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Europe
European Commission
15.09.2025 Ukraine and the European Commission concluded screening meetings in Brussels on the negotiating chapter covering agriculture and rural development, during three days of discussions. Ukraine presented 28 thematic blocks, including reforms in agriculture, digitalization, state support, market regulation, and sector development. The country also outlined its level of harmonization with EU legislation on horizontal issues, agricultural markets, quality policy, organic production, and product promotion. There is still a lot of work ahead. The screening was part of Cluster 5, 'Resources, Agriculture, and Cohesion Policy,' the last of six groups in the EU accession process. Its results will feed into a roadmap for incorporating EU regulations into Ukrainian law, 'paving the way for formal accession negotiations'. (Source: Anadolu Agency - Turkey)
United Kingdom
September 16, 2025 America’s B-52s are in Europe for the 'Cobra Warrior 2025' Exercises. This marks the second deployment of US Air Force B-52s to RAF Fairford this year, following the BTF-25-2 Europe mission in February, when four Boeing B-52s - from Minot AFB, North Dakota - were deployed to Europe, spending nearly a month operating in England. During the BTF-25-2 Europe mission, the bombers took part in 13 individual missions with US allies and partners in Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East, including in the TOWER CITADEL joint exercise with Royal Netherlands Air Force F-35 Lightning IIs, Royal Danish Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcons, and Swedish JAS 39 Gripens in the Arctic region. One of the Stratofortress bombers also carried out a low-level flyover of the Norwegian capital of Oslo, escorted by Royal Norwegian Air Force F-35s. Training missions will be conducted at various locations across England, with personnel and aircraft from multiple NATO and partner nations participating. It is the second time that aircraft from the BW have participated in the joint exercises with the RAF since 2019. Lt. Col. Squires is the 307th Cobra Warrior Exercise's Deployed Commander. (Source: The Natonal Interest - U.S.)
Sep 13 2025 Up to 150,000 protesters were taking part in the Robinson rally’s "Unite the Kingdom" march, the Metropolitan Police put the number. The ’far-right’ activist Robinson posted on X as he claimed millions attended the march. "Millions hit central London in a show of patriotic unity like nothing seen before. A cultural revolution has begun. The future belongs to us." Robinson has posted a video on social media showing him at the front of the march. Posting on X, he said: "The lion is awake, the roar is deafening in London as millions take to the streets against the erosion of our free speech and against those paid to lead us, given our country's away. No more! Patriotism is the future. The future belongs to us!" Robinson's social media livestream has more than 250,000 viewers. 'Stand Up To Racism' has also organised a counter-protest in the capital led by MPs Abbott and Sultana. They are also marching. The Metropolitan Police put the number at the counter protesters’ demonstration at around 5,000. Musk appeared via video link as he congratulated Robinson for "putting together an amazing event", slamming Keir Starmer's government, "I want Britain to be greater than it ever has been, I want Britain to remain Britain, there's something beautiful about being British. What I see happening is a destruction of Britain, initially slow erosion but a rapidly increasing erosion with massive uncontrolled migration. The Government has failed in its duty to protect the people.’ (Source: The U.S. Sun)
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Asia
South Korea
(Monday, 15 September 2025) The US, South Korea and Japan today kicked off a trilateral multi-domain military exercise. The five-day Freedom Edge exercise is being held in international waters off South Korea's southern island of Jeju from September 15 to 19. The Freedom Edge exercise coincides with Iron Mace tabletop military exercise between South Korea and the US, which is set to begin also from Monday through Friday. (Source: TRT World - Turkey)
15.09.2025 Kimsuky group, a hacking unit, which according to Seoul, is believed to be sponsored by the North Korean government, attempted a spear-phishing attack on a military-related organization in July. According to a report released by the Genians Security Center (GSC), the attackers sent an email attached with malicious code, disguised as correspondence about ID issuance for military-affiliated officials. The ID card image used in the attempt was presumed to have been produced by a generative AI model. Typically, AI platforms, such as ChatGPT, reject requests to generate copies of military IDs, quoting that government-issued identification documents are legally protected. (Source: Anadolu Agency - Turkey)
Caribbean
Haiti
13 September 2025 A deadly gang attack in Haiti left at least 40 people dead, in the commune of Cabaret. With six million people in need of aid and 1.3 million displaced, Haiti’s humanitarian crisis is deepening. Yet less than 10 percent of the $908 million appeal has been funded. 1.7 million people may receive no assistance at all. (Source: The United Nations Office of Geneva)
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North America
United States
16.09.2025 "Today, I have the Great Honor of bringing a $15 Billion Dollar Defamation and Libel Lawsuit against The New York Times, one of the worst and most degenerate newspapers in the History of our Country,' Trump wrote on the US social media company Truth Social’s platform, which he owns. 'The New York Times has been allowed to freely lie, smear, and defame me for far too long, and that stops, NOW!" he said. The suit is being brought in the state of Florida, Trump said. (Source: BBC - United Kingdom)
September 16, 2025 The wars in Ukraine and Israel and the accelerating competition between the United States and China underscore several implications for the future of intelligence work. Ukraine is the first truly open-source war. Hiding in the sea of data was once hard but doable, but the proliferation of AI processing tools and emerging quantum decryption capability mean that intelligence services will need to either create more extreme workarounds or accept the difficulty of hiding and learn to fight in the light. (Source: The Center for Strategic and International Studies - U.S.)
by Harding, director of the Intelligence, National Security, and Technology Program and vice president of the Defense and Security Department at the CSIS.
Sep 13th, 2025 In a yesterday appearance on Fox News’ Fox & Friends, President Trump was announcing that his administration was “going to look into Soros” for possible violations of the RICO Act, which has been used to prosecute mobsters, biker gangs, corrupt police departments, and in 2023 – President Trump himself. Today Trump called for billionaire Democratic donor Soros to “be put in jail” during an interview with NBC News, just days after the murder of conservative activist Kirk. Asked about Soros – who Trump recently threatened to prosecute – the president remarked: ’He’s a bad guy’ who “should be put in jail.” (Source: Mediaite - U.S.)
Note: 3492 comments
16 September 2025 Yesterday, the President said he was considering designating Antifa a domestic terrorist organisation and bringing organised crime charges against those raising funds for alleged agitation. The US does not have a list of designated domestic terrorist organisations. Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff vowed that the US administration would dismantle an alleged vast domestic terror movement that he linked to the killing of right-wing activist Kirk. He made the comments on Kirk’s podcast yesterday, which Vice President Vance hosted. Miller and Vance both alleged the existence of a rising left-wing extremist movement, which they said the administration would now target. “We are going to use every resource we have at the Department of Justice, Homeland Security and throughout this government to identify, disrupt, dismantle and destroy these networks and make America safe again for the American people,” said Miller. (Source: Brussels Signal - Belgium)
(Saturday), September 13 2025 A bill introduced by the chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee would grant Rubio the power to revoke the passports of American citizens, which takes aim at terrorists and traffickers. One section grants the secretary of state the power to revoke or refuse to issue passports for people who have been convicted of - or merely charged with - material support for terrorism. The secretary of state would be able to deny passports to people whom they determine ’has knowingly aided, assisted, abetted, or otherwise provided material support to an organization the Secretary has designated as a foreign terrorist organization.’ In practice, terror convictions come with stiff prison sentences and pre-trial defendants are typically denied bail. It could be used to deny American citizens the right to travel based solely on their speech. Since taking office, Rubio has added groups to the State Department’s list of foreign terrorist organizations, focusing largely on gangs and drug cartels that were previously the domain of the criminal legal system. Since the October 7 Hamas attacks, pro-Israel lawmakers and activists have ratcheted up attempts to expand the scope and use of anti-terror laws. The Anti-Defamation League and the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law suggested in a letter last year that Students for Justice in Palestine was providing 'material support' for Hamas through its on-campus activism. Sen. Cotton, R-Ark., in November 2023 demanded a Justice Department national security investigation of The Associated Press, CNN, New York Times, and Reuters over freelance photographers’ images of the October 7 attacks. Lawmakers also tried to pass a „nonprofit killer’ bill that would allow the treasury secretary to strip groups of their charitable status if they are deemed a ’terrorist-supporting organization.’ The bill was beaten back by a coalition of nonprofit groups. Citizens would be granted the right to appeal to Rubio within 60 days of their passports being denied or revoked. The provision, sponsored by Rep. Mast, R-Fla., as part of a larger State Department reorganization, is set for a hearing Wednesday. (Source: The Intercept - U.S. )
by Sledge
12.09.2025 Authorities identify suspect in Kirk killing. Utah Governor Cox says investigators believe Robinson acted alone. Family member told authorities that Robinson had become 'more political in recent years'. (Source: Anadolu Agency - Turkey)
Sept. 12, 2025 The secretary of state is shaping what could be the most consequential military actions of President Trump’s second term. On Latin America, Mr. Trump and Mr. Rubio have long been in sync. The two men share a drive to tackle the region’s chaos and disorder in the form of narcotics and migrants. “Under Secretary Rubio, the State Department is working to implement President Trump’s vision to make our region secure, stable and prosperous,” Pigott, the department’s deputy spokesperson, said. “That means eliminating the cartels, ending illegal mass migration and pushing out China’s exploitative practices.” Secretary of State Rubio has helped steer the Trump administration toward a tactic to use military force to destroy suspected drug boats and kill the people on board, without a legal process. No senior aide to Mr. Trump has as long a history working on Latin America policy. Over 14 years as a Republican senator from Florida, Mr. Rubio pressed three administrations to go on the offense across the region. He was motivated by his loathing for the Castro government and its allies, notably Venezuela. Now, as both secretary of state and White House national security adviser, Mr. Rubio is seizing his chance to turn words into action. “What will stop them is when you blow them up, when you get rid of them,’ he said at a news conference in Mexico City last week. „The point is the president of the United States is going to wage war on narco-terrorist organizations.” Mr. Rubio has cast himself as a top general in that war. He has called 'illegitimate leftist strongmen in the region, particularly leaders of Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua. Mr. Rubio has branded Nicaragua’s government an enemy of humanity. - meant to establish a predicate for further military action in the hemisphere. The push for military action and the ouster of national leaders could draw criticism from a vocal wing of Mr. Trump’s movement that advocates greater military restraint in foreign policy. Some already view Mr. Rubio with suspicion, pointing to a history of neocon positions. He has also helped engineer the administration’s mass deportations of immigrants, including to a notorious prison in El Salvador. However, there are those Trump supporters and aides who applaud Mr. Rubio’s approach. They see him as reasserting an updated version of the Monroe Doctrine, an early-19th-century concept that justified U.S. intervention in Latin America. Mr. Trump and Mr. Rubio cast the flow of fentanyl, cocaine and other drugs into the United States as a matter of national security that justifies the use of deadly force. The top target for now appears to be Venezuela, whose criminal groups the Trump administration has linked to the country’s autocratic leader, Maduro. Mr. Rubio said last week that Mr. Maduro was a fugitive from American justice, after having been indicted by a grand jury in a New York federal court on drug trafficking charges in 2020. The Secretary of State was officially designating 10 drug cartels and gangs with ties to Latin America as foreign terrorist organizations - a State Department legal category typically applied to political militant groups such as Al Qaeda, Hamas and Hezbollah. And Mr. Rubio has embraced the notion that the flow of people also poses a national security threat - issue, which is perhaps the one most dear to the Republican Party’s base. He and his aides argue that migrant trafficking will ebb if crime groups and their allies in governments are dismantled, and that clamping down on migration will choke off a key income source for the gangs. Mr. Rubio wants to roll back Latin America’s growing economic ties with China. For years, he spoke of Beijing’s global influence as a security threat. Mr. Rubio raised the issue of China’s presence during his first two trips to the region, visiting Panama, Jamaica, Guyana and Suriname. And he is on a mission to bolster the standing of right-wing figures in the region. Mr. Rubio has taken up a cause of Mr. Trump: the defense of Bolsonaro, the conservative former president of Brazil who was officially charged with plotting a coup and sentenced to 27 years in prison. Some leaders worry the United States is once again flexing its imperial muscle. In Mexico, where Mr. Rubio has designated several cartels as terrorist groups, President Sheinbaum has warned Washington for months against any attempt at unilateral U.S. military action on Mexican soil. During his visit to Mexico City last week, the Secretary of State stressed that the two governments had reached a level of historic cooperation in recent months - one that he said “respects the integrity and the sovereignty of both countries.” He has played a major role in the deportation of hundreds of people he and the president say are members of Tren de Aragua, a Venezuela-based gang that they have designated a foreign terrorist organization. Under a deal Mr. Rubio reached with President Bukele of El Salvador in February, many of those deported have been sent to a prison that human rights groups call inhumane. A vast majority did not have criminal records or clear, documented links to the gang, and courts have blocked further summary removals for now. A U.S. government document released in court this week said that the Trump administration agreed to pay $4.76 million to El Salvador to temporarily accept up to 300 members of Tren de Aragua by Mr. Bukele’s government. which has drastically reduced once-rampant crime and gang activity in the country. That makes Mr. Bukele a model leader, in Mr. Rubio’s view. (Source: The New York Times - U.S.)
by Wong and Crowley who traveled with Secretary of State Rubio on his three trips to Latin America.
Oceania
Papua New Guinea
Sep 15, 2025 Australia’s military had been open to foreign nationals from New Zealand, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States since 2024. A fresh defence agreement will be signed by prime ministers on Sept 17 in Port Moresby, part of celebrations to mark 50 years of Papua New Guinea’s independence from Australia. The deal would enable Papua New Guinea nationals to serve in the Australian Defence Force with the same pay as other members and start a pathway to citizenship. Perched less than 200km from Australia’s northernmost border, Papua New Guinea is the largest and most populous state in Melanesia. (Source: The Straits Times - Singapore / AFP - France)
South America
Venezuela
September 15, 2025 08:39 pm US President Trump announced today that the US military carried out another targeted strike on a Venezuelan boat allegedly transporting drugs, killing three men aboard. The boat strikes come during fast-moving US immigration actions and multiple court challenges. In August, federal judges shot down the administration’s removal of Temporary Protected Status for Venezuelan migrants and halted criminal-contempt prosecutions of federal officials involved in the removal of suspected Tren de Aragua members. The administration has claimed Tren de Aragua coordinates with the Cártel de los Soles, allegedly led by Venezuelan President Maduro. Maduro reportedly claimed that the Trump administration’s anti-drug rhetoric is a pretense for instigating a Venezuelan regime change for oil. (Source: JURISTnews - U.S.)
(Monday), 9/15/2025 On Sunday, President Trump described Venezuela as a hub of narcotics smuggling and criminal migration. The president singled out Tren de Aragua, a powerful Venezuelan criminal organization that has spread across Latin America, as an urgent security threat. 'We don't like what Venezuela is sending us, whether it's their drugs or their gang members," he said. Caracas threatens Guyana and Trinidad amid growing tensions with U.S. "I tell these governments... that if we are attacked from their territory, they will also receive a response, and that is in legitimate defense," defense minister Padrino declared on his Telegram channel Sunday. Vice President Rodríguez last week branded both countries vassals of the United States. You are lending yourselves to the perverse plans of an aggression against the Venezuelan people, Rodríguez said. Padrino accused Washington of sharply intensifying aerial surveillance of Venezuela. tripled in August. The planes, he claimed, are designed to collect and process information in real time, up to 200 miles, meaning their range reaches Venezuelan territory. Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, Persad-Bissessar dismissed the allegations as alarmism, rejecting any suggestion that her government was colluding with the United States against Venezuela. Guyana has previously voiced support for U.S. activities in the Caribbean, framing them as part of collaborative counternarcotics efforts. The Venezuelan defense minister's accusations come against the backdrop of the long-running territorial dispute over the Essequibo region, a resource-rich area claimed by both Venezuela and Guyana. Washington has focused its rhetoric on crime and drug trafficking. (Source: MSN / The Miami Herald = U.S.)
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