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Europe
Hungary
14.07.2025 Exploring perceptions of key allies and main threats by region, Hungarians view Ukraine as almost as significant a threat as Russia, according to a recent Pew Research Center survey. The survey found that nearly three-quarters of Hungarians lack trust in Zelenskyy. Most Hungarians still see the EU as the country’s main ally with 24%, followed closely by the US at 23%. (Source: Anadolu Agency - Turkey)
Sunday 13 July 2025 In the next few years, if Le Pen’s party wins the French presidency, if Farage or Jenrick become UK prime minister, if Vance takes over from Trump, if those things do happen and all of a sudden you find yourself being governed according to new rules, at least you’ll know where they came from. As part of a comprehensive plan to use executive power to begin to reshape the institutions of America, almost no area of American life was exempt. The blueprint for this radicalism was a 900-page manifesto, Project 2025, produced under the leadership of Roberts, the president of the Heritage Foundation since December 2021. The Heritage Foundation is possibly the most powerful of the hybrid think-tank/lobby organisations on the political right and disposes of an annual budget of more than $100m (£74m). From the beginning he was in the market for ideas about how to transform American conservatism and America itself. Roberts, like other conservative Americans, found them in a landlocked central European country with a population smaller than that of North Carolina. “Hungary,” said Roberts last November, “is a model for conservative governance.” Conservatives have redefined the political landscape in the US and beyond – but their blueprint was created by thinktanks in Budapest. September 2024: an expatriate British academic, Dr Nicholson, formerly of Cambridge University, is director of research at Hungarian thinktank, the Danube Institute. At the occasion - the fourth Danube Institute and Heritage Foundation Geopolitical Summit - Lord Frost of Brexit is there, as is former Australian PM, Tony Abbott. Quite a few Americans are also participants. The Danube Institute was founded in 2013 and its president is another Brit – Margaret Thatcher’s former speechwriter O’Sullivan. The man who is really in charge is Orbán, political director for prime minister Viktor Orbán. When Orbán speaks it’s to remind his guests how urgent their work is. “The values that are dear to us – God, nation and family and the way of life we love – could all be thrown away,’ he says. But it needn’t be like this. ’The bitter truth is we American and Hungarian conservatives were the losers of the previous liberal world order. But now this liberal world order has come to an end, the new world order is coming and we need to know what narrative and what actions will help we conservatives to become the winners of this new world order.” That’s the offer: be the winners in the new world order. Just as the “we” here – the populist right –have been the winners in Hungary. And the instruments of spreading the word are not to be door-to-door missionaries, let alone military force, but the soft power wielded by well-funded thinktanks. It’s the seminar, the summit, the residential training course, the fellowships, the podcasts and the glossy publications. That’s the Hungary template. Train up the people who end up in the room where it happens. The template began to be created in 2010 when former liberal Viktor Orbán led his now-conservative Fidesz party to a landslide victory in that year’s election. With the necessary two-thirds majority Orbán changed the constitution to favour his government and then set about taking over the various ’neutral’ institutions of the state and civil society. Punitive sanctions forced media companies to sell up to Orbán’s business allies, an ’independent’ university was in effect closed down, and inconvenient judges were retired. These changes hugely increased the chances of Orbán’s serial re-election but at the expense of allies abroad, and especially in the European Union, who baulked at his slide towards authoritarianism, his closeness to Putin and his extreme anti-migrant stance. In 2024 Orbán’s Fidesz became a founding party of the Patriots for Europe group in the European parliament, alongside Le Pen’s National Rally and Wilders’ Dutch Party for Freedom. But that group wasn’t big enough to save Hungary from financial sanctions imposed by the Euroepean Commission. Hungary needed more allies. The Danube Institute is actually an organ of Orbánism and their main goal is to organise for the international influence of the Orbán government, Zubor, an investigative journalist based in Budapest, tells. The Danube Institute receives money through various government agencies. In the three years up to October 2024 the institute spent more than €1.2m (£1m) on researchers, guest lecturers and writers – many from abroad. The Danube Institute is a project of another foundation, the Batthyány Lajos Foundation, which is funded and run by the Hungarian government. Another big is the Matthias Corvinus Collegium (MCC). The chairman of its board of trustees is Orbán. In November 2022, MCC set up a Brussels office. To head its 20-strong team they appointed the Hungarian-born, British-based academic Furedi, who had undertaken a remarkable migration – through the Brexit party – to the other side of the political spectrum. Among other priorities the collegium in Brussels proselytises for the Patriots group and supports Orbán in his wars against wokeism and migration. Defending Orbán’s action in banning the annual Budapest Pride march, Europe’s objection to the ban, said Furedi, was a form of colonialism. (Source: The Observer – United Kingdom)
by Aaronovitch
Sunday, July 13, 2025 The 1,000-year-old Pannonhalma Archabbey is a sprawling Benedictine monastery that is one of Hungary’s oldest centers of learning and a UNESCO World Heritage site. It was founded in 996, four years before the establishment of the Kingdom of Hungary. Among the library’s most outstanding works are 19 codices, including a complete Bible from the 13th century. It also houses several hundred manuscripts predating the invention of the printing press in the mid-15th century and tens of thousands of books from the 16th century. It says in the Rule of Saint Benedict that all the property of the monastery should be considered as of the same value as the sacred vessel of the altar. Restoration workers are removing about 100,000 handbound books from their shelves at the Pannonhalma Archabbey’s library in Pannonhalma and carefully placing them in crates, the start of a disinfection process that aims to kill the tiny drugstore beetles, also known as the bread beetles, burrowed into them. They were attracted to the gelatin and starch-based adhesives found in books and have been found in a section of the library housing around a quarter of the abbey’s 400,000 volumes. The crates of books are being placed into tall, hermetically sealed plastic sacks from which all oxygen is removed. After six weeks in the pure nitrogen environment, the abbey hopes all the beetles will be destroyed. Before being reshelved, each book will be individually inspected and vacuumed. Any book damaged by the pests will be set aside for later restoration work. Hajdu, the chief restorer, said higher temperatures have allowed the beetles to undergo several more development cycles annually than they could in cooler weather. He thinks more and more insect infestations will appear due to global warming. (Source: The Washington Times / The Associated Press = U.S.)
by Spike
France
14 July 2025 ‘To be free, you must be feared’; France pumps €6 billion more into military. This was not the first time the President has warned of threats to justify policies. 'France has aligned itself with other European Union nations ramping up defence spending, strengthening military capabilities and preparing for the possibility of future conflict'. France’s defence budget is €50.5 billion currently. (Source: Brussels Signal - Belgium)
Slovakia
14.07.2025 Slovakia link support for new - the 18th - EU sanctions on Russia to gas supply guarantees. The European Commission’s proposed sanctions package would halt all deliveries of Russian gas starting from January 1, 2028, as part of the EU’s response to the Russia-Ukraine war. It includes further trade restrictions, asset freezes, and measures targeting sectors tied to the Kremlin’s war effort. (Source: Anadolu Agency - Turkey)
European Parliament
14 July 2025 "We would support second der Leyen no confidence motion, said Vistisen, Danish MEP with the Patriots group. Each political group that defended the European Commission was now expected to demand concessions in exchange for its support, setting the stage for a complex and politically charged budget negotiation. Farmers’ associations have announced renewed protests in Brussels over proposed changes to the Common Agricultural Policy in the upcoming budget. (Source: Brussels Signal - Belgium)
Russia
July 13, 2025 Russia has decimated Ukraine’s M1 Abrams fleet. Despite the Abrams’ key capabilities, the older M1 models delivered to Ukraine have struggled to survive against Russia’s more advanced arsenal of anti-tank weaponry. A staggering 87 percent of Ukraine’s fleet of M1 Abrams main battle tanks (MBTs) has been destroyed, captured or lost since the series was first delivered to the frontlines of the ongoing war last year. According to Military Watch Magazine, 27 out of the 31 vehicles delivered to Kyiv are no longer in commission. (Source: The National Interest - U.S.)
by Carlin
Ukraine
14.07.2025 Zelenskyy today said he had proposed First Deputy Prime Minister Svyrydenko to lead the country’s government. Svyrydenko assumed her position as the first deputy prime minister in November 2021. She simultaneously served as the economy minister. Last week, Bloomberg reported that Zelenskyy and Trump discussed replacing Markarova, Ukraine's ambassador to the US, during their latest phone call earlier this month. The report said PM Shmyhal is among those listed as potential candidates to replace Markarova. (Source: Anadolu Agency - Turkey)
Asia
China
(Sunday), July 14, 2025 Russia's and China's foreign ministers today discussed their relations with the United States and the prospects for ending the war in Ukraine, Russia's Foreign Ministry said in a statement. Foreign minister Lavrov met Chinese Foreign Minister Wang in Beijing. Lavrov is due to attend a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization's foreign ministers in China. The importance of strengthening close coordination between the two countries in the international arena, including in the United Nations and its Security Council, the SCO, BRICS, the G20 and APEC, was emphasized, the ministry said. ’The U.S. casts China as its biggest competitor and Russia as its biggest nation-state threat’. (Source: Nikkei - Japan)
Gaza
Sunday, July 13, 2025 Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip killed at least 30 people today, including six children at a water collection point, while the Palestinian death toll passed 58,000 after 21 months of war, local health officials said. The Israeli military said it was targeting a militant but a technical error made its munitions fall dozens of meters from the target. Separately, an Israeli strike hit a group of citizens walking in the street on Sunday afternoon in central Gaza City, killing 11 people and injuring about 30 others. In the central town of Zawaida, an Israeli strike on a home killed nine, including two women and three children. Israel’s military said it hit more than 150 targets over the past 24 hours, including what it called weapons storage facilities, missile launchers and sniping posts. Israel blames Hamas for civilian casualties because the militant group operates out of populated areas. Israel and Hamas appeared no closer to a breakthrough in indirect talks meant to pause the war and free some Israeli hostages after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Washington visit last week. A new sticking point has emerged over Israeli troops’ deployment during a ceasefire. Israel says it will end the war only once Hamas surrenders, disarms and goes into exile, something it refuses to do. Hamas says it is willing to free all the remaining 50 hostages, about 20 said to be alive, in exchange for an end to the war and the full withdrawal of Israeli forces. Israel’s Energy Minister Cohen told right-wing Channel 14 that his ministry will not help rebuild infrastructure in Gaza. Gaza should remain an island of ruins to the next decades, he said. (Source: The Wshington Times / The Associated Press = U.S.)
Iran
13 July 2025 10:20am BST Pezeshkian, 70, the Iranian president, was wounded in the leg and forced to escape through emergency hatch during Israeli air strike which struck a Supreme National Security Council meeting in Tehran on June 16. Mr Pezeshkian made claims during a recent interview that Israel had tried to assassinate him. According to Fars, the attack bore similarities to the strike that killed Nasrallah, the long-term leader of Hezbollah, in Beirut. The attack occurred before noon on Monday, June 16, while a meeting of the Supreme National Security Council was being held with the heads of the three branches of government and other senior officials in the lower floors of a building in western Tehran, said the report. ’The attackers targeted the building’s entrances and exits by firing six bombs or missiles to block escape routes and cut off air flow.’ Fars reported that they escaped through an emergency hatch that had been planned in advance. Investigations are now under way to find a possible insider because of the precise nature of the attack. Iran has arrested more than 700 people in the wake of the war on charges of collaborating with Israel. Iran International, an opposition outlet, reported an Israeli air strike against an area near Shahrak-e-Gharb, in western Tehran, on June 16. In an interview with Carlson, the political commentator, Mr Pezeshkian accused Israel of trying to assassinate him but did not admit to having being injured. The interview drew major criticism from MPs in Iran, with 24 joining in a public letter. Accusing the president of undermining national security, they said his openness to renewed negotiations with the US in spite of the American strikes on three key nuclear facilities, and his willingness to co-operate with the International Atomic Energy Agency, which has since been expelled from the country, showed weakness. (Source: The Telegraph – United Kingdom)
Syria
July 14 2025 14:09 Syria deploys forces after dozens killed in Bedouin-Druze clashes which began yesterday. The clashes reportedly erupted when a Druze vegetable vendor was seized by armed Bedouins who are Sunni Muslim, on the main highway linking Sweida to Damascus. (Source: Hurriyet Daily News - Turkey)
Australia
Monday 14 July 2025 Military drills in Australia: Upwards of 35,000 military personnel from 19 nations will take part over three weeks. Some activities also planned in Papua New Guinea. /Video/ (Source: Sky News – United Kingdom)
North America
United States
July 14, 2025 In the course of a few weeks, Trump has faced a surprising level of pushback from prominent supporters as he moved to strike nuclear facilities in Iran, floated a new policy to allow undocumented farmworkers to remain in the United States and castigated allies for demanding more information related to the late financier and convicted sex offender Epstein. In June, Carlson said Trump was ’complicit in the act of war’ as Israel launched attacks on Iran. (Trump later said Carlson “called and apologized.”) One month before, Carlson echoed concerns about Trump’s business dealings in the Middle East, saying ’it seems like corruption’ when Ryan, a guest on his program, raised alarm about new Trump properties in the region. And now, he is taking the administration to task for declining to release additional information about Epstein, with whom Trump had a yearslong friendship before a falling-out. “And I don’t think the rest of us should be satisfied with that.” At a Cabinet meeting last week, Trump brushed off growing discontent and said it was a desecration to ask about Epstein after flooding in Texas killed dozens. “It’s not adequate to say anyone who asked [questions] is somehow desecrating the memory of little girls who died in Texas,” Carlson said in his speech Friday, adding: “That is not acceptable.” Carlson’s frustrations represent broader discontent in MAGA world with the policies of the man who brought it together. Carlson said he was unaware whether his influence in the White House has waned in light of his recent commentary. “I was never an important adviser to Trump,” he said. “It was always kind of overstated.” Carlson was center stage among MAGA influencers arguing for the United States to stay out of Iran, a position that has gained popularity on the right as some right-wing influencers have increasingly viewed the U.S.-Israel alliance with skepticism. That stance is also informed by Trump’s having promoted similar anti-war and anti-interventionist views for years, even as he has used military force as president. Ultimately, Carlson said, the most important voice arguing the case to Trump for the U.S. bombing of Iran’s nuclear facilities was Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Some around Trump have taken a victory lap given that he ultimately didn’t ally with Carlson on military action in Iran. “The Iran operation was both a shot at the Iranians, but it was also a shot at the restrainers of the administration and at Tucker and everyone else who said the president is never going to do this,” a Trump ally close to the administration said. “They think he’s an ideologue like they are, and he isn’t. These guys overplayed their hands.” “Tucker’s not being malicious towards the president at all,” a source close to the White House said. “You can very easily still support somebody and disagree with a specific policy decision. Agree with him or disagree with him, Tucker is at least coming from a sincere place of love and concern for the president. He just wants the president to be successful and is worried that issues like amnesty, Epstein, Ukraine funding and war in the Middle East could eventually lead to his presidency being derailed.” No other issue has tested the MAGA base’s commitment to Trump like the Epstein files. For years, many on the right - including some people who are now in the Trump administration - have called for the release of all government documents related to Epstein. Epstein died in custody in 2019, and a medical examiner ruled his death a suicide. He was facing sex trafficking and conspiracy charges. Last week, Attorney General Bondi released a memo saying the Justice Department’s review turned up no “client list” of powerful men alleged to have participated in Epstein’s schemes, enraging the MAGA base, who are calling on her to be fired. Trump’s defense of Bondi and his attempts to tell his supporters to move on from the issue have done little to quell the furor. On Saturday, Trump wrote „Let Bondi do her job – she’s great!” on Truth Social, adding the United States should “not waste Time and Energy on Epstein, somebody that nobody cares about’. (Source: NBC News - U.S.)
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