.
Europe
France
25/07/2025 - 11:01 US Secretary of State Rubio blasted French President Macron decision to recognise a Palestinian state at the UN general assembly as reckless while Saudi Arabia described it as historic as world reactions to the plan poured in ahead of the UN General Assembly meeting in September. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, whose country already recognises Palestinian statehood, welcomed Macron's announcement. Diplomats say Macron has faced resistance from allies such as Britain and Canada over his push for the recognition of a Palestinian state. Israel's warnings to France have ranged from scaling back intelligence sharing to complicating Paris' regional initiatives - even hinting at possible annexation of parts of the West Bank. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the decision by one of Israel's closest allies and a G7 member, saying such a move 'rewards terror and risks creating another Iranian proxy.' In a post on X, he added, 'A Palestinian state in these conditions would be a launch pad to annihilate Israel - not to live in peace beside it'. "Let’s be clear: the Palestinians do not seek a state alongside Israel; they seek a state instead of Israel.' (Source: France 24 'with Reuters - United Kingdom; AFP - France')
Germany
25.07.2025 Germany says no change in non-recognition of Palestinian state amid mounting international pressure. Government ready to increase pressure on Israel over Gaza and West Bank, chancellery spokesman Kornelius says. According to a report by the Der Spiegel, around 130 officials at the Foreign Ministry have formed an internal group demanding a change in Germany's Israel policy. (Source: Anadolu Agency - Turkey)
Russia
7/25/2025 The roster of offenses that the regime interprets as threatening state security grows. "Any activity or inactivity that, in the view of authorities, increases the vulnerability of the state to hostile actions of the enemy, must be mercilessly and uncompromisingly punished,” said Stanovaya, head of the think tank R.Politik. In the past year, special services have launched investigations into five former heads of Russian regions. Scores of lower-level officials have also been engulfed in a wider crackdown on graft. President Putin had long refrained from engaging in anti-corruption campaigns, maintaining a passive role in public investigations and delegating it to courts and law enforcement. Before the war in Ukraine, few federal-level officials or ministers were put behind bars on corruption charges. With the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the arrests of officials have become more frequent - though still rarely at the ministerial level. This changed in 2024, when in the wake of battlefield setbacks, security forces went after the inner circle of former defense minister Shoigu, especially those overseeing military contracting and logistics, prime sectors for graft and mismanagement. Shoigu has been replaced by a technocrat-like Belousov and moved to a largely ceremonial role of secretary of the Security Council of Russia. Ivanov, Shoigu’s longtime deputy who oversaw construction and logistics, was sentenced in July to 13 years in a penal colony for embezzling nearly $50 million. Lt. Gen. Kuznetsov, head of the General Staff’s personnel directorate, was arrested in May 2024 after investigators discovered more than $1.2 million in cash and gold in his home. Lt. Gen. Shamarin, who led the military’s communications division, was arrested that same month on large-scale bribery charges, marking the fourth senior military official to be detained in just a few weeks. Starovoit, the governor of the Kursk region during the war on Ukraine was found dead this month in a suburb of Moscow. He was under investigation for corruption surrounding the construction of fortifications along the border with Ukraine. Just hours before his death became public, Putin had signed a decree dismissing Starovoit from his post as transportation minister, a position he held since spring 2024 following his departure from Kursk. Together with his counterparts in the neighboring regions of Bryansk and Belgorod, was tasked with building fortifications meant to deter Ukrainian forces from entering Russia: trenches, firing positions and the so-called dragon’s teeth, pyramid-shaped obstacles made out of reinforced concrete that are intended to stop or at least impede enemy tanks and vehicles. Ukraine’s surprise breach of these defenses last year and subsequent seven-month occupation of parts of Kursk have set off investigations, including allegations that nearly $13 million meant for the project was embezzled. The dragon’s teeth were of questionable quality and eroded due to rain and snow. Starovoit’s former deputy and successor, Smirnov, did not last a year in the job — he resigned in December and was arrested as part of this investigation in April on suspicion of embezzling more than $12 million of funds earmarked for border defenses with Ukraine. High-ranking employees of a company that built the fortifications, which is also under investigation, testified that they paid up to 15 percent kickbacks to the former governor and his deputy. Smirnov. The precise circumstances of Starovoit’s death remain unclear. His body was discovered in his Tesla, with a Glock handgun beside him - a weapon awarded to him in 2023 for “outstanding service in ensuring the safety of citizens.” “It seems to me that those who eliminated him - those against whom he could have testified after his arrest - are trying to hide his real murder behind the suicide version,’ said pro-Kremlin political analyst Markov. Two officials from the neighboring Belgorod region, a staging site for Russian attacks into Ukraine, have also been arrested this summer on similar accusations. This week, deputy governor of the Bryansk region was arrested on suspicion of abuse of power. Now officials from three of Russia’s border regions with Ukraine have been implicated in corruption over building defensive structures. A minister’s death tells Russia’s elite it is no longer untouchable. (Source: The Washington Post - U.S.)
Asia
Cambodia
25 July 2025 - 11:00 Thailand and Cambodia have for more than a century contested sovereignty at undemarcated points along their 817km land border, which was first mapped by France in 1907 when Cambodia was its colony. An 11th century Hindu temple called Preah Vihear, or Khao Phra Viharn in Thailand, has been at the heart of the dispute for decades, with Bangkok and Phnom Penh claiming historical ownership. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) awarded the temple to Cambodia in 1962, but Thailand has continued to lay claim to the surrounding land. Claims over ownership of historical sites have raised nationalist tension between the two countries, notably in 2003 when rioters torched the Thai embassy and Thai businesses in Phnom Penh over an alleged remark by a Thai celebrity questioning jurisdiction over Cambodia's World Heritage-listed Angkor Wat temple. In 2008 Cambodia attempted to list the Preah Vihear temple as a Unesco World Heritage site, leading to skirmishes over several years and at least a dozen deaths, including during a weeklong exchange of artillery in 2011. In 2013 the ICJ again ruled in Cambodia's favour, saying the land around the temple was also part of Cambodia and ordering Thai troops to withdraw. Nationalist sentiment has risen in Thailand after conservatives last year questioned the government's plan to negotiate with Cambodia to jointly explore energy resources in undemarcated maritime areas, warning such a move could risk Thailand losing the island of Koh Kood in the Gulf of Thailand. In February a group of Cambodians escorted by troops sang their national anthem at another ancient Hindu temple which the two countries claim, Ta Moan Thom, before being stopped by Thai soldiers. The governments of Thailand and Cambodia enjoy warm ties, partly due to the close relationship between their influential former leaders. The neighbours have issued diplomatically worded statements committing to peace while vowing to protect sovereignty, but their militaries have been mobilising near the border. Cambodia has deployed truck-mounted rocket launchers, which Thailand said have been used to target civilian areas, while Thai armed forces dispatched US-made F-16 fighter jets, using one to bomb military targets across the border. About 130,000 people have been evacuated from border areas in Thailand to safer locations and about 12,000 families on the Cambodian side have been shifted away from the front lines. (Source: TimesLive - South Africa)
China
July 25, 2025 16:43 Sino-EU dispute over Ukraine intensifies. At their summit in Beijing this week, the leaders of China and the European Union disagreed on many subjects. The worst was Ukraine. “You are supporting Moscow in its prolonged war in Ukraine,” European Commission President der Leyen told President Xi. She could make such an accusation because of a rare mistake by Wang, Xi’s veteran Foreign Minister, in Brussels earlier this month. “We do not want to see Moscow lose the war because we fear the U.S. could then shift more attention to China,' he told EU officials. This removed the mask that China was neutral in the war and had only normal trade with Russia. Russia’s giant war machine used machinery, machine tools and many industrial items exported by China. ’Its soldiers at the front line use drones made in China’ and those made in Russia with Chinese components, as well as Chinese vehicles. ’China’s unyielding support for Russia is creating heightened instability and insecurity in Europe’, der Leyen said in Brussels earlier this month. ’China is de facto enabling Russia’s war economy – we cannot accept this.’ Since Trump arrived in the White House in January, ’Ukraine has become an existential crisis for Europe’. Trump is only willing to 'provide weapons to Ukraine if European countries pay for it'. This will cost them billions of dollars. In addition, 'they have pledged to increase defence spending to five per cent of GDP', money they can ill afford. The assassination or removal of Russian President Putin is most unlikely. He is the best protected man on the planet. 'More possible are a repeat of the collapse of the Russian and German armies in 1917 and 1918'. After the defeat of the Spring Offensive of the Imperial German Army on the Western front in 1918, desertions, mass surrenders and mutinies spread. Up to one million soldiers refused to follow the orders of their commanders. At home, there were mass hunger and shortages. The same happened in Tsarist Russia in 1917. By the end of October 1916, the country had lost between 1.6 and 1.8 million soldiers, with two million taken prisoner and one million missing. Residents of St Petersburg lacked bread, sugar and meat, women turned to begging and prostitution. The Bolshevik Party exploited this anger to stage a revolution. What are conditions inside Russia today? As of mid-June, the Russian army had lost over one million dead, wounded or missing, ’according to the Ukrainian General Staff’. (Source: EJ Insight /= Hong Kong Economic Journal/ - China)
by O’Neill, ’a Hong Kong-based writer, teacher and speaker’
Myanmar
Friday 25 July 2025 The US has quietly lifted sanctions against key allies of Myanmar’s military junta after its leader, General Min Aung Hlaing sent a letter, dated July 11, to Mr. Trump, seeking a reduction in the 40 percent tariff rate imposed on Myanmar, stating he was ready to negotiate a trade deal and praised the president for his “strong leadership in guiding his country towards national prosperity with the spirit of a true patriot”. The U.S. Treasury removed sanctions from four individuals and three companies allied to the junta yesterday without explanation. One of Southeast Asia’s most impoverished countries, Myanmar is a major global source of rare earth minerals. Most of Myanmar's rare earth mines are in areas controlled by the Kachin Independence Army, an ethnic group fighting the junta, and the bulk of their production is processed in China. (Source: The Independent - United Kingdom)
See also: Cancelled: The rise and fall of Aung San Suu Kyi - documentary /Video (56 min)/
Thailand
25/07/2025 - 11:34 Thai-Cambodian border fighting enters second day. Recent clashes between Thailand and Cambodia have led to the displacement of over 140,000 civilians as both countries evacuate residents near the border. /Video/ (Source: France 24)
.5 7 25 18:47
