Off Leash Update: Gaza Talks, Ukraine Reshuffle and Russia-Linked Cases

Off Leash update 5 Sep

Gaza •A senior U.S. official blamed two obstacles holding up a final ceasefire proposal: a list of Palestinian prisoners Israel will release (Hamas has been greedy in demanding more liberations than Israel wants to allow), and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Philadelphi Corridor (which PM Netanyahu has refused to accept). Ukraine •Some critics are complaining about Pres. Zelensky's cabinet reshuffle. They accuse Zelensky of trying to consolidate power by stacking key posts with close allies who will rubber-stamp his decisions. Ukraine's Parliament is expected to approve his shakeup anyway. Russia •Russia sentenced Alexander Shiplyuk - the director of a physics institute specializing in the hypersonic and supersonic technologies propelling Russian missiles in Ukraine - to 15 years in prison for treason for sharing classified information. •Shipluk is only the latest in a series of convictions of top Russian scientists for (per their colleagues and supporters) merely exchanging scientific knowledge with foreign colleagues - as scientists doing industry-leading work must do. •Separately, the U.S. indicted two employees of Russia's state-owned RT news agency for spreading disinformation to try to influence the U.S. election, and is preparing more sanctions over election disinformation (in addition to Russia, U.S. officials also accuse Iran of sowing election disinformation). Venezuela •Venezuela detained a U.S. Navy sailor who was "on some sort of personal travel" to the country without official approval from the Navy (which I imagine wouldn't have been forthcoming). The circumstances of his detention are unclear; often when U.S. servicemen are detained abroad, they're dual or former citizens of the country detaining them and had returned to visit family. DRC •DRC will get its first 100,000 doses of mpox vaccines today, followed by a second shipment on Saturday. The logistics of administering vaccines across the country will be much more complicated than getting doses to Kinshasa: the earliest vaccinations could start is Oct. 8.