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PaperclipPerfector  4d ago (text post)   777 thread views

Transnational Thursday for August 14, 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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Stuff I'm looking at this week:

Geopolitics

Americas

Court paves way for Trump to yank billions of dollars worth of foreign aid, concluding that aid groups lacked standing to bring the case.

US offers $5m bounty for Haitian warlord 'Barbecue'

Terrible health conditions at Alligator Alcatraz prison

US appeals court says Trump administration can cut billions in foreign aid

Europe

Musk chatbot Grok says it was 'censored' after suspension from X over Gaza posts

Children dying of hunger in Darfur's el-Fasher city

Attempted coup in Mali

Russia Has an Arsenal of New AI Drones Built with Smuggled Nvidia Chips (old news tho)

Zelenskyy: Ukraine won't cede land for peace amid US-Russia summit

European leaders unite behind Ukraine as Trump-Putin meeting nears

Europe says U.S. and Russia cannot decide on Ukraine land swaps at this week's summit

Migrants swim from Morocco to Ceuta as officials say enclave 'overwhelmed'

Middle East

Ireland intends to pass bill to ban the import of good from Israeli settlements despite US pressure

Iran

Where Next for Iran's Supreme Leader? Another review of his unstable grip on power.

Iran arrests 20 Mossad spies, executes nuclear scientist for providing classified information.

WWIII: Palantir CEO Alex Karp Says 3-Front War With Russia, China And Iran 'Very Likely'

Gaza

Israel strike kills Al Jazeera journalists in Gaza due to allegations of his leadership of a Hamas cell involved in rocket attacks.

Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly in talks with South Sudan to take Gazans

Gaza Sees Five Starvation Deaths in 24 Hours

11 more die from malnutrition in Gaza, Hamas-run health ministry says

Israel faces growing global condemnation over its plan to take over Gaza City

Gaza terrorists caught using emblem and vests of the World Central Kitchen.

'It's a horrible picture': Gaza faces new threat from antibiotic-resistant disease

Gaza health system 'catastrophic' with hospitals overwhelmed and medicines running out, WHO warns

Yemen

Yemen's Houthis say they launched 3 drone strikes inside Israel

Asia

Morning Brief: US Coast Guard Commissions First New Icebreaker in Over Two Decades; US, China Trade Accusations Over Panama Canal at UN Security Council

China's Chikungunya Outbreak Surpasses 10,000 Cases, Spreads to Taiwan

Chinese Authorities Mandating Blood Tests, Releasing Lab Mosquitoes to Fight Chikungunya Outbreak (although Epoch Times is not generally a reliable source)

A U.S. destroyer illegally entered the territorial waters of China's Huangyan Island; the Southern Theater Command lawfully and according to regulations warned and expelled it.

On August 13, Navy Colonel He Tiecheng, spokesperson for the Southern Theater Command of the People's Liberation Army, announced the unauthorized entry of the U.S. Navy destroyer "Higgins" into the territorial waters off Huangyan Island. This action was described as a serious violation of China’s sovereignty that undermines regional stability and breaches international law. The Southern Theater Command's naval forces responded by tracking, monitoring, and ultimately expelling the U.S. vessel to assert their legal authority and maintain security in the area.

Key points include the assertion that the U.S. military's activities threaten both China's sovereignty and the peace of the South China Sea. The Chinese naval forces remain vigilant and prepared to defend national interests, emphasizing a continual state of readiness against foreign military actions.

Bangladesh Braces For Potentially Devastating Dengue Outbreak As Cases Surge. The country has documented 101 deaths and over 24,183 infections so far this year

India/Pakistan

Australia To Recognise Palestinian State At UN In September

Germany invites Trump, Zelenskyy, NATO, EU leaders to virtual meeting before Trump-Putin summit

Indian court orders removal of thousands of stray dogs from Delhi region, responding to concerns about rabies. India is facing the highest rabies toll in the world, with approximately 5,700 deaths annually according to government statistics, while some estimates suggest numbers could be as high as 20,000. The stray dog population in Delhi has surged, increasing from 60,000 in 2012 to close to 1 million.

Africa

Over 2,500 cholera cases, 103 deaths recorded in Sudan's North Darfur

Nigeria Emerging As Hub For 22 Islamic Terror Groups

40 dead in Darfur as worst cholera outbreak hits Sudan

FYI there was a pretty terrible famine in Darfur in 1998

US approves potential $346 million weapons sale to Nigeria to bolster security

US imposes sanctions on Congo armed group, mining firms over illicit minerals

Tech and AI

OpenAI gold at the IOI

A U.S. destroyer illegally entered the territorial waters of China's Huangyan Island; the Southern Theater Command lawfully and according to regulations warned and expelled it.

This is the PRC government line.

Back in reality, this is one of the many islands in the South China Sea that the PRC claims but is not recognised as owning. A day prior, two Chinese ships had attempted to physically obstruct a Philippine Coast Guard ship from approaching the island. Fortunately, they only crashed into each other. Then, as often following these kinds of incidents, a US ship sailed into the waters that the PRC insistently claims belong to it (to demonstrate that the US disagrees, to show its support for others ignoring the claim, and to make the PRC look weak when they invariably do not, in fact, enforce their claimed territory).

I'm not going to follow a .cn link due to the Great Cannon, but I've heard that the Chinese media is censoring the fact that two PLAN ships crashed into each other, presumably because it's a massive pratfall. And, well, of course they're parroting the insistent PRC line that "this island belongs to China and how dare anyone else go near it". They're also falsely claiming they "expelled" the US destroyer, because they're trying to save face.

Here is an Australian article about the incident. Here is the Wikipedia article about it.

Yes, I'm quoting Chinese military news

My point is that uncritically quoting propaganda like this might mislead people.

This is a good point. I consider the above an early draft, with fewer signposts, mostly pointers to the primary sources I'm using, because The Motte can take it. Maybe you might derive other interpretations from the primary sources than what I am getting out of them. The final polished version, read by about 3K people, is here.

A Chinese navy ship collided with a Chinese coast guard vessel while pursuing a Philippines coast guard boat. Subsequently, China claimed to have expelled US warships from “Chinese territorial waters” in the South China Sea.

The link under "claimed" links to a more neutral source, because in this case it remarks:

Beijing has also pushed back what it calls infringement of its airspace and maritime waters by the US and its allies, while the latter claims it flies and sails its military assets in international airspace and waters.

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