GLOBAL NEWS FLASHES EXCERPTS (w/c: 08MAR2021)
SOURCED BY: BBC News, Fox News, Al Jazeera
Erzikistan Announces Exclusive Trade Partnership with Iran, Exchanges Goods for Economic, Political, and Military Support- On 16FEB21, as NATO reviewed its strategic framework with Russia and China, Iranian and Erzikistanian fighter jets launched partner drills over the contested airspace near Airbase Minnesota, south of Iran and the forever contended Persian Gulf. They are to soon be joined by Chinese anti-air units, reportedly delayed by the Chinese New Year festival, in order to conduct joint exercises over the continential deserts.
- The drills highlight the global war tensions that are at explosive levels as the United States President James Thomas Richardson took office in January of this year. These are the third such exercises in as many years, continuing a format inaugurated by joint Iranian-Erzikistanian-Chinese "Silk Road Security Belt” drills held in December 2019.
- “We are in the midst of a fundamental debate about the future direction of our world,” President Richardson said in his speech to NATO counterparts about planning potential counter-exercises within the Persian Gulf. However, a senior administration official said Thursday that the U.S. was not seeking the creation of diplomatic blocs or a new Cold War against Iran or China in Central Asia, but instead would argue that industrialized democracies would succeed in the inevitable competition with China if they coordinated effectively in the Pacific and Atlantic Rims.
- In exchange for diplomatic promises for economic, political, and military support against NATO, Erzikistan has granted Iranian and Chinese temporary rights to their northeastern military bases, which had been granted back to the Erzikistanian government during NATO draw-down in 2018. These bases had been secured by NATO forces in the primary and secondary offensives in 2016, including Incirkli International Airport.
Chernarus Secures Exclusive Drilling Rights in the Western Black Sea, Signs Export Agreement with the EU- In late August, Chernarusian Prime Minister Piyyat Nagodre announced that the Chernarusian Petroleum Exploration Corporation's drilling ship DREYAT discovered a 320 billion cubic meters of natural gas reserves in the Black Sea. NATO and EU members, having recently concluded operations from Operation Watchtower, have agreed to grant Chernarus an Exclusive Economic Zone that includes the natural gas reserves in exchange for exclusivity over any exports.
- The potential natural resources field in the Exclusive Economic Zone was pinged and verified by sonar and mineral extraction at an approximate depth of 2 kilometers. News of the discovery has been enthusiastically welcomed by the Chernarusian leadership and was hailed as a game-changer, capable of finally negating the country's continual and reoccuring socio-economic instability that has lead to two NATO military stablization operations within the past decade.
- The Chernarusian government announced an ambitious plan to begin production and delivery by 2025 with a generous loan from the World Trade Office guaranteed by the United States and German governments. Yet, the fanfare may be premature due to obstacles both economic and geological, considering the extreme depths of the reserve as well as the objectively stringent terms of repayment that the German and American foreign affairs' departments insisted during negotiations.
Terrorism Attacks Surge in Eastern Finland, Finnish Defense Forces “beyond strained” amid deteriorating COVID regulations and civil unrest- Finnish officials declared an indefinite national state of emergency as infections from more contagious coronavirus variants surged amongst southern cities and rural communes. Despite the rising popularity of the Finnish militia group, Suvereenit Suomen Joukot (Sovereign Finland Forces), who're ideological opposed to any further Russian interjection in the southern Finnish marshes, Finnish Prime Minister Laina Virtanen reached out to Russia for additional economic loans to stabilize southern industrial ports and warehouses, the worst hit by the pandemic.
- Faced with both praise and criticism for remaining apart of the EU amid the positive national reception to Brexit, Prime Minister Virtanen enjoyed a close personal relationship with Russian President Basuda, being the first women to represent Finnish and Russian heads of states. However, both women are suffering a plummeting approval rating across their respective publics and coalitions, mostly resulting from resource and goods shortages and a snowballing loss in financial confidence in the countries over a series of failed businesses and corporations that stem from the COVID pandemic.
- The state of emergency authorizes the government to curtail travel between regions and force students or dependents within cities to return to their often rural family homes. It also activitates the Suojelupollisi (SUPO) to quell any continued labour strikes or respond to credible terrorist threats. The far more industrial and urbanized areas in north Finland, where Finnish Defense Forces have been deployed to augment local police forces, have stretched the countries' capacity to the max. This, at a time where continued uprisings, rising discontent, and rumors of coordinated rebellion, bode ill for the long-term Prime Minister and her rusting cabinent.
These published news excerpts are the fictional works of the S-2 Intelligence Team of the 506th IRRU.
