And then there were three
Ukraine, Russia, the EU, Israel, Palestine, Iran, and Somalia.
Hello,
Here are the five things you need to know today:
UKRAINE. RUSSIA. Trump’s new troika seeks trilateral talks.
EUROPE. Brussels is caught between Scrooge and Grinch.
ISRAEL. PALESTINE. The Board of Peace launches its first development.
IRAN. The war of words begins again.
SOMALIA. Washington’s strange obsession begins to reveal itself.
Geopolitical Dispatch is a daily strategic briefing for business leaders and investors, based on the US Presidential Daily Brief. Covering five top global developments at 5 am Eastern Time, Geopolitical Dispatch gives you visibility of events in context.
UKRAINE. RUSSIA. Glass half useful
Trump's new troika seeks trilateral talks.
The Kremlin said Vladimir Putin’s meeting with Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner and Josh Gruenbaum, a White House procurement official, was “useful in every respect” and trilateral talks with the US and Ukraine would be held in Abu Dhabi.
INTELLIGENCE. The talks, which also follow a meeting between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky in Davos, will be held today, with the same triumvirate representing the US. Gruenbaum, a recent addition to the Witkoff-Kushner peace engine, is a DOGE-adjacent former investment banker. Alongside diplomat Yury Ushakov and spy Igor Kostyukov, their main Russian counterpart, Kirill Dmitriev, has a similar background in corporate and public finance.
FOR BUSINESS. Kyiv is unwilling to be third wheel in what increasingly looks like a US-Russia business deal. Zelensky maintains territorial concessions are still unresolved (as does Putin). NATO’s European members, led by Trump-whisperers Mark Rutte and Alexander Stubb, are pivoting attention to Arctic security. And while that’s understandable, it leaves Eastern Europe in the lurch. Pressure is starting on Moldova, where a Russian drone was located Thursday.
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EUROPE. Two sizes too small
Brussels is caught between Scrooge and Grinch.
Zelensky admonished Europe’s lack of will, calling it a “fragmented kaleidoscope of small and middle powers.” Donald Trump said a “total access” deal on Greenland was reached while suggesting NATO members patrol the southern border.
INTELLIGENCE. Some in Europe may feel they had the last laugh with Trump