October 23 News Roundup

Ceasefire in Gaza, heads roll in China, and Washington further strengthens our partnership with one of our oldest and closest allies

Hello everyone! I hope you all are enjoying your October. As I near my 31^st birthday, I thought I would share with you some of the most important geopolitical stories from around the world this week.

Israel-Hamas Update (Again!)

Unfortunately, despite the world’s aspirations for a lasting peace, it seems that the world’s eyes are still pointed directly at the mass of death and ruin that is the Gaza Strip. As I am sure many of you know, on October 9, just over two years after the initial Hamas massacre that unleashed yet another Middle East war, global leaders met in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh on the coast of the Red Sea to sign a ceasefire to end it. Following months of exhaustive diplomacy by the United States, Qatar, Turkey, and host nation Egypt, accelerated by Israel’s misguided attack on Qatar, archenemies Israel and the Palestinian terror outfit Hamas agreed to lay down their weapons and begin the process towards a more permanent cessation of hostilities. For Israel, a nation exhausted by war and eager to see a safe return of the final 20 living hostages trapped for two years in Gaza’s grim tunnels, the deal has been met with celebration and joy.

And reunite with their families these hostages have, albeit at a steep price. While the most immediate provision of the Sharm El-Sheikh agreement was the withdrawal of Israeli military forces to the so-called “yellow line”, Jerusalem was forced to accept the painfully unfair stipulation of releasing almost two thousand Palestinian prisoners, including hundreds of hardened Hamas terrorists. Despite these painful concessions and unfortunate violations, which in my assessment were the fault of Hamas, the agreement is certainly the most major diplomatic success of the second Trump Administration since assuming office nine months ago. While President Trump’s harshest critics will blow off the deal, it is obvious to me that something has worked here that didn’t work under the Biden Administration. Dozens of world leaders, including UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, and French President Emmanuel Macron (neither Israel nor Hamas were invited) all were in attendance.

However, securing peace, even Phase 1 of the Sharm El-Sheikh appears to be nothing less than a herculean undertaking. As I already mentioned, Hamas moved quickly to violate the ceasefire. The Israelis subsequently retaliate through continued airstrikes and a suspension of humanitarian aid, pushing an agreement barely a week old to the precipice of collapse. While both sides were ultimately pulled back from the brink, the whole situation remains fragile. And don’t forget Phase 2, the stipulation demanding Hamas disarm. Since we have all witnessed the terror outfit’s thirst for retribution, even against other Palestinians, does Hamas look like a group interested in disarmament and peace? You see, it’s not just Israel who has been terrorizing the Palestinian people— it’s the savages whose actions directly caused Gaza’s ruin who deserve most of the blame. While Israeli domestic politics remain a source of concern, I cannot emphasize enough that any phase of any “peace process” will go nowhere so long as Hamas remains in power.

Turmoil in the Chinese Military

Unlike in those less orderly Asian countries where grievances are aired via violent street action, the People’s Republic of China has always managed to keep its disputes managed within the corridors of power. This latest episode of ‘upheaval’ is no exception. On October 17, it was revealed (though likely ordered months ago) that Chinese President Xi Jinping expelled two of the highest-ranking military officers in the People’s Liberation Army (PLA): the second-ranked general He Weidong and the admiral and former chief political officer Miao Hua, along with seven other senior officials. Such purges at the highest level have little modern precedent— the last similar event was during the Cultural Revolution. The official explanation in Beijing was their “grave” offenses of “duty-related crimes involving an extremely large amount of money” under Xi’s well-publicized Anti-corruption campaign. Since the inner workings of the Chinese power structures, unlike those most other nations’ in the digital era, remain as opaque as ever, finding the real explanation of this shake-up remains tricky.

The purge of General He was particularly shocking. He and Xi had been longtime allies in China’s southeastern Fujian province, the obvious staging point for Beijing’s mischief around Taiwan as well as Japan’s outer islands. He was also the architect of the highly-publicized Chinese military exercises retaliating for then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s ill-advised 2022 visit to China’s so called “23^rd province.” While the easiest explanation is a further consolidation of power under Xi Jinping, alternative theories exist. One article claims that the purge was actually a reflection of Xi’s weakening status within the PLA, and the consolidation of another general named Zhang Youxia. Whatever the source of the 2025 PLA purge, we can state for sure that there is some serious internal squabbling occurring within the People’s Liberation Army. And whenever we see such squabbling, the chances of a successful military operation in the Taiwan strait decline considerably. And that is positive for those of us, like this writer, who wish to avoid such a devastating conflict.

The War for Rare Earths

There is no way to sugar coat it: the world’s market of rare earth minerals, essential for goods such as smartphones, flat-screen televisions, and even national security technologies, is mostly controlled by the People’s Republic China. While Washington fell asleep at the wheel, Chinese firms now own, including via Cobalt mining in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Nickel mining in Indonesia, a spooky 90% of the world’s production capacity for these vital minerals. Happy Halloween everyone! If there weren’t enough skeletons in this witch’s brew, China opted to weaponize this dominance by demanding that all importers of these rare earths receive explicit approval from Beijing. Clearly, the Chinese government has become emboldened by their newfound great power status and feels it necessary to flex their muscles in order to receive the same sort of concessions from Washington as they have received from less powerful countries such as the Congo and Indonesia.

Even if Donald Trump makes Draconian threats, the old adage of whoever has the gold, or in this case, the Dysprosium, makes the rules still rings true.

This imbalance is why our partnership with the Land Down Under is crucial. During a bilateral visit to the United States on Monday, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, the leaders of both countries began the long and twisting journey towards breaking China’s monopolies. Many of you may not know that Australia, with reserves of more than 40 critical (though not necessarily rare earth) minerals, is one of the world’s mining powerhouses. Therefore, I am pleased to report that the United States and Australia have agreed to invest in a planned mine of Gallium, a mineral used for defense needs, in the vast and sparsely populated state of Western Australia. While the agreement, touted by both sides as revolutionary for our national security needs, has no binding contractual obligations, it is still the first baby step to ensure both countries’ sovereignty and limit our exposure to Chinese blackmail. Yes, the projects will be financially, logistically, and environmentally challenging, but we have to start somewhere.