OSINTSUM: Tuesday 2 April 2024

OSINTSUM
Global Situation Update
Tuesday 2 April 2024

Note from the author: After a short hiatus due to other commitments I have brought the OSINTSUM back, albeit in a heavily abridged format. I’m hoping that by compromising on the length of reporting I can still provide you with a useful overview of geopolitical developments.

I am still looking for a long-term sponsor for the newsletter, which would enable me to return to the longer-form version, so do get in touch if you are interested in reaching thousands of geopolitics-focused readers!

Africa

Ethiopia: Officials in the Bale zone of Ethiopia’s Oromia region have denied reports al-Shabaab is operating in the area after several police officers and militiamen were killed.
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Mali: Dozens of political, civilian, and rights groups have called on Mali’s military government to arrange democratic elections as soon as possible after the junta failed to organise polls in line with the promised 24-month transition back to democracy.
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Rwanda: Rights organisation Human Rights Watch is to release a series of archives highlighting the efforts of human rights defenders in Rwanda and abroad to attempt to warn about the planned 1994 genocide and stop the killings, and the failure of international actors’ to heed them.
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Togo: Opponents of President Faure Gnassingbe have criticised his proposed constitutional reforms - which would grant parliament the power to choose the president and do away with direct elections - as a ploy for him to hold onto power and extend his almost two-decade long-rule.
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Asia

Australia: A parliamentary inquiry into nuclear safety legislation has heard that new laws to establish a safety framework for Australia’s planned nuclear-powered submarines could allow the US and UK to send their nuclear waste to the country under the AUKUS deal.
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Australia: Social media platform Facebook has withdrawn access to its news tab in Australia in response to government pressure on parent company Meta to pay publishers for content.
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Cambodia: 250 Indian citizens have been rescued from cyber-farms in Cambodia, where they were being forced to run online scams. Reports suggest over 5,000 Indians are currently being forced to operate cyber-fraud schemes in the country.
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India: Leaders of India’s opposition coalition protested along with thousands of supporters against the arrest of key opposition figure and chief minister of Delhi Arvind Kejriwal in March ahead of India’s upcoming national elections.
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North Korea: South Korea’s military said North Korea has test-fired a suspected medium-range ballistic missile towards waters off its eastern coast which landed in the sea between the Korean Peninsula and Japan.
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Pakistan: Pakistan experienced 245 terror attacks and counter-terror operations in the first quarter of this year, resulting in 432 fatalities and 370 injuries.
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Pakistan: Counter-terror police have arrested at least 12 people in connection with a suicide bombing in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province which killed five Chinese workers and their driver.
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Pakistan: Defence Minister Khawaja Asif has expressed his anticipation for improved ties with India following the sub-continent’s upcoming elections, despite the countries’ current strained relationship.
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Philippines: The Philippines is to launch joint naval patrols in the South China Sea with vessels from Japan and the US later this year in an effort to counter China’s increasingly aggressive posturing in the disputed maritime territory.
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Europe

Austria: Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer warned the recent arrest of former intelligence officer Egisto Ott on charges of spying for Russia suggests the country needs to improve its security in the face of Russian infiltration.
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Greece: The Greek island of Gavdos - which has a population of 70 people - has seen at least 1,180 migrants arrive since the beginning of the year, after it became a new entry point into Europe for migrants departing from the Libyan city of Tobruk.
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Ireland: The Irish Road Haulage Association has warned the government’s decision to restore excise duty on fuel will encourage fuel tourism to Northern Ireland, negatively impacting the Irish economy.
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UK: The UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has appeared to criticise Scotland’s newly-implemented hate crime laws, asserting that people should not be criminalised “for stating simple facts on biology”.
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Israel/Hamas Conflict

Israel: Israel’s parliament has voted in favour of giving the prime minister the power to ban news networks which “harm the state’s national security” - which almost certainly refers to Qatar-owned Al Jazeera - according to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
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Israel: International food charity World Central Kitchen is to suspend operations in Gaza after an Israeli airstrike on one of its vehicles in central Gaza killed seven of its workers.
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Jordan: The leader of the Islamic Resistance of Iraq, Abu al-Askari, has threatened to arm over 12,000 Jordanian members of the Islamic Resistance in Jordan in response to the Israeli airstrike on an Iranian consulate in Damascus.
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Palestine: The Palestinian Authority wants the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to vote this month on whether to make it a full member of the body. Israel ally the US would have the option to veto its membership should the UNSC vote in favour.
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Syria: An Israeli strike on an Iranian consulate in Damascus, Syria, has killed at least eight people including senior Quds Force commander Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Zahedi.
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US: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has called for further reforms to the Palestinian Authority in a call with its leader Mahmoud Abbas, including the rooting out of corruption, as part of a post-war solution for Gaza.
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Latin America

Argentina and Colombia: The foreign ministries of Argentina and Colombia have announced the end of a diplomatic spat which escalated last week after Argentine President Javier Milei’s verbal attack on his counterpart Gustavo Petro, which led to the expulsion of Argentine diplomats.
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Peru: A group of politicians have officially requested President Dina Boluarte be removed from office for “permanent moral incapacity” over an illicit enrichment scandal involving luxury watches which has so far seen six ministers resign.
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Middle East

Iraq: The US Ambassador to Iraq, Alina L. Romanowski, is encouraging Kurdistan’s ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party to engage in the autonomous region’s upcoming 10 June elections after it labelled the electoral process “fundamentally flawed” and announced its opposition to participating.
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Yemen: Yemen’s Houthi-led de-facto government has announced it will begin issuing a newly minted 100 riyal coin in a move which has been criticised by the country’s internationally-recognised Aden-based government as a “dangerous escalation”.
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Russia/Ukraine

Russia: Russian security services have come under fresh criticism over the Moscow concert hall attack on 22 March after it emerged they received a tip-off from Iran over the possibility of a “major terrorist operation” ahead of the incident.
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Russia: Russia’s FSB security service says it has arrested four more people in Dagestan who were “directly involved in the financing and supply of terrorist means” to the perpetrators of the 22 March Moscow concert hall attack.
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Russia: Russia has paid for smuggled materiel for use in its war against Ukraine using its Tether cryptocurrency, allowing it to bypass some Western sanctions.
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US/Canada

US: Former head of US Central Command, retd. Gen Frank McKenzie, warned that Islamic State has a “strong desire” to attack the US and other foreign powers following the group’s 22 March attack on a Moscow concert hall.
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US: The US is to impose visa restrictions on some Hong Kong officials over rights concerns related to a new security law in the city state which targets treason, espionage, and other crimes.
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US: Google is planning to destroy records of millions of web users’ web-browsing histories as part of a settlement of a lawsuit that alleged the company tracked people’s activity without their knowledge.
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