Good morning, and welcome to the Global Situation Report for Tuesday, 26 March 2024.
- Americas Rollup
- Colombian President Gustavo Petro calls for “the world to break diplomatic relations with that country if Israel breaks this ceasefire” in a tweet from his professional account. (Petro is the first left wing Colombian President in a long time, and anti-Israeli sentiment is a key position within left wing views in Latin America. His call is unlikely to come to full fruition, but the strong international sentiment against Israel’s actions in Gaza may see some nations heed this call. – J.V.)
- Indo-Pacific Rollup
- India’s External Affairs Minister, S. Jaishankar, said India supports the Philippines’ claims in the South China Sea and its efforts to uphold its national sovereignty.
- China’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman reaffirmed a low-level ambassador’s 2023 statement that the 2016 Arbitration Court ruling on the South China Sea is “illegal, null, and void.”
- The United Kingdom and New Zealand are accusing China of multiple cybersecurity attacks, including a “hack” of the New Zealand Parliament.
- Russia-NATO Rollup
- Russian President Vladimir Putin is publicly blaming Islamic Terrorism for the Crocus attack but also, “This atrocity may be just a link in a whole series of attempts by those who have been at war with our country since 2014 by the hands of the neo-Nazi Kyiv regime.”
- NATO is setting up air defenses in the Baltic nations but is stressing that an attack on the Baltics is not imminent. At the same time, Poland briefed NATO on one of Russia’s missiles violating its airspace. The Russian ambassador to Poland refused to show up when summoned to address the violation.
- Middle East Rollup
- Israel’s Defense Minister, Yoav Gallant, is in Washington, D.C., to discuss the Rafah invasion with Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Israel canceled a different delegation in response to the U.S.’ abstinence from the UN Security Council ceasefire vote.
- BRICS Rollup
- Bahrain is taking the first steps to join “BRICS and other international economic and political organizations,” according to Bahrain’s Ambassador to Moscow Ahmed Al Saati. (There is a major USN base in Manama used for liberty, mid-deployment maintenance, and headquartering 5th Fleet. Bahrain is unlikely to officially expel the Fleet, but this may be used as a bargaining chip by anti-U.S. forces in BRICS. – J.V.)
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.