Category: Uncategorized

Evening Analysis – The Gist Taipei’s NT$1.25 trn (US $40 bn) special-budget vaults defence outlays to 3.3 % of GDP next year—double 2015 levels and on a glide-path to 5 % by 2030. The island is signalling that the price of deterrence has permanently risen; even Berlin’s €100 bn Zeitenwende looks modest on a per-capita…

Morning Intelligence – The Gist Good morning, 06:32. Venture Global’s 20-year SPA with Tokyo Gas for 1 Mtpa of U.S. LNG, inked overnight, is more than another long-dated offtake. It lifts the Louisiana exporter’s new 2025 contract haul to 7.75 Mtpa, equal to 11 % of Japan’s total LNG imports last year, and underscores how…

Evening Analysis – The Gist Good evening. Russia’s overnight strike on Kyiv—22 missiles and an extraordinary 464 drones—killed 7, wounded 21 and knocked out power or heat for 102,000 Ukrainians even as Washington-brokered talks inch toward a “refined” 28-point peace deal.(reuters.com) I read this as Moscow’s brutal negotiating tactic: scorch the grid to raise Kyiv’s…

Evening Analysis – The Gist An audacious Israeli airstrike in Beirut’s Haret Hreik suburb yesterday killed Haytham Ali Tabtabai, Hezbollah’s acting chief-of-staff, along with four others—Israel’s first strike on the Lebanese capital in months and a direct breach of the 2024 U.S-brokered cease-fire. Lebanese officials report five dead and 28 wounded; thousands thronged the streets…

Morning Intelligence – The Gist Israel’s precision strike on Beirut’s Haret Hreik yesterday, killing Hezbollah acting chief-of-staff Ali (Haytham) Tabtabai and four others, ruptures the year-old cease-fire that followed the 2023 war. Lebanon’s health ministry counts 28 wounded, while Israel frames the hit as pre-empting Hezbollah’s re-armament; Washington confirms it had no advance notice. (reuters.com)…

Evening Analysis – The Gist Israel’s precision strike on Beirut’s Haret Hreik—its first hit on the Lebanese capital in five months—killed at least 5 people and, by Israeli accounts, eliminated Hezbollah chief-of-staff Ali (Haytham) Tabtabai. Reuters, AP and the Guardian concur on the timing (23 Nov) and the casualty count, noting 25 injured and the…

Morning Intelligence – The Gist Israel’s overnight air raids, which Gaza medics say killed 20–24 people and wounded more than 80, are the most lethal breach of October’s U.S-brokered cease-fire to date. (reuters.com) The strikes expose a grim arithmetic: despite the truce, at least 316 Palestinians and three Israeli soldiers have died, keeping the monthly…

Evening Analysis – The Gist Good evening, Washington’s 28-point blueprint to end Russia’s war looks less like peacemaking than risk outsourcing. It trades Ukrainian territory, NATO ambition and force size for a promise— overseen by a “Board of Peace” chaired by Donald Trump— that Moscow will behave. Kyiv flies to Switzerland tomorrow with Europe in…

Morning Intelligence – The Gist Washington’s 28-point “peace” blueprint—pressed on Kyiv with a Thursday (Nov 27) deadline—trades territory, NATO ambitions and military size for conditional U.S. guarantees while dangling Russia’s return to the G8 and a $200 bn asset-funded reconstruction pot. President Zelenskyy warns Ukraine risks “losing its dignity or America’s support,” yet oil markets…

Evening Analysis – The Gist The G20’s first-ever African summit opens in Johannesburg under a bruising sky: Washington—still 25 % of world GDP—has confirmed it will leave its chair empty after weeks of sparring with host South Africa over alleged discrimination against white farmers. Leaders from the EU, India and Brazil are pressing ahead, arguing that…