Good morning, and welcome to the Global Situation Report for Wednesday, 24 July 2024.
- U.K. TOP GENERAL: WE HAVE THREE YEARS TO PREPARE FOR WAR: The U.K.’s Chief of General Staff, General Sir Roland Walker, told the Land Warfare Conference in London that they had just three years to prepare for modern warfare.
- The General intends to boost land power capabilities through AI integration, multi-warhead missiles, drones, and additional standoff capabilities.
- General Walker warned that Russia would seek ‘some form of retribution’ against the U.K.’s material involvement in the Ukraine conflict.
Why It Matters: This is one of the shortest timelines we have seen yet from Europeans. They’ve steadily walked back from ten years, to five years, to three years. Three years from now also coincides with the end of the Davidson Window in 2027. – J.V.
- Global Rollup
- Russia banned 13 Japanese business executives from the country due to Japan’s sanctions on Russia. Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi issued a protest with the Russians and described the act as unacceptable. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko said that it is impossible to return to normal dialog with Japan until the Prime Minister changes his policies.
- The Philippine and Singaporean Defense Secretaries signed a defense agreement for joint humanitarian exercises and “other contingencies” this morning. (Exact details are not released yet. The Philippines announced they were looking for Reciprocal Access Agreements earlier this week, this may be part of that. – 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.