Good morning, and welcome to the Global Situation Report for Wednesday, 16 October 2024.
- Global Rollup
- Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin issued a warning to Israel, threatening to withhold weapons transfers if Israel does not improve the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Israel was given 30 days to comply. Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said the memo was “meant to be a private correspondence” until it was leaked. (AC: This memo was almost certainly intentionally leaked to build political and social pressure on the Netanyahu government. – M.S.)
- U.S. Army Pacific Commander Gen. Charles Flynn confirmed that North Korea is sending fighters to Ukraine and is now getting “real-time feedback” about its military capabilities. “There’s some learning going on,” General Flynn said. Ukraine claims 10,000 North Korean soldiers are in the country and previously reported that it had killed several North Korean intelligence officers in a missile strike.
- On Xi Jinping and the PLA’s preparations for a 2027 conflict: “When they say be prepared to invade by ‘27 then I have an obligation and a responsibility to train my force… I have to ready our forces to be able to respond to that because I see what they are doing and I hear what he’s [Xi] saying. I take that as a reality.”
- Former Taiwan President Tsai is in Brussels this week, at the same time as U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who’s attending a NATO Defense Ministerial meeting. (AC: It’s unclear whether the two will meet, but it’s possible Tsai meets with U.S. officials on the sidelines of either the NATO or first-ever G7 Defense Ministers meeting. Tsai will travel to the United States following the European leg. This is certain to anger the Chinese, while current Taiwanese President Lai also has a scheduled trip to the United States later this month. Lots of movement for Taiwan here. – M.S.)
- Ukraine’s ambassador to NATO announced that Ukraine is asking President Joe Biden to formally invite Ukraine into NATO membership before the end of his term as part of Ukraine’s Victory Plan. Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky announced separately an immediate implementation of the Victory Plan would end the war with Russia by next year.
- The United States announced that the U.K., France, Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands would join four Pacific nations, the U.S. and Canada to enforce United Nations sanctions on North Korea. Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell explained that this was to bypass Russia’s veto on the UN Security Council vote to renew the sanctions.
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.