World Briefing: March 14, 2025
Read my New York Times OpEd, published today. Click here
China is rapidly expanding ocean exploration in waters far beyond its shores, sending out a fleet of vessels whose research offers Beijing valuable military intelligence as it expands its naval reach and menaces U.S. allies. China’s fleet has triggered protests from Japan, India and others, but that hasn’t stopped Beijing from launching long missions to map the sea floor. The data they obtain has numerous applications, from science to the emerging industry of deep-sea mining, but it is the Chinese government’s commandeering of civilian research for military use that threatens American allies - WSJ
Russia says there is "cautious optimism" over a ceasefire deal with Ukraine, but there is "a lot ahead to be done.” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov reiterates that Vladimir Putin still needs answers, after the Russian president raised several questions about how a US-brokered truce would work. US envoy Steve Witkoff met with Putin on Thursday, the Kremlin confirms - and is now on his way back to the US with information to pass to President Donald Trump. Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Putin's response was "manipulative" and called for more sanctions on Russia to force a deal. Both Russia and Ukraine reported new enemy drone attacks late on Thursday and overnight - with several injured in Kharkiv and an oil facility hit in Russia's south - BBC
“You are there and you are not alive”
The U.S. is poised to resume shipments to Ukraine of long-range bombs known as Ground-Launched Small Diameter Bombs (GLSDB), after they were upgraded to better counter Russian jamming, two people familiar with the weapon told Reuters. The munitions will arrive amid reports that Ukraine's supply of similarly-ranged Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) has been depleted. The glide-bombs were purchased under the U.S. administration of former President Joe Biden using the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative. The U.S. has bought nearly $33.2 billion worth of new arms and military equipment for Kyiv directly from U.S. and allied defense contractors. President Donald Trump's administration agreed on Tuesday to resume military aid and intelligence sharing with Ukraine after Kyiv said it was ready to support Washington's proposal for a 30-day ceasefire with Russia. In recent weeks, 19 GLSDBs were test-fired to assess the effectiveness of the upgrades. Part of the modifications involved reinforcing connections within the weapon to enhance its resilience, the people said.
15-day nightmare: A Venezuelan man who was deported from the US and held at Guantanamo Bay described the experience as “hell.” Human rights groups say the naval base in Cuba is not appropriate for housing migrants. With his hands and feet handcuffed, tied leg to leg with other detainees, José Daniel Simancas Rodríguez was put on a plane. He says he was told he would go to Miami. Hours later, when they landed, Simancas and his fellow passengers were transferred to a bus with the windows covered by bags. By then he already suspected where he had arrived: Guantanamo. What he did not imagine was that this was just the beginning of a nightmare that would last 15 days. Simancas was one of 177 Venezuelans deported by the United States who had been transferred to the US naval base in Cuba, a measure criticized by human rights organizations who say the base is not appropriate for housing migrants. He says he can attest to these complaints: in the place where they locked him up, there was barely a sheet and pillow, they gave him almost no food and he was completely isolated, Simancas told CNN. The only sound that accompanied him during what he describes as “hell” were the screams of the other prisoners. The experience was so unbearable that, he says, he even thought about suicide. Although at some point he had been told that he would be deported, the 30-year-old Venezuelan feared that he would never see his five children again. “I had already completely given up,” he recalls. “That’s what torture is, confinement. You are not alive. You are there and you are not alive, where you don’t know if it is day or night, you don’t really know the time, you are eating poorly, every day that you are there you are dying little by little. I cried every day during those 15 days.” - CNN
Azerbaijan and Armenia said Thursday that they had wrapped up talks aimed at resolving the Caucasus neighbours' decades-long conflict, with both sides agreeing on the text of a possible treaty. A deal to normalise ties would be a major breakthrough in a region where Russia, the European Union, the United States and Turkey all jostle for influence. Baku and Yerevan fought two wars for control of Azerbaijan's Armenian-populated region of Karabakh, at the end of the Soviet Union and again in 2020, before Azerbaijan seized the entire area in a 24-hour offensive in September 2023. Both Armenia and Azerbaijan have repeatedly said a comprehensive peace deal to end their long-standing conflict is within reach, but previous talks had failed to reach consensus on a draft agreement - France 24
A prominent France-based Syrian activist has been killed in Deraa, Syria, only days after he returned to his hometown. Nour Al-Din Labad, a former Syrian diplomat who defected from the Assad regime in the early years of the civil war, was killed on Tuesday by unidentified gunmen. Mr Labad, who held a doctorate in French literature and lived in exile in France, had become the opposition coalition Syrian National Council representative during the civil war. He returned to his hometown of Sanamayn in Deraa recently, despite security concerns and clashes between the government’s forces and militias linked to Muhsin Al Haimad, a former Assad regime loyalist who has entrenched his men in the southern province. The killing was confirmed by Mr Labad's associate Bashar Hajj Ali, a Brussels-based representative of the SNC, who said the funeral took place on Wednesday. - The National
