Venezuela activates oil business units in an area disputed with Guyana, intensifying the dispute over the Esequibo.

https://cutt.ly/CBAN50VTR

⚓️ 🇺🇸 🇾🇪 The Washington Examiner reports that the United States and the United Kingdom have moved sensitive air and naval assets near Yemen. These movements indicate preparation for possible strikes against Houthi forces in that country.

🔶️ The Washington Examiner is not disclosing the identity of the military forces now positioned closer to Yemen, but they include both strike and supporting platforms the deployment of which has not publicly been disclosed

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/new-force-movements-suggest-us-and-uk-strikes-against-houthis-increasingly-likely

📎 Faytuks

🇵🇱🏳️‍🌈 Poland to Fast-Track Gay Marriage?

Poland’s new Europhile government may be poised to fast-track the legalisation of same-sex marriage following a legal diktat from the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).

The Strasbourg-based ECHR issued their verdict on Tuesday, declaring that current Polish statutes, which recognize marriage as between a man and a woman, violate the “right to respect for private and family life” outlined under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights in a six-to-one decision.

The ECHR, which is often accused of being a technocratic body used to impose socially liberal values on European nation-states, made the decision in response to a challenge by five same-sex couples.

This is not the first time the ECHR has been accused of meddling in the affairs of sovereign nations around LGBT issues. In 2010, the Court was instrumental in strongarming the Italian government into recognising same sex partnerships with the similarly worded Oliari v. Italy case.

The ruling on same-sex partnerships heralded by this week’s ECHR decision could be the opening salvo in a range of liberal policies to be enacted under the new Tusk government. The newly installed PM has said LGBT recognition would be a major symbolic victory over the old PiS regime despite Tusk having minimised abortion and other social issues during the campaign trail.

🔗 https://europeanconservative.com/articles/news/poland-to-fastrack-gay-marriage/

🇲🇾 ❌️ 🇮🇱 Malaysia has banned Israeli ships from docking in their ports and passing through their waters.

🔶️ "This sanction is a response to Israel’s actions that disregard the basic humanitarian principles and violate international law through the ongoing massacre and continuous cruelty against the Palestinian people.”

✒️ Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim

📎 MintPress News

— 🇮🇱 Ben-Gvir: 'Now is the time for decisions' (regarding war against Hezbollah) - Twitter

@Middle_East_Spectator

— 🇺🇸/🇾🇪 NEW: Today, the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff will present several options to President Biden for military action against the Houthis in Yemen - Informed Sources

@Middle_East_Spectator

— 🇮🇷/🇵🇸 NEW: Iranian Foreign Minister Amir Abdollahian met with Hamas' political chief Ismael Haniyeh in Doha

@Middle_East_Spectator

— 🇨🇳/🇹🇼/🇺🇸 BREAKING: Chinese President Xi Jinping recently informed Biden that Beijing will reunify Taiwan with mainland China, but the timing has not yet been decided, according to U.S. Officials - NBC

@Middle_East_Spectator

— 🇺🇸/🇮🇱/🇾🇪 Leader of Ansarullah, Abdul Malik Badr Al-Deen Al-Houthi: 'Since the very beginning we have been wishing for a direct war against the U.S. and Israel, this is a beloved thing for us and we have been dreaming of it, to fight them directly instead of fighting their mercenaries'

@Middle_East_Spectator

🇾🇪🇺🇸⚡Seyyed Badruldeen: If the US attacks our country, we will target American battleships with our missiles.

🚩 @ResistanceTrench

🇾🇪🇺🇸⚡Seyyed Badruldeen: If the Americans want to fight our people, they will face a harsher situation than what they faced in Afghanistan and Vietnam.

🚩 @ResistanceTrench

🚢 🇬🇷 🇾🇪 Greek Ship Owners Advised To Avoid Red Sea

⬛️ Greek ship-owners control about 20% of the world’s commercial vessels in terms of carrying capacity.

🔶️ The attacks have started to take a toll on global trade and prompted the United States to launch a multinational operation (Operation Prosperity Guardian) to safeguard commerce in the Red Sea.

🔶️ Greece is in talks with European Union and U.S. officials and stands ready to participate in any international initiative for maritime security, government officials said on Wednesday, citing Greek Shipping Minister Christos Stylianides.

https://gcaptain.com/greek-ship-owners-red-sea-attacks/

🇪🇺 'Historic day': EU strikes major deal to reform migration policy after three years of bitter debates. Member states and the European Parliament reached a preliminary deal on the New Pact on Migration and Asylum.

Negotiations focused on a vast and complex array of open questions that required compromises on both sides, such as detention periods, racial profiling, unaccompanied minors, search-and-rescue operations and border surveillance.

The Council, led by the Spanish presidency, defended a rigid position to give member states the widest margin of manoeuvre to handle migration, including by extending a proposed fast-tracked asylum procedure to as many claimants as possible, while the Parliament insisted on stricter provisions to respect fundamental rights. The European Commission also took part, providing assistance and guidance.

The laws, known as the New Pact on Migration and Asylum, were first unveiled in September 2020 in an attempt to turn the page on decades of ad-hoc crisis management, which saw governments take unilateral and uncoordinated measures to cope with a steep rise in asylum seekers.

These go-it-alone policies severely undermined the EU's collective decision-making and left Brussels looking like an inconsequential bystander in what is arguably the most politically explosive issue on the agenda.

At its core, the New Pact is meant to establish predictable, clear-cut norms that bind all member states, regardless of their geographic location and economic weight. The ultimate goal is to find a balance between the responsibility of frontline nations, like Italy, Greece and Spain, which receive the bulk of asylum seekers, and the principle of solidarity that other countries should uphold.

"Migration is a European challenge that requires European solutions," said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who had made the reform a top priority for her five-year term. The New Pact "means that Europeans will decide who comes to the EU and who can stay, not the smugglers. It means protecting those in need."

🔗 https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2023/12/20/eu-strikes-major-deal-to-reform-migration-policy-after-three-years-of-bitter-debates

📢 🇪🇬 🇪🇹 Egypt says talks over Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam have failed -statement

🔶️ "Egypt reserves its right, in accordance with international charters and accords, to defend its water and national security in case of any harm," Egypt's ministry of water resources and irrigation said in a statement.

🔶️ Ethiopia, which argues that it is exercising its right to economic development, said in September it had completed its final phase of filling a reservoir for a massive hydroelectric power plant at the dam on the Blue Nile.

https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/egypt-says-talks-over-grand-ethiopian-renaissance-dam-have-failed-statement-2023-12-19/

https://archive.ph/XElvW

🇸🇩 🏴‍☠️ The RSF capture of Wad Madani changes the military geography of the conflict in Sudan, Sudan War Monitor points out, as the RSF can now move freely across Central Sudan. People in nearby states anticipate further attacks soon.

https://sudanwarmonitor.com/p/fall-of-wad-madani-fuels-criticism

📎 Gerrit Kurtz