A look ahead at the key events leading the news agenda next week, from the team at Foresight News. Delivered to your inbox on Fridays.
Leading the week
The Republican race to be the party’s presidential nominee in 2024 will heat up on Wednesday (February 15) when Nikki Haley makes her special announcement in Charleston, South Carolina, before heading to New Hampshire for town hall events on Thursday and Friday (February 16-17) ahead of travel to Iowa the following week. The former South Carolina Governor and then US Ambassador to the UN under Donald Trump, who has previously said she would not run against Trump if he decided to have another shot at the presidency, will become only the second official candidate in the race, though more announcements are likely in the coming weeks.
Former Vice President Mike Pence, who many expect to jump into the race, is reportedly in Iowa on the same day Haley makes her announcement, and Senator Tim Scott, a fellow South Carolinian, is due to start a ‘Faith in America’ listening tour with an event in South Carolina on Thursday (February 16) ahead of a second event in New Hampshire the following week (February 22). Next week will also see South Dakota Governor Kirsti Noem, another potential candidate, head to DC where she is slated to deliver a series of speeches, including an address at the Cato Institute on Thursday (February 16). Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who many view as the candidate with the best chance of defeating Trump, has so far refused to acknowledge any plans to run but is headed out of state next month with stops in Texas, California, and Alabama already scheduled.
Looking abroad
Following Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s surprise trip to London, Paris, and Brussels this week, where the Ukrainian leader turned up the pressure on allies to provide him with modern fighter jets, the conflict takes center stage yet again next week as we approach the February 24 anniversary of Russia’s invasion. On Tuesday (February 14), the US-led Ukraine Defense Contact Group will meet in Brussels to discuss allied military support, with Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov set to attend despite apparently unfounded rumors that he was due to be replaced over a scandal involving over-priced catering contracts for the military. NATO defense ministers then meet later on Tuesday and into Wednesday (February 15), with Finland and Sweden participating as they await ratification of their membership bids.
On Friday (February 17) and over the weekend all eyes will be on the Munich Security Conference, sometimes referred to as ‘Davos for defense’, where again the conflict will dominate discussions. Although the full speaker line-up is usually only announced just before the gathering opens, organizers have already confirmed some heavy-hitters, including US Vice President Kamala Harris, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron, NATO head Jens Stoltenberg, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, and Polish President Andrzej Duda.