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Europe
Hungary
30 May 2025 On 15 March, P.M. Orbán delivered a stinging speech against his opponents, saying Hungary needed a spring clean. He said: “We are dismantling the financial machine that has used corrupt dollars to buy politicians, judges, journalists, bogus civil society organisations and political activists. We will disperse the entire shadow army.” Since then, Orbán introduced a new transparency law that would allow the government to blacklist organisations that receive foreign funding, deeming them a “threat” to national sovereignty and has banned Pride in Budapest. Many groups across the country now fear for their future because of the potential transparency law. Bodoky, the editor-in-chief of Átlátszó, an 'independent' media group says the group is being targeted because they have exposed government corruption. „The transparency law for Átlátszó would mean, most probably, that we go out of business”. “He’s constantly fighting a war against real or imaginary enemies, but what is really new is that he wants to crack down on Hungarian citizens based on perceived non-patriotism or treachery”, he said. Debrecen, Hungary’s second largest city is a conservative bastion. But right in the centre is a liberal island - a community space. This community hub receives some money from the EU and that makes them a target after if the transparency law passes. They say that in the last few years, more and more people are queuing up for their services - a group of women, cooking outside are preparing meals to hand out to those in need in the city. And yet, they all still worship Orbán. Who do they blame for the fact they are in need? A woman lists them off: “They blame the Ukraine war, gay people, migrants, and Brussels”. Across the country, on billboards and bus stops, there are countless posters displaying the images of Zelenskyy, EU Commission President der Leyen, and Weber, the head of the European People’s Party in the EU Parliament. The words read: “Let’s not allow them to decide above our heads”. Hungarians are being asked to vote in a referendum on whether they want Ukraine to join the EU. There is a ’clear opposition figure’ here in Hungary: Magyar, once a member of Orbán’s Fidesz party. He is an MEP and the leader of the ’centre-right’ Tisza party. He’s recently been marching across the country meeting voters. The people are completely fed up with the lies, with the propaganda, with the corruption, Magyar says. But when I ask him whether he’ll roll back all the laws and changes under Orbán, he says that he will keep some of the good decisions, such as the family policy, the tax policy, the fence at the southern border of Hungary against illegal migration. That sounds like he’s not exactly the liberal change ’many’ in the country want. (Source: Channel 4 News – United Kingdom)
Finland
May 30, 2025 Several nations, including Finland, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States, now conduct highway and roadway landing exercises. The road landings are not new; the concept was first introduced during the Cold War, when there was a genuine concern that air bases would be the primary targets in a modern war. Finland has even designed its highways to be readily converted to austere air bases. Dutch F-35s joined Finland’s Baana 25 exercises, simulating highway landings. This is the first time the Dutch F-35s have taken part. The exercises continue through Friday. (Source: The National Interest - U.S.)
France
30.05.2025 Deputy Defense Minister Lt. Gen. Shevtsov met with a French delegation led by Lt. Gen. Onet, head of France’s Directorate for Supporting the Combat Capability of Ground Equipment. Ukraine and France have agreed to boost defense cooperation, focusing on logistical support and adapting to the demands of modern warfare, Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said Friday. The two delegations explored ways to deepen collaboration in ground combat support, logistics systems, and battlefield adaptation amid the ongoing war with Russia. France has been a contributor of military aid to Ukraine since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, including Caesar howitzers and air defense systems. (Source: Anadolu Agency - Turkey)
The Netherlands
May 30, 2025 The Netherlands has received 728,656 visa applications in 2024. The five nationalities with the most Schengen visas obtained by the Netherlands: Turkish nationals obtained 84,240 visas - that is 86.8 per cent of 97,006 applications; Indian nationals: 75,727 visas obtained (83.2 per cent); Chinese nationals: 70,203 visas (96.71 per cent); Indonesian nationals: 51,103 visas, per cent); Filipino nationals: 46,500 visas (95.77 per cent). The number of rejected applications with the number of applications filed overall: Senegal – applicants were rejected 81.05 per cent (5,525 applications were filed); Algeria – 63.4 per cent of 4,388 applications; Mali: 60.8 per cent of 4,275 applications; Ghana: 58 per cent of 8,394 applications; Uganda: 49.97 per cent of 3,326 applications filed. (Source: Schengen News - ?)
Asia
China
May 30, 2025 Representatives of more than 30 other countries today signed the Convention on the Establishment of the International Organization for Mediation in Hong Kong to become founding members of the global organization, following Chinese Foreign Minister Wang. He said the body, headquartered in Hong Kong, aims to help promote the amicable resolution of international disputes and build more harmonious global relations. The ceremony was attended by representatives from some 50 other countries and about 20 organizations, including the United Nations. While the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and PCA *focus on adjudication and arbitration, IOMed introduces a structured, institutionalized form of alternative dispute resolution - namely, mediation - on a global scale, Yan, a law professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, said. The International Organization for Mediation would have the capacity to mediate disputes between states, between a state and a national of another state, or in international commercial disputes, Ali, a law professor at the University of Hong Kong, said. Conventions can provide opportunities to experiment with new approaches, she said, noting rising interest in mediation globally as a means to resolve investor-state disputes. (Source: ABC News / Associated Press = U.S.)
Asia
30 May 2025 A growing number of Asian economies are cautiously moving away from the US dollar by creating alternative trade agreements and increasing their investments in assets such as gold and digital currencies – a trend that analysts say signals a longer-term shift toward a more multipolar monetary system. Singapore, Indonesia and Japan ranked among the top 10 countries making the most progress on this front. While the dollar continues to dominate global markets – accounting for nearly half of SWIFT payments and over 80 per cent of foreign exchange trades – Lodge, vice-president at foreign exchange brokerage FXTM said, diversification efforts are gaining traction in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and among Brics members. In Asia, more transactions are being conducted in Chinese yuan, followed by the euro and Emirati dirham in select bilateral arrangements, he added. A 2023 Asean agreement aimed to prioritise local currency transactions to reduce vulnerability to US monetary policy shifts and trade restrictions. Since then, Southeast Asian member nations have started to engage in direct trade using currencies like the Malaysian ringgit and the Thai baht. Indonesia conducts around 15 per cent of its trade with China and Japan in alternative currencies, using the yuan for Chinese transactions and its own local rupiah for its Japanese dealings. India too has established trade agreements using its currency, the rupee, with 18 countries. Each country in the Asian region is pursuing separate strategies to reduce their US dollar dependency. Asian nations want to reduce their trade surplus with the US and are concerned about the weaponisation of the dollar, especially following Washington’s recent sanctions against Russia and Iran. Many Asian countries are now seeking to reduce their dependency on dollar-denominated financial systems and China’s yuan has significantly benefited from the trend. Investors in Asia’s trading hubs of Hong Kong and Singapore have flocked to the gold, which historically has an inverse relationship to the US dollar. Gold has gained 26 per cent so far this year and hit a record high of US$3,450 an ounce on April 22 due to US-China trade tensions and financial market instability. The longer term outlook for gold remains bullish on expectations of a weaker dollar, analysts say. Central banks including those in Asia have been snapping up gold to stabilise their currencies, although record-high prices caused a dip in their purchases in the first quarter of this year, according to the World Gold Council. Individual investors too have shown a similar pattern in their purchases. In the last few months bond yields were rising, gold and bitcoin outperforming. Bitcoin hit a record high of more than US$111,000 on May 22 on bullish market sentiment about supportive US regulations. The cryptocurrency is favoured by younger and institutional investors, emerging as a complementary asset to gold as a store of value, while many are also increasing their bets to currencies like the yuan, the Hong Kong dollar and the euro. In 2025 Singapore is leading with the highest cryptocurrency ownership rate at 28 per cent. A limited number of Asian businesses are using cryptocurrencies for transactions. Central Bank Digital Currencies are proving more significant than decentralised cryptocurrencies for actual de-dollarisation efforts. (Source: South China Morning Post)
North America
United States
May 30, 2025 In March, President Trump signed an executive order calling for the federal government to share data across agencies. Mr. Trump has not publicly talked about the effort since. Behind the scenes, officials have quietly put technological building blocks into place to enable his plan. The Trump administration has expanded Palantir, the data analysis and technology firm’s work across the federal government in recent months. The company has received more than $113 million in federal government spending since Mr. Trump took office, including new contracts with the Department of Homeland Security and the Pentagon. (This does not include a $795 million contract that the Department of Defense awarded the company last week.) Representatives of Palantir are also speaking to at least two other agencies - the Social Security Administration and the Internal Revenue Service — about buying its technology. The push has put a key Palantir product called Foundry - which organizes and analyzes data - into at least four federal agencies, including D.H.S. and the Health and Human Services Department. Foundry, paves the way for Mr. Trump to easily merge information from different agencies. Mr. Trump’s executive order said he wanted to “eliminate information silos and streamline data collection across all agencies to increase government efficiency and save hard-earned taxpayer dollars.” Creating detailed portraits of Americans, the Trump administration has already sought access to hundreds of data points on citizens and others through government databases, including their bank account numbers, the amount of their student debt, their medical claims and any disability status. Combining all that data, even with the noblest of intentions, significantly increases the risk of misuse,” Xia, who was a Palantir engineer until last year, said. “Data that is collected for one reason should not be repurposed for other uses,” Ms. Xia said. Privacy advocates, student unions and labor rights organizations have filed lawsuits to block data access, questioning whether the government could weaponize people’s personal information. Palantir recently began helping Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s enforcement and removal operations team. The work is part of a $30 million contract that ICE signed with Palantir in April to build a platform to track migrant movements in real time. At the Internal Revenue Service, Palantir engineers were also recently brought in to use Foundry to organize data gathered on American taxpayers. Palantir has talked with the Social Security Administration about using the company’s technology to organize the agency’s data. Palantir’s selection as a chief vendor for the project was driven by Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency. At least three DOGE members formerly worked at Palantir. Two others had worked at companies funded by Thiel, an investor and a founder of Palantir, which was founded in 2003 by Karp and Mr. Thiel and went public in 2020. Palantir specializes in finding patterns in data and presenting the information in ways that are easy to process and navigate, such as charts and maps. Its main products include Foundry, a data analytics platform, and Gotham, which helps organize and draw conclusions from data and is tailored for security and defense purposes. Palantir’s role is the finding of hidden things by sifting through data, Mr. Karp has said last year. Mr. Karp, who donated to the Democratic Party last year, has welcomed Mr. Trump’s win and called Mr. Musk the most “qualified person in the world” to remake the U.S. government. Palantir’s stock has risen more than 140 percent since Mr. Trump’s election in November. (Source: The New York Times - U.S.)
May 30, 2025 Trump has long promised to dismantle the ’deep state’ - a supposed secret network of powerful people manipulating government decisions behind the scenes. In 2024, he pledged to supporters that voting him back into the presidency would be “our final battle.” “With you at my side, we will demolish the deep state,” Trump said repeatedly on the campaign trail. “We will liberate our country from these tyrants and villains once and for all.” Four months into his second term, Trump has continued to stoke dark theories involving his predecessors and other powerful politicians and attorneys - most recently raising the specter of nefarious intent behind former President Biden’s use of an autopen to sign papers. The administration has pledged to reopen investigations and has taken steps to declassify certain documents, including releasing more than 63,000 pages of records related to the assassination of President Kennedy. Now that Trump is in power and has stocked loyalists throughout his administration, his supporters expect all to be revealed. Some who take him at his word are beginning to get restless as they ask why his administration, which holds the keys to chasing down these alleged government secrets, is denying them the evidence and retribution they expected. “People are tired of not knowing,” conservative commentator Felder said last week. “We actually demand answers and real transparency. It’s not that hard to deliver.” Delivering on that is difficult when many of the conspiracies he alleged aren’t real, said Uscinski, a political scientist who studies conspiracy theories at the University of Miami. The president has prioritized retribution in his second administration. He has fired federal workers and targeted law firms he disfavors in executive orders. He has ordered the revocation of government security clearances for political rivals and former employees who dissented during his first term. His Justice Department has fired prosecutors who investigated him and scrutinized career FBI agents who investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Many of his supporters would like to see steps taken against people he has long claimed were involved in sinister plots against him, such as former Secretary of State Clinton and former FBI Director Comey. The administration also hasn’t offered proof of the ’egregious crimes ” that have corrupted the federal government for years. Tensions erupted this month when FBI Director Patel and Bongino, dismissed two of the theories that have animated Trump’s base the most - that Trump’s attempted assassination in Butler, Pennsylvania, was a government plot and that financier and sexual abuser Epstein was murdered in a cover-up, In a Fox News interview, FBI Director Patel and his deputy, Bongino said they had been briefed on the attempted assassination of Trump during a rally in July and there was no explosive conspiracy to be revealed. In some of these cases, the ‘there’ you’re looking for is not there, Bongino said. You know a suicide when you see one, and that’s what that was, Patel said about Epstein’s death in the same Fox News interview. I have seen the whole file, Bongino added. He killed himself. Conservatives online demanded to see the evidence, pointing to Bongino’s past statements as a podcast host, when he suggested the government was hiding information about Epstein. “No matter who gets elected, you get the same foreign policy, you get the same economic policy, and the Epstein videos remain secret’, right-wing podcaster and former Fox News host Carlson said on his show. They told us for months leading up to the Election that it wasn’t suicide, Newsmax host Starnes wrote on X. But now they tell us it was suicide, he added: „Pardon me, but what the heck is going on at DOJ?’ Attorney General Bondi said this month that FBI officials were poring through “tens of thousands” of videos related to Epstein and would make more materials public once they took steps to protect the victims. Bongino ’appeared to try to throw a bone to Trump’s base’ this week when he announced the agency would reopen some prominent cases that have attracted public interest. He said the FBI would investigate the planting of pipe bombs found near the Democratic and Republican National Committee headquarters in Washington the day of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack, the leak of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson draft opinion in 2022 that overturned the constitutional right to abortion and the discovery of cocaine in the White House in 2023. But it wasn’t enough for everyone who weighed in on his X account. In an interview Thursday on “Fox & Friends,” Bongino teased that the FBI would soon release video captured outside Epstein’s jail cell and materials related to Trump’s attempted assassination. He called for patience and noted not all information is the FBI’s to declassify. All the while, Trump has continued promoting theories on his Truth Social platform and elsewhere. He shared a video this month about mysterious deaths allegedly being linked to the Clinton family. And shared someone’s image of himself with former President Obama with the text, “ALL ROADS LEAD TO OBAMA, RETRUTH IF YOU WANT MILITARY TRIBUNALS.” It’s a tactic that distracts Trump’s base and helps inoculate him from criticism, Ophir, a communications professor at the University at Buffalo said. “When something good happens, it’s because Trump is great and his agenda is brilliant,” Ophir said. ’When something bad happens, it’s because of the Obamas or the Clintons or whatever forces are undermining him from within Washington.’ Trump this week fueled theories, that Biden’s use of a mechanical device called an autopen during his presidency meant he didn’t sign his executive orders willingly or that aides profited from controlling it. „Presidents have used autopens for years to sign certain documents’. “Whoever used it was usurping the power of the Presidency, and it should be very easy to find out who that person (or persons) is,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. The narrative has gained momentum on the right because of allegations that Biden’s aides covered up his mental and physical decline. He has called for people who operated it to be charged with “TREASON.” (Source: The Associated Press - U.S.)
Note: "The Associated Press receives support from several private foundations to enhance its explanatory coverage of elections and democracy'.
NATO
May 30 2025 On May 14 a weapon launched from a U.S. platform was guided by a Norwegian sensor across domains and distances, marking a first for NATO in cross-national ordnance control mid-flight in the framework of Formidable Shield 25, which ran from May 1 to 31, 2025. Formidable Shield is the largest live-fire naval exercise in Europe, primarily executed from Norway and the United Kingdom. The scenarios included a series of complex Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD) and Air Defence (AD) missions in a complex operating environment. (Source: Allied Air Command Public Affairs Office - Headquarters Ramstein, Germany)
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