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Europe
Germany
08/16/2024 Kremlin declares Berlin-based Russian anti-war group 'undesirable'. Russian authorities have declared the nongovernmental organization ’Deputies of Peaceful Russia’ group, an association of Russian politicians in exile who oppose Moscow's war in Ukraine to be an undesirable organization. Members of the group founded in October 2023 are accused of taking part in events with an anti-Russian orientation in Germany, the General Prosecutor's Office said. They spread misleading information about the activities of Russian state agencies and ’support extremist organizations’, the statement added. The group held its first congress in Berlin. Its members include 74 regional and municipal Russian lawmakers and representatives, many of whom are living in exile. Under Russian law, organizations are designated undesirable if their activities are considered to ’pose a threat to the foundations of the constitutional order, defense, or security of the state'. (Source: DW - Germany)
16 August 2024 Warning came after the discovery of a fence cut at the water storage site in Mechernich area near Bonn. Residents were urged to boil their water before drinking it on Thursday night as the fire brigade drove around the area warning people not to use tap water for drinking, showers or preparing food. A day earlier, an air force base near Cologne-Bonn airport was sealed off for several hours with "abnormal water values" detected in the supply. Separately, Nato reported an attempt to trespass on its base at Geilenkirchen close to the Dutch border. Nato's Awacs reconnaissance planes are stationed at Geilenkirchen and the Cologne-Wahn base close to the main regional airport is home to the top echelons of the German air force as well as planes used by government ministers for foreign travel. More than 5,000 soldiers and civilians are said to work at the Cologne-Wahn base, and although the outer fence was not tampered with, a hole was found in the fence close to the barracks' water supply. No-one has yet been detained for any of the three alleged sabotage incidents. Military officials are taking the latest incidents very seriously. The extent of sabotage in any of the three incidents remains unclear ’although Germany's armed forces, the Bundeswehr, have been on heightened alert because of Russia's war in Ukraine’. Last April, two German-Russian dual nationals were arrested in the south-western state of Bavaria on suspicion of plotting sabotage attacks on military or industrial targets. Last month, the domestic intelligence service (Verfassungschutz) warned of an increased risk of sabotage activities and reports emerged of an alleged Russian plot to kill the head of Germany's biggest arms firm Rheinmetall. This week, Interior Minister Faeser said even before the spate of scares, that Germany was facing an increased danger of Russian sabotage. ’The threats we have to protect ourselves against range from espionage, sabotage and cyber attacks to state terrorism,’ she told on Monday, explaining that the Ukrainian advance into Russian territory could exacerbate the threat. ’Germany is the second largest donor of military aid to Ukraine after the US, earmarking some €28bn’ since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022. German-supplied Marder armoured vehicles are apparently being used by the Ukrainians in the Kursk region. (Source: BBC - United Kingdom)
Russia
Aug 16, 2024 Some Russian state media outlets have suggested that the Kursk incursion was a ’trap for Zelensky’ in which Putin will ultimately prevail. Kremlin propagandists have tried to make sense of how Ukraine entered Russia so easily. Pro-Kremlin outlet Tsargrad wrote how Ukrainian brigades 'fell into a trap' and faced heavy losses. This spinning of the narrative is at odds with accounts, including from Russian military bloggers, of Ukrainian gains, while Zelensky said on Thursday his troops had captured ’the entire town’ of Sudzha. While there is no evidence that Ukrainian forces have fallen into a trap, what Kyiv does next and whether Putin might benefit in the longer term is uncertain. Instead of being in eastern Donbas region trying to strengthen its existing line and hold as much territory as it can, Kyiv's best units are now in a place which may be vulnerable to an effective Moscow counter attack. ’There is a risk of overextending, and there is a risk that precious personnel and resources may be lost and that Putin may use this as a pretext for further escalation,’ said Witt, professor of international business and strategy at King's Business School, London. Putin might also be able to exploit domestically the narrative he has pushed all along about the war he started - that he acted because Russia is under threat from the West, of which he considers Ukraine to be a proxy agent. The narrative that Russia is under threat can help Putin and reinforce support through a rally-around-the-flag effect, Witt told. ’However, Putin may be forced into a mobilization more widespread that the partial draft he announced in September 2022, according to Bloomberg’. Kastehelmi, a military expert from the Finland-based open-source intelligence analysis firm Black Bird Group, said that the incursion risks attrition of Ukraine's precious reserves when it still has issues with manpower. ’Taking over a few dozen Russian border villages at the expense of many lives and pieces of equipment won't help,’ he told. ’Generally, the war won't be solved in Kursk, the most strategically important regions are still eastern and southern Ukraine.’ Part of Ukraine's aim for the incursion is to elicit support from the West by proving that Kyiv still has some fight left in it. They are wary of the outcome of the U.S. presidential elections, and there is a risk that the Trump administration will halt aid to Ukraine. It was Trump who invoked past Moscow triumphs last month, telling Fox News he had told Zelensky in a phone conversation that Kyiv faced a ’war machine’ and that "they beat Hitler. They beat Napoleon." On Thursday, Zelensky's top commander, Colonel General Syrskyi said military command had been set up in Kursk while Zelensky reiterated Kyiv's claim that it now controlled more than 80 settlements and over 440 square miles. This move might end up in Ukraine wasting the resource it lacks most in this war, which is manpower. (Source: Newsweek - U.S.)
08/16/2024 Moscow's Defense Ministry said in a statement on Friday it thwarted an attack from 12 US-built ATACMS missiles launched by Ukraine on the Crimea bridge, which was built at the behest of President Putin after Moscow annexed the peninsula in 2014. The bridge opened in 2018 and connects Kerch in Crimea with southern Russia's Krasnodar region. All the missiles were destroyed. Ukraine's Kursk offensive enters second week. Podolyak, Ukraine's presidential adviser has said on Friday the recent operations in Russia aim to bring Moscow to the negotiating table to start ’fair’ peace talks. ’We need to inflict significant tactical defeats on Russia,’ Podolyak wrote on the Telegram messaging app. ’The presence of Ukrainian troops within Russia may impact public opinion, Podolyak suggested, since for many in Russia the war had not been something that directly affected them’. Ukrainian forces have been advancing in the Russian border region of Kursk since a surprise incursion on August 6. Kravchuk, a Ukrainian lawmaker belonging to Zelenskyy's Servant of the People Party, told that Ukraine's incursion into Russian territory could help Kyiv achieve a ’strong' on the battlefield if it comes to the negotiating table with Russia, adding that territory in Kursk could be part of negotiations. She said that Ukrainian authorities had received intelligence that showed that Russian forces were planning to attack Ukraine's northeastern Sumy region from Kursk, so ’this is part of self-defense,’ which ensure that the region will not be shelled from the Kursk region. Kravchuk said that Ukraine's incursion into Kursk was ’significant’ because ’Ukraine gained more territory than Russia occupied during 2024 in total.’ She said that she hoped Kyiv could exchange prisoners of war captured in Kursk for Ukrainian prisoners of war held by Russian forces. Ukrainian forces have been pushing into the Russian border region of Kursk over the past several days. Ukraine claims to have taken control of 82 settlements in the Kursk region since launching a surprise cross-border offensive 10 days ago. The head of Ukraine's military says Kursk offensive 'has advanced'. Kyiv's forces were advancing between one and three kilometers in some parts of Russia's Kursk region, General Syrskyi told Zelenskyy in a video posted on social media. He added that intense fighting continued in Ukraine's front line in the east, in particular in Toretsk and Pokrovsk. The Ukrainian military has urged civilians in Pokrovsk to speedily evacuate as Russian troops encircle the town ’at a fast pace.’ Syrskyi said that he hoped to take ’many prisoner’ from a battle ongoing in the village of Mala Loknya, about 13 kilometers from the Ukrainian border. In general, ’everything is carried out following the plan,’ Syrskyi said. Meanwhile, Russia has accused the West of aiding the incursion. /Source: DW - Germany / (Reuters – United Kingdom; AFP – France; dpa – Germany; AP – United States)/
United Kingdom
16.08.2024 Over 1,000 people have been arrested and nearly 600 charged in connection with the ’far-right’ riots that erupted across the UK following a stabbing incident in Southport on July 29. On August 4, Prime Minister Starmer condemned the riots as ’far-right’ thuggery and warned that those involved in the violence would regret their actions. The violent riots were fueled by online claims that the suspect in the fatal stabbing of three children in Southport was a Muslim asylum seeker. The attacker was identified as Rudakubana, a 17-year-old from Cardiff with Rwandan parents. Prime Minister Keir Starmer has vowed swift justice for those involved. On August 7, three men became the first individuals to be jailed for their involvement in the Southport and Liverpool riots. Starmer was reminding social media users that online platforms are not „law-free zones’. Sweeney, 53, was sentenced to 15 months in prison yesterday, for posting inflammatory messages on Facebook, including a post that read: Blow the mosque up with the adults in it. Judge Everett criticized her online conduct, stating that keyboard warriors must be held accountable for their language, especially amidst the ongoing national disorder. Parlour was sentenced to 20 months in jail last week for social media activity related to the ’far-right’ riots urging attacks on a hotel housing asylum seekers. Greenwood, 31, who live-streamed racial slurs during riots in Sunderland, received a 2.5-year prison sentence for violent disorder. A 12-year-old boy has become the youngest individual charged in connection with the riots. He appeared at Liverpool Youth Court on Monday and pleaded guilty to violent disorder in Merseyside. Additionally, a 14-year-old boy faces charges related to a riot in Whitehall last month. (Source: Anadolu Agency - Turkey)
Asia
Taiwan
August 16, 2024 Working against short deadlines with limited resource. If it wasn’t for the signs pointing to every underground car park’s dual use as an “Air Defence Shelter”, the impending threat of a Chinese invasion could easily be forgotten. Tension in the Taiwan Strait is increasing, and experts are now in general agreement that the Chinese Communist Party will attempt to take Taiwan using force. US and UK intelligence agencies remain concerned that China will at some point try to claim Taiwan through invasion, blockade or political pressure. President Xi is understood to have ordered his military to be ready to take the self-ruled island by 2027. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has been clear about its intentions while building the world’s largest naval force. How unprepared would be the West to deal with yet another conflict? The UK and European countries have a strong interest in helping maintain peace in the Taiwan Strait, due to Taiwan’s economic and geopolitical benefits, but wars raging in Ukraine and the Middle East have taken priority for Western nations. The war in Ukraine has sucked so much resource and attention from Europe that it cannot militarily support another conflict in its current state. Military-wise European nations don’t even have the capacities to supply own militaries and support Ukraine, they have reached a production limit. There is no chance we can significantly help if tensions turned to conflict in Taiwan - the UK’s capacity to assist in the event of another conflict would currently be unable to fund and support a new emerging war. The UK’s Ministry of Defence faces budget pressures, forcing the department to ask suppliers to find significant cuts. Keir Starmer has pledged to raise defence spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP in future years but no timeline has been set. All this comes against the backdrop of calls from the British Army’s chief, General Sir Walker, to prepare the UK’s military for threats from Russia, a possible Chinese invasion of Taiwan, and Iranian nuclear capabilities which he warned could all 'converge' in approximately 2027. Chinese military action against Taiwan would be catastrophic for the global economy, not least because 92 per cent of the world’s semi-conductors – an essential component of electronic devices used for computing, healthcare, and military systems – are manufactured there. A halt to shipments to and from the island could cause the production of phones, laptops, cars, and pacemakers to screech to a halt. This could cost the world economy an estimated $10trn and dwarf the effects of both the Ukraine invasion and coronavirus. The world focus would turn into the Indo-Pacific, which creates vacuums that other hostile powers can take advantage of. A successful Chinese invasion would entirely change the global governance. China’s success would further contribute to making democracies weaker, fast-track China’s leadership in critical technologies, including military ones, and eventually make China-led global order increasingly possible. The island has strategic location as the first island in a chain of archipelagos, including Japan, the Philippines, Indonesia, creating a natural barrier between mainland China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and its reach further into the Pacific. The UK and Europe’s lack of military readiness to defend Taiwan’s sovereignty has lead to frustration from both Taiwanese and American officials. ’We have helped fund a battle to protect Europe at high political and economic cost, and now we need that favour returned.’ a US intelligence source told, following America’s significant help in Ukraine. If tensions were to escalate in Taiwan, the US would have a duty to step in and defend the island’s sovereignty under the terms of an arms agreement between the two countries. The US would have its commitment to defence agreements with other countries in the region – including Japan, South Korea and the Philippines – tested. Since its election, Keir Starmer’s Labour Government has not yet mentioned China’s aggression in the region. In the first 40 days of the new Government, Foreign Office staff visited more than a dozen countries in all corners of the globe, including China, but have not yet made an appearance in Taiwan. Foreign Secretary Lammy is in talks over a trip to Beijing next month. Meanwhile, China has continued to deploy grey-zone warfare tactics – military actions that fall between war and peace – by repeatedly encircling the self-ruled island with fighter jets and navy ships, launching cyber attacks, and making provocative vows to ’reunite’ with Taiwan. It has also launched at least a dozen rocket launches – or satellite missions – that have passed over Taiwan’s air defence zone in the past 18 months. Military support right now appears to be out of the question - a senior UK military source told that “under current budget constraints' there was no chance of sending weapons to Taiwan any time soon. However, some officials, including Frederick, the US National Security Agency’s assistant deputy director for China, have cast doubt over China’s ability to meet its self-imposed deadline for seizing Taiwan in 2027. Rusi’s Dr Havrén said the UK should lean on pre-existing international agreements such as the Aukus military security partnership to apply pressure on Beijing without putting too much demand on resources. She told: ’Being more present in the Indo-Pacific with Aukus, strong relationships with like-minded democracies such as Japan and South Korea and non-aligned countries like India and Indonesia are essential to balance China’s presence and grey-zone tactics in the region’. Under the Aukus agreement, the UK, US and Australia share joint advanced military capabilities, including at least eight nuclear-powered submarines armed with conventional weapons, radar capabilities, hypersonic missiles and artificial intelligence developments, in order to promote security and stability in the Indo-Pacific region. Through Whitehall departments such as the Department for International Trade, the UK could provide knowledge and financing to help the Taiwanese people build in areas of food and energy storage, the introduction of key pharmaceutical and medical infrastructure to contribute to a greater Taiwanese resilience, according to the sources. It’s not military and would actually make a big difference. (Source: The i Paper - United Kingdom)
West Bank
16 August, 2024 Dozens of masked settlers torched homes and cars in the village of Jit, a Palestinian village near the occupied West Bank city of Nablus on Thursday evening. At least one Palestinian - identified as 23-year-old Sadda.- was killed and many others critically wounded. The settlers were also targeting residents of the village of Jit with live fire, threw rocks and Molotov cocktails at residents, with the Israeli army issuing a statement saying they were deployed to the village after receiving reports of violence. The attack is the latest in a series of many in recent weeks and months. Israel’s president Herzog denounced the attack as a "pogrom", while prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office published a statement saying, "those responsible for any offence will be apprehended and tried". "Violent attacks by settlers against Palestinian civilians in the West Bank are unacceptable and must stop. Israeli authorities need to take necessary measures to protect all residents," a White House spokesperson said, calling on Israel to take steps to prevent similar attacks. However, Israel’s ’far-right’ Finance Minister Smotrich said the perpetrators in Jit had nothing to do with settlers. "They are criminals who must be dealt with by the law enforcement authorities with the full force of the law," he wrote on X. The UN office OCHA says since the start of the war on Gaza in October, there have been at least 107 attacks that have caused Palestinians fatalities and wounds, and 859 causing damage to Palestinian property. According to the Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission’s (WSRC) head, Shaban, settlers have been exploiting attention on the war on Gaza to carry out further attacks in the West Bank. He added that most of the fires have been concentrated in the cities of Nablus, Ramallah, and Jenin, started in agricultural land and crops, as well as homes and vehicles. Some of these fires were caused by military raids, a WSRC report noted. Elsewhere in the West Bank, Israeli forces carried out a largescale raid in several neighbourhoods of Hebron. In recent weeks they imposed heavier entry restrictions in neighbourhoods in the city, by blocking off exits and installing checkpoints. Local media reports stated that soldiers detained civilians, including women and children, subjecting them to harsh treatment and preventing them from returning to their homes. Early on Friday, Israeli settlers also started excavating near the Arab Al-Ka’abneh Elementary School north of Jericho, aiming to establish a new settler building in the area. Melehat, the general supervisor of the Al-Baydar Organisation for Bedouin Rights highlighted that the area is central for the local Bedouin community there, and that the operation is part of a broader, aggressive colonial campaign, supported by Israeli occupation forces. Smotrich announced this week that a new settlement in the Battir area, which is listed on the UNSECO World Heritage List, has been approved. His office said it had "completed its work and published a plan for the new Nahal Heletz settlement in Gush Etzion". The report states around 6,000 acres have already been seized this year alone, and large-scale construction projects to make way for illegal outposts have increased. International law considers Israel’s settlements in the West Bank, occupied since 1967, are illegal in all cases. (Source: The New Arab - United Kingdom; a London-based news outlet, owned by a Qatari company)
North America
Canada
August 16, 2024 Canada ’places no geographic restrictions’ on the use of military equipment it has donated and continues to donate to Ukraine, Poulin, Canadian defense department spokesperson, told. Ukraine can use Canadian tanks and missiles in its ongoing special military operation on Russia soil, Ottawa said. According to Poulin, Canada will continue to work with the Ukrainian armed forces to provide the equipment they need. Canada have committed $4,5 billion in military assistance to Ukraine ’pledging to keep aid coming through to 2029’. So far, Canada has sent $33 million worth of air defense equipment, including air defense missiles AMRAAMS, AIM-9, AIM-7 and 40,000 rounds of ammunition delivered in 2023. Canada also contributed $53 million to Czechia’s initiative to purchase several thousand rounds of artillery ammunition for Ukraine. Canada has also donated M-777 howitzers, eight Leopard tanks, 200 additional Senator commercial pattern armored vehicles and 4,200 M72A5-C1 rocket launchers. Ukrainian forces have been slowly advancing in Russia’s Kursk region, where they control more than 1,000 square kilometers of territory, Kyiv said. The surprise attack - which has now lasted a week and a half - ’is a setback for the Kremlin, with some Russian units redeployed from the front lines in Ukraine to shore up defenses at home, Kyiv’s military said’. Germany also previously said it sees no problem with Ukraine using its weapons on Russian territory. ’It reduces Russian threat potential every day. It prevents Ukrainian civilians from becoming refugees,’ said Faber, the head of the German Bundestag’s defense committee. (Source: Politico - headquarters U.S., owned by a German company)
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