Important Takeaways:
- London and Paris want to create a “core of allies in Europe” as fears intensify that President-elect Donald Trump could withdraw military support for Ukraine.
- President-elect Donald Trump is alleged to have told his team European armies should patrol an 800-mile stretch of eastern Ukraine to end the war.
- A member of Mr. Trump’s team told the Wall Street Journal: “We can do training and other support but the barrel of the gun is going to be European. We are not sending American men and women to uphold peace in Ukraine.
- “And we are not paying for it. Get the Poles, Germans, British and French to do it.”
- Sources in the US said Trump is considering calling for the current frontline to be frozen and Ukraine agree not to try join NATO for 20 years.
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Important Takeaways:
- The new Chinese-controlled port in Peru is part of Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s strategy to outflank the United States by establishing a maritime and land corridor linking China to Latin America.
- As the Biden administration winds to a close, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is aggressively expanding its influence in South America. On Nov. 14, Xi Jinping and Peruvian President Dina Boluarte inaugurated a $3.6 billion port in Chancay, Peru, marking another major step in China’s economic foothold in the region.
- Earlier this year, Boluarte traveled to Beijing to strengthen Sino–Peruvian ties, cementing Peru’s position as the second-largest recipient of Chinese foreign direct investment in Latin America. Notably, this includes China Southern Power Grid’s acquisition of Peru’s electricity distribution, placing 100 percent of this critical infrastructure under CCP control.
- In stark contrast, the White House failed to engage Boluarte during her 2023 visit to Washington, missing a key opportunity to counter Beijing’s growing influence. The port inauguration coincided with the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Lima, where U.S. President Joe Biden and leaders from 21 member economies convened. The timing underscores a stark reality: while the United States watched from the sidelines, the CCP was actively drawing Latin America deeper into its orbit, delivering a clear and humiliating message to the United States about its waning influence in the region.
- The Chinese shipping giant COSCO owns a 60 percent stake in Peru’s Chancay port, which will serve as a critical node in China’s Belt and Road Initiative and its first logistics hub in the Americas. Strategically positioned, the port grants China access to Peru’s abundant copper reserves—essential for dominating global markets in electric vehicles and data centers. Equipped with cutting-edge technology, including automated cranes and driverless electric trucks, the port’s scale and proximity to the United States have raised serious concerns about potential military use by the Chinese People’s Liberation Navy.
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Important Takeaways:
- Travel is kicking into high gear across the US this week as tens of millions of people prepare to head out for the Thanksgiving holiday.
- And while the FOX Forecast Center expects some potential disruptions at the beginning and toward the middle of the week, bigger issues may arise for those journeys back home — especially in the Northeast.
- Significant travel disruptions aren’t expected with this low-impact storm, and the FOX Forecast Center expects any winter weather to be confined near the Canadian border and in the Great Lakes region.
- Winter weather advisories were in effect Monday morning across portions of the Upper Midwest and northern New England as a result of this first storm system.
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Important Takeaways:
- Winter storm warnings and advisories are in place across 14 states, with up to 7 feet of snow set to hit some mountain areas, bringing travel chaos just before Thanksgiving.
- The six warnings cover parts of Colorado, Idaho, Alaska, California, Oregon and Nevada, while advisories cover areas in Michigan, Maine, Wyoming, New York, Wisconsin, Vermont, New Mexico and Minnesota. Many will be in place until Wednesday, on a week when millions of Americans are planning to travel to celebrate Thanksgiving with their families.
- Hanford’s National Weather Service (NWS) office forecast that snow could accumulate up to 7 feet in the highest mountains in central California, while Las Vegas’ National Weather Service (NWS) office forecast that around 6 feet of snow will accumulate at the highest peaks in the Eastern Sierra slopes in Nevada, as wind gusts reach 40 mph.
- Meanwhile, in Colorado, Denver’s office warned about “significant travel disruptions and road closures” with snow “relatively persistent” from Monday to late on Wednesday evening.
- In California, where a storm warning covers a central part of the state, roads “and especially bridges and overpasses” are expected to become “slick and hazardous” making travel “very difficult to impossible.”
- An advisory covering portions of northern New York and central and eastern Vermont has also warned about difficult travel, with “icy road conditions” expected to “impact the Tuesday morning commute.”
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Important Takeaways:
- The United States is drawing up contingency plans for military deployments in Japan and the Philippines in case of an emergency over Taiwan, Japan’s Kyodo news agency reported.
- A US Marine regiment which possesses the multiple-launch HIMARS (High Mobility Artillery Rocket System) would be deployed along Japan’s Nansei island chain stretching from Kyushu to Yonaguni near Taiwan, Kyodo said.
- From an early stage, if a Taiwan contingency becomes highly imminent, temporary bases will be set up on inhabited islands based on US military guidelines for dispatching marines in small formations to several locations, the report added.
- Japan’s military is expected to mainly engage in logistical support for the marine unit, including supplying fuel and ammunition, it said.
- Kyodo added that the US Army would deploy Multi-Domain Task Force long-range fire units in the Philippines.
- Asked about the report on Monday, Beijing’s foreign ministry said that Taiwan is an “inalienable part of China’s territory”.
- “China firmly opposes relevant countries using the Taiwan issue as an excuse to strengthen regional military deployment, provoke tension and confrontation, and damage regional peace and stability,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said.
- China is building up its military capacity while ramping up pressure on self-governed Taiwan.
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Important Takeaways:
- A top NATO military official on Monday urged businesses to be prepared for a wartime scenario and adjust their production and distribution lines accordingly, in order to be less vulnerable to blackmail from countries such as Russia and China.
- “If we can make sure that all crucial services and goods can be delivered no matter what, then that is a key part of our deterrence,” the chair of NATO’s military committee, Dutch Admiral Rob Bauer, said in Brussels.
- Speaking at an event of the European Policy Centre think tank, he described deterrence as going far beyond military capability alone, since all available instruments could and would be used in war.
- “We’re seeing that with the growing number of sabotage acts, and Europe has seen that with energy supply,” Bauer said.
- “We thought we had a deal with Gazprom, but we actually had a deal with Mr. Putin. And the same goes for Chinese-owned infrastructure and goods. We actually have a deal with (Chinese President) Xi (Jinping).”
- Bauer noted western dependencies on supplies from China, with 60% of all rare earth materials produced and 90% processed there. He said chemical ingredients for sedatives, antibiotics, anti-inflammatories and low blood pressure medicines were also coming from China.
- “We are naive if we think the Communist Party will never use that power. Business leaders in Europe and America need to realize that the commercial decisions they make have strategic consequences for the security of their nation,” Bauer stressed.
- “Businesses need to be prepared for a wartime scenario and adjust their production and distribution lines accordingly. Because while it may be the military who wins battles, it’s the economies that win wars.”
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Important Takeaways:
- World ‘very close to point of no return’ – Scott Ritter
- Russia’s new Oreshnik missile is a “qualitative advancement” showing that Moscow is ready to “mirror” any Western escalation, the former UN weapons inspector has said
- Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the country’s military successfully hit a Ukrainian target with a new intermediate-range ballistic missile called the Oreshnik. The strike was a response to Kiev using US-made ATACMS and HIMARS systems, as well as British-made Storm Shadow missiles in strikes on internationally-recognized Russian territory earlier this week, he added.
- The missile launch is a clear signal to the West that Moscow was not bluffing when it said the US and its allies would not get away with aiding Kiev in striking Russia with Western-made weapons, Ritter argued.
- “The missile that they used is a nuclear-capable system. It had a conventional warhead but could be used for nuclear purposes. Putin basically said that this missile can cover all of Europe and that in the future, he will mirror every action by Ukraine and the West; that any escalation will immediately be responded to,” Ritter told the host of Judging Freedom, Andrew Napolitano.
- The former UN weapons inspector also called the development a “qualitative advancement” that brought a completely new type of weapon to the conflict between Moscow and Kiev. Everyone who believed that Russia was bluffing “has now been put on notice” that it is not, he added.
- A continuation of the current Western policy towards the Ukraine conflict and Russia would be dangerous and irresponsible under such circumstances, Ritter believes. “We are very, very close to reaching the point of no return when it comes to a nuclear war,” he warned.
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Important Takeaways:
- Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Mark Warner says he’s stunned by the scope of China’s breach into the U.S. telecommunications system, which went further than was described by the Biden administration.
- “The barn door is still wide open, or mostly open,” the Virginia Democrat told The New York Times on Thursday. “We’ve not found everywhere they are.”
- The Chinese hackers, which Microsoft named Salt Typhoon, have been able to monitor Americans’ cell phone calls and texts, including those made by people such as President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect J.D. Vance.
- Warner, a former telecommunications executive, said that it can’t be concluded that the hackers are now blocked from the nation’s systems or whether investigators know how deep the breach reached.
- Chinese hackers have been a concern for two decades, but their recent activity has taken the problem to new levels, Warner said.
- “This is far and away the most serious telecom hack in our history,” Warner said. “This makes Colonial Pipeline and SolarWinds look like small potatoes,” he added, referring to Russia’s intrusions into U.S. security.
- He added that investigators must be allowed to continue their work to learn the extent of the hacking, and that the public must understand that the Chinese were targeting far more than just Washington targets.
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Important Takeaways:
- A volcano near Iceland’s capital erupted on Wednesday night, becoming the seventh such event in the area since December.
- The length of the fissure on the volcano, located in Iceland’s Reykjanes Peninsula in the southwest of the country, is estimated to be approximately 3 kilometers (1.9 miles), according to the Icelandic Met Office.
- The eruption began shortly after 11 p.m. local time Wednesday, with a Met Office update three hours later saying the fissure seemed to have stopped expanding.
- Air traffic to and from Iceland was operating normally on Thursday, according to Iceland’s official tourism website, which said the eruption was significantly smaller than the last one, which occurred in the area on August 22, when a 4-kilometer (2.5-mile) fissure opened.
- A geothermal power plant and the two hotels at the world-famous Blue Lagoon were evacuated. The Blue Lagoon has been repeatedly forced to close due to volcanic activity over the past year.
- “The eruption is in the same place as the last one in August this year. The town of Grindavík is not threatened by lava flow,” Snorri Valsson, a spokesperson for the Icelandic Tourist Board, told CNN on Thursday.
- “This was expected. The few people… 60 people… in town have been evacuated, as well as the Svartsengi Power Plant and the two hotels at the Blue Lagoon – the Blue Lagoon itself was empty at the time, as it started after closing hours.”
- Since January 2020, there have been 10 eruptions on Iceland’s Reykjanes Peninsula.
- Iceland has a population of nearly 400,000 and is one of the world’s most active volcanic areas. It lies on the constantly active geologic border between North America and Europe. Last year, Iceland experienced more than 1,000 earthquakes in a 24-hour period.
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Important Takeaways:
- President-elect Donald Trump has quickly moved to nominate a new attorney general after his first choice, Rep. Matt Gaetz, withdrew amid controversy
- Trump has selected former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi for the role.
- Bondi, who previously served two terms as Florida’s attorney general, has already received endorsements from key Republican senators, including Missouri Sen. Eric Schmitt. Schmitt congratulated Bondi on social media, calling her “an incredible attorney general.”
- Florida Sen. Rick Scott also voiced his support, praising Bondi’s track record of keeping the state safe.
- Gaetz announced his withdrawal after facing a House Ethics Committee investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct, drug use, and payments to underage women. Gaetz has denied the charges, but he cited concerns about becoming a distraction to Trump’s transition process.
- Bondi, a member of Trump’s transition team, expressed her pride in being part of the effort to surround the incoming president with “the brightest and best people.” Trump wasted no time in announcing Bondi’s nomination, hoping to stabilize the transition process after Gaetz’s unexpected exit.
- Meanwhile, another of Trump’s recent nominees, Pete Hegseth, faces allegations of sexual misconduct stemming from 2017. Hegseth, nominated to head the Department of Defense, has denied the accusations. “The matter was fully investigated, and I was completely cleared,” Hegseth told reporters, declining to comment further.
- In other political news, the GOP has secured a confirmed Senate victory in Pennsylvania, with challenger Dave McCormick officially winning a recount, giving Republicans 53 seats in the U.S. Senate.
- The Republican Party is now expected to push ahead with Trump’s agenda. South Dakota Sen. Mike Rounds has already introduced a bill aimed at fulfilling Trump’s promise to abolish the Department of Education.
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