Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at top U.S. military officials meeting with Caribbean leaders, a leaked call between senior Russian and U.S. officials, and a deadly fire in Hong Kong.
World Brief will be off Nov. 27 and 28 for the U.S. holiday of Thanksgiving.
Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at top U.S. military officials meeting with Caribbean leaders, a leaked call between senior Russian and U.S. officials, and a deadly fire in Hong Kong.
World Brief will be off Nov. 27 and 28 for the U.S. holiday of Thanksgiving.
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U.S. Military Presence
Senior U.S. military officials held talks with the leaders of several Caribbean nations on Wednesday as part of the Trump administration’s growing focus on narcotrafficking operations in Latin America. The meetings also come as U.S. President Donald Trump weighs possible next steps in his pressure campaign against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, whom the Trump administration has accused of heading a criminal organization that oversees drug smuggling into the United States.
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth met with Dominican President Luis Abinader and Defense Minister Carlos Antonio Fernández Onofre on Wednesday to “strengthen defense relationships and reaffirm America’s commitment to defend the homeland.”
That same day, Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, met with Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, during which the two “exchanged views on challenges affecting the Caribbean region, including the destabilizing effects of illicit narcotics, arms, and human trafficking, and transnational criminal organization activities.” This was Caine’s second time visiting the region since the U.S. military kicked off its counter-narcotrafficking operation there.
In early September, the United States began launching strikes on alleged drug trafficking boats. Since then, Washington has carried out 21 known attacks on vessels in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific, killing at least 83 people. At the same time, Trump has ordered a massive military buildup in the area. Around 15,000 U.S. personnel are now deployed in the Caribbean, including around 5,000 service members in Puerto Rico. This is the United States’ largest military presence in the region in decades.
Such actions have triggered fierce condemnation from several Latin American presidents, including those of Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico. But the region has not been uniform in its response. Numerous right-wing leaders have allied themselves with the Trump administration, including Persad-Bissessar, who has praised the deadly strikes on boats, saying that “the U.S. military should kill them all violently.”
On Tuesday, Trump floated potentially holding talks with Maduro to de-escalate tensions, telling reporters aboard Air Force One that “if we can save lives, if we can do things the easy way, that’s fine. And if we have to do it the hard way, that’s fine, too.” Experts have argued that Trump’s Caribbean operation is part of a larger effort to remove Maduro that could see direct U.S. military action against Venezuela.
Maduro does not appear optimistic about finding a peaceful resolution, though, particularly after the United States officially designated Venezuela’s Cartel de los Soles as a foreign terrorist organization on Monday. “We must be ready to defend every inch of this blessed land from imperialist threat or aggression, no matter where it comes from,” Maduro said the following day during a rally with his supporters.
Today’s Most Read
What We’re Following
Leaked negotiations. The Kremlin on Wednesday denounced the leaked recording of an Oct. 14 phone call between U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff and Yuri Ushakov, the senior-most advisor to Russian President Vladimir Putin. During the call, Witkoff—who is expected to visit Moscow next week—suggested the notion of crafting a 20-point Russia-Ukraine peace plan and advised Ushakov on how Putin could best pitch the idea to Trump.
Last week, Axios revealed the existence of a U.S.- and Russian-drafted 28-point proposal that called for Kyiv to make major concessions to Moscow that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had long deemed nonstarters, including relinquishing some Ukrainian territory to Russia.
“This is unacceptable,” Ushakov said of the leak, accusing its release of being an attempt to disrupt peace talks and saying it amounted to hybrid warfare.
Critics have pointed to the call as evidence that the Trump administration has become too favorable toward Moscow—a concern that Kyiv’s European allies have repeatedly warned of. This week, senior U.S. and Ukrainian officials revised the original 28-point plan to a 19-point framework, but on Wednesday, the Kremlin said it would not accept any major concessions to advance peace talks. Trump on Wednesday dismissed Witkoff’s comments on the Ushakov call as a “very standard form of negotiation.”
Deadly blaze. A massive fire engulfed seven high-rise residential buildings in Hong Kong on Wednesday, killing at least 36 people, according to a city official. Hundreds of firefighters and other rescuers were deployed to the Wang Fuk Court complex, which houses around 2,000 apartment units, to quell the flames, but several towers remained ablaze well into the evening.
Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee called an emergency meeting on Wednesday to address the incident, and Chinese President Xi Jinping said an “all-out effort” was underway to extinguish the fire and minimize casualties. It is unclear what caused the blaze. However, the 32-story complex’s bamboo scaffolding, which the government began phasing out in March due to safety concerns, reportedly hindered rescue efforts.
Papal diplomacy. Pope Leo XIV plans to kick off his first foreign trip on Thursday since assuming the papacy, stopping first in Turkey before traveling to Lebanon. His visit to Istanbul will be particularly symbolic, as Leo will fulfill a historic trip that his predecessor Pope Francis had planned to make to Turkey’s Orthodox church.
The choice of destinations for Leo’s first trip signals the Vatican’s global priorities. While traveling to Turkey and Lebanon demonstrates Leo’s commitment to addressing religious divisions—both countries have minority Christian populations—it also highlights the importance of promoting peace for the Vatican.
Since the start of the Russia-Ukraine war, Turkey has regularly acted as a mediator in the conflict—including during the flurry of diplomatic efforts this week. And in the Middle East, Lebanon has experienced renewed Israeli airstrikes on alleged Hezbollah sites.
Odds and Ends
If sleep is hard to come by this holiday season, maybe take a page out of Mike Huckabee’s book. Despite serving in one of Washington’s highest diplomatic posts, the U.S. ambassador to Israel has reportedly maintained a paid side gig peddling Relaxium, a dietary sleep supplement. Up until last weekend, callers looking to purchase Relaxium could hear Huckabee’s voice, saying, “Press ‘1’ to place an order and trust your night to Relaxium Sleep like I’ve been doing for more than three years now.” The U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem has confirmed that Huckabee uses “the product every night.”
