The World That Was

Adrian Olivier,

Sunday 29 December – Sunday 5 January:

On Sunday, Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev said Russia had tried to “hush up” the unintentional shooting down of an Azerbaijani passenger aircraft on Wednesday. Aliyev said that the plane, which crashed Wednesday in Kazakhstan, was hit by fire from the ground over Russia and “rendered uncontrollable by electronic warfare.” The crash killed 38 of the 67 people on board. The Kremlin said that air defence systems were firing near Grozny, the regional capital of the Russian Republic of Chechnya, where the plane attempted to land, to deflect a Ukrainian drone strike. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russian state media on Sunday that Putin had spoken to Aliyev over the phone again, but did not provide details of the conversation. The Kremlin also said a joint investigation by Russia, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan was underway at the crash site near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan. The plane was flying from Azerbaijan’s capital, Baku, to Grozny when it turned toward Kazakhstan, hundreds of kilometres across the Caspian Sea from its intended destination, and crashed while attempting to land. Dmitry Yadrov, head of Russia’s civil aviation authority Rosaviatsia, said Friday that as the plane was preparing to land in Grozny in deep fog, Ukrainian drones were targeting the city, prompting authorities to close the area to air traffic. 

On Monday, the U.S. Treasury Department told lawmakers that a Chinese state-sponsored actor hacked its systems, remotely accessing user workstations and unclassified documents. Treasury was made aware of the breach on December 8 by third-party software service provider BeyondTrust. Once alerted, the department said it immediately contacted the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and has since worked with law enforcement partners across the government to assess the incident. “The compromised BeyondTrust service has been taken offline and there is no evidence indicating the threat actor has continued access to Treasury systems or information,” a spokesperson said. In response, the Chinese embassy in Washington, D.C., denied the Treasury Department’s allegations and said that its government opposes what it described as U.S. smear tactics without any factual basis. 

On Tuesday, Vladimir Putin delivered his yearly New Year’s Eve message to the Russian people, marking the 25th anniversary of his rule. He assured Russians that despite the hardships they are enduring, Russia would overcome every challenge and move forward. 

On Tuesday, the U.S. military said it had carried out a series of strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen since Monday. The targets, located in Yemen’s capital Sana as well as coastal sites, included a command and control facility and weapons production and storage sites. Based on video released by Central Command, the planes used in the strikes were F/A-18 Hornets and a F-35 Joint Strike Fighter carrying bombs under their wings, launching at night from an aircraft carrier. Cruise missiles were also launched from an Arleigh Burke destroyer – likely Tomahawks. A Houthi spokesman said the group would confront any escalation against it by escalating themselves. Expect more drones and missiles to be launched unless decisive military action is taken against the Houthis. 

On Wednesday, as 2025 began, Ukraine officially ended Russian gas transit to Europe via its territory after a 2019 deal signed between Ukrainian gas operator Naftogaz and Russia’s Gazprom expired. This corridor provided 14 billion cubic metres of gas annually to Europe. The lack of oil has caused an energy crisis in some Eastern European countries like Moldova and Slovakia. Heating in the breakaway region of Transnistria in Moldova has been cut off in residential areas, though electricity is still flowing. Transnistria’s main power plant is already being fueled by coal instead of gas, though authorities say there is only enough fuel for 50 days – and perhaps as little as 30 days. That means problems for the rest of Moldova, which gets 80% of its electricity from the Kurchugan power plant in Transnistria. The government says it has enough gas to heat the country until spring and it will switch to buying electricity from Europe, but that means a giant hike in costs.

On Wednesday, Honduras’s president threatened to push the U.S. military out of a base it built decades ago in the Central American country should President-elect Donald Trump carry out mass deportations of undocumented immigrants from the United States. Honduras’s leader had the power to suspend a decades-old agreement with the United States that allowed it to build the Soto Cano air base and operate America’s largest military task force in Central America from there. The move would present grave risks for the small country, which depends on the United States as its largest trading partner and a source of humanitarian aid. 

On Friday afternoon, the Biden administration notified Congress of an $8 billion weapons package for Israel, including thousands of bombs, missiles and artillery shells, in one of the largest new arms sales since the war in Gaza began in 2023. The proposed sale includes a set of guidance kits designed to be fitted to large MK-84 2,000-pound bombs, as well as BLU-109 bunker buster bombs, one of the officials said. Also included are AMRAAM and Hellfire missiles and 155mm artillery rounds. At least $6.75 billion would fund two different kinds of precision kits, small diameter bombs and 2,000-pound bombs. 

On Friday, Chilean President Gabriel Boric and a delegation of officials visited the South Pole in a bid to fortify Chile’s territorial claims to part of Antarctica. The delegation visited Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, a U.S. research base, the first time a Latin American president in office has set foot in Antarctica. Chile is one of the small number of Antarctica claimants and it has installed a permanent settlement called Villa Las Estrellas. 

On Friday, South Korean investigators left the official residence of impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol after a near-six-hour standoff. The country’s anti-corruption agency said it withdrew its investigators after the presidential security service blocked them from entering Yoon’s residence for hours due to concerns about their safety. The agency said its outnumbered investigators had several scuffles with presidential security forces and expressed “serious regret about the attitude of the suspect, who did not comply with the legal process.” It said detaining Yoon would be “virtually impossible” as long as he is protected by the presidential security service. The agency plans to “strongly demand” that the country’s acting leader, Deputy Prime Minister Choi Sang-mok, instruct the service to comply with the execution of the detainment warrant. 

On Friday, Syria’s new leaders met the French and German foreign ministers in the capital, Damascus, in one of the highest-level Western diplomatic visits since the fall of President Bashar al-Assad last month. Annalena Baerbock of Germany and her French counterpart, Jean-Noël Barrot, arrived in Damascus for the first such trip in years on behalf of the European Union. Ms. Baerbock and Mr. Barrot met with Ahmad al-Shara, the group’s leader, after visiting the notorious Sednaya prison, where Mr. al-Assad’s regime had tortured and killed thousands of detainees. 

On Saturday, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni of Italy met with President-elect Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate for an informal meeting. The meeting was unannounced. No details of the talks were released, but Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini said they covered issues including the plight of Cecilia Sala, an Italian journalist detained last month in Iran. Next week, Meloni is expected to welcome President Biden in Rome for an official visit to Italy. Analysts say the meeting reinforces the hopes of Ms. Meloni’s supporters that the conservative Italian prime minister will become Mr. Trump’s go-to ally in Europe. Much of that role would involve mediating tensions between other European leaders and Mr. Trump, who has threatened to start a trade war with the continent as well as to reduce American backing for some NATO countries and for Ukraine in its war with Russia. The agenda of the meeting was unclear on Saturday night, but observers expected the two leaders would discuss those issues.