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Europe
Hungary
22/05/2025 Turkish President Erdogan and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán yesterday discussed bilateral relations, as well as regional and global issues. Erdogan met with Orbán during a visit to Budapest for an informal summit of the Organization of Turkic States. Erdogan arrived yesterday in the capital, to attend the informal summit. During the meeting, President Erdogan stated that Türkiye and Hungary share deep-rooted ties and that they will continue to take steps to enhance cooperation in all areas. He said hosting the Organization of Turkic States Summit in Hungary, which is an observer member, demonstrates the organization's importance to Budapest. He also underlined that Hungary adds strength to the Organization of Turkic States. Emphasizing that reviving Türkiye's EU accession process is also in the interest of Europe, President Erdogan added that Türkiye can contribute to the EU in many areas, particularly in the field of security. The president emphasized Türkiye's efforts to end the war between Russia and Ukraine with fair and lasting peace, as well as the urgent need for a ceasefire and the immediate start of peace talks. Accompanying Erdogan on the trip are first lady Erdogan, Communications Director Altun, and Cagatay Kilic, chief presidential adviser on foreign policy and security. Türkiye, alongside Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, is a member state of the OTS, while Hungary, along with Turkmenistan and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, are observer states. (Source: Yeni Şafak / AA = Turkey)
Romania
22.05.2025 The ninth Black Sea and Balkans Security Forum started today in Bucharest, bringing together nearly 200 officials, diplomats, military personnel, and analysts to discuss regional security challenges. The two-day event is organized by the Romanian think tank New Strategy Center, in partnership with Romania's National Defense Ministry. The Romanian Foreign Ministry serves as an institutional partner, while Bucharest’s University of Agronomic Sciences and Veterinary Medicine are the academic partners. With 50 panels featuring 198 speakers from EU and NATO member states and partnering countries, the forum’s key themes include the transatlantic relationship and US military presence recalibration in Europe, prospects for peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, and Moldova's EU integration - issues affecting the extended Black Sea and Balkans region. (Source: Anadolu Agency - Turkey)
European Commission
22.05.2025 EU launches nearly $170B defense industry loan plan. EU member states have agreed to establish a €150 billion (nearly $170 billion) Defense Industrial Readiness Loan Instrument (SAFE) to boost the bloc’s defense sector. Kyiv gains access to EU supply chains, Ukraine is formally recognized as a partner country, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal has said on X yesterday. 'The decision would help integrate Ukraine into the EU’s joint defense procurement efforts’ and ’open opportunities for Ukrainian firms within European supply chains’, he said, thanking European Commission President Der Leyen, as well as Poland and other EU partners for their continued support. The European Commission has not yet publicly commented on the timeline for the instrument’s implementation. (Source: Anadolu Agency - Turkey)
European Parliament
(Thursday), 22/05/2025 A group of MEPs has called on the European Commission to immediately suspending all EU funding for Hungary ’in line with the applicable legislation to protect the Union’s financial interest’. The letter, signed by 26 MEPs from five different political groups published on Tuesday, was addressed to European Commissioner for Budget Serafin and Commissioner for Democracy and Justice McGrath. It recalls that the Commission is currently withholding €18 billion from Hungary through various mechanisms triggered in December 2022. ’Regrettably, since the decisions in December 2022, Hungary has not only failed to make meaningful progress toward meeting the stipulated conditions and/or milestones but has instead witnessed further alarming regressions,’ the letter said. The letter cites four key issues, including direct government interference in the work of the Hungarian Integrity Authority, undermining the independence of the judiciary, resulting in a protest of the Hungarian Judges' Association, banning the Pride march in Budapest, and the approval of the "Defence of Sovereignty law". The letter recalls that this law, adopted in 2023, enables the investigation of the usage of foreign funds to influence voters. In addition to that law, the Hungarian parliament is currently debating a draft law that could see foreign-funded media and NGOs listed and fined. The signatories of the letter include lawmakers from the EPP group, S&D, Greens/EFA, Renew, and the Left. Some ’key MEPs’: Hohlmeier and Germain, co- rapporteurs on rule of law conditionality, Freund, the co-chair of the anti-corruption intergroup, Körner, a rule of law conditionality shadow rapporteur with the budget committee, Strik, a rapporteur on Hungary and Herbst, the chair of the Parliament's budgetary control committee.’ ’We therefore consider a freezing of all funds proportionate to the risk posed to the Union’s financial interests,’ the MEPs wrote. ’Yesterday's meeting of the College of Commissioners included consideration of the role of conditionality and respect for the rule of law in that regard’. ’The Commission is considering its approach to the next Multiannual Financial Framework, and we had a further discussion on this matter’ in his reply Commissioner McGrath said. Maintaining sovereignty and limiting foreign interference in Hungarian politics was a matter of national interest, members of Hungary's ruling Fidesz party said in the European Parliament debate. Hungarian MEP Dömötör accused Brussels of financing a network of leftist activists to intervene in politics. "Whatever you say, what we have here has nothing to do with civil society. The civil society organises itself from the ground, but those activists were financed by the grand coalition from here, or with the aid of the Open Society or the USAID,' Dömötör said. The new transparency law in Hungary might be approved by the Hungarian parliament in the coming weeks. (Source: Euronews - based in Lyon, France)
by ’Zsiros
(22 May 2025) MEPs backed increased tariffs on fertilisers and certain Russian and Belarusian agricultural goods today, ’seeking to reduce EU dependency’ on those imports. Products to be hit by the new tariffs include sugar, vinegar, flour and animal feed. The text also provides for a 6.5% tariff on ’fertilisers’ imported from Russia and Belarus, plus duties of between €40 and €45 per tonne for the 2025-2026 period. ’These tariffs will rise to €430 per tonne by 2028. Income from the sale of Russian and Belarussian fertilisers is considered to be contributing directly to the war against Ukraine’. The Commission presented its proposal to impose tariffs on fertilisers and certain agricultural products originating in Russia and Belarus, on 28 January 2025. The regulation was adopted by 411 votes in favour and 100 against, with 78 abstentions. ’It is not acceptable that three years after Russia launched its full-scale war, the EU is still buying critical products in large volumes, in fact, these imports have risen significantly, the standing rapporteur for Russia Vaidere (EPP, LV) said’. The regulation must now be adopted formally by the Council. (Source: European Parliament - official seat Strasbourg, France)
Asia
China
19 May 2025 China is preparing to launch a new drone-carrying mothership capable of releasing 100 kamikaze unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) at the same time. Developed by Shaanxi Unmanned Equipment Technology, the Jiu Tan, which means “high sky”, is a high-altitude long-range UAV that can transport weapons and equipment. It was first unveiled at the Zhuhai air show, the largest in the country, in November. The fourth prototype will set off on its maiden flight next month. The vehicle has a 25-metre wingspan and can fly for 12 hours, with a maximum range of 7,000 kilometres. It has a take-off weight of 16 tons and a transporting capacity of six tons, which could be used to carry anything from surveillance technology to ammunition. The aircraft can also carry cruise missiles and medium-range air-to-air missiles, such as the PL-12E. Its ability to reach high altitudes means it would be harder to detect from ground-based radar systems and could fly above many of the defence systems operational around the world. China already has a large drone capacity. Earlier this year, it tested the TP1000, the first unmanned transport aircraft capable of carrying more than a ton of goods. The country has also previously operated long-endurance drones, such as the WZ-7 drone and the TB-001 Scorpion drone, around contested islands in the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait. Experts have said that the drone-carrying mothership will be a probable competitor to two American carriers, the RQ-4 Global Hawk and the MQ-9 Reaper. Neither the RQ-4 nor the MQ-9 are capable of the swarm strikes. (Source: The Telegraph - United Kingdom)
Gaza
May 22, 2025 “No one in the world will allow us to starve two million people,” said Israeli finance minister Smotrich last year. But 70 days ago, Israel imposed a total blockade on the Gaza strip, testing the world’s tolerance for man-made starvation. When Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reluctantly allowed 100 trucks carrying aid into Gaza this week, Right-wing members of the Knesset were furious. The weaponisation of food in counter-insurgency is nothing new. The British counter-insurgency in Malaya in the Fifties is often cited as a textbook hearts and minds programme. The army also targeted Malayan stomachs. In 1951, Sir Briggs, director of Britain’s anti-bandit activities in the colony, launched ’Operation Starvation’. He ordered food denial operations to shut down farming and trade in the countryside where the Communist guerrillas roamed. Rural people were relocated to ’protected villages’ where all food supplies were rigorously monitored. As a metric of success, they counted the number of Communist guerrillas who surrendered, citing hunger as a reason. Food weaponisation is effective when two conditions are met. It’s important to prevent reports of famine - which are politically embarrassing, and there must be a big enough political carrot alongside the stick of hunger. Britain promised that when the Communist threat receded, Malaysia would become independent. Israel is doing something that has never been done before - bringing the weaponisation of food into the digital age and the Israeli strategy has evolved. It began, in a crude manner, the day after Hamas’s massacre of Israelis on 7 October 2023, with the imposition of a total blockade on the Gaza Strip. As Israel controls all the entry points, and local farm production is very small, the blockade quickly caused widespread hunger. The situation was made swiftly worse by an intense bombing campaign, which destroyed essential infrastructure, and the forced relocation of the Palestinian population to what were euphemistically called humanitarian zones. By the time of the short-lived ceasefire seven weeks later, when Hamas released a first batch of hostages and humanitarian aid was allowed in, most of the population were hungry. Since then, the UN’s Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) system - that measures the distress of an afflicted population on a five-point scale with catastrophe and famine as its worst categories - has made assessments every few months, five in total. Three times Gaza has teetered on the brink of the IPC’s famine threshold, and Israel has opened the aid tap. Israel wants to deprive Hamas of all possible resources. It’s also likely that Israel wants desperate Gazans to blame Hamas for their plight and turn against them. Gazans had a brief respite with the ceasefire in January this year. The situation sharply deteriorated after Israel imposed a total blockade on 2 March and resumed its military actions on 19 March. Food stocks are running out. The statistics published by the UN’s IPC earlier this month showed a population once again on the brink of famine. Fully 93% of the population were in ’crisis’ levels of food insecurity, with 244,000 of the 2.1 million people of the Gaza Strip classified as suffering catastrophic lack of food. Adults are going hungry to provide what little food they have for children. The IPC have no data for the numbers who have perished from hunger, disease, exposure and exhaustion - possibly because mass death from starvation hasn’t yet arrived, but perhaps because Gaza’s deeply conservative society doesn’t report hunger deaths to the authorities and simply buries the dead quietly with only private grief. But this time Israel hasn’t responded by opening the regular, UN-based aid tap. Israel argues that this week’s relief supplies, provided by the United Nations and international organisations will fall into the hands of Hamas. A planned US-Israeli aid mechanism, called the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), aims to use a small number of aid distribution sites, strictly controlling access. They will be run by private military contractors. In phase one it will have just four. (The UN and voluntary agencies had 400). The technology uses individual surveillance and ration minimisation. Pre-identified Gazans will be notified that they can go to one of these centres to collect a week’s worth of rations (including food, sanitary kits, and medical supplies) for their families at a specified time. Biometric screening will ensure that the correct person gets the ration. The target is 300 meals over 90 days (an average of 1.6 meals per person per day) with a ration of 1,700 kilocalories per day. This is less than the 2,100 Kcal/day recommended humanitarian ration used by the UN but more than the 1,560 Kcal/day fed in the Forties to the volunteers of the ’Minnesota Experiment’, which examined the effects of starvation on the human body. The IDF uses an algorithm known as Lavender for selecting Hamas suspects, based on individual profiles and electronically tracked behavioural traits. It’s a method for targeting assassination. That system can also generate a list of people who are not affiliated with Hamas - who can be targeted with food. If the ration is just enough to feed a family for a week, it’s fair to assume that the chances of food falling into Hamas’s hands are very low. Hamas operatives will go hungry; innocent civilians will be fed. It is a hybrid of Operation Starvation and surveillance humanitarianism. The recent IPC report outlines two scenarios. One is a continued blockade and ongoing war. The arithmetic of food availability is simple: mass starvation within weeks. The second scenario requires the GHF. In the unlikely event that it works it will slow starvation but won’t stop it. The quantities just aren’t sufficient and not in enough places. There’s no provision for specialised feeding for malnourished young children, which requires skilled staff and special foodstuffs. There’s no plan for clean water and electricity. A family member can not carry enough water even for a single day. The biggest problem is that counter-insurgency only works if there’s a political endgame. Hamas may be destroyed, but there’s no sign that the Palestinians of Gaza will abandon their land or submit quietly to Israeli occupation. They may turn on Hamas, accusing it of crimes and blunders, but that doesn’t exonerate Israel. And if protracted, intimate humiliation of surveillance humanitarianism in the ruins of their homes becomes the future. Not only will Palestinian society in Gaza become dismembered, but Israel itself will forever be tarred by the inhumanity it is inflicting. (Source: Unherd - United Kingdom)
by de Waal, an expert on famine, Sudan and the Horn of Africa.
Pakistan
May 22, 2025 India blocks Neelum River flow to Pakistan, restricting the flow of water from the Kishanganga Dam into the Neelum River, affecting the livelihoods of thousands of Pakistanis who depend on the river for agriculture and daily necessities. India’s unilateral decision comes following New Delhi’s suspension of the Indus Water Treaty, a key agreement governing the sharing of water between the two sides. The use of water as a political weapon violates international law, threatens regional peace and stability - 'tactics aimed at destabilizing Pakistan through resource depletion, pushing the region closer to an environmental and humanitarian crisis’. (Source: Ausaf - an international Urdu daily newspaper. Headquarters Islamabad, Pakistan)
North America
Canada
22.05.2025 Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney confirmed yesterday that Canada is in high-level talks with US President Trump’s administration about joining the proposed “Golden Dome” missile defense system aimed at strengthening North American security. Carney declined to specify how much the country might contribute financially. Trump earlier this week claimed that Canada had reached out to express interest in the US-led defense shield and that his administration would work to ensure that Ottawa pays its fair share. Carney confirmed that he discussed the project directly with Trump and that Canadian and American military officials have explored missile defense cooperation for years, the military decision will be evaluated accordingly, citing threats from North Korea, Russia and China - and “even outer space in a not-too-distant future.’ (Source: Anadolu Agency - Turkey)
United States
May 22, 2025 9:17pm EDT Two Israeli embassy staffers were shot and killed leaving the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C. late yesterday. Lischinsky and Milgrim were shot while leaving a Jewish event, after which the suspected shooter, identified as 31-year-old Rodriguez from Chicago, yelled, Free, free Palestine! and security officers apprehended him. Israeli ambassador to the United States Leiter connects embassy staffers' slaying to 'very important' larger issue both in America and on the global stage: "The big picture is very important for us to understand," the Israeli ambassador to the U.S. said. ' ‘Free, free Palestine’ is part of the chant that was heard across universities all across the country, and it included the chant, 'From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,’ which is basically an eliminationist demand for the elimination of Israel. That's what's going on. Hamas tried to do on October 7. ' Leiter argued that Rodriguez's use of the Free, free Palestine! chant shows he allegedly believed ’he's going to implement it, the eliminationist policy regarding Israel, by shooting Jews here in Washington.’ Pro-Palestinian sentiment has grown in the United States, as a result of the ongoing war in Israel instigated by the Oct. 7 attacks. The shooting comes as tensions over Israel’s operations in the Gaza Strip have drastically escalated this week amid growing humanitarian concerns. While the Trump administration has been cracking down on antisemitism, particularly on college campuses, Leiter criticized world leaders for fueling anti Israel sentiment. ’If we're talking about the big picture, the outrage here is that we have international leaders like the president of France, Macron, who's trying to press for an immediate recognition of a Palestinian state, as if the response to October 7 should be to call it Palestine Liberation Day,’ Leiter told. ’So he's fueling these chants of the likes of this Rodriguez.’ The crime will be investigated as a hate crime and act of terrorism. (Source: Fox News - U.S.)
Published: 12:36 BST, 22 May 2025 Updated:19:42 BST, 22 May 2025 A man suspected of shooting dead a young Israeli diplomat couple is expected to be hauled in front of a judge today afternoon to face the music after approaching a group of four people and allegedly opening fire outside the Capital Jewish Museum yesterday night. Rodrigues, 30, allegedly shot Lischinsky and his girlfriend Milgrim as they left a Young Diplomats event at the museum in the heart of Washington D.C. Two people were stood by the couple when they were shot at close range last night. An Israeli official told they were young American women, also Israeli embassy staffers. Neither was injured in the shooting, and they have not been publicly identified. Israeli Foreign Minister Saar identified the DC shooting victims. Milgrim earned a master’s degree in international studies from American University. Lischinsky was actually just starting his new career as a diplomat after studying at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Sarah’s mother Nancy said her phone rang, and when she picked up it was Israel’s ambassador to the United States, Leiter, on the other line who said about the shooting. Sarah's father Robert added that Leiter pointed to rising anti-Semitism in the US following the October 7 attacks on Israel. 'What went through my mind is, I feel the antisemitism that has surfaced since Oct. 7 and also since the election of President Trump,' Milgrim’s father Robert said. The family of Sarah heartbreakingly revealed they did not know she was set to get engaged until officials said she was after yesterday's shocking murders. Lischinsky held a German passport, he was a duel German-Israeli national. Lischinsky became an Israeli after moving from Germany to study in the Middle East. 'He is the best that Israel can offer’, Otmazgin, the Dean of Humanities at the university said.' Lischinsky had purchased an engagement ring earlier this week 'with the intention of proposing next week in Jerusalem,' Israeli ambassador to the United States Leiter revealed. Hours before shooting, Rodriguez allegedly posted a manifesto online calling for 'armed demonstration' as a response to the 'genocide' in Gaza, Metropolitan Police Chief Smith said. Suspected gunman Rodriguez was quoted as a member of the Party for Socialism, a pro-Palestinian activist who has been unmasked as radical, far left wing activist. He holds a B.A in English from the University of Illinois at Chicago. At Rodriguez’s first federal court appearance in Washington DC expected to be given a closed-door hearing, he is not expected to be seen by the public as federal prosecutors hide him from the cameras. His exact charges have not yet been announced. White House Press Secretary Leavitt touted the Trump administration's efforts to root out antisemitism across the US. Leavitt said President Trump was'saddened and outraged by the fatal shootings of two young Israeli embassy staffers. As she responded yesterday’s shooting in Washington DC, Leavitt said hatred has no place in the United States of America under Trump', and said the administration would be stepping up its policies to crack down on antisemitism.' She pointed to actions such as withholding federal funds from universities that fail to crack down on pro-Palestine demonstrations, and the revocation of thousands of student visas involved in such protests. 'So, the president’s made it very clear that such hatred will have no place in our country,' she said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Trump expressed his deep sorrow over the tragedy. The Israeli leader's office said he also thanked Trump for his efforts to fight antisemitism in the United States. Israeli Ambassador to the US Leiter added to reporters at the scene of the shooting that Trump reaffirmed his commitment to uproot the violent antisemitism that has swept across university campuses in this country. Israeli PM Netanyahu has announced increased security measures at Israeli diplomatic missions worldwide in order to protect state representatives. New York City Mayor Adams said he is re-inforcing police protextions at Israeli diplomatic buildings and Jewish institutions across the Big Apple. The Capital Jewish Museum in Washington D.C. received a little over $30,000 security grant from the DC government days before yesterday's shooting after voicing concerns for its safety not only because it is a Jewish organization but also due to a new LGBTQ exhibit it was displaying, per NBC Washington. FBI Deputy Director Bongino, updated investigation ”in the interest of transparency”, ’the charges being aggressively pursued’. The bureau is aware of alleged shooter Rodriguez's social media posts of an apparent manifesto, and ’we hope to have updates as to the authenticity very soon’, Bongino said. He did not offer details on Rodriguez’s interrogation. The double slaying of two Israeli embassy staffers yesterday came as Israel has launched a new campaign targeting Hamas in the Gaza Strip that has set tensions aflame across the wider Middle East, rising global protests over Israel's treatment of civilians in Gaza. Israel's devastating campaign in Gaza has killed more than 53,000 people, according to local health authorities, whose count doesn’t differentiate between combatants and civilians. The fighting has displaced 90% of the territory’s roughly 2 million population, sparked a hunger crisis and obliterated vast swaths of Gaza’s urban landscape. Aid groups ran out of food to distribute weeks ago, and most of the population of around 2.3 million relies on communal kitchens whose supplies are nearly depleted. Fry, the neighbor of suspected gunman held a sign reading 'Ceasefire Now - No More Deaths', as he faced questions from reporters. 'You don't stop war with guns and bombs,' he said. An unidentified person was shot and wounded outside CIA property in McLean, Virginia around 4am, just hours after two Israeli embassy workers were shot dead eight miles from the CIA shooting. There is currently no indication from law enforcement that the two incidents are linked. /Photo, video/ (Source: Daily Mail - United Kingdom)
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