Good morning, and welcome to the Global Situation Report for Wednesday, 15 May 2024.
- Global Rollup
- Admiral Richard Cheeseman testified before Congress that the Navy would fall short of its 2024 recruiting goals by 6,200 sailors, saying that this was “significantly better than [the 6,700] we expected.” To accommodate the recruiting shortfall, the Navy is focused on retaining sailors in aviation, explosive ordnance disposal, surface warfare, submarine warfare, and naval special warfare. (Logistics and engineering are noticeably absent. – J.V.)
- Georgia’s parliament passed a new foreign agents law, requiring civil society groups that receive more than 20% of their funding from abroad to register as “organizations serving the interests of a foreign power.” Assistant Secretary of State James O’Brien said Georgia’s relationship with the U.S. “is at risk” over the new law.
- Satellites spotted three potential drone carrier ships under construction in China’s Yangzte yard. One appears to be outfitted for short-takeoff and landing fixed-wing craft and is considerably smaller than a normal aircraft carrier. The other two are equipped with five launch pads each for vertical takeoff. China has not yet announced any particular mission for these platforms.
- The Filipino 100-boat civilian mission reported the Chinese Coast Guard approaching their boats as close as 100 meters today. The Philippine Navy is sending additional warships to the area in response.
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.