DAILY GEOPOLITICAL INSIGHTS: The Geopolitical News Roundup & Analysis for Thursday 20th July 2023
GEOPOLITICAL INSIGHTS: The Geopolitical News Roundup & Analysis for Thursday 20th July 2023 including Putin bottles BRICS, Soaring Wheat Prices & Where is Yevgeny Prigozhin ..?
Insights By: Iain Fraser – Associate Publisher GEÓ
20th July 2023
GEOPOLITICAL INSIGHTS: Good Morning from the GEÓ Newsroom in Gibraltar. Geopolitical Insights for Thursday, 20th July 2023 While Putin and his antics sadly continue to dominate the news & intel wires – GEÓ Eyes are focussing on Putin bottles BRICS, Soaring Wheat Prices & Where is Yevgeny Prigozhin?
PUTIN BOTTLES BRICS …
THE SOUTH AFRICAN PRESIDENCY has put paid to growing speculation – Will he? Wont he? What happens if he does? Putin isn’t going to attend The SA hosted BRICS Conference but sending Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in his place and participate himself via video-link. The problem would Putin test the mettle of ICC (International Criminal Court) Arrest Warrant against him for War Crimes.
Would SA have arrested Putin under its obligations as an ICC Signatory? Insiders have said that Cyril Ramaphosa was against arresting Putin on SA soil.
BRICS is the group of emerging economies made up of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa- This years event is being hosted by South Africa in Johannesburg scheduled for 22-24 August. The bloc is seen by some (mainly the member countries!) as an alternative to the G7 group of advanced economies. This is a fluid news story – follow updates via @GEO_IntelDesk on Twitter
WHEAT PRICES SKYROCKET …
WHEAT PRICES have skyrocketed overnight on the international exchanges on the back of Vladimir Putin announcing that Russia would designate all shipping heading for Ukrainian ports as “military targets” The move follows Russia´s withdrawal from the Black Sea Grain Initiative. Commodity analysts told GEÓ Insights this morning that eyes are very much on the short, mid & long-term likelihood of an “honest broker” reinstating the Initiative.
Although Putin has said he will return to the Grain Initiative table immediately when the West “honours” its agreement with Russia which include lifting sanctions on sales of Russian grain and fertiliser and reconnecting Russia’s agricultural bank to a global payment system. This is a fluid news story – follow updates via @GEO_IntelDesk on Twitter
WHERE IS YEVGENY PRIGOZHIN ..?
Well we were on the money with our timely Tweet and Post ” BREAKING:
Russian mercenary leader in Moscow – GEO´ NewsTeam ” We were the only news website globally to verify that Prigozhin was in Moscow and post to the effect our man in Moscow was deadly accurate with his intelligence. From various queries posed on the back of our recent Quora Explainer together with “letters to the Editor” we decided to utilise our network to pinpoint Prigozhin and get up to date intelligence on his current thinking.
GEÓ FactCheck has confirmed that Prigozhin is in Belarus with his Wagner Group “military” A grainy image appears to show Prigozhin talking with one of his senior commanders. At the time of posting this edition of Insights a new video of Wagner PMC Boss Yevgeny Prigozhin is now going viral. The Wagner Boss can be seen welcoming his troops in the video, he says that his men will stay in Belarus for some time. Prigozhin also states clearly that Wagner won’t participate in the ongoing Ukraine war but would prepare for a ‘new journey to Africa’. This is a fluid news story – follow updates via @GEO_IntelDesk on Twitter
