This Week in Geopolitics
Russia advancing in Ukraine, Israel continuing operations in Gaza
Welcome reader.
This is the first post in what will be a regular series where I give you an overview of the most important events in geopolitics that happened the past week.
These post will not go into too much detail, as there will be separate posts covering specific topics.
Moreover, the traditional self defense posts will continue soon.
Lets get into it.
1. Ukraine
A major development that happened this week is the USA and Germany giving Ukraine permission to use Western supplied ordinance to hit targets within Russia.
Until now, the Ukrainians were only allowed to use Western supplied ordinance within contested Ukrainian territory.
Russian president Vladimir Putin responded to this decision, issuing a statement that this „Could cause an escalation of the current conflict and lead to a global conflict“ stating that the use of Western long range ordinance requires Ukraine to have access to Western satellites, intelligence and military support, solidifying his claim that the war in Ukraine as actually against the entire NATO alliance.
This statement is paradoxical as Russias official stance is that the occupied Ukrainian regions are part of Russia – meaning Ukraine has been using Western ordinance to strike targets in Russia since the start of the war.
On the front, it looks like Russian troops have regained their momentum. During the course of the Russian winter offensive along the entire front, Ukraine was able to take the offensive only in Crimea, using unmanned drones and forcing the Russian fleet to retreat east.
On the operational level, the six Russian groups attacked along the entire front, with the goal of forcing the Ukrainian army do deploy their strategic reserves. The tactical goal of the Russian Armed Forces was to subsequently surround and destroy those reserves.
Without going to deep onto the logistical part of the war (a topic for another post), it is pretty clear that the war is not going well for Ukraine.
The common consensus is that the Russian Winter Offensive is about the be followed by a Summer Offensive.
2. Israel
International pressure on Israel has intensified with Brazil withdrawing its ambassador to Israel and Mexico announcing it plans to join South Afrika in its lawsuit on the Internation Crimes Tribunal. Both Israel and its partner the USA have stated these pressures will not influence their policy towards Gaza.
The Chairman of the Israel National Security Council has stated they expect the military operation in Gaza to continue for 7 more months in order to eradicate Hamas in Gaza.
At least 940 000 people where displaced for the city of Rafah after Israel increased hostilities and ordered the city to be evacuated. As of now, these people have been evacuated however it is unknown where they will be resettled.
As of today (2024-06-03), an assistant to the Israel PM Benjamin Netanyahu stated that Israel is considering accepting a ceasefire proposal issued by US president Biden. Will follow how this develops.
This has been the first post in what is planned to be a new recuring series. If you want more content like this, or have some other topics you want covered, let me know in the comments.