Good morning, and welcome to the Global Situation Report for Thursday, 02 May 2024.
- TESLA TO GAIN ACCESS TO CHINESE MAPS: Elon Musk’s Tesla company is partnering with Chinese company Baidu to gain access to their high-definition maps for self-driving cars.
- Self-driving cars need to run on maps to be legally sold in China. The Chinese also use a proprietary mapping system to limit potential enemy war planning.
Why It Matters: Musk also runs SpaceX, a major defense contractor. This partnership could jeopardize his defense contracts, limiting U.S. space advancements, but could also be used to gain access to otherwise difficult-to-access information for the defense department. – J.V.
- Global Rollup
- Kazakhstan approved a bill to transfer oil from Russia to China. (Russian oil has been a target of American sanctions since 2022. The Chinese and Kazakhs are likely to receive sanctions over this transfer. – J.V.)
- Japan and France signed an agreement to share critical mineral mining and refining information and bolster their supply chains.
- BRICS internal trade accounts for 20% of global trade, according to China’s General Administration of Customs Direct Lyu Daliang. China’s trade with BRICS countries accounts for 14.7% of the nation’s total trade.
- Colombian President Gustavo Petro severed ties with Israel for “having a president that is genocidal” at an announcement last night. Israeli officials derided this as monstrous, while Hamas praised it as a victory.
- The Mexican Bar Association, the Stanford Law School Rule of Law Impact Lab, and the Inter-American Dialogue’s Rule of Law Program said Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s (AMLO) proposal to change Mexico’s constitution violates international legal standards and undermines democracy. AMLO’s proposal would make all judges popularly elected, reduce judicial terms, and create a judicial disciplinary body also elected by popular vote.
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.