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Europe
Romania
March 16, 2025 On Sunday, the government barred a popular candidate, Georgescu, from running in the country’s upcoming May presidential election. This action was preceded by Georgescu, an independent right-wing candidate who is skeptical of NATO, the EU, and support for Ukraine, winning the first round of the presidential election. His background reveals a man well-versed in human rights and sustainability and whose name has been floated for political leadership long before 2024. It is not his background but his ideas that have struck fear into the NATO and EU establishments. Actions against Georgescu were undertaken following U.S.-backed allegations of Russian interference in the election despite the fact that the then-president of Romania, who has since resigned in the fallout from this scandal, admitted that these allegations were “nearly impossible” to prove. The Trump administration has taken notice. In a blunt speech at the Munich Security Conference, Vice President Vance chided Eurocrats for their glee over Romania’s canceled election. Likewise, Director of National Intelligence Gabbard cited Romania’s canceled election as just one example of European allies acting in an undemocratic manner. American leaders should be more ambitious and view the situation in Romania as an opportunity to reset the U.S. relationship with Europe. Romania could prove the perfect proving ground for the new normal. After he won the first round of Romania’s presidential election, news reports described Georgescu as an 'unknown' who achieved a shock victory thanks to a successful TikTok campaign. A closer look shows that while he is an outsider to the NATO and EU establishments, the reality of Georgescu is starkly different from the portrayal of him as Putin’s puppet. He is a soil scientist who has worked for the UN as a Special Rapporteur and his 2012 report on the long-term deleterious effect of American nuclear bomb testing in the Marshall Islands remains on the UN website today. Following his work with the UN, he worked on sustainability issues with the Club of Rome. Georgescu was discussed as a potential candidate for prime minister as far back as 2010; he was formally proposed as prime minister in 2020 and 2021. Romania is home to Mihail Kogalniceanu Air Base, the easternmost NATO base in Europe. The Biden administration invested heavily in this base near Ukraine and facing Crimea, planning to turn it into one of the largest in Europe, surpassing the Ramstein base in Germany. Georgescu’s campaign included a skeptical attitude toward the continued presence of U.S. troops in Romania. Meanwhile, President Trump challenges the conventional view of NATO, is seeking to tamp down tensions with Russia, end the war in Ukraine, and has attempted to withdraw troops from Europe in the past. It’s not hard to see how these facts could combine into a recipe for a U.S. drawdown and shifting the burden of Romania’s defense onto Romania. This pragmatic vision diverges from the status quo and the emerging transactional model. Biden’s description of the alliance as a 'sacred obligation' encompasses the status quo. Hungary exemplifies the more transactional model wherein the United States signals a greater defense commitment, including an enlarged troop presence, for countries that spend more on their defense. Georgescu’s model represents a third way which would permit and encourage NATO allies to make their own sovereign defense decisions, emphasizing self-reliance instead of taking the U.S. security guarantee as a given or acting to curry favor with Washington through increased defense spending. This model makes sense for many reasons. As much as we are accustomed to talking about NATO and Europe, these coalitions refer to groups of countries that have very different interests and security needs, making any blanket approach to policymaking unwieldy. An alliance should not and need not attempt to level these differences. Of course, Georgescu being barred from running presents a hurdle to implementing this vision. Nonetheless, his ideas and influence could continue to have an impact on how Romanians think about defense and foreign policy. That said, Washington can and should pursue a reset in Romania regardless of who runs or wins in the upcoming presidential election. Canceling elections and barring candidates from running are decisions most Americans are uncomfortable with. And if Trump is serious about diplomacy with Russia and pivoting to Asia, a troop drawdown in Romania and a cancellation of the plans to expand the airbase would serve both purposes. Doing so would align with American interests, incentivizing our allies throughout Europe to do more for their own defense needs, and simply highlight that the indefinite deployment of U.S. troops can’t be taken for granted. Withdrawing troops from Romania would rattle NATO, yes, but it would demonstrate American resolve and encourage Europeans to do more than just talk about strategic autonomy. This action could even be used as a bargaining chip to incentivize Russia to cease fighting in Ukraine as Moscow has long complained of NATO troops moving ever eastward. If the Biden administration’s plans to expand the airbase and U.S. troop presence in Romania are seen through by the Trump administration, this would keep Washington more committed to tensions with Moscow and tied to an increasingly undemocratic government in Bucharest. It is hard to see that as a mission vital to American interests. It is preferable to maintain good relations with Bucharest and Europe absent the deployment of U.S. troops. However, the American interest in drawing down in Europe and finding a modus vivendi with the only other nuclear superpower remains regardless of how much we like or dislike the governments in Europe. (Source: The National Interest, U.S.)
by Hall, the Communications Manager of Defense Priorities.
North Macedonia
(Sunday, 16 March 2025) Today a massive fire began at about 2:3o a.m. local time in a nightclub in North Macedonia’s eastern town of Kocani, killing 59 people and injuring 155. (Source: Irish Independent - Ireland)
Asia
Pakistan
Mar 16, 2025 Baloch insurgents release first visuals of attack on Pakistan military convoy comprising eight buses in Balochistan's Noshki. One of the buses was hit by a vehicle loaded with IEDs, possibly a suicide attack, while another was targeted by Rocket-Propelled Grenades (RPGs), said a Pakistani official. The BLA, which has been seeking the separation of the mineral-rich region from Pakistan and had hijacked a Peshawar-bound train last week, claimed that they killed all 214 military hostages. (Source: India Today)
Syria
16 March, 2025 Ankara, allied with Syria's new rulers who ousted president Assad and took power in December, has called on the European Union to unconditionally lift all sanctions on war-torn Syria ahead of an international aid conference in Brussels tomorrow, to which the country's new authorities have been invited. The European bloc on February 24 already announced an easing of sanctions on Syria's energy, transport and banking sectors. ’The sanctions must be lifted unconditionally and for an indeterminate period,’ Turkey's ministry said. EU foreign ministers have warned that the sanctions they eased could be reimposed if Syria's new leaders break promises to respect the rights of minorities and move towards democracy. Turkey, which hosts nearly three million Syrian refugees, urged reconstruction of Syria to encourage returns, adding that economic opportunities and jobs need to be created. Turkish deputy foreign minister Yilmaz will attend the Brussels conference. (Source: The New Arab, based in London, United Kingdom, owned by a Qatari company)
North America
United States
(Sunday), 16/03/2025 The administration of US President Trump has launched a broad cutback of Voice of America, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and other government programmes. On Friday night, shortly after Congress passed the latest funding bill, Trump instructed his administration to reduce the functions of several agencies to the minimum required by law. These included the U.S. Global Media Agency, a budget-funded government organisation to which the Voice of America, Radio Free Europe and Asia, and Radio Marti, which broadcasts Spanish-language news to Cuba, all report. Together, the networks reached about 427 million people. They date back to the Cold War and are part of a network of government-funded organisations trying to expand US influence. These organisations include USAID, another agency that Trump has opposed. Voice of America’s director Abramowitz said that virtually the entire staff of 1,300 people has been placed on administrative leave. Yesterday morning, Lake, whom Trump appointed as a senior adviser to the U.S. Global Media Agency, wrote on website X that employees should check their emails. In another post she described the U.S. Global Media Agency as "the most corrupt agency in Washington DC." The video released by Lake was filmed in a building leased by Voice of America, which Lake called a waste of money. "We're doing everything we can to cancel contracts that can be cancelled, save money, reduce staffing and make sure your dollars are not misused," she said. The letter instructs employees not to use the Global Media Agency's facilities and to return equipment such as phones and computers. 'In a post on X the Czech Republic's foreign minister Lipavský said he would raise the cuts with the Council of Europe' tomorrow. ’Radio Free Europe is one of the few credible sources in dictatorships like Iran, Belarus, and Afghanistan’, he said. 'Reporters Without Borders, an international non-governmental organisation, said it calls on the US government to reinstate Voice of America and calls on Congress and the international community' to take action. The cuts are a sharp blow to a key element of the post-Cold War order. Trump's downsizing order also includes several other lesser-known government agencies such as the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund, the US Interagency Council on Homelessness and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars (a nonpartisan think tank). /Source: Euronews, based in Lyon, France/
See also Lake's announcement: (Source:X): 'Massive national security violations, including spies and terrorist symphatizers and/or supporters infiltrating the agency'; '§100s-of-millions being spent on fake news companies'; "This agency is not salvageable".
March 16, 2025 7:42 a.m.: 146 700 views
Space
(Sunday), 16/03/2025 A SpaceX crew capsule arrived at the International Space Station today, delivering the replacements for NASA’s two stuck astronauts. The four newcomers - representing the U.S., Japan and Russia - will spend the next few days learning the station’s ins and outs from Wilmore and Williams. Then the two will strap into their own SpaceX capsule later this week, one that has been up there since last year, to close out an unexpected extended mission that began last June. (Source: Euronews, based in Lyon, France)
See also: /Video/ (Source: X)
March 16, 2025 6:51 a.m.: 30 500 000 views
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