The Wire - December 17, 2025

//The Wire//2300Z December 17, 2025//
//ROUTINE//
//BLUF: GEOPOLITICAL DEVELOPMENTS CONTINUE IN CARIBBEAN. BROWN UNIVERSITY SHOOTING INVESTIGATION CASTS DOUBT ON THE PROCESS.//

 -----BEGIN TEARLINE-----
 
-International Events-

Caribbean: Diplomatic indicators continue to mount concerning the war with Venezuela entering into the final stages of preparation. The White House announced that a special address to the nation will take place at 9:00pm (local time), the contents of which have not yet been disclosed.

Analyst Comment: So far it's mostly just rumor, however some historical context might help in understanding the larger strategic doctrine in play here. On this day exactly 118 years ago, the Great White Fleet departed port and officially began it's global journey around the world. The Great White Fleet was an initiative set in place by President Teddy Roosevelt which was intended to showcase America's military might on the high seas. This took the form of sending the US Navy's impressive fleet of battleships (which were painted all white, at the time) around the world as part of a very serious game of show and tell. This move, essentially a manifestation of the "big stick" part of Roosevelt's "walk softly" quote, eventually became known as a class of politics called Gunboat Diplomacy. Today, the US still abides by this doctrine (along with many other nations) to some degree, and in practice it usually works out to take the form of parking an aircraft carrier off a nation's coast to urge a people to strongly reconsider their actions. It's unknown as to if this date holds any significance to the White House, but since President Trump's style of command often takes cues from powerful people throughout history, it would make perfect sense for the White House to replicate this "big stick" effort. This has already come to pass and become routine by the striking of fastboats in the Caribbean, so while the world awaits what happens next, the larger strategic goals would be wise to consider. As a reminder, since the seizure of the M/T *SKIPPER* a few days ago, the United States has changed the official position on Venezuela to not just be about drug trafficking, but also oil as well. This might have been obvious from the very start, but it's still a fast pivot to make for any administration, so as events develop over the next few days we'll have to see how this shakes out.

-HomeFront- 

Rhode Island: Images of a second person have been released during the Brown University shooting investigation. Providence Police have not provided the context for why this person is being sought, only that they would like to speak to whomever this individual is.

Analyst Comment: The general theory is that this person is not the shooter, but rather an individual who may have walked past the shooter at some point. Authorities have not confirmed this or really made any comment on this at all, so this is just a best guess regarding this new person that is being sought.

-----END TEARLINE-----

Analyst Comments: In Rhode Island, the development of events following the Brown University shooting has been nothing short of a PR disaster. Normally, it's completely out of the question for any sort of arm-chair quarterbacking to be helpful during a shooting like this. However, in this case, the chance of random anons on the internet finding the killer before the actual police...is higher than zero. As such, more time and resources can be allocated to examine this case, purely in the interest of finding the truth. And right now, it sure looks like a coverup is taking place.

The press conferences in particular have been a source of concern as officials have not been able to answer even basic questions. Chief Perez has been corrected by journalists several times after he mis-stated basic details of the case; for example, yesterday he stated the the footage of the suspe