Good morning, and welcome to the Global Situation Report for Wednesday, 28 August 2024.
- KURSK NUCLEAR PLANT UNDER FIRE, NO CONTAINMENT BUILT IN: Russia is accusing the Ukrainian Armed Forces of attacking the Kursk nuclear power plant.
- The International Atomic Energy Agency inspection team arrived yesterday to assess the danger of the situation, finding that:
- The power plant had no containment dome and is “extremely vulnerable to attack”
- There was a drone attack last week. The IAEA did not assign responsibility.
- Russia claims its forces defused munitions fired by Ukraine that Russia shot down three miles from the power plant.
Why It Matters: A nuclear disaster intentionally caused by Ukraine as a non-nuclear state could be taken as a nuclear attack, risking extreme escalation from Russia. – J.V.
- Global Rollup
- Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro said his Vietnamese counterpart will visit Friday to sign agreements for the “defense and military sectors.”
- Tonga, Fiji, Palau, and Papua New Guinea endorsed Australia’s Pacific Policing Initiative to create a multinational police force that can deploy across the Pacific Islands at the Pacific Island Forum this week. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the Solomon Islands spoke in support of the initiative despite their public reservations.
- Mexico’s President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) said his relationships with U.S. Ambassador Ken Salazar and Canada’s Ambassador are “on pause” after they criticized AMLO’s support for judicial reforms. Salazar warned the judicial reforms would make it easier for cartels to infiltrate Mexican courts.
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.