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Europe
Hungary
12/2/2025 Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán met Weidel, the co-leader of the ’far-right’ Alternative for Germany party in Budapest today. They discussed EU policy, Ukraine and hold a joint press conference. Orbán has hitherto been careful to keep his distance from the AfD, with officials saying he did not want to antagonise mainstream German parties for whom the AfD is anathema. /Photo/ (Source: MSN - U.S. / Reuters - United Kingdom)
Germany
12.02.2025 ’As climate change progresses, the number of people who are being forced to leave their homes and cross borders due to environmental change is increasing. ’At the same time, they lack safe, orderly and regular migration pathways. 'Regional free movement can expand the leeway for those who are particularly affected by climate change. The African regional organisations ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States) and IGAD (Intergovernmental Authority on Development) have both concluded agreements that could guarantee such free movement of persons. ’In order to take advantage of these agreements in terms of climate mobility, German and European development and migration policy should do more to implement regional free movement’. "Both agreements allow member states to suspend free movement under certain conditions and to refuse entry to certain groups of people – for example in the event of a serious threat to internal security or if migrants are not financially self-sufficient". 'Countries could make use of these exemptions, in particular if the consequences of climate change lead to large-scale refugee and migration movements. 'Although both agreements prohibit mass expulsions, people moving across borders under the free movement of persons within ECOWAS and IGAD are not fundamentally protected from refoulement to areas that are becoming increasingly uninhabitable due to the effects of climate change. 'Free movement agreements can facilitate the mobility of some individuals and groups in the context of climate change, but in no way replace refugee policy instruments such as resettlement programmes or humanitarian visas". "African countries are becoming increasingly sceptical about opening borders and immigration. 'Although the protocols on the free movement of persons have been ratified, there are repeated expulsions of migrants from the region, refusals at internal borders and arbitrary border closures within ECOWAS". 'In a situation in which European policy in Africa is increasingly being contested, and at the same time the influence of Russia and China on the continent is growing, it is all the more important to keep an eye on the interests of regional organisations as part of a partnership policy and not to disrupt well-functioning regional cooperation". (Source: Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik; SWP - the German Institute for International and Security Affairs. Headquarters in Berlin, Germany)
by Dr Korte, who was an Associate in the Global Issues Research Division at SWP until December 2024; Landmesser, a Research Assistant in the Global Issues Research Division.
Written as part of the research project 'Strategic Refugee and Migration Policy, funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development'.
Romania
(12.02.2025) Iohannis stepped down as president today. It was an ignominious end to a failed presidency. He leaves office as the most unpopular Romanian president of the post-communist era. The hallmarks of his presidency were silence, absence from the public eye and - on those rare occasions when he did actually say something - statements that often seemed inappropriate and were sometimes hair-raising. Iohannis' resignation will not eliminate the causes of the country's current difficult political situation. In a result that shocked the nation, the first round of the presidential election last November was won by outsider Georgescu, a far-right, pro-Russian conspiracy theorist who has called for the dismantling and break-up of Ukraine and glorified the Christian Orthodox Romanian fascists of the interwar years. But Iohannis' most serious legacy will be the fact that during his presidency, right-wing, pro-Russian forces in Romania grew stronger than they have ever been in the past 35 years. ’The establishment’ in Romania is a high-handed political class that has set up a clientalistic system that reaches into even the smallest public structures at all levels and whose most prominent figures are often embroiled in corruption scandals. Johannis won his first term as president in late 2014. He quickly gave the impression that he was not the right man for the job. He turned out to be a passive president. Low points in his first term included the stripping of Tőkés of an order of merit - Tőkés is an ethnic Hungarian pastor whose anti-communist resistance triggered the uprising against Ceausescu in 1989 - and the dismissal of the former anti-corruption public prosecutor Kövesi, who is now European Chief Prosecutor. Although himself a member of one of Romania's German minorities, Johannis stirred up negative feelings towards Romania's Hungarian minority during an address to the nation in spring 2020, accused it of separatism, disparaged the Hungarian language and accused the Social Democrats, who were in the opposition at the time, of supporting the alleged Hungarian plan for the secession of Transylvania. It reminded many of the darkest period of Romanian nationalism. He was back in the headlines for the expensive renovation of the presidential palace and his official residences as well as for making expensive trips in a luxury jet - all things that did not go down well in a country that is one of the poorest in the EU. Extreme right-wing parties, who are calling for Romania to leave the EU and NATO, are now stronger than they have ever been in the post-communist era. Together, three 'far-right parties now account for over 35% of lawmakers in parliament after last year's general election. His slogan in the 2014 presidential election was "President of a job well done," which in Romanian was a nod to the image of the thorough, reliable German who does quality work. Romanian journalist and writer Popescu has since paraphrased this slogan, referring to Iohannis as the "President of a disaster well done." (Source: DW – Germany)
by Verseck, editor, writer and reporter
Ukraine
12.02.2025 Zelenskyy met the new US Treasury Secretary Bessent in Kyiv today. The hedge fund manager was pursuing access to Ukrainian resources like rare earths, as Trump tries to leverage US support for Ukraine into future financial gains for the wealthy. Bessent and Zelenskyy presented a draft agreement regarding the mining of the valuable materials by US investors. ’We will do everything to ensure that our teams can get down to work, agree on something very quickly and sign the document,’ Zelensky said after the meeting. ’We are talking about the joint development of deposits,’ he emphasized. (Source: DW – Germany)
United Kingdom
February 12, 2025, „We know that when conflict escalates in the Middle East, the Jewish community always suffers”, the government’s Independent Adviser on Antisemitism, Lord Mann, said. The Community Security Trust has recorded the second-highest number of anti-Jewish hate incidents in the UK for the calendar year of 2024 - 3,528 incidents. In 2023, the worst year on record, 4,296 incidents occurred, caused by antisemitic responses to the 7 October 2023 mass terror attack in Israel and the subsequent Middle East war. Those who are complicit in this antisemitism range from social media giants to the Islamist and far Left extremists who celebrated the Hamas terror attacks, CST’s chief executive, Gardner said. These hatreds are compounded by the stony silence with which Jewish concerns are met in far too many places of work, education and culture. It leaves Jews feeling ever more isolated and worried for the future.” The 2024 incident report (Source: Jewish News, a free weekly newspaper, that serves the Jewish communities of Greater London, United Kingdom)
Asia
Syria
12.02.2025 Since the fall of Assad, there has been an increase in targeted attacks on Syria’s Alawite population. This violence is an expression of a deeply entrenched stigmatisation, fuelled for decades by a narrative based on an ‘Alawite regime’. The vulnerability of the Alawite population, both in Syria and the Middle East historically is rooted in the rejection of reforms and divergent faiths by orthodox Sunni Islam. (Source: International Political Sociology, a quarterly journal, published by Oxford University Press, United Kingdom)
by Walo, who studied social sciences in Berlin, Ankara and Riga, with a focus on Syria and Turkey.
North America
United States
Feb 12, 2025 President Trump has fired Martin, the inspector general for the US Agency for International Development (USAID). In his executive order, Trump said US foreign aid organizations "are not aligned with American interests and in many cases antithetical to American values." (Source: NewsBytes – India)
Wednesday 12 February 2025 20:17 GMT Trump said he and Russian president Putin agreed by phone to begin negotiations on ending the war in Ukraine and will “work together, very closely”. The US president said today that the leaders are to meet in person and their respective teams will start talks “immediately”. “We each talked about the strengths of our respective nations, and the great benefit that we will someday have in working together,” Mr Trump said in a social media post. “But first, as we both agreed, we want to stop the millions of deaths taking place in the War with Russia/Ukraine.” Mr Trump also spoke at length with Zelensky. White House officials today declined to clarify if Ukraine would be a party to the US talks with Russia. US vice-president Vance, secretary of state Rubio and Mr Trump’s special Russia-Ukraine envoy, retired general Kellogg, will all be in Germany later this week for the annual Munich Security Conference, which Mr Zelensky will also attend. US defence secretary Hegseth ruled out Nato membership for Ukraine and suggested Kyiv should abandon hope of a return to its pre-2014 borders. Kremlin spokesman Peskov said the conversation between Mr Trump and Mr Putin covered a good deal of ground, including the Middle East and Iran in addition to Ukraine, which was the main focus. Mr Peskov said that Mr Trump called for a quick cessation of hostilities and a peaceful settlement and that Mr Putin “emphasized the need to remove the root causes of the conflict and agreed with Trump that a long-term settlement could be achieved through peace talks”. He added: “The Russian president invited the US president to visit Moscow and expressed readiness to host US officials in Russia for issues of mutual interest, naturally including Ukraine, the Ukrainian settlement.” (Source: Independent - United Kingdom)
NATO
(12 February 2025 'Defence spending from Canada and European NATO allies jumped by 20% year-on-year in 2024, but considerably more money is needed before the end of the decade to deter a Russian attack', Rutte said today. Defence ministers from the 32-member organisation will gather in Brussels tomorrow for their first meeting since Trump's new administration was inaugurated, with support for Ukraine and defence spending topping the agenda. A White Paper on defence detailing the military capabilities the bloc needs and the various options to finance them is to be released on March 19, with decisions set for the June leader's summit, held a day after the NATO gathering. (Source: Euronews - a television news network, headquartered in Lyon, France)
'Global
(February 12, 2025) 'Corruption Perceptions Index' (Source: Transparency International - Headquarters Berlin, Germany)
Opinion: 'The index is meaningless nonsense, in which “corrupt” is just a synonym for poor'. (Bullough)
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