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The most likely perpetrator of the Nov. 24 Sinai mosque attack is the Islamic State's Wilayat Sinai (Sinai Province) group. The core Islamic State organization and its franchises have a long history of attacking mosques.
The Catalan parliament appointed a pro-independence regional president on May 14. In the coming months, political tensions in
#Catalonia
won't return to the levels seen in 2017. But the issue of Catalan secessionism won't be settled either.
Russia and the West Collide:
Since its emergence as an organized state, Russia has collided with the West. Russia's desire for influence is as old as the Russian state itself.
Let Stratfor inform your view of the world:
The most likely target set for a U.S. proportional strike includes the assets or bases that
#Iran
has used to conduct their recent aggressive operations, including attacks around the
#StraitOfHormuz
.
Kunlun Bank, a subsidiary of the state-owned China National Petroleum Corporation (
#CNPC
), has reportedly been assisting
#Iran
in exporting crude oil to
#China
in violation of U.S. sanctions,
@FinancialTimes
reported Aug. 4.
If the
#UnitedStates
is supporting the
#Congo
’s new president in the hopes he will overhaul his country’s politics and economy, then it might be in for a letdown.
@simongerman600
Thanks for sharing our graphic! If you're interested, we recently updated it, which you can find in our article: How Many Countries Are There in the World in 2018?
Our analysts leverage Stratfor's core geopolitical methodology to build sober and reliable intelligence-based assessments and forecasts on key trends to help members make informed decisions, identify opportunities and anticipate risks.
The likely results of votes in the coming days reduce the probability of a no-deal
#Brexit
on March 29. There's a significant chance that the Commons will either approve May's deal (leading to an orderly Brexit) or vote to delay Brexit by the end of March.
#Turkey
's expansion of energy exploration in the
#Mediterranean
is prompting
#Greece
to cautiously exercise its international maritime rights in order to protect its own claims to offshore economic resources in the region.
Any military assault on
#Iran
would be likely to trigger a regional war causing disruptions throughout the Middle East, threatening
#shipping
routes through the Red Sea and Persian Gulf and affecting global
#oil
markets. From Stratfor
#ThreatLens
.
#Russia
's defining characteristic is its indefensibility. Russian
#history
is a chronicle of the agony of surviving invasion after invasion. Learn more about the country's
#geopolitics
here:
For centuries, inland
#rivers
were the lifelines of nations and empires. Cutting from the top of Minnesota to the Gulf Coast of Louisiana, the
#Mississippi
River is (literally) central to the
#UnitedStates
and its enduring influence in the world.
The
#American
#geography
is an impressive one. The American
#Midwest
is the world's largest contiguous piece of farmland. The U.S. Atlantic Coast possesses more major ports than the rest of the Western Hemisphere combined.
#July4th
Winston
#Churchill
famously described
#Russia
’s actions in WWII as "a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma." That seems relevant today-especially regarding
#Moscow
’s aggression in
#Ukraine
. Read about the trillion-dollar question the West faces:
Reports from
@Reuter
of a potential coup in the works against Zimbabwe's long-time President Robert Mugabe. Armored personnel carriers seen rolling toward Harare and unconfirmed statements that Mugabe has been given 24 hours to resign.
#Modi
has signaled a willingness to use force to manage border tensions with
#Beijing
, which would mark a dramatic shift from
#India
’s decadeslong strategy of dialogue and deconfliction.
#Ukraine
's
#Zaporizhzhya
nuclear power plant was reconnected to the Ukrainian grid, but all reactors are shut off. The plant had to resort to backup power for the first time, thinning its defenses against a
#meltdown
. What happens next?
Thousands of
#protesters
took to the streets in
#HongKong
to rally against the
#Chinese
government's plans to impose a new national security law that would allow mainland agencies to operate more freely within the city,
@CNN
reported May 24.
"Philippine President Rodrigo
#Duterte
has been warning the United States that the
#Philippines
would exit the Visiting Forces Agreement (
#VFA
), a major bilateral defense pact, and now he has formally triggered that process."
"It's our job to make sense of that information for you. Everything from the latest
#Trump
tweet to the latest economic data out of
#China
." --
@RevaGoujon
explaining new features of
#StratforEnterprise
.
Find out more here:
The city of Sao Paulo declared a state of emergency on May 25 as truckers protesting rising fuel prices continued to block major highways in Brazil for a fifth day,
@Reuters
reported.
During this period of global uncertainty, we are helping you keep up to date with RANE's Daily
#Coronavirus
Digest which is FREE with your subscription to Stratfor Worldview. This is a daily consolidated source of aggregate information produced by RANE.
The U.S. government is considering blocking foreign companies and individuals from conducting business with Venezuela's state-owned energy firm Petroleos de Venezuela (
#PDVSA
).
As its relationship with Washington cools in
#2018
,
#Pakistan
will enhance its diplomatic and security outreach to
#Russia
and
#Iran
. Learn the limits of those partnerships in Stratfor's ANNUAL FORECAST:
Stratfor Vice President of Global Analysis
@RevaGoujon
highlights some key geopolitical trends for the coming year. And for a full look at what to expect in 2018, check out Stratfor's Annual Forecast.
In announcing the
#cyberattack
in retaliation for
#Iran
's attack on a U.S. drone, the
#UnitedStates
has announced to the rest of the world that it will make full use of its
#cyberspace
capabilities and will carry out offensive operations if need be.
People are borrowing record amounts of
#money
. How we will view money — and how that perception will evolves — is one of 8 major forces shaping the future of the global
#economy
according to our partners
@VisualCap
.
#OTD
, 1944, Allied forces from the United States, United Kingdom and Canada launched the largest seaborne invasion in
#history
by landing nearly 160,000 troops on the beaches of
#Normandy
. Since then, amphibious assaults have been exceedingly rare.
#DDay
Geographically speaking,
#Russia
is operating from an inherently weak position. Its dilemma: It must expand to survive, but that expansion is unsustainable and has led to its collapse. More on its historical boom-and-bust cycle. From 2016.
Aligning with Greece and Cyprus, as well as with Israel and Italy, better positions
#Egypt
to challenge chief rival
#Turkey
in any disputes over future
#oil
and natural gas discoveries in the eastern
#Mediterranean
.
@emmleeclaire
explains.
For every U.S.
#tech
giant, there's an equivalent Chinese firm quietly posting explosive growth numbers and gaining on their competitors on the other side of the world. Our partners
@VisualCap
explain.
#SaudiArabia
has frozen a deal between
#Egypt
and
#Germany
for four MEKO A200 corvettes that was signed in September 2018. The contract, worth $2 billion, was in large part financed by Saudi Arabia.
@LaTribune
For
#Poland
, the prospect of warm energy ties through the
#NordStream2
pipeline between two of its historical foes,
#Germany
and
#Russia
, has obliged it to approach a massive outside power: the United States.
Specifically,
#Putin
presented
#Russia
's new group of weapons that includes
#hypersonic
glide vehicles, hypersonic missiles and a nuclear-powered cruise missile, which he says has a practically unlimited range. Why there's hype around this weaponry.
#Russia
's defense budget has taken a big hit, with spending reportedly dropping 20% between 2016 and 2017. It suggests that economic troubles have put a dent in Moscow's
#military
aspirations. So what will the Kremlin prioritize?
An
#S400
could be a formidable threat to a limited enemy incursion, but even a full battalion only has around 8 missile launchers. If acting in isolation, it's not likely to withstand a determined onslaught. This is especially true in the
#MiddleEast
.
Attempts by the Democratic Republic of the
#Congo
's new administration to fulfill its 2018 campaign promise and crack down on graft and
#corruption
would elicit countermeasures from the old regime.
The
#IslamicState
may be down in
#Syria
, but it is not out, as evidenced by the damage its operatives, disguised as Russian soldiers, did to a loyalist air base.
An Iranian attack on
#Israel
could break already fraying Iranian-European ties, which Tehran is attempting to salvage. This means any escalation between Israel and
#Iran
is a low-probability, high-risk event.
Proxy battles across the Middle East will intensify in
#2018
as the US,
#SaudiArabia
&
#Israel
close ranks against
#Iran
. Learn what geopolitical risks are ahead in Stratfor's ANNUAL FORECAST: