Erik Prince: Off Leash update 4 September 2026

ARGENTINA
•Earlier this week, Pres. Trump said his administration is re-evaluating the longstanding U.S. policy of essentially siding with the UK in its bitter, centuries-long dispute with Argentina over the Falkland Islands by accepting the UK’s de facto control of the chain (which Argentina calls the Malvinas).
•That seemed to embolden Argentina’s chainsaw-wielding president, Javier Milei, who reopened the dispute in a nationally televised address yesterday.
•In that address, Milei referenced Trump’s apparent shift by noting that “winds of change favorable to our claim [to the Falklands] are blowing around the world.”
•He proceeded to make a case for pouncing on those favorable winds to sanction oil firms that – in his view – encroach on Argentina’s sovereignty by exploiting natural resources in the waters around the island. The main target of his ire is a joint UK-Israeli project due to start exploring the Sea Lion oilfield offshore the Falklands in March 2028. Milei called it a “clear and present danger.”
•Milei’s motivations may not be purely patriotic: critics suggested he revived the dispute because he needs a rallying cause to distract from his flagging approval ratings.

RUSSIA
•Analysts see signs that Russia is preparing an imminent forced mobilization to replenish its depleted ranks in Ukraine, where at least 450,000 Russians soldiers have died and nearly one million more have been wounded in action.
•Pres. Putin dismissed the rumor, calling it “complete nonsense” – presumably with the same straight face that a Kremlin spokesman had in Nov. 2021 when he called reports that Russia was planning to invade Ukraine “a hollow and unfounded attempt to incite tensions.”
•Meanwhile, Norway incited tensions with Russia by seizing a Russian oceanographic research ship as part of an effort to enforce an international court judgment ordering Russia to pay Ukraine’s state energy company, Naftogaz, $4.2 billion in restitutions for expropriating its assets in Crimea.
•Russia quickly denounced the seizure as “piracy.”
•The incident is an example of Norway’s emboldened foreign policy. Like the UK, France, and Germany; Norway is strengthening its support for Ukraine – hence seizing this ship on Ukraine’s behalf.
•But this assertion of strength is also a sign that Norway is asserting itself in reaction to threats it perceives from Russia, which regularly used the seized vessel to carry out propaganda programs on Svalbard.

SUDAN
•A new report by the UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for the Sudan concluded what’s been obvious for years: “external support is sustaining military operations and expanding the capabilities of the parties to Sudan’s conflict.”
•There’s ample evidence that the UAE, Ethiopia, and Chad are backing the Rapid Support Forces (RSF); while the SAF enjoys support from Turkey and Iran. [All deny involvement in Sudan’s civil war.]

Off Leash update 4 September 2026

ARGENTINA
•Earlier this week, Pres. Trump said his administration is re-evaluating the longstanding U.S. policy of essentially siding with the UK in its bitter, centuries-long dispute with Argentina over the Falkland Islands by accepting the…

— ErikDPrince (@realErikDPrince) September 4, 2026