatened with increased reliance on less capable allies or forfeiting mission areas with few ships like the hospital ships. – J.V.
- Global Rollup
- The U.S. and India signed a Status of Supply Arrangement to provide each other with critical national defense resources, including buying industrial resources from each other to alleviate supply chain disruptions. The U.S. has similar arrangements with its closest regional allies, such as the U.K., Japan, Australia, and Canada.
- Australia, the U.K., and the U.S. officially started a maintenance period for a nuclear submarine in Australia with Australian sailors under the AUKUS agreement. This is the first step to a submarine maintenance base and operating a 5-boat rotational force in Australia, according to the Department of Defense.
- Earlier this week, Australia’s Senate passed a motion that the United Nations Resolution 2758 does not establish the People’s Republic of China’s sovereignty over Taiwan or prevent Taiwan from participating in United Nations agencies. (This UN resolution is core to China’s entire sovereignty claim and is frequently included as a lynchpin to China’s foreign relations. China is likely to rebut this with overt and covert actions, including sanctions and cyber attacks, so no more countries adopt similar resolutions. – J.V.)
- Taiwan’s Foreign Minister and National Security advisor are in Washington this week for unofficial visits.
- Chinese international studies experts are warning that “The Philippines could stir up trouble in yet another Chinese island.” Thitu Island, the island in question, is permanently settled by the Philippines and is being reinforced with an airport. (China’s latest provocations in the South China Sea have been foreshadowed by similar warnings from Chinese academics. China is likely about to conduct more aggressive operations against the Philippines, once again risking confrontation. – J.V.)
- U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar warned that President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s proposal to replace judges through popular direct election “is a major risk to the functioning of Mexico’s democracy.” This plan is one of 18 AMLO has proposed in his remaining weeks in office.
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.