The Wire - February 26, 2024

//The Wire//1830Z February 26, 2024////ROUTINE////BLUF: NORWEGIAN CRUISE SHIP QUARANTINED DUE TO CHOLERA OUTBREAK.// -----BEGIN TEARLINE------International Events-Mauritius: A Norwegian cruise ship has been quarantined in the Port of Mauritius following a cholera outbreak onboard the vessel. The M/V NORWEGIAN DAWN has been quarantined in port until further notice. Though the origin of the outbreak is unknown at this time, several of the passengers reporting illness traveled to South Africa earlier this month.Red Sea/HOA: Several telecom providers have begun to report issues regarding undersea communications cables in the Red Sea. As of this report, only single-source reporting is available, which suggests that a total of four cables have been impacted over the past few months. AC: As cable disruptions are extremely common due to natural seismic events on the seafloor, the timing of such outages is critical. So far, the Jerusalem Post is the only media outlet reporting on this issue, which (aside from being a highly questionable source in its own right), did not indicate whether or not this is a new issue, or a culmination of incidents since the start of the Red Sea Crisis.Houthi forces have made direct threats to sever these communications cables, however it is not clear as to if they are actually capable of tampering with or targeting undersea cables in the Red Sea. Additionally, in a time when covert operations and false-flag events have become extremely common, judgement is probably best reserved for when more information becomes public. On the other hand, due to the nature of the incident, independent investigation is not likely.-Homefront-Washington D.C. – Yesterday a uniformed active duty Air Force service member self-immolated outside the Israeli embassy in a self-described act of protest in support of Palestine. The service member, later identified as Aaron Bushnell, later died at a local hospital. No information regarding his rank or unit has been confirmed by defense officials yet.In the western United States, no new information has been released regarding the recent unidentified high-altitude balloon incident. Pentagon officials continue to assess that the balloon was “likely” a civilian craft, but zero evidence has been provided to back up these claims, whereas the culmination of information as released so far indicates the contrary. So far, no one has come forward to claim the balloon or its payload.On the economic front, over the past few weeks financial observers have noticed strategic financial moves among many elites. JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dillon dumped $150 million in JPM stock last week, his largest sell-off of his own company’s stock to date. Jeff Bezos has sold $8.5 billion of his Amazon portfolio, and Mark Zuckerberg has sold $428 million of his Meta holdings. In 2023 Q4, Bill Gates sold off 65% of his entire financial portfolio, worth approximately $80 billion. The Walton family also sold $4.5 billion of their Walmart holdings after the closing bell on Friday.-----END TEARLINE-----Analyst Comments: No financial expertise is needed to assess the strategic impacts of billionaires dumping significant investments all within a few weeks of each other. On the other hand, the field of economics is more complicated than a single soundbite; For instance, Bill Gate’s asset sell-off could be largely restructuring and consolidation, not necessarily a “dump”. However, these financial moves are an indicator of something; figuring out the exact details of which will largely be speculative.Analyst: S2A1//END REPORT//