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PaperclipPerfector  4mo ago (text post)   774 thread views

Transnational Thursday for July 31, 2025

Transnational Thursday is a thread for people to discuss international news, foreign policy or international relations history. Feel free as well to drop in with coverage of countries you’re interested in, talk about ongoing dynamics like the wars in Israel or Ukraine, or even just whatever you’re reading.

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Some items I'm looking at this week, as always provided on a best-effort basis.

Geopolitics

Americas

Drug cartel operatives from Mexico and Colombia joined the International Legion in Ukraine to gain experience with first person view drone usage.

Trump says Russia has '10 days from today' to end Ukraine war, or face penalties

Europe

UK threatens to recognize Palestine as a state

UK prisoners are bringing goods into jail via drone

Niger signs a nuclear cooperation deal with Russia

Chikungunya spreads from Indian Ocean islands

Spain and Greece are facing a health alert due to rising cases of Crimean Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF), an illness with a mortality rate of about 30%

Middle East

Gaza

Israeli military announces 'tactical pause' to Gaza attacks amid mounting global pressure

At least 46 Palestinians killed by Israeli fire in Gaza, officials say, as hunger crisis grinds on

Aid trucks resume flow from Egypt to Gaza via Rafah crossing for 3rd consecutive day

Trump's envoy meets Netanyahu for Gaza aid push

Testimony of a former employee of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation paints them as deliverately shooting into crowds.

Marjorie Taylor Greene labels Israel's actions as genocide

Egypt, UAE, Jordan airdrop aid over Gaza

Israeli army says 52 aid packages airdropped in Gaza

Famine threshold reached in Gaza

Yemen

Yemen's Houthis said on Sunday they would target any ships belonging to companies that do business with Israeli ports, regardless of their nationalities

Asia

Canada intends to recognise a Palestinian state in September

Taiwan is building up its drone capacity (but reporting doesn't point out how they will just be built by China)

Africa

Militant islamic groups have reportedly killed 155K people over the last decade

Cholera outbreaks in Africa

Attacks in Kordofan states (Sudan) cause hundreds of deaths, mass displacement and the collapse of essential services

Cholera Rampant Among Displaced and Refugees in Darfur and Eastern Chad

Bio

"Article looking at AI drug discovery. Much has been made about the potential for AI to produce pandemics, but they also make defense easier.

Tech and AI

Hierarchical reasoning might be a new architecture that does better.

New powerful open source models

Ah, I remember a period when people in India, overly indexing on the name, thought Chikungunya was spread by poultry.

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