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Europe
Belgium
03/02/2025 Flemish conservative Bart De Wever, 54, the former mayor of Antwerp since 2013 was sworn today of office before King Philippe at the royal palace in Brussels as Belgium's new prime minister, after seven months of negotiations to reach a coalition deal that shifts the country to the right. De Wever has pledged to crack down on irregular migration. His N-VA party is part of the 'hard-right' ECR group in the European Parliament, which also includes lawmakers from the parties of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Czech leader Petr Fiala. The new government brings together three parties from Dutch-speaking Flanders: the N-VA, the centrist Christian-Democrats and the leftist Vooruit (Onward). And it includes two from French-speaking Wallonia: the centrist Les Engages and the centre-right Reformist Movement. Together, they hold an 81-seat majority in Belgium's 150-seat parliament. (Source: France24 / AFP = France)
Finland
03.02.2025 The Finnish Foreign Ministry said in a press release that it published an information package on its website for those planning or considering traveling to serve as volunteer fighters on the side of Kyiv. The package provides guidelines for various issues and circumstances, including being wounded, killed, or missing in action, or becoming a prisoner of war. “In my opinion, the authors of such ‘instructions’ were guided by nothing but hatred for their own citizens and disregard for their fate. Who in the Finnish government hates the Finns so much?” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zakharova said. (Source: Anadolu Agency - Turkey)
Germany
3 February 2025 Job market shrinks, German unemployment hits almost 3 million. (Source: Brussel's Signal)
Poland
03.02.2025 Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk, whose country holds the EU's rotating six-month presidency said during an informal summit of EU leaders in Brussels today that the EU must offer a 'firm and united' response to US President Trump’s tariff threats. He also said he would try to convince all European leaders 'against limiting or eliminating the spending of European money on American weapons'. This is not about 'sucking up to someone in Washington,' he said, but about 'finally taking security seriously as our top priority.' (Source: Anadolu Agency - Turkey)
3 February 2025 The Polish parliamentary committee investigating the purchase and use of Pegasus spyware by the former Conservative (PiS) government has voted to have former PiS justice minister Ziobro incarcerated for 30 days. The Constitutional Court had previously issued an injunction against further committee proceedings. The centre-left Tusk government’s opinion is that the Constitutional Court was improperly constituted and therefore its decisions were null and void. (Source: Brussel's Signal)
European Union
(Monday), February 03, 2025 The European Union leaders gather today and are expected to discuss what military capabilities they need in the coming years, how they could be funded and how they might co-operate more through joint projects. Costa, the president of the European Council of EU leaders, has billed the one-day gathering as a "retreat" devoted to defence policy rather than a formal summit, aiming for an open discussion without any official declaration or decisions. The first session focuses on geopolitics and relations with the United States, meaning Trump's weekend move on tariffs. Trump will also be a major factor in the talks on defence. He has said Nato's European members should spend 5 per cent of GDP on defence - a figure no member of the alliance including the United States currently reaches. Trump's call for EU member Denmark to cede Greenland to the United States has also added strains to transatlantic ties. "Europe needs to assume greater responsibility for its own defence," Costa said in a letter to the leaders. "It needs to become more resilient, more efficient, more autonomous and a more reliable security and defence actor." The funding discussion will be especially tough, as many European countries have little room in their public finances for big spending hikes. The Baltic states and France, advocate joint EU borrowing to spend on defence. Germany and the Netherlands are staunchly opposed. European countries have ramped up defence spending in recent years. Last year, they spent an average of 1.9 per cent of GDP on defence - about 326 billion euros. That is a 30 per cent increase from 2021. Warsaw is leading the pack at more than 4.1 per cent. Italy and Spain spend much less - about 1.5 per cent and 1.3 per cent respectively. The leaders of the EU's 27 nations will lunch with Nato Secretary General Rutte and dine with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. (Source: AsiaOne - Singapore / Reuters - United Kingdom)
Russia
Mon, Feb 3 2025 After U.S. President imposed tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China, provoking alarm among European allies, Putin warned on the Rossiya-1 state TV channel that Europe will quickly “stand at the feet of the master”, „all of them will wag their tails a little” and that Trump’s second administration would “restore order” in Europe. * European leaders are gathering today, with the threat of tariffs likely to be high on the agenda. The key theme of the meeting is strengthening their defense strategy. President Trump said tariffs on the European Union could follow pretty soon, but said there could be a deal with the U.K. which has a more balanced trading relationship with its trans-Atlantic ally. Trump has already warned European leaders that they need to be responsible for their own security, lambasting NATO allies for not meeting defense spend commitments and saying last month that he could ask them to spend even more on defense. “You know, there are many tensions there, so, of course, we have no desire to be associated with all this in any way or to evaluate it in any way,” Kremlin press secretary Peskov told in his daily press briefing. The European Commission yesterday was stating that it would ’respond firmly’ to any U.S. duties. Moscow has expressed hopes that its own relationship with the U.S. could improve under Trump. Putin and Trump have had cordial relations in the past, with both leaders expressing admiration for each other, previously. Russia stands to benefit from U.S. tariffs on its trading partners as they are likely to suffer a steep economic hit. The tariffs also sow disarray among erstwhile allies - partners who, like the U.S. under former President Biden, have looked to weaken Russia’s leadership and economy with punitive measures designed to stymy Moscow’s economic and geopolitical power. The U.S.′ allies in Europe ’fear’ the president will stop U.S. military funding for Ukraine and could push Kyiv into peace talks to end the war. Putin said last month that he hoped he and Trump could meet soon to discuss the war and energy prices. If Trump pulls U.S. funding for Ukraine, Europe will have to confront a decision whether to shoulder the financial burden of Ukraine alone. A number of leaders - particularly those in Eastern Europe who are seen to be on friendlier terms with the Kremlin - are already skeptical of more sanctions on Russia and funding for Ukraine. Criticizing his European counterparts yesterday, Putin said European leaders on the Continent lacked conviction in their beliefs. Praising former European leaders such as France’s De Gaulle, Chirac and Germany’s Schroeder, Putin said such leaders had their own opinion and the courage to fight for this opinion, to express it, to talk about it and to try to at least implement it in practical work. Today, there are practically no such people there, Putin said, RIA Novosti reported. (Source: CNBC – U.S.)
* "The comments were reported by state news agency RIA Novosti and translated by Google."
February 3, 2025 During a December 2022 meeting at Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, Former Ukrainian Armed Forces Commander-in-Chief Zaluzhnyi proposed a plan for an offensive on Russia’s Belgorod, Major General Nazarov said. Nazarov served as Zaluzhnyi’s chief adviser and later as his consultant. The plan involved taking control of Belgorod city itself. (Source: Meduza - Headquarters Riga, Latvia)
Ukraine
February 3, 2025 The electricity front of Russia's war against Ukraine. From 2011 to 2022, the successive disengagement from Russian energy structures and systems served to further increase tensions with Russia. By February 2022, Ukraine had only one remaining requirement for gaining membership in the European grid: to demonstrate that it could operate its domestic grid reliably in isolation for a week. This “de-linking” (from Russia, Belarus, and Poland) had been previously scheduled for Feb. 24. Since the full-scale invasion began the same day and Ukraine went ahead with de-linking despite the attack, Ukraine’s grid continued to operate in isolation until it was accepted permanently into the European electricity grid on March 16, 2022. The revenue and status Ukraine derived from those exports from March 2022 through August 2022 were significant factors in the Russian decision to increase shelling of the substations and power lines associated with the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. Russia is close to achieving a decisive edge on the energy front of the Russo–Ukrainian war, leaving Ukraine’s damaged electrical grid 70 percent reliant on three complexes of nuclear reactors. The national grid is connected by 103 substations, a vital part of the entire system. On Nov. 28, attacks against four substations forced a temporary shutdown of one of the four reactors at the Rivne complex. Russia compelled the closure of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant using similar means in September 2022, and Ukraine closed the facility. Russia declared that it had taken control of the shuttered plant on Oct. 5, 2022. It remains in Russian hands today. Since the closure of that facility on Sep. 12, 2022, Ukraine has become a net importer of electricity, regularly petitioning the European grid system for higher import volumes and more infrastructure. The International Atomic Energy Agency became involved in the war on the second day of the invasion. As of Jan. 23, 2025, there had been 271 statements on the situation in Ukraine. Due to the fear of an accident with local and international implications, the European Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States are likely to join with the International Atomic Energy Agency in insisting on shutting down any of Ukraine’s nuclear power plant complexes if they - or the grid to which they are connected - fail to meet international safety standards. The E.U. – Ukraine Association Agreement states, in Article 342, that Ukraine must cooperate with International Atomic Energy Agency principles and standards for nuclear safety. With the agency monitoring on the ground and releasing regular press statements, there will be little room for Ukraine to negotiate. The best measure Ukraine can take to avoid grid collapse is to concentrate air defense systems on protecting the key substations. After a year of near-constant attacks, the grid operator, Ukrenergo, had to suspend payments in November 2024 for electricity imports. Large urban areas rapidly become ungovernable without electricity. A loss of electricity puts water, sewage, and heat at risk, increasing the likelihood of large-scale population displacement. An estimated 6.8 million refugees have already left Ukraine, with an additional 4.0 million internally displaced. Germany is hosting over 1.5 million Ukrainian refugees and Poland is already hosting over 900.000. An additional nine European countries are hosting between 100,000 and 900,000 each. A second wave of refugees would strain the resources. A grid collapse, should it occur, would reflect the ongoing role played by energy in this war. Ukraine’s survival now turns not on megatons, but on megawatts. (Source: War on the Rocks - U.S.)
by Sabonis-Helf, a professor at Georgetown University
Africa
South Africa
Feb 03, 2025 In January, South African President Ramaphosa signed a bill allowing the government to provide 'nil' compensation for certain expropriated properties. On his Truth Social platform, United States President Trump has announced a halt on all future funding to South Africa. Trump accused the African nation of "confiscating land and treating certain classes of people very badly." He disclosed an investigation into these allegations is underway. In 2018, Trump had directed then-Secretary of State Pompeo to look into allegations of violence against white farmers in South Africa. (Source: NewsBytes - India)
Asia
Gaza
3 Feb 2025 Gaza authorities revise war death toll to more than 61,700 people. (Source: Al Jazeera - Qatar)
Japan
February 3, 2025 The Japan-NATO Conference on Strategic Communications - as one of the priority areas of cooperation countering disinformation - took place in Tokyo. Japan will further enhance the Japan-NATO cooperation. (Source: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan)
Syria
Feb. 3, 2025 On the outskirts of the city of Manbij, in the area of Syria controlled by the Turkey-backed Syrian National Army coalition which includes radical Islamic rebel factions, a car bomb detonated, killing agricultural workers, 14 women and one man. Another 15 were injured, some seriously. (Source: UPI - U.S.)
North America
United States
Feb 03, 2025 India asks whether global tax deal can work after US withdrawal last month. (Source: Straits Times - Singapore / Reuters - United Kingdom)
February 3, 2025, Monday Groving scrutiny at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Musk has publicly calling it a criminal organization. (Source: Novinite - Bulgaria)
NATO
03.02.2025 'Spending 2% of GDP on defense not enough to keep us safe': NATO chief reiterated, speaking at a joint news conference in Brussels today. 'And the US is also under threat now with the long-range missiles coming out of North Korea, maybe in the future' thanks to all the technology the Russians are delivering to Pyongyang - Rutte said. We are all working to end this war, said the British premier, adding that the allies 'must do all' that they can to support Ukraine's defense. And that's why, he said, this year the UK will give more military support to Ukraine than ever before. The pair's remarks came following an informal meeting of EU leaders to discuss European defense. (Source: Anadolu Agency - Turkey)
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