MNI POLITICAL RISK ANALYSIS – US Daily Brief 08-02-22

Executive Summary:

• President Joe Biden met with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz yesterday and presented a mostly united front in a press conference. The two leaders reaffirmed their close bilateral relationship but it appears that the White House meeting was not quite enough to sell Germany on sanctioning the gas pipeline Nordstream 2.
• US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in Australia today meeting with representatives of Australia, Japan, and India. Blinken will be hoping that a Russia-India cooling and the ongoing deterioration of relations between India and China can convince Delhi to lend greater support to Washington’s 'pivot to the east'.
• The US EU Energy Council released a statement following their meeting yesterday saying '...it is unacceptable to use energy supply as a weapon or geopolitical lever [and] recognizing current geopolitical tensions, the United States and the EU discussed intensifying cooperation in the short-term to ensure sufficient energy supplies for the EU and its neighbourhood.’
• The decision by the Republican National Committee to censure two of its Congresspeople is receiving blowback within the GOP. A number of high-profile Senate Republicans, including Senate Minority Whip John Thune have stated that a strategy of looking back to 2020 is not wise ahead of the midterms.

MNI POLITICAL RISK ANALYSIS – US Daily Brief 08-02-22 .pdf