Palestine, Libya, Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Mali, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Karabakh, Ethiopia, Yemen, Burma and other ongoing conflicts, as well as soup, pipelines and robots /osint/, /ug/, /sg/, /cwg/, /ecw/, /kzg/, /ck/, Any Forums, /sp/, /k/, Any Forums, /lit/, Any Forums, /x/, /soup general/, /townsends/, Any Forums, Any Forums, (NOT /ipg/)
>Russia/Ukraine Another shipment of US military aid to Ukraine arrived today, as per the Secretary of Defense. Russia moves blood and other medical supplies near Ukraine. >Ethiopia New tigrayan offensive launched into the Afar region of Ethiopia resulting in heavy clashes with Afar based militias. Oromo Liberation Army (OLA/ WBO) carried out an attack on Ethiopian Forces in Guji Zone, East Oromia. >Syria Syrian Democratic Forces militia demanded that about 60 ISIS militants, still holed up in a prison a week after they attacked it, "give themselves up or risk being killed". >Yemen Houthi authorities vow a massive missile and drone attack on the UAE >Sahel Malian Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop has said the country’s military-dominated government was “ruling nothing out” regarding its relations with France.
Guinea-Bissau coup: President Umaro says deadly attempt thwarted
>Guinea-Bissau’s president says he has survived an attempted coup after assailants armed with machine guns and AK-47s attacked the government palace for hours while the president and prime minister were inside. The foiled attack on Tuesday in the capital of the unstable West African country came only about two weeks after the military overthrew the democratically elected leader of Burkina Faso, underscoring fears that a recent spate of coups is inspiring others in the region.
>President Umaro Sissoco Embalo addressed reporters late on Tuesday, saying the “attack on democracy” had come during a government meeting at the building. “Our republican defence and security forces were able to stop this evil,” Embalo said, adding that the gunfire went on for five hours and that many people had been killed or injured. It was not immediately clear who was behind the assault, though the president said it “also has to do with our fight against narco-trafficking”. Guinea-Bissau became known as a transit point for cocaine between Latin America and Europe in the 2000s as traffickers profited from corruption and weak law enforcement. Embalo said some of the people involved had been arrested but he did not know how many.
>The 15-nation West African regional bloc known as ECOWAS, already grappling with three coups in member states over the last 18 months, called Tuesday’s violence a coup attempt and said it was following the situation in Bissau “with great concern”. Three countries in West Africa – Mali, Guinea and Burkina Faso – have experienced military takeovers in less than 18 months. For its part, the African Union said it was very concerned about what it also described as an attempted coup and called on the military to free detained government members.
In space race, Europe faces choice: Passenger or pilot
>"We will be on the Moon and we believe we will be living there. We will use the Moon as an economic zone. This is a new frontier," ESA director general Josef Aschbacher told the 14th European Space Congress last week in Brussels. "The big question is, do we want, as Europeans, to be part of it, or do we want to be watching others going to the Moon?" NASA is aiming to return to the Moon with its Artemis programme by 2025, while China plans to send one of its taikonauts. Europe, meanwhile, has no manned vessels to speak of, having relied on US and Russian spacecraft to take more than 30 astronauts into orbit over the years.
>The ESA's 2021 space exploration budget stood at 735 million euros ($822 million) -- just seven per cent of NASA's. Meanwhile, private-sector funding in space-related companies exceeded $10 billion last year -- an all-time high -- and investors are directing more funds to Moon projects and further from Earth's orbit, according to the McKinsey consultancy. Lacking its own vehicle, the ESA will seek to secure a spot for a European on a NASA Moon mission by proposing to develop a lunar supply lander. German astronaut Alexander Gerst warns that using private hardware could see his colleagues denied full access to data. "I see that from my colleagues who were training now for example with SpaceX with the Dragon, it's a totally different game. They are more like passengers".
>In last week's Brussels conference none of the ministerial level representatives from France, Germany or Italy -- which together put up some 60 per cent of the ESA budget -- mentioned crewed European flight as a priority.
Salang Pass WAS held by the mujahideen. Panjshir province HAS been taken over by the NA. Marshall Dostum IS planning to swoop in from the north. The Northern Alliance WILL rise again. And, insha'Alaz, the dogs of the ISI SHALL be driven out.
U.S. Orders 3,000 Troops to Bolster European Allies in Russia-Ukraine Crisis (WSJ)
>President Biden is directing the Pentagon to deploy more than 3,000 American troops to bolster the defense of European allies in the first major movement of U.S. forces in Russia’s military standoff with Ukraine, U.S. officials said. Mr. Biden is sending roughly 2,000 troops from Fort Bragg, N.C., to Poland and Germany this week and also repositioning about 1,000 troops that are part of a Germany-based infantry Stryker squadron to Romania, on the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s eastern flank closest to Russia, the officials said. In addition, the Pentagon expects to make other moves of forces inside Europe, and has ordered several thousand more troops to be on standby to deploy, beyond the 8,500 troops given similar orders last week, the officials said.
>Mr. Biden signed off on the military proposals after meeting Tuesday with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Army Gen. Mark Milley, the officials said. Mr. Austin discussed the deployments with his counterparts in Romania, Germany and Poland in the past week. While a few hundred American military trainers and special operations forces are inside Ukraine, none of the new forces have been authorized to enter the country, and all of the deployments are expected to be temporary, the officials said.
>Some of the new forces could be used in the event the U.S. military was called upon to help evacuate the roughly 30,000 Americans now living in Ukraine, the official said. Should that be needed, the official said, the troops are unlikely to be sent inside Ukraine to do so and instead would facilitate an evacuation operation by land along the Ukrainian border. Last week, Mr. Austin placed at least 8,500 U.S. troops on “prepare-to-deploy orders”.
>#NRF Mujahideen "The Wolf Squad" of the Marshal Abdul Rashid Dostum somewhere in the #Jowzjan province during their latests night attacks on the #Taliban positions. God willing! The #Resistance continues... twitter.com/FrenkieMark/status/1488492778158014465
>In the northern Afghan province of Faryab, local Uzbeks rioted on January 13 after Taliban arrested the local Taliban commander, ethnic Uzbek Makhdum Alem. It's not enough to take power, you also need to keep it, while managing not to start a new war. My take on this is.... twitter.com/Praecursator007/status/1482768632266510339
>Those are the followers of that militia Abdul Rashid Dostum. I been in Faryab during 1995. That Dostum has too much influence in that area and between Uzbek Afghans. twitter.com/Arash1314lk/status/1482773617079369736
Within Uzbekistan I think they're officially demobilized, scattered among the country but not with arms. For example, during the evacuation there one of his fighters was shot down and the uniformed forces were denied crossing, likely to avoid a pursuit into Uzbekistan. So, they cast off their uniforms and entered as civilians in other areas. They did manage to concentrate in an airbase before demobilization, who knows what goes on in that area.
Parker Walker
Chinese, French oil majors seal deal for Uganda megaproject
>Chinese and French oil giants sealed a landmark $10-billion deal on Tuesday to develop Uganda's energy resources and build a vast regional oil pipeline, a megaproject that has incensed environmental groups. The so-called Final Investment Decision was announced at a ceremony in Kampala by the heads of France's TotalEnergies and the China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC). "Today is the day we commit to invest $10 billion in the Tilenga and Kingfisher projects and the 1,443-km long pipeline," TotalEnergies chairman and CEO Patrick Pouyanne said in a statement.
>The project aims to exploit the huge crude oil reserves at Lake Albert, a 160-kilometre (100-mile) natural border between Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The oil would be pumped from landlocked Uganda through a 1,443-kilometre (900-mile) heated pipeline -– said to become the longest of its type when completed -- through Tanzania to the Indian Ocean port of Tanga. Pouyanne described the controversial pipeline as a "masterpiece" of a project, although critics charge that it threatens livelihoods and fragile ecosystems in the heart of Africa.
>Lake Albert lies atop an estimated 6.5 billion barrels of crude, of which about 1.4 billion barrels are currently considered recoverable. In Uganda, the drilling is located in several natural reserves, one of which extends to Murchison Falls, the country's largest national park. TotalEnergies, formerly Total, said last year it had taken steps to reduce the project's impact on people and the environment, but conservation groups charge it will be devastating. A consortium of Ugandan and French NGOs filed a lawsuit in 2019 against the French company accusing it of failing to abide by its legal obligations to protect the environment and the rights of the people affected by the project.
US sends message of re-engagement, tries to reassure allies after Houthi escalation against UAE
>The US says will deploy a guided-missile destroyer and fighter jets to "assist the UAE against the current threat". The announcement came after a phone call between the US defence secretary and the Abu Dhabi crown prince. Despite President Joe Biden’s vows to turn the US focus towards what his administration sees as core US challenges, including dealing with the rise of China, Washington is scrambling to signal its commitment to support its Gulf allies against the security threat posed by Iran and its Houthis proxies.
>“America will have the backs of our friends in the region," Biden told reporters after Monday's Houthi strikes against Abu Dhabi, which are considered a factor in rising global petroleum prices. The UAE, a member of the Saudi-led coalition fighting Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, suffered its third missile attack in consecutive weeks on Monday. This escalation has made Yemen one of the Middle East conflicts keeping the Biden administration and military deeply engaged in the region.
>Militarily, the United States has announced Wednesday it will deploy a guided-missile destroyer and state-of-the-art fighter jets to help defend the United Arab Emirates after a series of missile attacks by Yemeni rebels. The deployment, which aims to "assist the UAE against the current threat", follows a phone call between Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin and Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, the US embassy in the UAE said. The guided-missile destroyer USS Cole will work with the UAE Navy and make a port call in Abu Dhabi, the statement said, while the US will also deploy fifth-generation fighter planes.
