Things We Lost In The Mire - 14

USA/KOREA – The USA and South Korea began their annual military field exercise on Sunday after being delayed by the Winter Olympics. The Foal Eagle and Key Resolve drills are expected to include about 23,700 U.S. troops and 300,000 South Korean forces in a month-long exercise. Key Resolve is a computer simulation drill that lasts 2 weeks.

SOMALIA/AL SHABAAB – The Islamist militant group al Shabaab set off several car bombs and attacked African Union troops at a base southwest of Mogadishu on Sunday. Al Shabaab said 14 of its fighters and 59 troops were killed.

COMING UP – Emmanuelle Macron’s world is about to get more difficult. After a couple of recent foreign policy setbacks, he’s now facing what could grow to be a wave of union unrest at home.  President Erdogan hosts his Russian and Iranian counterparts to discuss Syria, which underlines that the US is a player, but not a major player in the conflict. The new Zimbabwean President’s trip to China underlines who the major foreign power in Zimbabwean politics is, the visit of the leader of Nepal to India is in a similar vein albeit geographically closer. Hungary’s election on Sunday will show us how far to the right the country now is.

DIARY 

Mon –  Results of Egypt’s presidential election expected. Sisi wins….

Tues – US President Trump meets Estonian President Kaljulaid and Lithuanian President Grybauskaite.

Tues – Strikes planned in France to protest President Macron’s labour reforms.

Tues – Turkey’s President Erdogan hosts Russian President Putin.

Tues – Zimbabwe’s President Mnangagwa visits China. To Fri.

Weds – Erdogan meets with Putin and Iran’s President Rouhani to discuss Syria.

Weds – Russian navy to perform missile tests in the Baltic Sea near Latvia’s exclusive economic zone.

Weds – Annual Moscow Conference on International Security. 2 days.

Weds – Sudan hosts trilateral talks with Egypt and Ethiopia re the Grand Renaissance Dam.

Thurs – Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov meets with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Moscow.

Fri –  Nepal’s recently elected prime minister, Khadga Prasad Oli, upholds tradition by visiting India as 1st foreign trip.

Fri – Pakistani PM Abbasi visits Kabul to meet Afghan President Ghani

Sun –  Parliamentary elections in Hungary.

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