Global Conflict Reporting

Tag: geopolitics

  • Daily Briefing

    By Scott Jackson

    Statement from new U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.

    The U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth was sworn in the day before yesterday. This is some of what he had to say today in a messages to the forces. 

    “…The President gave us a clear mission: achieve Peace through Strength. We will do this in three ways – by restoring the warrior ethos, rebuilding our military, and reestablishing deterrence.

    -We will revive the warrior ethos and restore trust in our military. We are American warriors. We will defend our country. Our standards will be high, uncompromising, and clear. The strength of our military is our unity and our shared purpose.

    -We will rebuild our military by matching threats to capabilities. This means reviving our defense industrial base, reforming our acquisition process, passing a financial audit, and rapidly fielding emerging technologies. We will remain the strongest and most lethal force in the world.

    —We will reestablish deterrence by defending our homeland — on the ground and in the sky. We will work with allies and partners to deter aggression in the Indo-Pacific by Communist China, as well as supporting the President’s priority to end wars responsibly and reorient to key threats.

    We will stand by our allies – and our enemies are on notice.

    All of this will be done with a focus on lethality, meritocracy, accountability, standards, and readiness.

    I have committed my life to warfighters and their families.

    Just as my fellow soldiers had my back on the battlefield, know that I will always have your back. We serve together at a dangerous time. Our enemies will neither rest nor relent.

    And neither will we. We will stand shoulder to shoulder to meet the urgency of this moment.

    Like each of you, I love my country and swore an oath to defend the Constitution. We will do that each and every day,” 

    -End statement 

    Pete Hegseth during his confirmation hearing.

    Hegseth, a veteran and former Fox News personality only narrowly won his confirmation for SecDef with a Vice President tie breaker after the 3 republicans in the Senate joined with every democrats to vote no. His confirmation hearing was filled with allegations of past misconduct( that he denies) and claims that he is too inexperienced in leading a large organization like the U.S. military. 

    Russian oil refinery struck by a wave of Ukrainian drones.

    Ukraines most effective strategy throughout the war has been the destruction of Russian logistics on the frontlines and behind the lines using missiles and drones. This constant picking away at the Russian war machines supplies has kept Russia pulling for stockpiles nobody thought would ever be needed. Supplies that went untouched for decades are now being pulled from occasionally (especially with regard to armored vehicles). This strategy worked so well that Ukraine decided to expand on it with unrelenting attacks on Russian oil production. The thought is simple: try to make fighting the war too costly to continue to fight.Russia is supposed to be an oligarchy and no matter how many of their rich and powerful Putin has thrown out of windows they do still hold some power in the country and can cause him problems.

    Overview of the Ryazan Oil Refinery
    Loading and storage area, both of which sustained damage in the attack.

    The refinery targeted was the Ryazan oil refinery almost 300 miles from Ukraine. It has been targeted by drones multiple times in the past 72 hours and has suspended all operations. The most recent attack took place on January 26th at 1:00AM (Russia time) Video discovered of one of the attacks shows a massive fireball as a result.

    The full extent of the damage is yet unknown but we do know that among the damaged equipment that the oil storage was set ablaze as well as equipment used to load the product into rail cars.Russian media claims that the plants AVT-4 unit, which processes the crude oil into fuel distillates, was heavily damaged.

    The Ryazan oil refinery is one of Russia largest with the capacity to process 17 million metric tons of oil a year.The profit from this oil is used to fund Russia’s war in Ukraine which is growing costlier as the years go by. Neither side can keep this up forever but with these attacks on important and valuable Russian targets Ukraine hopes to tip the scales in their favor.

    Andriy Kovalenko, a reporter in Ukraine said on his Telegram channel ” The refinery plays an important role in providing fuel for both the civilian and military-industrial complex of Russia,”.

  • Two Iranian Cargo ships set to leave China filled with propellant used for ballistic missile production.

    By. Scott Jackson

    January 24,2025

    M/V Golbon and M/V Jairan, Two Iranian flagged containerships have reportedly been loaded with over 1000 tonnes of sodium perchlorate at a Chinese port over the past several days. 

    M/V Jairan
    M/V Golbon

    Sodium perchlorate is used to make ammonium perchlorate which can be used as a solid propellant in ballistic missiles and is controlled under the Missile Technology Control Regime, an international Anti- Proliferation group. 

    (more…)

  • Daily Briefing 

    01/21/2024

    Good afternoon. This is the return of the GCR Daily Briefing. For those who are new this is a daily article I used to do where I pick a couple headlines from around the world and I do a little write up on it. The world is increasingly turbulent  and it’s more important than ever to stay up to date in the events taking place in our world. 

     

    US President Trump orders 1000 national guard to the border. 

    The Pentagon-on the orders of President Donald Trump, has ordered 1,500 troops to join the already 2,500 soldiers to the US and Mexican border.These forces are ordered to “to support the activities of the Secretary of Homeland Security in obtaining complete operational control” and provide troops and supplies. The soldiers will also help build border fortifications and walls. These troops are apart of a larger force of 10,000 that will eventually make it to the border to help Customs and Border Protection (CBP) according to a leaked CBP memo being reported in the press. 

    This is all apart of a larger immigration policy put in place on the Trumps administrations first day in office. Surging troops to the border as well as using DoD bases as makeshift “holding facilities” until ICE can build more facilities. The above mentioned memos show that ICE will be drastically increasing the number of ICE holding facilities. 

    Trumps plan is to use the military to completely seal the border from migrants and asylum seekers. Migrants, who have long come to the U.S. to work in the farm industry will be picked up crossing into the US and deported before being able to ask for asylum or any sort of hearing. 

    At this point the southern border is effectively closed. Even those trying to enter the country legally have been turned away. This policy is likely to affect food prices for a time as the USDA Economic Research Service reported that in agriculture the number of migrant laborers was 59 percent and another 45% in the animal farm industry. 

    //UK

    UK navy shadows Russian spy ship through the English Channel. 

    HMS Somerset shadows Russian Spy ship Yantar.

    This week a Russia Spy ship (technically an oceanography ship),Yantar (also know as Cruys) has been shadowed by the UK Navy this week as the ship made its way through the English Channel. 

    In November this ship had been loitering above the area where several undersea cables were but was surprised by a Royal Navy Submarine when it surfaced near them to let the Yantar crew know that they were being closely monitored and warned them off. The ship left the area for the Mediterranean but returned this week and has been shadowed by the HMS Somerset(F82), a Type 23 Frigate.

    The Russian Spy Zship Yantar.

    Russian ships have even connected to sabotage of undersea cables in the recent past in the Baltic so no chances are being given in in the English Channel.. The Yantar is equipped with a small submersible that can be used to go down to the ocean floor and tamper with communications and power cables, potentially adding devices to the cables so Russia can access the data. 

    The UK has taken a lead role in countering the threat of Russian attacks on critical undersea infrastructure in the European seas and oceans. They have announced they will send several P-8 Poseidon and Rivet Joint maritime patrol and surveillance aircraft for the Baltic Sentry activity announced after the damage to the ESTLINK2 cable. Baltic Sentry is a NATO mission that aims to bring different maritime and aerial assets into the Baltic area and integrate them into the protection of the area. 

  • French patrol plane targeted by Russian air defense system over Baltic Sea. 

    The Baltic Sea

    French media reported that last Thursday night while patrolling in international airspace over the Baltic Sea a Atlantique 2 French MPA (Maritime Patrol Aircraft) was targeted by the radar of a S-400 air defense system. This aircraft additionally had its radar jammed, a constant problem around the Kaliningrad area for commercial as well as military flight, but added with that the fact it was lit up by a S-400s fire control radar at the same time shows a clear case of aggression and attempted intimidation on the side of the Russians. 

    Atlantique 2 MPA

    The French military viewed this for the hostile act it was with Colonel Guillaume Vernet, the spokesperson for the French armed forces saying “Illuminating our aircraft in international waters with radar is an aggressive action. The professional attitude of the crew prevented any escalation“.

    S-400 Triumf (NATO reporting name: SA-21 Growler)

    While the French navy regularly sends Maritime patrol aircraft into the Baltic for the NATO mission to ensure safety of navigation and air and sea policing as well as surveillance of Russian forces. Recently the deployment of these assets have been increased in response to several recent incidents in the past several months where underwater electric and data cables have been damaged or cut. 

    The EstLink 2 cable carried electricity between Estonia and Finland before December when if was damaged by a ship, the EagleS which had allegedly dragged its anchor across it and several other cables damaging them. The ship and crew have been impounded since that incident pending investigation. EagleS is believed to be apart of the Russian shadow fleet, a fleet of cargo and oil transport ships using ships flagged in other countries but being used to circumvent sanctions on Russia. 

    Allied Command Operations (ACO) which is responsible for planning and carrying out all NATO operations has announced Baltic Sentry. 

    “Baltic Sentry will deliver focused deterrence throughout the Baltic Sea and counter destabilizing acts like those observed last month,” said U.S. Army General Christopher G. Cavoli, Supreme Allied Commander Europe. “It is indicative of the Alliance’s ability to rapidly respond to such destabilization, and shows the strength of our unity in the face of any challenge.”

    Baltic Sentry is described as a “multi-domain mission taken forth by NATO in the Baltic Sea to deter any future attempts by a state or non-state actor to damage critical undersea infrastructure there. NATO views the undersea links as critically important to the defense of these nations. 

  • Bullets over ballets. Myanmars democracy in the age of the military junta. 

    Bullets over ballets. Myanmars democracy in the age of the military junta. 

    Once hailed as a beacon of hope for democracy in Southeast Asia ,Myanmar has descended into chaos and violence. Two years after a military coup toppled the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, the country teeters on the brink of collapse.An ongoing crackdown on civilians and ethnic minorities by the military Junta has claimed the lives of at least 5,000,(according to a report from the Untied Nations)imprisoned thousands and sparked a humanitarian crisis-and a civil war. 


    Myanmar’s military crackdowns have intensified with attacks on ethnic minority groups and towns of late. These attacks have caused widespread destruction. Town such as Kale, in Sagaing Region and Loikaw in Kayah state have been bombed and burned by junta airstrikes and artillery attacks. 

    The communities of ethnic Shan, Rohingya and Chin minorities have also faced sporadic targeted violence and displacement. The accusations against the military towards these groups are grim and include extrajudicial killings, gang rapes, arson and infanticides. 

    Since 2021, the Kyat (Myanmar currency) has fallen by  60% and has caused hyperinflation. The Kyat, today is worth 2101 Kyat compared to 1 US dollar. This inflation has caused banks and services based on currency to struggle with cash shortages.Some in the country have struggled because their bank accounts have been frozen. 

    International corporations and businesses have moved their business away from Myanmar and Trade in the country has also been affected with exports down 30% and imports down 40% year over year.  Food and fuel prices have skyrocketed to unbelievable prices.

    All of this has left the economy gasping for air and contributed vastly to an ongoing humanitarian crisis with 46% of the population estimated to be beneath the poverty line. 

    The coup was carried out on the orders of one man. Former Burmese Army General and chief of the Bureau of Special Operations, Min Aung Hlaing. Hlaing, before the coup has been the leader of the Tatmadaw (the armed forces of Myanmar) officially called the Commander-In-Chief of Defense Services since March of 2011.  He was born in 1956 which makes him 69 this year. That will come up later. 

    In January of 2021 Hlaing, as the commander in chief of defense services approached the different political parties of the country and hints at their being “instability” in Myanmar. In Myanmar, even before this latest takeover the Tatmadaw held a considerable of power in the government. A clause in the 2008 constitution (that the military wrote) lets the military hold up to 25% of the legislative seats. Another clause(known as the coup-i-waiting clause) allows the president to declare an emergency and hand power to the military leadership. 

    The instability brought up to the Myanmar political party’s (some of them being just the military) was likely just the election of parliament chancellor Aung San Sui Kyi in 2020 who is noted as being a “dissident”. The old guard of military political generals didn’t like that their military political party lost some of its power Min who was being forced from his position because of his age (told you it would come up) he had already delayed his retirement by 5 years and had presidential ambitions for after his military service but his party’s loss in the 2020 election ruined this plans. At this point the military took power on the day parliament was set to open, arresting Aung and the president and giving control to General Min- now Prime minister Min. 

    Since then the military has responded harshly to both peaceful protest and armed resistance with no sign of any return to democracy. The international response (besides Russia and China) condemn the military of Myanmar and have levied sanctions against them however there is no end in sight and no rescue for the citizens of this tragedy. However. It does seem the tide is somewhat turning as various ethnic militias who in the past have fought against each other in Open combat have come together and picked up arms against the military who have been losing ground steady since the start of the coup.