Podcasts about essequibo

Newly re-elected President Irfaan Ali will have to move fast on promises to convert his country's sizable oil income into tangible benefits for Guyana's poor, beyond huge prestige infrastructure projects. If President Ali is unable to capitalize and create a coherent development plan and enable a reorientation of Guyana's economy, there will be cause for concern, not least from Azruddin Mohamed, leader of the new WIN (the recently formed, We Invest in Nationhood party) who pulled in 25 per cent of the vote in the general election. Guyana's offshore oil fields, discovered by ExxonMobil in 2015, have transformed the country into a burgeoning energy powerhouse. The country, which is estimated to have the world's highest crude oil reserves per capita, has been one of the fastest growing economies globally since oil production began in 2019 and yet the wealth disparity is starkly evident. This week on The LatinNews Podcast, we welcome back Anand Persaud, Editor-in-chief of Stabroek News, to discuss the challenges facing President Ali and Guyana including, the Dutch Disease, massive infrastructure expenditure, the on-going dispute with Venezuela over the Essequibo, the US military build-up in the southern Caribbean and climate change. Follow LatinNews for analysis on economic, political, and security developments in Latin America & the Caribbean. Twitter: @latinnewslondon LinkedIn: Latin American Newsletters Facebook: @latinnews1967 For more insightful, expert-led analysis on Latin America's political and economic landscape, read our reports for free with a 14-day trial. Get full access to our entire portfolio.

Rússia disparados quase 370 mísseis e drones em diversas regiões, incluindo Kiev, Kharkiv e Odesa. O ataque matou pelo menos 12 pessoas e deixou mais de 60 feridos. E ainda:- Maduro saiu vitorioso das eleições parlamentares e regionais na Venezuela. O governo garantiu 82,7% dos votos para a Assembleia Nacional e venceu em 23 dos 24 estados- O regime de Nicolás Maduro alega que Essequibo fazia parte das suas fronteiras originais e escolhe um governador e parlamentares para o território- Israel já controla cerca de 77% do território da Faixa de Gaza e mais de 80% da população já foi deslocada para o centro e o sul do território- Centro Nacional de Dados de Neve e Gelo dos Estados Unidos registrou um aumento de 8% na camada de gelo da Antártida em relação à média dos últimos 30 anos Notícias em tempo real nas redes sociais Instagram @mundo_180_segundos e Linkedin Mundo em 180 Segundos Fale conosco através do mundo180segundos@gmail.com

In this final episode of our adventure mini series Georgina talks to to extraordinary women, Laura Bingham who made the first ever descent of the Essequibo river in Guyana from source to sea and explorer Lucy Shepherd who has led expeditions to some of the harshest and most challenging places in the world, from high mountains to tropical rainforests and Arctic tundra. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of The Delve Brasil, we explore the complex geopolitical landscape of Venezuela in 2024, marked by a contentious presidential election and the ongoing territorial dispute over the Essequibo region. Join Chalin and international relations expert Sabrina Medeiros as they discuss the implications of these events on regional stability and global politics.Portuguese:Neste episódio de The Delve Brasil, exploramos o complexo cenário geopolítico da Venezuela em 2024, marcado por uma eleição presidencial controversa e pela disputa territorial em curso pela região do Essequibo. Junte-se a Chalin e à especialista em relações internacionais Sabrina Medeiros enquanto discutem as implicações desses eventos para a estabilidade regional e a política global.

Venezuela has been thrust into chaos following the recent election, leaving President Maduro, the opposition, and the military cornered. Years of escalating tensions with Guyana over the Essequibo region have reached a critical point, risking both the strength of the Venezuelan military and the possibility of a broader regional conflict. This episode examines the buildup to potential war, how the election has intensified these events, and whether the Venezuelan military can fulfil Maduro's promise of forcefully annexing Guyana? We ask our panel of experts. On the panel this week: - Kejal Vyas (Wall Street Journal) - Gisela Salim-Peyer (The Atlantic) - Evan Ellis (US Army War College) Intro - 00:00 PART 1 - 06:08 PART 2 - 30:44 PART 3 - 45:37 Outro - 1:14:47 Follow the show on @TheRedLinePod Follow Michael on @MikeHilliardAus Support The Red Line at: https://www.patreon.com/theredlinepodcast Submit Questions and Join the Red Line Discord Server at: https://www.theredlinepodcast.com/discord For more info, please visit: https://www.theredlinepodcast.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

//The Wire//1500Z May 10, 2024////ROUTINE////BLUF: SALVAGE OPERATIONS REGARDING M/V DALI CONTINUE. G4 GEOMAGNETIC STORM EXPECTED OVER THE WEEKEND.// -----BEGIN TEARLINE------International Events-Global: Solar weather conditions indicate possible degradation of radio comms worldwide over the weekend. The NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center has issued a G4 geomagnetic storm watch due to 5x Earth-bound Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) observed over the past 24 hours.South America: Yesterday the U.S. Embassy in Guyana confirmed that two American aircraft from the USS George Washington CSG conducted a flyover of the capital city of Georgetown. AC: This action is a reminder that tensions in Guyana continue to simmer, as Venezuelan forces continue to build airfields on the border with Guyana's oil-rich Essequibo region.-HomeFront-Maryland: Crews continue to work to remove the wreckage of the M/V DALI from the debris of the destroyed Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore. Salvage operations have been slow going due to the sheer magnitude of the incident. The Unified Command in control of the salvage efforts has announced a major phase of the operation, to remove a major section of the bridge from the bow section of the DALI. Explosives will be used as part of this controlled demolition. As such, locals will hear several explosions in the vicinity of the bridge on Saturday, after 5:30 pm.-----END TEARLINE-----Analyst Comments: The G4 solar storm forecast is significant, but probably won't have much impact on everyday citizens. This is an unusual event as this is the third G4 storm watch issued since 2019, and the most significant solar event in the past decade.The biggest impact this may have to citizens around the world (which will vary due to time of day) is the potential loss of grid power, to include power surges. As such, it is recommended to ensure surge protectors are used for sensitive electronics, and the basic preparedness of a power-loss plan is in place just in case limited blackouts occur. As almost all solar events generate panic in the public sphere, it is important to remember that these are regular events that occur at the peak of the solar cycle every few years. A very similar geomagnetic storm event occurred back in March, and very few people noticed or were impacted by it.Analyst: S2A1//END REPORT//

This week on Hold Your Fire! Richard is joined by Crisis Group's Venezuela expert Phil Gunson to discuss Venezuelan presidential elections, whether they offer a chance for the country to escape its protracted political crisis and Venezuela's claim to Essequibo, an oil-rich region of neighbouring Guyana. They talk about Edmundo Gonzalez, an outsider whom the opposition appears to have rallied behind as its candidate to take on President Nicolas Maduro. They look back to the October 2023 Barbados agreement between the government and opposition that set out conditions for the vote, the opposition primary just afterwards, and the government's efforts since to curb the opposition's prospects. They explore how the country has been faring, as economic collapse triggers a humanitarian crisis and a wave of migration. They also talk about Venezuela's dispute with neighbouring Guyana over Essequibo and what role other neighbours, Brazil and Colombia, could play in resolving the crisis. Finally, they assess whether a more competitive vote could offer a path to some form of transition or cohabitation between the government and opposition. For more on the topics discussed in this episode, check out our latest commentary Seeking the Best from a Skewed Poll: Hard Choices for Venezuela. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

There could be a war brewing in South America... and it's a conflict that has been a long time coming.You see, Guyana and Venezuela have been fighting a silent battle for centuries over a large territory that makes up two-thirds of Guyana - the Essequibo. During the late 1800s, Venezuela lost this territory to a treaty signed by the United Kingdom and the United States, and things seemed to end there.However, the recent discovery of oil deposits containing up to 700 million barrels of oil (worth close to $40 BILLION) and the potential existence of a secret CIA base in the area have rekindled the flames of conflict.With Maduro's regime in Venezuela desperate for cash at any cost, could there be an escalation about to break out in the north of South America - and could this be the start of a new global conflict?Find out in the latest episode of the Learn Spanish with Stories podcast!Transcript of this episode is available at: https://podcast.lingomastery.com/listen/1232

On April 13, Iran unleashed an unprecedented drone and missile attack against Israel. This follows the brutal terrorist attack by Iran-sponsored Hamas against Israel on October 7, 2023, and arming the Houthi Rebels in Yemen to function as long-range pirates in the Red Sea. Since November, the Iran-backed Houthis have launched more than 40 attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea, effectively choking off the Bab al-Mandab Strait and shutting down the Suez Canal. They did this by using armed drones, fast attack craft, guided missiles, and other armament provided to it by the Islamic Republic of Iran. For Episode 31 of the Border Wars Podcast, we sit down with Erik Prince, the founder of the private security company Blackwater and more recent co-founder of Unplugged, a secure software and smartphone, to explain how the Houthi-style long-range piracy tactics are coming to the Caribbean courtesy of Iran and Venezuela. We discuss how an impending conflict between Venezuela and Guyana, over a disputed border territory called the Essequibo, is an extension of Iran's proxy wars in the Middle East with the backing of Russia and China.

O ditador Nicolás Maduro promulgou nesta quarta-feira, 3, uma lei que cria uma província da Venezuela em Essequibo, território que pertence à Guiana. Chamado de “Lei Orgânica para a Defesa de Essequibo”, o documento tem 39 artigos para regulamentar a fundação do estado da “Guiana Essequiba”, anexando ao país o território rico em minérios e petróleo.Ser Antagonista é fiscalizar o poder. Apoie o jornalismo Vigilante:   https://bit.ly/planosdeassinatura  Acompanhe O Antagonista no canal do WhatsApp.  Boletins diários, conteúdos exclusivos em vídeo... e muito mais.  Link do canal:    https://bit.ly/WhatsappOa  Não fique desatualizado, receba as principais notícias do dia em primeira mão se inscreva na nossa newsletter diária:   https://oantagonista.com.br/assine-nossa-newsletter/   Leia mais em oantagonista.com.br | crusoe.com.br   

蓋亞那，是我認識大圭亞那地區的第一個國家，卻也是最讓我覺得一言難盡的國家，很多看似矛盾、互不相容的現象，在這裡同時出現—— 在南美洲北端的三個小國中，蓋亞那是唯一一個英語國家，照理說進入門檻較低，但走旅行來卻是最辛苦、看到的景點又是最少；近年發現的石油，讓蓋亞那出現了一年GDP成長超過50%的經濟奇蹟，然而當地所見卻完全不像是個靠石油致富的國家，反而更像是南亞與漠南非洲的結合體；另外，與委內瑞拉升溫的情勢，讓美國國務院都調高了蓋亞那的旅遊警示，但當地人覺得這不過是個選舉操作的手段？ 旅行熱炒店的精神，就是無論無聊或有趣、困難或簡單，都要好好的認識一個國家，將它真實的面貌呈現出來。這集讓我們一起來認識這個看似矛盾卻又讓人覺得真實、充滿生活感的地方吧！ ✅ 本集重點： (00:00:16) 開場，前一集關於法屬圭亞那的聽眾回饋分享：台灣的獵風者氣象衛星，與亨利·查理葉小說《巴比龍》(Papillion） (00:04:03) 蓋亞那印象，一言難盡的國家，你上次在新聞上看到它是什麼時候？ (00:09:19) 滔滔江水與茫茫前途，從蘇利南搭渡輪進入蓋亞那的旅程，河東河西的不同風貌 (00:14:27) 首都喬治城（Georgetown）初步印象，蓋亞那有什麼好玩？ (00:20:17) 喬治城的維多利亞時期建築，風格多變與因地制宜 (00:25:31) 從紀念碑與國家墓園談蓋亞那政治：掙扎中的社會主義國家，非洲裔與印度裔的政治角力，與沒有實權的客家總統 (00:33:52) 艾瑟奎波（Essequibo）是蓋亞那神聖不可分割的一部份！與委內瑞拉的領土爭議，還和1978年瓊斯鎮事件有關？ (00:41:54) 海堤上的悠閒午後，遇見蓋亞那的經濟現況，石油究竟是福澤還是詛咒？ (00:48:36) 搭在地小巴去機場只要計程車1/20價錢！大圭亞那旅程的終點，蓋亞那總結 Show note https://ltsoj.com/podcast-ep171 Facebook https://facebook.com/travel.wok Instagram https://instagram.com/travel.wok 意見回饋 https://forms.gle/4v9Xc5PJz4geQp7K7 寫信給主廚 travel.wok@ltsoj.com 旅行熱炒店官網 https://ltsoj.com/

Ukraine, Gaza, and Taiwan aren't the only hotspots in the world. In South America, oil-rich Venezuela is threatening its much smaller neighbor Guyana, which recently came into major oil reserves of its own. Confluence Chief Market Strategist Patrick Fearon-Hernandez joins Phil Adler to unravel the history of this dispute, discuss what's at stake for the US, and why investors should pay attention.

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Konflikt im El Dorado. Der Streit um die Region Essequibo zwischen Venezuela und Guyana - (5) Nicolás Maduro, seit dem Tod von Hugo Chavez im Jahr 2013, Staatspräsident von Venezuela, hat die Essequibo-Frage wieder auf seiner Agenda. - Mit dem Historiker Christian Cwik - Sendung vom 22.3.2024

Konflikt im El Dorado. Der Streit um die Region Essequibo zwischen Venezuela und Guyana - (5) Nicolás Maduro, seit dem Tod von Hugo Chavez im Jahr 2013, Staatspräsident von Venezuela, hat die Essequibo-Frage wieder auf seiner Agenda. - Mit dem Historiker Christian Cwik - Sendung vom 22.3.2024

Konflikt im El Dorado. Der Streit um die Region Essequibo zwischen Venezuela und Guyana - (4) Der Streit zwischen Venezuela und Guyana um die Rohstoff reiche Region ist nicht neu. Er besteht seit dem 19. Jahrhundert und hat auch in den unmittelbaren Jahren nach der Ablösung Guyanas von Großbritannien zu Konflikten mit Venezuela geführt:t. - Mit dem Historiker Christian Cwik - Sendung vom 21.3.2024

Today, Les, Morgan, and Jamil discuss Guyana's recent diplomatic overtures towards Cuba amidst the ongoing Crisis between Guyana and Venezuela over the oil-rich Essequibo region. These overtures include the Guyanese President Irfaan Ali calling for the dismantling of sanctions against Cuba, to the University systems of both countries agreeing to collaborate, among many others. Are these diplomatic overtures a play to counter Venezuela with their ally Cuba, or is this an attempt by Guyana to cozy up to Venezuela? Is the threat of Venezuela invading Guyana real, or just domestic messaging? Should the Biden Administration be playing a more active role in the region? Check out the answers to these questions and more in this episode of Fault Lines!Check out the sources that helped shape our expert's discussion!https://newsroom.gy/2024/03/01/president-ali-calls-for-dismantling-of-u-s-embargo-against-cuba/ https://misiones.cubaminrex.cu/en/articulo/guyanas-media-publishes-support-international-community-cuba-un https://misiones.cubaminrex.cu/en/articulo/universities-guyana-and-cuba-agree-cooperate https://havanatimes.org/features/cubas-curious-silence-on-the-essequibo-conflict/https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/21/world/americas/venezuela-guyana.html Follow our experts on Twitter: @jamil_n_jaffer@lestermunson@morganlroachLike what we're doing here? Be sure to rate, review, and subscribe. And don't forget to follow @masonnatsec on Twitter!We are also on YouTube, watch today's episode here: https://youtu.be/1JeH1XK60zM Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Kate Adie presents stories from Israel and Gaza, Guyana, Finland and the USA.International media have been campaigning to gain access to Gaza in the months since the Israeli bombardment began - with only occasional access granted, which is closely supervised by the Israeli military. More often, news organisations have relied on Palestinian journalists already living and working in Gaza, who continue to operate under dangerous conditions. Jeremy Bowen reflects on the difficulties of telling the story of the Israel-Gaza war.After Guyana discovered it had substantial oil reserves almost ten years ago, its economy was quickly transformed and it's now the world's fastest growing economy. But its neighbour, Venezuela, recently contested Guyana's claim to oil-rich Essequibo region, which makes up two-thirds of Guyana's territory, reviving a centuries-old territorial dispute. Michelle Jana Chan went to see how the country had changed.Alexander Stubb was elected as Finland's president in polls last weekend, heralding a more hawkish approach to Russia. Finland acceded to NATO last year, and has a strategic role to play given its long border with its giant neighbour. Emilia Jansson reflects on what sort of President, Mr Stubb will be - and on what the presidential campaign revealed about Finnish attitudes.And in the US, the decor of the Oval Office in the White House is always closely watched when there's a change of President. Donald Trump's military flags were replaced with busts of influential figures from America's past, ranging from Franklin D. Roosevelt to Rosa Parks. Nick Bryant reports on what the contents of the President's bookshelf might reveal.Series Producer: Serena Tarling Editor: Richard Fenton-Smith Production coordinator: Katie Morrison

The government of Nicolas Maduro increases military presence in the border with the disputed oil-rich Essequibo region despite the recent commitments it made in talks with Guyana. We take a look at how recent oil discoveries have escalated a historic disagreement. As the Super Bowl approaches, we hear how the negotiations to take one of the largest sport events in the world to Las Vegas for the first time happened. And we look into why the US financial regulator is cracking down on firms that didn't take measures to prevent staff from using text apps like WhatsApp to communicate with colleagues and clients.

In this episode we welcome Chris Gilbert back to the podcast to discuss his new book, Commune or Nothing! Venezuela's Communal Movement and its Socialist Project.  Chris Gilbert is a professor of political studies at the Universidad Bolivariana de Venezuela and creator and co-host of Escuela de Cuadros, a Marxist educational television program and podcast. Gilbert is co-author with Cira Pascual Marquina of Venezuela, The Present as Struggle (Monthly Review, 2020).  We've hosted three previous discussions with Chris Gilbert, one related to an essay that is a chapter of this book, which discusses the theoretical work behind seeing communes as building blocks of a socialist metabolism. The two others with Cira Pascual Marquina were on the book they co-authored. I just want to make a note, that we recorded this conversation back in September, prior to October 7th, which would've definitely warranted some attention in the conversation particularly as Gilbert talked about sanctions as total war and viewing Venezuela as a concentration camp, remarks that resonate with the Palestinian experience currently. This was also recorded prior to some of the recent developments in Venezuela including - among many other things - the Essequibo referendum, Biden threatening harsher sanctions against Venezuela, and the arrest of 32 people in alleged assassination plots. The best place as always to stay abreast of developments in Venezuela is to follow and support the work of venezuelanalysis.com.  We talk about many things in this conversation, but a few I will highlight are Gilbert's theoretical work, building on the work of feminist social reproduction theory, Marx's theory of value, to put forth the concept of directly social labor as a key to the emancipatory possibilities of the commune. Gilbert also shares some of the contributions of African Maroon communities and indigenous communal practices to the development of Venezuela's socialist vision. We also talk about why for Gilbert the commune represents a recovery of Marx, in particular the romantic Marx who saw revolutionary potential among the Iroquois Confederacy, Algerian peasants and Russian peasant communes. Along the way we talk about a commune that is geographically the size of Manhattan and discuss currency experiments, communal banking efforts, and the process of “de-alienation” that Gilbert sees in the commune. The book is out now from Monthly Review press, I highly recommend it, it was one of our favorite books that we read in 2023.  And if you like what we do please support us at patreon.com/millennialsarekillingcapitalism. We do have a study group that starts for patrons tomorrow night at 7:30 PM ET on February 8th studying the counterinsurgency manual, so this is a final call for anyone interested in joining us for that. Links: Purchase the book from Monthly Review Press. Previous conversation on a chapter in this book Part 1 & Part 2 of our discussion with Chris and Cira Aidan Elias co-produced this episode.

El Salvador has transformed in the past few years from one of the most-violent countries in Latin America to one of the safest. That's largely due to the intense crackdown on gangs by President Nayib Bukele, who is up for reelection this weekend, and expecting a resounding win. And, Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso are leaving the Economic Community of West African States, known as ECOWAS. All three countries have all experienced military coups in the past few years, and they say the regional trade organization is not helping them fight terrorism. Also, Venezuela and Guyana have been ramping up nationalist propaganda campaigns as a border dispute over the remote Essequibo region, rich in oil and gold, intensifies. Plus, why insects go into the light.

In this episode of The PDB Afternoon Bulletin:     Maritime tensions are once again flaring as the Iranian Navy seized an oil tanker off the coast of Oman. The vessel that was seized, the St. Nikolas, has been at the heart of a dispute between Iran and the United States for two years. We return to the territorial dispute in South America, where the U.S. is helping Guyana bolster their military capabilities amid concerns about Venezuela's future plans regarding the oil rich region of Essequibo. Please remember to subscribe if you enjoyed this episode of The PDB Afternoon Bulletin.     Email: PDB@TheFirstTV.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

BestPodcastintheMetaverse.com Canary Cry News Talk #704 01.08.2024 - Recorded Live to 1s and 0s THE NEPHILIM UPDATE | Robot Constitution, WW3 South, Curse Tablet, Milei in Antarctica Deconstructing Corporate Mainstream Media News from a Biblical Worldview Declaring Jesus as Lord amidst the Fifth Generation War! The Show Operates on the Value 4 Value Model: http://CanaryCry.Support      Join the Supply Drop: https://CanaryCrySupplyDrop.com                                  Submit Articles: https://CanaryCry.Report                           Submit Art: https://CanaryCry.Art     Join the T-Shirt Council: https://CanaryCryTShirtCouncil.com Resource: Index of MSM Ownership (Harvard.edu) Resource: Aliens Demons Doc (feat. Dr. Heiser, Unseen Realm) Tree of Links: https://CanaryCry.Party   This Episode was Produced By: Executive Producers Sir LX Protocol V2 Knight of the Berrean Protocol***   Producers of Treasure Sir Marti K Knight of the Wrong Timeline Tstreeter Dame Gail Canary Whisperer and Lady of X's and O's Veronica D  DrWhoDunDat Sir Morv Knight of the Burning Chariots Sir Scott Knight of Truth Sir Casey the Shield Knight   CanaryCry.ART Submissions Marty B JonathanF Sir Dove Knight of Rusbeltia PizzaRat Sir Darrin Knight of the Hungry Panda's    MICROFICTION Runksmash - Called by an unknown force Kevin leaps a fence and begins to run, googly eyes and a strange box dangling from his long neck. He flaps his stubby wings in glee as it begins to rain; memories of the tall man and his sprinkler cheer his heart.   Stephen S - Online chat between two NASA creative artists:  Do you recall the gag we did with Pluto the dog's silhouette on the planet Pluto images? You bet! LOL What do you have planned for Uranus? ;)   JOLMS - An army of magnetised scrap metal joins Tsubi's descent. “Good luck getting a heat sig through all this junk now” she thinks. The tablet that fetched her coords gets ejected out. Couldn't risk a comms trace. She then gently reorients herself, pointing towards her destination. …Then fires a worm jump.   TIMESTAMPERS Jade Bouncerson, Morgan E   CanaryCry.Report Submissions JAM   REMINDERS Clankoniphius   SHOW NOTES/TIMESTAMPS Podcast T- 05:07 PreShow Prayer: HELLO, RUN DOWN 10:42 V / 05:35 P BLOCK 1 [1 topic]   NEPHILIM UPDATE 12:33 V / 07:26 P Conspiracy Theorists Convinced ‘Shadow Aliens' Are Loose in Miami (Rolling Stone) → Clip: Isaac Weishapt, @IlluminatiEyes on the event   Epstein reportedly hoped to develop super-race of humans with his DNA (Guardian 2019)Dark Side of Genius: Uncovering Jeffrey Epstein's Transhumanism Obsession! (Fin World org)   EPSTEIN 52:09 V / 47:02 P Clip: Jim Gaffigan Golden Globes pedo joke (X)   DAY JINGLE/V4V/EPs/TREASURE 54:23 V / 49:16 P   FLIPPY 01:07:25 V / 01:02:18 P Google wrote a ‘Robot Constitution' to make sure its new AI droids won't kill us (Verge)   WW3 01:18:11 V / 01:13:04 P → Maduro orders 'immediate' exploitation of oil in Essequibo (abc News) [archive] → Venezuela's Maduro orders creation of new state and map land from Guyana (CNN) [dec 8] → Mark Twain Would Understand the Venezuela vs. Guyana Crisis (National Interest) **Why Venezuela Deployed Troops to Guyana Border (Yahoo/Bloomberg)   BEAST SYSTEM 01:37:31 V / 01:32:24 P Medieval 'curse tablet' summoning Satan discovered in Germany (LiveScience)   OCCULT 01:42:53 V / 01:37:46 P I'm Obsessed With This Card Game Based on Legendary British Occultists (The Mary Sue)   SPEAKPIPE/TALENT/TIME 01:52:10 V / 01:47:03 P   ANTARCTICA 02:09:34 V / 02:04:27 P Surprise U-turn: Milei in Antarctica to launch anti-pollution program (Buenos Aires Herald)   OUTRO 02:19:07 V / 02:14:00 P END  

The US Treasury Secretary says inflation is being tamed without significant damage to the labour market. We take a look at the figures. While officials see a positive economic outlook for the US economy, Americans aren't sharing that view on the so called 'Bidenomics'. Our correspondent in New York finds out why. And Guyana seems to have found a new partner to exploit its recent crude discoveries in the Essequibo region: India. We listen to the implications this might have on the dispute between this South American nation and Venezuela over the oil-rich territory.

This week we talk about Indonesia, South Africa, and geopolitical risks.We also discuss the South China Sea, the US Presidential election, and Potemkin democracy.Recommended Book: The Heat Will Kill You First by Jeff GoodellTranscriptBy many metrics, 2023 was a tumultuous year.In the latter-quarter, in early October, the paramilitary group Hamas launched a sneak-attack on Israel which kicked off a new round of turmoil directly, on the ground, in the Gaza Strip, where Israel launched a hastily organized counterattack, and that's led to a fresh humanitarian crisis in the Strip, as resident Palestinians have been killed in the tens of thousands, as the Israeli military has sought out and tried to get revenge against Hamas fighters and leaders, but it's also upended the region as Egypt has tried to position itself as peacemaker, while also trying to stave-off the possibility of hundreds of thousands of Gazans being pushed across the border into the Sinai Peninsula, and further north Hezbola militants have engaged in an, at this point anyway, relatively low-key shootout with Israel across the Lebanese border, increasing the perceptual likelihood, at least, of a conflict that increases in scope, encapsulating more of Iran's allies and subsidiary groups, and possible even Iran itself.That component of the conflict has also started to impact global trade as the Red Sea—a channel connecting Asia with Europe through the Suez Canal—has been plagued by gunman and drone and missile attacks by Houthi groups in Yemen, which are also supported by Iran and ostensibly launching these attacks in solidarity with those under-siege Palestinians in Gaza.Further north, across the Mediterranean and Black Seas, the conflict between Ukraine and Russia, which kicked-off in earnest when the latter invaded the former in late-February of 2022, continues apace, though the frontlines in the conflict have remained fairly static for the better part of a year, and the two sides have doubled-down on launching missiles and drones at each other, reorienting toward asymmetric attacks on stockpiles and supply chains, alongside attacks on civilian centers meant to psychologically damage the other side, rather than fixating entirely on ground assaults meant to formally claim or reclaim territory.This conflict continues to shape global alliances and eat up gobs of monetary and military resources, as Russia imports weapons and supplies from allies like Iran and China, and Ukraine receives funding from mostly Western nations, though that support could diminish or even largely dry up, soon, depending on the political meanderings of its allies in those countries in the coming months.The drumbeat toward potential conflict in the South China Sea also continues to increase in tempo as the Chinese military upgrades and reorganizes its infrastructure and leadership, and forced accidents between ships in the area—especially but not exclusively between Chinese and Filipino assets—have become more common as both sides have decided to draw a line in the sand, China wanting to maintain a sense of invincibility and inevitability for its expansionary efforts, and the Philippines becoming more confident in its regional alliances, which are solidifying around efforts to prevent growth and influence-expansion on the part of China's military—including its stated intention to bring Taiwan under its control, by force if necessary, sometime in the next handful of years.There's also heightened concern about conflicts and potential conflicts in the Sahel region in northwestern Africa.A series of recent military coups against elected governments have lent this strip of land the nickname "the coup belt," and a handful of military dictatorships that have emerged from these coups have gestured at creating a sort of rough alliance meant to deter opposition from local democracies—many of which are themselves wary of coups within their own borders, and suffering from many of the variables that tend to make coups more likely, like regional terrorist activity from extremist paramilitary groups, and persistent economic and humanitarian issues.These sorts of conflicts and potential conflicts are examples of what are often called geopolitical risks: things that are problems unto themselves, but which might also reverberate outward, causing even more problems secondarily and tertiarily, and not just in their immediate vicinity, but globally—all of which messes with efforts to plan much of anything, because something could pop up to render the assumptions informing those plans moot at the drop of a hat.Economic crises and resource crises are also common sources of geopolitical risk, but 2024 will be historically prone to another common type: that of democratic elections. And some of the record-number of major elections scheduled for 2024 are truly significant, beyond even the normal risks associated with the potential peaceful handover of power.—In 2024, there will be significant elections in around 50 different countries, with some wiggle-room in that number because some of the elections expected to occur in 2024 may not, and others might pop up as the year progresses. And around 76 countries will have some type of election, inclusive of smaller, regional rather than national races.If these numbers prove even generally accurate, that will make 2024 the most election-heavy year in history, and something like 2 billion people will head to the polls for those top-level elections, and around 4 billion for some kind of vote—these people deciding who will take the reins of some of the world's largest militaries, economies, and populations.In practice, that means we'll see elections in the US, India, Mexico, South America, the 27 European Parliament countries, alongside nations that are up-and-coming in various ways, like Indonesia and Venezuela, and those that have seen a lot of instability of late, like South Sudan and Pakistan.There will be an election in Taiwan that could determine, among other things, and in part, how hawkish a stance its government takes toward neighboring, bristling-with-weapons-and-animosity, China, and the UK will also see a leadership race—one that hasn't been scheduled yet—but if it does happen, that election could flip the House of Commons from the long-ruling Tories to the opposition Labour party for the first time since 2010.The 2024 Presidential election in the United States is already being complicated by a slew of lawsuits, most of them aimed at former President Trump or his allies, Trump having been accused of all sorts of crimes, and who, as a consequence of his connection to the insurrection at the Capital on January 6, 2021, has been banished from the ballots in two states, so far.The Supreme Court will almost certainly determine if those banishments will be allowed stand sometime in the next few months, if not weeks, though the other cases also inform Trump's election run-up schedule, as he'll be in and out of courthouses and may see substantial fines and even potential prison time if one or more of them don't go his way.Republicans have also launched inquiries into President Biden and his son Hunter, and while these mostly look like counterattack efforts from Congressional Republicans at this point, it's possible one them might turn up something real and actionable, so those could also be volatile variables in this election, which will determine whether Trump returns to office and is able to act on his platform of doubling-down on the ambitions of his previous term in office and seeking revenge against those who wronged him, or if Biden will be able to continue his collection of policies, locking things like the Inflation Reduction Act into place, rather than seeing them on the chopping block before they had a chance to really take root.India's elections looks all but certain to go current Prime Minister Modi's way, as he and his administration have been immensely popular, continuing to roll out a series of policies that favor the nation's Hindu majority at the expense of the Muslim minority, and that popularity is bulwarked with efforts and alleged efforts to disadvantage his opponents and anyone else who might criticize him and his accomplishments—including journalists—using the levers of state; and as tends to be the case in such circumstances, another win would provide him and his party another term in office during which they could double-down on what's working, for their constituents and for themselves.Mexico's election in June of 2024 will, for the first time ever, feature two women candidates from the country's leading parties, making it likely the next president will be a woman. This election will also ask voters to elect around 20,000 people to fill vacant and soon-to-be vacant public positions across the country, which is a record for Mexico, and could change the on-the-ground political reality for a huge portion of the country's citizenry.Venezuela's next presidential election hasn't been scheduled for a specific day yet, and it's all but certain to result in another win for current president Maduro, in large part because he's been accused of stacking the deck in his favor in previous elections, and in case that wasn't enough, he's also barred the leading opposition candidate from running, citing alleged political crimes as the rationale, though no one's really buying that excuse, as it's the go-to option in the authoritarian's playbook when you want to ban a popular opponent while making it seem like you're acting to uproot corruption.This election is interesting, though, despite the outcome being basically preordained, because of Maduro's recent posturing surrounding the issue of the Essequibo region controlled and government by neighboring Guyana, which Maduro has recently said should actually belong to Venezuela, alongside the vast stores of oil and gas that have been discovered there in recent years; he's gone so far as to task local companies with exploring the area to assess where the oil wells and mines should be built, and had a referendum asking citizens if they thought the region should be annexed, all the people living there issued Venezuelan citizenship—and while there's reason to believe this is mostly just posturing and he'll ultimately settle for a deal with Guyana's government to somehow profit from those resources, there's a chance things don't go his way and military action starts to look like an appealing means of staying in power while seeming to be sticking around on the country's behalf.Indonesia's general election will be held early in the year, in mid-February, and this election will be important in part because Indonesia is such a huge country in terms of population, and a burgeoning giant in terms of its economy and its diplomatic heft: it boasts an abundance of natural resources and is located along the South China Sea, making it a strategically important ally; but it's also one to watch because the people who have run the country's government until this point have largely been elites who were able to take political, business, and military power during the nation's pre-democratic 32 years of authoritarian rule.The country's current president was the first real outsider to break through that wall of authoritarianism-empowered elites, and he's immensely popular, but hasn't been able to get much done because the rest of the government has been controlled by cronies of those elites.This election could determine the shape of the rest of that government, and the elites are positioning themselves behind a portfolio of new cronies they would also control, while the current president—who's ineligible for a third term in office, and thus won't be running again—has said he intends to meddle in the election, trying to position himself as a kingmaker in this upcoming and future votes, which could help more outsiders break through that elite barrier, and maybe reshape things in Indonesia in a more fundamental way.Russia's upcoming election is a Potemkin vote, current President Putin having jailed his actual, serious competition, and his stranglehold on power and the media in the country ensuring that unless he decides otherwise, he'll be cake-walking back into the Kremlin—elections are a farce in Russia, these days.In Iran, though, where leaders hold some of the same powers over the electorate as Putin, including but not limited to jailing those they think might challenge their influence, there's a chance 2024's election might either force the country's Supreme Leader to clamp down on opposition he doesn't like, hard, in a way that could further alienate an already somewhat alienated public against him and his rule, or, failing that, he might have to deal with a parliament stacked with political rivals who could make his job more difficult.There was some hope amongst Iran's rivals that 2021's election cycle might give those in charge cause for concern in this way, but that ended up not being the case. So this isn't a certain thing, and there's a good chance the higher-ups just decide to double-down on oppression, as that's worked pretty well for them in most regards up till this point. But there's a chance opposition will be able to slip into some positions of relative power, which could then nudge some of the country's behaviors internally, and throughout the region, in a direction the Supreme Leader and his people aren't happy about.The European Parliament election will happen in early June, and will see more than 400 million voters elect 720 people to parliament across the 27 member countries, and this will be meaningful in part because it's such a big, rich, influential bloc, but also because there's been a surge in far-right candidates in some countries, that surge seemingly tied to immigration concerns and the conflict in Ukraine, among other issues of the day.Poland's government, in contrast, moved in the opposite direction, a far-right government that was in the process of locking itself into permanent power replaced by a more center-left leadership.So we could see an EU that doubles-down on what it's been doing, in a sort of generally center-left fashion, or one that shifts somewhat or dramatically to the right, reorienting toward more isolation and less support of neighbors like Ukraine, which would then also go on to influence the outcome of that conflict, among other global happenings.One more election that I think is worth mentioning here is that of South Africa, which will see the ANC party, which has run things since 1994, face its stiffest competition since Nelson Mandela stepped into office and became its first black president.In the decades since, the ANC has never faced a real threat to its governing majority until now, and that means it could be forced to form a coalition with other parties, which could substantially alter the balance of power in the country with the biggest economy in Africa, and one that has suffered from all sorts of corruption issues and problems with infrastructure and spending under ANC's governance.There are countless potential sources of geopolitical risk and turmoil in 2024, including the aforementioned military conflicts, but also things like pandemics, the emergence of new, disruptive technologies, and economic fluctuations that don't align with the models the experts have been working from and basing their policy decisions on.But elections are maybe the most straightforward and direct path toward fundamental change at the governmental level, which is part of why they're so valuable, but also part of why they represent so many unknowns and so much trepidation.Only something like 43 of the 76 countries that'll have elections of some kind this year are considered to be home to fair and free elections, but even those that are mostly just going through the motions have the potential to spark non-vote-related repercussions, so this'll be a year to watch as around half of the human population heads to the ballot boxes and engages in the complex process of both doing democracy in the first place and dealing with the consequences it.Show Noteshttps://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/24/business/economy/global-economic-risks-red-sea.htmlhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_Venezuelan_presidential_electionhttps://carnegieendowment.org/2023/10/05/indonesia-s-2024-presidential-election-could-be-last-battle-of-titans-pub-90711https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/2024-election-cycle-starts-iranhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_national_electoral_calendarhttps://www.weforum.org/agenda/2023/12/2024-elections-around-world/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2023-11-01/2024-is-election-year-in-40-countries-and-podcast-elon-inc-launches-next-weekhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_riskhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_invasion_of_Ukrainehttps://www.cfr.org/global-conflict-tracker/conflict/territorial-disputes-south-china-sea This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit letsknowthings.substack.com/subscribe

Tensions have risen since Venezuela renewed a claim to the the oil-rich Essequibo region, which for decades has been part of Guyana. Also: Congolese church leaders say they've found numerous cases of irregularities during the recent elections, and why 2023 was a bumper year for discoveries of new species around the world.

Note: I'm taking next week off for the new year and to work on my next book—this month's More Things bonus episodes has thus been moved to this upcoming Thursday, and you'll see the next LKT episode on January 2!This week we talk about Venezuelan, Guyana, and the British.We also discuss oil deposits, gold, and the Geneva Agreement.Recommended Book: Your Brain on Art: How the Arts Transform Us by Susan Magsamen and Ivy RossTranscriptIn 1581, Dutch colonists arrived in South America, setting up a colony along the northern coast—but that embryonic settlement, called Pomeroon, was wiped out about a decade and a half later by the British; and survivors from Pomeroon then founded a new settlement on the back of an existing but abondoned Portuguese fort, located on an island in the middle of a river, that was an offshoot of the major regional waterway, the Essequibo River—they took over this fort, and then eventually retook Pomeroon from the British, with the help of their allies, the French.The specifics of all this conquering and reconquering aren't terribly important, though: what's important to know is that this settlement was located in a strategic area, globally, because it allowed Europeans to grow incredibly valuable crops, like sugarcane, in an region that was accessible to ocean-traversing vessels, and in a location that was an established crossroads for local trade, which made acquiring local resources a lot easier, and getting workers for these plantations at lot simpler, as well.All of which has meant this region—like many other scattered throughout the world, but especially those with natural ports and located somewhere near the equator—was a somewhat tumultuous, violent place for a long while, in large part because all these Europeans kept popping in to kill and take and build and destroy existing buildings and to fight with each other, while also leaving a lot of dead locals and destroyed local infrastructure and ecosystems in their wake.Following that initial period of back and forth, though, things calmed down a bit, and the Dutch fleshed out their holdings, vastly expanding the scope of their plantations, even to the point—and this was fairly controversial at the time—that they allowed English planters to join them from 1740, onward, which increased the scope of the plantations thereabouts still-further.In February of 1781, some British privateers showed up, captured the main settlements, and then left, and in March of that same year two Royal Navy sloops arrived and did the same, conquering the area for the British Crown until the French showed up, beat the local British forces, and occupied the colony; though a peace deal back in Europe resulted in this colony being handed back to the Dutch in 1783.In 1796 it was reoccupied by the British, the Dutch retook it, holding it from 1802 until 1803, then the British took it again during the Napoleonic Wars, and it became an official British territory in mid-1814.That was the end of that second period of conflicts, as the big, violent rush to claim as much area as possible during the Age of Discovery was beginning to wane, there was a sort of peace, in some aspects of the word, at least, emerging between European powers, and many of these entities were finding they made more money by trading than by fighting with each other all the time.That said, a more fundamental conflict remained in this area, as the Spanish held a neighboring territory, the border between that territory and this one held by the British typically delineated by the Essequibo river.So the Spanish were busy with a series of colonial independence movements when the British rolled up this collection of plantations and habitations on the east side of the Essequibo river, and thus the Spanish didn't really have anything to say on the matter, despite at times having claimed portions of the territory the British were now claiming as their own.And maybe partially because of that distraction on the part of Spain, Britain's new, official maps that were drawn in 1835 showed British Guiana, the name of its new, official territory thereabouts, beginning at the Orinoco River, not the Essequibo, while neighboring Venezuela's maps showed the latter river as the border.When the government of the relatively newfound state of Venezuela, which is what that neighboring Spanish territory became, realized that their neighbor was claiming territory they thought of as their own on their maps, they complained, threatened, and negotiations began, but no compromise was reached and in 1850 the two governments agreed to not occupy the disputed area along their shared border.Less than a decade later, though, gold was discovered in that disputed area, and British settlers almost immediately moved in and started setting up formal mining infrastructure, alongside a company through which they could profit from it.The Venezuelan government continued to complain and attempted to solve the disagreement through arbitration, but the British weren't keen to do so. This led to Venezuela breaking diplomatic relations with the British in 1887, and it asked the US for help, and when the US suggested that the UK enter arbitration, they were told no, even when then-President, Grover Cleveland, said that the US might have to intervene if the British didn't do something, based on the Monroe Doctrine, which basically says European powers shouldn't meddle in the Western Hemisphere, or else.The British eventually said okay to arbitration in 1897, and a decision handed down in 1899 gave 94% of the disputed area to British Guiana—and the Venezuelan government was perhaps predictably fairly upset about this outcome, but both sides formally accepted this new boundary in 1905.What I'd like to talk about today is a new rift resulting from a fresh batch of resources discovered in this long-contested area, and how that rift could spark still-further conflict.—In 1958, British Guiana was divided into official administrative regions, and that led to the dissolution of an historical region called Essequibo, after the river that bisected it.In 1962, as the European powers were undergoing a phase of decolonization in the wake of WWII, Venezuela re-stated its position that the claim it made to the territory back in the 19th century was legit and should never have been questioned or legalized away, and part of its argument was that the British had a deal with the Russians back when that arbitration effort was completed, the folks on the arbitration board—who were supposed to be objective—allegedly were swayed by that alliance to rule in favor of the Brits.The British said this is nonsense, as did the government of British Guiana, but this remained in dispute—and still is to this day in dispute, in some corners of policy and diplomacy—until British Guiana gained independence from the British, as a dominion, in 1966, becoming the nation of Guyana, with those arbitration-established borders still in place, and they remained in place when it became a republic in 1970, as well.Shortly after that independence was attained, though, Venezuela started taking action of diplomatic, economic, and military varieties to retake the territory it considered to be its own, and to have been unfairly stolen from it, arguing—and this is just one of the many arguments it has made toward this intended end—that the Geneva Agreement that it, then-British Guiana, and the British signed in 1966 nullified the original arbitration agreement the parties signed earlier that established the still-in-place, British Guiana-favoring border.That new agreement also said that the signatory nations would solve all disputes through dialogue, though, which is part of why recent saber-rattling by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has been so shocking to many, as even though this has been an, again, tumultuous and violent area for a long time, in recent memory it's been tumultuous, but mostly peaceful, despite those long-simmering resentments from Venezuela about this perceived violation of trust and wholesale theft of a region it considers its own.On December 3, 2023, Venezuela held a referendum that asked voters if they reject the 1899 arbitration agreement, if they support the 1966 agreement, if they agree with the government's stance that the International Court of Justice has no say in this matter, if they agree that the Venezuelan government should be able to oppose Guyana's claims about the region, and if they think the government should turn the disputed region into a new Venezuelan state called Guayana Esequiba, granting all locals Venezuelan citizenship as a consequence.Low turnout was reported at polling stations for this referendum, but the official results indicated that more than 95% of voters responded "yes" to each of those five questions, and despite that low turnout and claims that the government may have falsified these results, they've been using those "yes" numbers as part of their justification for seemingly moving forward with an annexation of the region—though as of the day I'm recording this at least, and this could change before this episode goes live, that annexation is only on paper, not a practical, real-life reality.Now, part of why that vote and the results and the government's response to the results are so shocking is that this region has been governed by Guyana in its many governmental guises for generations; this isn't an area that's gone back and forth between the two countries in recent memory—it's been well and truly Guyanan for a long time, and the people living in the region, all 125,000-or-so of them, out of Guyana's total 800,000-ish population, would tell you the same if you asked them. It also makes up something like 2/3 of Guyana's total landmass.In 2015, though, oil was discovered just off the coast of this disputed territory, and that led to calls by then, as today, Venezuelan President Maduro, to take this territory back; Venezuela has a lot of oil already, but these new reserves were looking to be sizable, and this new discovery had the potential to further enrich already rapidly enriching, from the sale of oil in other reserves, Guyana—so through some lenses, it made sense to to try grab the land attached to these reserves if possible, both to get that money, and to prevent a neighbor with whom they've long had all sorts of conflicts from getting that money, as well.That call eventually died down a bit; it remained, but wasn't at the forefront of conversation the way it was in 2015, when Venezuela was in the midst of a Presidential crisis that Maduro was likely keen to conceal a bit, moving the spotlight to something else, and ideally something nationalistic in nature.So while getting that money was probably a big part of that renewed push, there's a good chance that political expediency and trying to get both the public and the media to look at something else, something potentially titilating in the sense that the possibility of military action tends to be titilating, and something that might rile up the nationalistic base in support of their president, rather than encouraging them to continue questioning that president's legitimacy, which was otherwise a major topic of conversation.In October of 2023, a consortium of fossil fuel interests, led by Exxon Mobile, announced the discovery of a significant new reserve of oil and gas, marking the fourth such discovery in 2023, alone.That announcement ran parallel to increasingly bad news for Venezuelan president Maduro, who is incredibly unpopular with Venezuelans, for all sorts of alleged corruption and driving the economy into the ground, and who is up for election in January of 2024, that election almost certain to be rigged, though the US has offered him incentives to not rig the election, allowing it to be free and open and fair, in exchange for lessening some of the oil export sanctions the country has been operating under for a long while.So the state of play is that Maduro would almost certainly like to rig this upcoming election the way he has previous elections, keeping his hold on power as a consequence, and he kind of has to rig it if he wants to win, based on his popularity numbers, but he could potentially better those numbers by allowing something closer to a free election, getting sanctions lifted, the economy improving a bit, and he could possibly goose his numbers further by raising the Essequibo issue once more, riling up the nationalistic base and thus, possibly benefitting from those lifted sections while also winning the election with the minimum of corruption required on the back of pro-Venezuela fervor.That's one theory of what he's up to, at least, as there's a chance he's ramping up to just move into the contested region, start setting up shop, guarding roads and claiming the area for Venezuela based on those historical claims.But that option is considered to be quite risky by many analysts, as military action of that kind, annexing a neighbor's internationally recognized territory, in the western hemisphere, could be a step too far, bringing neighboring militaries, including Brazil's, which already has troops on the border because of this dispute, into the conflict, alongside forces or other types of support from the US.What might be better, instead, for his seeming purposes, at least, is to just keep on rattling that saber, raise the possibility of annexing the area, maybe make some deals with the Guyanan government, threatening the whole time, and consequently grabbing some small piece of the territory, or maybe just economic, monetary rights to some of the assets—deals instead of land—and that would still be more than he started with, alongside those aforementioned election-related benefits that could help him stay in power, without having to do much in the way of election fraud.This is all speculation at this point, though, as the public face of this burgeoning crisis is the threat of a much larger, wealthier, more powerful nation and military telling their smaller, weaker neighbor that a significant portion of their land is not theirs, and will therefore be incorporated into that larger neighbor.That's not unheard of—it's similar to the claim made by the Russian government about Ukraine, recently, pre-invasion—but it's also not super common in the modern world, as the taking of territory in this way has been disincentivized by international structures and alliances that generally make the consequences of doing so a lot weightier than the benefits of acquiring that bit of land.We're entering a new, post-Ukraine-invasion age, though, in which a lot of those prior norms and expectations are being challenged or upended, neighbors invading neighbors, maybe gesturing at a new norm, but some of these governments maybe just hoping to get in while the getting is good, righting perceived wrongs and grabbing what they can before the international order gets wise and implements some new system of carrots and sticks, assuming—not without reason—that it will make more sense for everyone, in the aftermath, to just leave things where they are at that point, rather than trying to put the pieces of the former setup back together in some way.The governments of Venezuela and Guyana had a meeting in the nearby island of St. Vincent recently, in which they agreed to an 11-point declaration, which included a mutual promise not to use force against each other, no matter what, and to avoid escalating the conflict in any way—but their disagreement over who should have jurisdiction here, with Guyana pointing at the International Court of Justice, and Venezuela saying that Court should have no say in the matter, could complicate these discussions before they really start, making any progress a slogging, pit-trap laden effort.Show Noteshttps://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-67635646https://time.com/6343549/guyana-essequibo-region-venezuela-dispute/?utm_placement=newsletterhttps://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-67645018https://apnews.com/article/venezuela-opposition-referendum-machado-guaido-0f615a5aa835a4cae7d83403321c6c6dhttps://www.semafor.com/article/12/07/2023/guyana-venezuela-tensions-drive-us-military-exerciseshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Venezuela#2006_changeshttps://apnews.com/article/guyana-venezuela-essequibo-oil-united-nations-maduro-fd9e3a3275de8d88dc0a0982f8e7cda4https://archive.ph/VMWiRhttps://www.france24.com/en/americas/20231214-venezuela-guyana-presidents-meet-to-de-escalate-tensions-over-disputed-oil-rich-regionhttps://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/12/15/venezuela-and-guyana-agree-not-to-use-force-in-essequibo-disputehttps://www.reuters.com/world/americas/venezuela-tells-world-court-referendum-go-ahead-despite-guyana-resistance-2023-11-15/https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2023/dec/14/guyana-venezuela-essequibo-maduro-kenneth-mohammedhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Guianahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essequibo_(colony)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Kyk-Over-Alhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guyana%E2%80%93Venezuela_territorial_disputehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guyana This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit letsknowthings.substack.com/subscribe

RR The Wire 2200Z December 16, 2023PRECEDENCE: ROUTINE RRDTG: 220016Z DEC 23ICOD: 210016Z DEC 23CONTROLS: Public ReleaseQQQQBLUF: CONFLICT ESCALATES IN THE RED SEA. -----BEGIN TEARLINE------International Events-Red Sea/HOA: Tensions increase as Yemeni forces increase attacks substantially. CENTCOM reports the USS CARNEY (DDG 64) has successfully shot down 14 drones in the past 24 hours. This morning the HMS DIAMOND (D34) also successfully engaged a drone targeting commercial shipping.South America: Venezuela and Guyana have begun negotiations regarding the Essequibo situation. Negotiations began on Thursday and will likely continue for the next few days. Both parties have issued statements affirming the importance of peace in the region.-Analyst Comments-Interestingly and somewhat surprisingly, both Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and Guyanese President Irfaan Ali met in person for these initial meetings (which are being held in the neutral archipelago of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines). Normally, diplomats of varying importance take the reins of such similar situations. Having both heads of state take such a direct role in negotiations (at least so far) indicates that both parties understand the severity of this issue. So far, no solid agreement has been reached, and it is too soon to tell if a diplomatic solution is viable at this stage.Regarding commercial shipping, Maersk's stock actually increased sharply following yesterday's report. This comes as investors are optimistic that Maersk (having to take the longer route around Africa), will now be able to charge more for shipping services, leading to presumably increased revenue. However, this assessment is rather short-sighted as global trade depends heavily on both the Panama and Suez Canals. There is a reason as to why the Suez route is one of the most heavily trafficked waterways in the world. In the short term, shipping companies will be able to charge more for cargo services…but in due time maintenance, fuel costs, personnel issues, losses due to weather, and opportunity cost resulting in the sheer lack of hulls themselves are all variables that are hard to predict and will take a toll on profits. If the Red Sea route weren't the best, most profitable option, it wouldn't need to exist. Optimism regarding potential profits is gambling that the short-term profits will be able to outweigh the long-term costs. As most financial institutions and markets are very risk-averse in almost every possible way right now, this adds credence to the idea that the global financial sector is divorced from reality when considering the importance of logistics.-----END TEARLINE-----Analyst: S2AEND REPORTNNNN

From the BBC World Service: Guyana and Venezuela have agreed to settle the debate over rights for the oil-rich Essequibo region with diplomacy. Also, Hungary has blocked a $55 billion European Union aid package for Ukraine — but not talks over EU membership. And what’s it really like to travel on the first Berlin-Paris sleeper train in nearly a decade?

From the BBC World Service: Guyana and Venezuela have agreed to settle the debate over rights for the oil-rich Essequibo region with diplomacy. Also, Hungary has blocked a $55 billion European Union aid package for Ukraine — but not talks over EU membership. And what’s it really like to travel on the first Berlin-Paris sleeper train in nearly a decade?

☕️ No Morning Call de hoje, Henrique Esteter comenta sobre mais uma abertura interessante do mercado, após Ibovespa e Dow Jones atingirem suas máximas históricas.O petróleo sobe novamente, enquanto o minério de ferro opera fraco.*Dentre os principais destaques: *(i) Âmbar Energia compra 81,2% de térmica Araucária da Copel por R$320,7 mi;(ii) Fitch corta rating da Braskem para "BB+", cita aumento de riscos ambientais;(iii) Maduro e o presidente da Guiana encerram reunião sobre disputa territorial com aperto de mão, mas sem consenso sobre Essequibo.

Tensions between South American neighbours Venezuela and Guyana have ratcheted up a notch in recent weeks over the disputed oil rich region of Essequibo. The territory, which is roughly the size of Florida, currently makes up around two thirds of Guyana and vast oil reserves were discovered here in 2015 which have helped make Guyana's economy one of the fastest growing in the world. Essequibo has come under the authority of Guyana and before it British Guiana for more than a century, but Venezuela has always disputed that decision made by an international tribunal back in 1899. The issue is currently with the International Court of Justice in the Hague, who are expected to make a decision next year. But Venezuela does not recognise their jurisdiction. And now President Maduro has used the results of a recent referendum claiming rights over Essequibo, as evidence to support his threat to move forward with plans to annexe the region. So this week on The Inquiry, we're asking ‘Is Venezuela about to invade its neighbour?'Contributors: Phil Gunson, Senior Analyst, Andes, Caracas, Venezuela for International Crisis Group Alejandro Velasco, Associate Professor of Latin American History, New York University, author of ‘Barrio Rising: Urban Popular Politics and the Making of Modern Venezuela Dr Christopher Sabatini, Senior Fellow for Latin America at Chatham House, London Dr Annette Idler, Associate Professor in Global Security, Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford. Presenter: David Baker Producer: Jill Collins Researcher: George Crafer Editor: Tara McDermott Technical Producer: Mitch Goodall Broadcast Co-ordinator: Jordan KingImage credit: AnadoluGetty

Guyana and Venezuela begin discussion on a territorial dispute over the Essequibo region; the Redzikowo U.S. missile defense base in Poland becomes operable; the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) holds presidential elections; and Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny goes missing.   Mentioned on the Podcast   Will Freeman, “Will Venezuela invade Guyana?,” CFR   Michelle Gavin, “The Democratic Republic of Congo Holds Tense Elections: What to Know,” CFR.org   Recommended Reading   Jerry Lewis, “The Nuclear Option,” Foreign Affairs   Carla Anne Robbins, “Antiballistic Missile System Gets Renewed Support From Clinton,” Wall Street Journal   Carla Anne Robbins, “Bush's Planned Missile-Shield Program May Violate ABM Treaty 'Within Months',” Wall Street Journal   For an episode transcript and show notes, visit The World Next Week at: https://www.cfr.org/podcasts/guyana-venezuela-border-dispute-missile-defense-base-poland-drc-elections-and-more 

A two-day summit of EU leaders is underway in Brussels, with support for Ukraine in the spotlight. Kyiv is hoping to gain accession to the European Union, as well as $58 billion funding to take the Ukrainian economy through 2024. But any decision must be unanimous and Hungary's president Viktor Orban has taken an anti-Ukraine stance. We hear from a former Ukrainian trade minister and a business owner in Lviv. The presidents of Venezuela and Guyana are meeting in St Vincent and The Grenadines to discuss a dispute over the oil rich Essequibo region. St Vincent and the Grenadines prime minister Ralph Gonsalves gives us the background to the dispute. With the festive season in full swing in the UK, office workers from Salford in the north of England tell us whether they would prefer a Christmas party or a bonus this year.

We're releasing this episode a few days early, given the fast moving nature  of the dispute between Venezuela and Guyana.This week, A'ndre chatted with The Crisis Group's Mariano de Alba on the recent tensions between Venezuela and Guyana over the resource-rich Essequibo region. Mariano, a Venezuela expert, discusses whether the concerns over a potential Venezuelan invasion of Guyana are real, and provides a history of the long-running dispute between the two countries over Essequibo -- a region that makes up more than 2/3's of Guyana's territory. The recent discovery of oil in 2015 reignited tensions over the territory, and Mariano provides his take on whether the conflict is truly about oil, or whether it's more about Maduro's election-related fears for 2024. Mariano also discusses the legitimacy of Venezuela's recent referendum to annex Essequibo, and what international involvement could look like in the event of an actual invasion.

O alinhamento de interesses russos e venezuelanos se dá desde a era Hugo Chávez, mas chegou a seu estágio mais avançado nos últimos dias. As ameaças de Nicolás Maduro para anexar a região de Essequibo, território da Guiana, seguem o mesmo roteiro da anexação russa da Crimeia. Ameaças que podem colaborar como forma de diversionismo em relação ao apoio dos Estados Unidos aos ucranianos diante da invasão russa. Ainda este ano, o autocrata venezuelano vai a Moscou visitar Vladimir Putin. Para explicar os interesses russos na região, tradicional zona de influência americana, Natuza Nery entrevista Vicente Ferraro, cientista político e pesquisador do Laboratório de Estudos da Ásia da USP, com foco em Rússia e Eurásia. Neste episódio: - Vicente faz a retrospectiva da relação entre os dois países e explica por que a partir dos anos 2010 houve uma aproximação ainda maior: “A Rússia começa aquilo que é chamado de projeção para um exterior distante”. Desde então, Putin faz da Venezuela seu “principal instrumento geopolítico na América Latina”; - Ele aponta que o objetivo maior da Rússia é criar “uma divisão mais forte na política externa dos EUA” com o surgimento de um novo foco de tensão - o que beneficiaria os russos na guerra da Ucrânia; - O cientista político analisa como Putin e Maduro usam o “nacionalismo” e a presença de “inimigos externos” para conquistar apoio popular – o venezuelano deve enfrentar eleições presidenciais em 2024, e o russo anunciou recentemente que deve tentar mais um mandato à frente do Kremlin; - Vicente avalia o pedido de ajuda da Guiana aos americanos – que já realizaram exercícios militares dentro do território guianense – e afirma que o Brasil deve apresentar uma “posição mais enfática, pelas vias diplomáticas, mas nenhuma pressão militar”.

We get the latest on the war between Israel and Hamas, examine the results of Egypt's presidential election and debate Japan prime minister Fumio Kishida's uncertain political future. Plus: the dispute between Guyana and Venezuela over Essequibo, art news and a dispatch from the Monocle Christmas Market.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tensions rose between Venezuela and Guyana this week after Nicolas Maduro boasted an “overwhelming” people's mandate for Caracas to exploit oil deposits in the disputed Essequibo region. What happens now? Andrew Mueller speaks to Donnette Streete, Kiana Wilburg, Christopher Sabatini and Benjamin Gedan. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As diplomats scramble to try to cool tensions between Venezuela and Guyana over disputed land, how much is all this down to the perilous state of the Venezuelan economy? The strike of Tesla's mechanics in Sweden has spread to other countries across Scandinavia. We get the latest from Finland. And we go to the British city that isn't usually associated with high fashion, but was chosen by Chanel this week to host a prestigious fashion show.

Danny and Derek deliver the goods a day early. This week: an update on Gaza (0:36); more Ansar Allah (Houthi) activity off of Yemen's coast in the Red Sea (11:46); Italy withdraws from the China-led Belt and Road Initiative (15:04); South Korea launches a spy satellite (16:51); an attempted coup in Guinea-Bissau (19:35); a Russia-Ukraine update featuring prisoner exchange talks with the U.S. (23:03) and dwindling funds on Ukraine's behalf (24:56); Venezuela-Guyana tensions on the rise over the Essequibo border region (28:35); and a COP28 update (32:36). Recorded Thursday, December 7, 2023 This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.americanprestigepod.com/subscribe

The United States and Guyana announce joint military exercises after the president of Venezuela threatens to take part of Guyana's territory. Nicolas Maduro claimed the oil-rich region of Essequibo after holding a referendum on annexation. Brazil has deployed extra troops along its border with Venezuela. We hear from Venezuela's attorney general and a former US ambassador to Guyana. Also on the programme: is anywhere in Gaza safe from Israeli bombardment? We hear from a woman in a UN shelter in Khan Younis. And a surreal encounter between our Russia editor and the former Austrian foreign minister who defected to Moscow. (Picture: Two United States Air Force F-15 Strike Eagle fighter jets Credit: Joe Giddens/PA Wire)

Brazil has moved troops to the Venezuela border, a day after Guyana's military were put on high alert. This is response to Venezuela's claims over the disputed territory of Essequibo. We speak to a regional expert on the potential impact on business if tensions escalate further. McDonalds is entering the coffee market, but will consumers be ‘loving it'? The winner of the Earthshot Prize, Florent Kaiser is also in the programme.

Guyana's military is on high alert after President Nicolas Maduro of neighbouring Venezuela issued oil extraction licences in the disputed territory of Essequibo. We speak to the mayor of a town in the region. Severe droughts in Spain have impacted the olive oil harvest causing prices to soar, but what does this mean for oil producers. K-pop girl band Black Pink have announced they will be staying together find out why on the programme.

No domingo (3), o presidente venezuelano Nicolás Maduro confirmou em referendo uma das poucas pautas que une o país: a anexação de Essequibo. Com a aprovação de 95% dos votantes, Maduro subiu o tom na reivindicação do território que atualmente pertence à Guiana e guarda mais de 11 bilhões de barris em reservas de petróleo. Com o aumento das tensões na área de influência do Brasil, o Ministério da Defesa já enviou mais homens e veículos para a fronteira norte - enquanto o presidente Lula tenta contornar o conflito pelas vias diplomáticas. Para explicar o contexto interno e externo da política venezuelana, e apontar qual missão cabe ao Brasil nesse quadro, Natuza Nery conversa com Oliver Stuenkel, professor da FGV-SP. Neste episódio: • Oliver detalha os principais momentos dos quase dois séculos de disputa por Essequibo, um território que já foi colônia holandesa, inglesa e espanhola e que ainda aguarda uma decisão final da Corte Internacional de Justiça da ONU (Organização das Nações Unidas). “É um assunto que realmente une a população”, afirma; • Ele conta como Maduro tenta se apropriar de uma reivindicação muito popular entre os venezuelanos para garantir votos na eleição presidencial prevista para 2024 – e cuja principal opositora, María Colina Machado, está com a candidatura travada na Justiça; • O professor de relações internacionais diz que “o risco de guerra é bastante baixo”. E revela que a Guiana já tem conversas com os Estados Unidos para a instalação de uma base americana no país. “O impacto sobre a reputação da América do Sul é significativo”, explica. “Em função dessas ameaças, pode ser prejudicada a percepção de que a região não tem tensões geopolíticas”; • Oliver comenta o que classifica de “incapacidade brasileira de parar a Venezuela”, um país que não depende política ou economicamente do Brasil. “A crise já produziu algo negativo para o Brasil, e sua liderança regional já é questionada por um país vizinho”, conclui.

The Swedish music streaming platform will axe 17% of its workforce to reduce costs blaming rising borrowing prices. We get the latest. A referendum in Venezuela has given overwhelming backing to the Caracas government's bid for the Essequibo territory, which is currently under the control of neighbouring country Guyana. We look into how the discovery of vast oil reserves has fuelled the dispute. And the United Nation's Special Envoy on Climate Action and Finance, Mark Carney, reflects on the goals of the COP28 summit.

This is the web version of Foreign Exchanges, but did you know you can get it delivered right to your inbox? Sign up today:TODAY IN HISTORYDecember 2, 1805: At the Battle of Austerlitz, Napoleon wins what was arguably his greatest victory against a larger joint Russian-Austrian army. The Allies suffered 36,000 dead/wounded/captured compared with only 9000 for the French. The French victory was so complete that not only did it end the War of the Third Coalition, it allowed Napoleon to create the Confederation of the Rhine among the German states that had become French clients. Emperor Francis II was then forced to dissolve the Holy Roman Empire, which had been in existence continuously since 962 and traced its origins back to Charlemagne's coronation as “emperor of the Romans” in 800.December 2, 1942: Enrico Fermi and his team create the first self-sustaining nuclear reaction at “Chicago Pile-1,” a rudimentary reactor built under the campus of the University of Chicago. This was the first milestone achievement for the Manhattan Project in its race to build a nuclear bomb before Nazi Germany.December 3, 1971: The Pakistani military undertakes preemptive airstrikes against several Indian military installations, beginning the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, itself the final phase of the Bangladesh Liberation War. India was preparing to enter the war on Bangladesh's side anyway, so when I say these strikes were “preemptive” I am not using that term in the phony, George W. Bush “hey they might attack us someday, you never know” sense of the term. The war, to put it mildly, was a complete disaster for the Pakistanis, who were forced to surrender a scant 13 days later and had to give up their claims on “East Pakistan” (Bangladesh) while suffering around a third of their military killed, wounded, or captured. In one of Henry Kissinger's more notorious acts, the Nixon administration opted to support Pakistan despite evidence of its armed forces committing major atrocities against Bangladeshi civilians.December 3, 1984: A Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal, India, spews toxic methyl isocyanate gas overnight, resulting in the deaths of between 3800 and 16,000 people and causing injury to at least 558,000 more. Union Carbide maintains that the leak was caused by deliberate sabotage, though Indian courts subsequently found several officials at the plant guilty of negligence. The “Bhopal Disaster” remains one of the worst industrial catastrophes in history and its adverse effects are still being felt by people in that region to the present day.MIDDLE EASTISRAEL-PALESTINEThe Israeli military (IDF) was advancing on the southern Gazan city of Khan Younis on Sunday, with Hamas officials and residents both reporting indications of nearby fighting and the IDF later confirming that it has sent ground forces into southern Gaza. The IDF has been ordering civilians to evacuate the eastern reaches of Khan Younis, and of course it's posted a helpful interactive map on its website that warns civilians of imminent danger provided those civilians have reliable internet access and haven't lost their special IDF secret decoder rings. Residents of Khan Younis will likely move further south to Rafah, though that city is also under heavy IDF bombardment so it's not really safe either. Israeli officials say the IDF struck more than 400 targets over the weekend, and the official Gazan death toll had risen at last check to 15,523. The real death toll may be substantially higher, given the likelihood of bodies that haven't yet been recovered and the closure of most of the hospitals that were handling casualties.Elsewhere:* Aid shipments into Gaza have resumed. The Palestinian Red Crescent Society says that 100 truckloads of aid entered the territory from Egypt on Saturday and I believe the aim was to bring in a similar number of trucks on Sunday though I have not seen any information yet as to whether that was accomplished.* The Biden administration may be “pressing” Israel and Hamas to resume negotiations, as White House spokes-ghoul John Kirby told NBC on Sunday, but there's no indication it's having any success. After the ceasefire collapsed on Friday the Israeli government recalled its Mossad negotiators from Qatar, and for Hamas's part the Islamist group's political wing has sworn off any future prisoner swaps “until the war ends.”* The administration is continuing to send large quantities of ordinance to the IDF, including massive “bunker buster” bombs. So any claim that it's really pushing the Israeli government to negotiate a ceasefire or even demonstrate greater discernment in its bombardments really doesn't hold up terribly well.* Israel Hayom is reporting that “key figures” in the US Congress have been shown the text of a “new initiative” that would condition future US aid to Egypt, Iraq, Turkey, and Yemen (all of which it identified as “Arab states,” which would be news to the Turks) on the willingness of governments in those four states to enable the ethnic cleansing of Gaza by taking in refugees. That same outlet has also reported (in Hebrew, so here's a summary from Ryan Grim) that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has asked Minister of Strategic Planning Ron Dermer to put together a plan to “thin the population in Gaza to a minimum,” which if nothing else is an incredible euphemism. The Biden administration has rejected any forced and/or permanent relocation of Gazan civilians, a point that Vice President Kamala Harris reiterated during her visit to the COP28 climate summit in Dubai over the weekend. But it perhaps could be sold on the idea of a “voluntary” (in quotes because in reality it would be anything but) evacuation that is characterized as temporary even if there's no real intention to ever let the evacuees return.* The Guardian says its reporting has confirmed the findings of that bombshell +972 Magazine piece from a few days ago, which reported that the IDF has been using an AI system called “Habsora” (“The Gospel”) to identify targets under a process that's been likened to a “mass assassination factory.” The system is producing targets faster than the IDF can attack them, including private homes where the likelihood of civilian casualties is high. Israeli officials are apparently insisting that the AI is programmed to minimize civilian risk, an assertion that cannot be squared with the high number of civilian casualties incurred so far in this conflict.* Israeli settler mobs attacked two West Bank villages in separate incidents on Saturday, killing at least one Palestinian in one of those attacks. The human rights organization Yesh Din says it's catalogued some 225 settler attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank since October 7, resulting in at least nine deaths.* On a somewhat related note, one of the people killed in last Thursday's shooting in East Jerusalem turns out to have been an Israeli civilian who shot and killed the two Hamas attackers and then was mistakenly gunned down by Israeli soldiers. Video footage apparently shows the man disarming, kneeling, and opening his shirt to demonstrate to the soldiers that he was not a threat, but one of them killed him anyway. The incident has raised issues regarding the trigger happiness of Israeli security forces and the wisdom of the Israeli government's armed vigilante program, which in addition to risking civilian Palestinian deaths also risks more “friendly fire” shootings like this one.* The Washington Post published a story this weekend about the hasty evacuation of al-Nasr Children's Hospital in northern Gaza last month. Without going into some of the grislier details, the staff was forced to evacuate by the IDF and left behind four premature infants who likely would not have survived relocation. They say Israeli officials told them the infants would be taken out in Red Cross ambulances but apparently they were left to die and, eventually, decompose. Reporters discovered their remains during the ceasefire. Israeli officials insist that they never ordered al-Nasr's evacuation and have questioned the veracity of the story, despite video evidence and a recording of a phone call that the IDF itself released in which an Israeli official appears to acknowledge the need to rescue patients from the facility. The Red Cross says it never agreed to assist the evacuation and that conditions in northern Gaza would have made it impossible for its personnel to get to al-Nasr to retrieve the infants.* I mention the al-Nasr story because it strikes me as especially galling. In general I'm trying not to focus heavily on individual atrocities or allegations of atrocities in compiling these newsletters—there would be no space for anything else otherwise. I hope readers don't mistake that for apathy about any of these stories, going back to and including the atrocities committed/allegedly committed by Gazan militants on October 7 (I know cases of sexual violence have been receiving heavy coverage of late). I feel my role here is to try to provide an overview and for me that means keeping some distance from specific events. I'm sure I don't do that consistently but it is my aim.SYRIAAccording to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, that Saturday morning Israeli missile attack in the vicinity of Damascus killed at least two of its personnel who were in Syria on an “advisory” mission. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that the strikes killed two Syrians who were affiliated with Hezbollah as well as two foreigners, presumably these IRGC members, while wounding five other people.YEMENHouthi rebels in northern Yemen fired a barrage of missiles and drones at ships in the Red Sea on Sunday. The group damaged three commercial ships and also fired at least three drones at the US naval destroyer USS Carney, which shot the projectiles down. There's no indication of any casualties and two of the vessels reported only minor damage (I'm unsure as to the status of the third). I would not be surprising if the US military were to retaliate against the Houthis in the near future, and there is a genuine risk that this could lead to a full-blown resumption of the Yemen war—though of course that would require Saudi Arabia's involvement.IRAQIraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shiaʿ al-Sudani reportedly told US Secretary of State Antony Blinken during a phone conversation on Saturday that Baghdad does not appreciate the US military carrying out attacks on Iraqi soil. The US attacked two Iraqi militia-linked targets on November 22 (during this newsletter's holiday pause), “killing nine pro-Iran fighters” in retaliation for attacks against US personnel according to AFP. Those attacks tapered off during the Gaza ceasefire, but as we know that ceasefire is no longer operative.On Sunday, US forces carried out a drone strike on a militia target in Iraq's Kirkuk province, killing at least five people and wounding five more. There was initially no indication as to responsibility (though one didn't exactly have to be Sherlock Holmes to solve this caper), but the US military later confirmed that it was responsible and characterized the strike as preempting “an imminent threat.”ASIAPAKISTANUnspecified gunmen attacked a bus in northern Pakistan's Gilgit-Baltistan region late Saturday, killing at least nine people and injuring at least 26 others. The bus driver was among those killed, along with the driver of a truck with which the bus collided. There's been no claim of responsibility and the main body of the Pakistani Taliban has taken the rare step of denying any involvement.PHILIPPINESA bombing targeting a Catholic mass killed at least four people and left several others wounded on the campus of Mindanao State University in the southern Philippine city of Marawi on Sunday. Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack via Telegram. The previous day, the Philippine military said its forces killed at least 11 jihadist militants in nearby Maguindanao province in an attack targeting “suspected leaders and armed followers of the Dawla Islamiyah [i.e. ‘Islamic State'] and the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters” to borrow the AP's verbiage. I don't know whether Sunday's bombing was planned in advance or was intended as a direct retaliation for Saturday's incident.AFRICAGUINEA-BISSAUThe president of Guinea-Bissau, Umaro Sissoco Embaló, characterized Thursday night's gun battle between elements of the National Guard and his Presidential Palace Battalion as an “attempted coup” in comments to reporters on Saturday. Embaló had been out of the country attending the COP28 summit when the incident took place and said it had delayed his return to Bissau. National Guard commander Victor Tchongo is now in government custody, but Embaló appeared to suggest that there were other coup plotters behind Tchongo and said he would open an investigation into the incident on Monday. The National Guard is part of the Interior Ministry, which AFP says is “dominated” by the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAICG). That party, which won June's parliamentary election and now controls the government, is opposed to Embaló.BURKINA FASOThe military governments of Burkina Faso and Niger announced on Saturday that they are both withdrawing from the G5 Sahel regional counterinsurgency force. That group was formed in 2014 with the aim of pooling resources to battle the various jihadist groups that were threatening Sahelian governments. It began deploying joint forces a couple of years later, but as you might already have concluded it's had minimal impact on the region's jihadist crisis. Mali's ruling junta quit last year, so of the original five member states only Mauritania and Nigeria still remain.ETHIOPIAOfficials in Ethiopia's Oromian regional government have accused the rebel Oromo Liberation Army of killing at least 36 civilians in attacks on three villages that took place on November 24 and 27. The OLA apparently hasn't commented and there's no confirmation of the government claim, but the alleged attacks took place not long after another round of peace talks between the OLA and Ethiopian government broke down, so it's conceivable the group decided to lash out in that moment. The OLA was formed as the military wing of the Oromo Liberation Front in the 1970s but broke away from the group's political leadership when the latter reached a peace accord with the Ethiopian government in 2018. It frequently attacks non-Oromo communities in Oromia, though authorities have only said that the victims of these attacks were Orthodox Christians without reference to ethnicity.EUROPEUKRAINERussian military operations in eastern Ukraine may have hit a couple of speed bumps over the weekend. For one thing, reports that emerged on Friday suggesting that the Russians had seized the town of Maryinka, southwest of the city of Donetsk, appear to have been a bit premature. Ukrainian forces are reportedly still in control of some parts of the town, including a coking plant, though that may change in relatively short order of course. Elsewhere, the Ukrainian military claimed on Saturday that Russian attacks on the city of Avdiivka had completely ceased for a full day. That too could change in a hurry, and indeed may already have changed by the time you read this, but it suggests the Russians were at least regrouping after spending the previous several days in what seemed like intense fighting to try to take the city.The Ukrainian government says it's investigating a claim that Russian soldiers summarily executed two surrendering Ukrainian military personnel. Details are minimal but there's a video of this alleged incident circulating on social media. Needless to say, intentionally killing surrendering soldiers is a war crime.FRANCEA knife-wielding attacker killed one German tourist and wounded two other people near Paris's Eiffel Tower late Saturday. The attacker is a French national who was on a French government “watch list,” had apparently pledged allegiance to Islamic State, and was also “known for having psychiatric disorders” according to Reuters. He cited the conflict in Gaza, among other triggers, to police after his arrest.AMERICASBRAZILBrazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said on Sunday that he has no intention of bringing Brazil into full membership in the OPEC+ bloc and would stick to “observer” status only, one day after he somewhat incoherently told reporters that he wanted to join the group of major oil producing nations to try to encourage them to stop producing oil. OPEC+ extended a membership offer to Brazil on Thursday, which I gather has raised some eyebrows given Lula's stated commitment to combating climate change. Brazil's state-owned oil company, Petrobras, is continuing to pursue new oil exploration, also despite Lula's climate change position, though he says his aim is to invest oil profits in non-fossil fuel energy alternatives (and to encourage OPEC+ nations to do likewise). Oil remains the cause of, and solution to, all of humanity's problems.VENEZUELAVenezuelans, or at least the ones who participated, apparently voted overwhelmingly in Sunday's referendum to support their country's territorial claim on western Guyana's Essequibo region. Election officials said that the vote was 95 percent in favor for all of its five clauses—the most contentious of which was a question about whether or not to declare Essequibo a new Venezuelan state and extend citizenship to its residents—though there's not much insight as to turnout. There's no indication that the Venezuelan government is planning any imminent steps to try to actualize its claim on Essequibo but the referendum has nevertheless caused some consternation in Guyana and internationally.UNITED STATESFinally, HuffPost's Akbar Shahid Ahmed offers some welcome reassurance that the worst Middle East “expert” in Washington is still central to the Biden administration's regional policy:Four men in Washington shape America's policy in the Middle East. Three are obvious: President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and national security adviser Jake Sullivan. The fourth is less well-known, despite his huge sway over the other three ― and despite his determination to keep championing policies that many see as fueling bloodshed in Gaza and beyond.His name is Brett McGurk. He's the White House coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa, and he's one of the most powerful people in U.S. national security.McGurk crafts the options that Biden considers on issues from negotiations with Israel to weapon sales for Saudi Arabia. He controls whether global affairs experts within the government ― including more experienced staff at the Pentagon and the State Department ― can have any impact, and he decides which outside voices have access to White House decision-making conversations. His knack for increasing his influence is the envy of other Beltway operators. And he has a clear vision of how he thinks American interests should be advanced, regarding human rights concerns as secondary at best, according to current and former colleagues and close observers.Indeed, even though McGurk has spent nearly 20 years giving bad advice about the Middle East to a succession of US presidents—and even though his fixation on Saudi-Israeli normalization at Palestinian expense may have helped trigger the October 7 attacks—his influence today appears to be greater than it's ever been. I'm sure that makes all of us feel a little better.Thanks for reading! Foreign Exchanges is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.foreignexchanges.news/subscribe

Um plebiscito realizado no domingo (3) aprovou a anexação da maior parte do território da Guiana à Venezuela. A consulta popular não teve caráter vinculante, ou seja, não submeteu a região guianense de Essequibo ao controle venezuelano. No entanto, a votação convocada pelo presidente Nicolás Maduro amplia a tensão entre os dois países, numa controvérsia que remonta ao período colonial. O Durma com Essa fala da história da disputa e do atual contexto político. O programa traz também Mariana Vick explicando o desastre ambiental envolvendo uma mina de sal-gema da Braskem que está afundando bairros inteiros em Maceió.Conheça nossos descontos de 60% para assinar o Nexo com o Google. É por tempo limitado!Assine o podcast: Spreaker | Apple Podcasts | Deezer | Google Podcasts | Spotify | Outros apps (RSS)Edição de áudio Pedro Pastoriz

The International Court of Justice, the UN's top court, partly sided with Guyana in a dispute with Venezuela over the potentially oil-rich Essequibo region, which Guyana controls Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The International Court of Justice has warned Venezuela to stop any action that would alter Guyana's control over a disputed territory, in the Essequibo region, days ahead of a planned referendum.And Kristin Schwab, from our American partner, Marketplace, takes a look at the history of the shopping centre or "mall" and where it stands today.