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Europe
Germany
(25 September 2025) Merz backs EU plan for €140 billion interest-free Ukraine loan. 'German chancellor supports using frozen Russian assets for Kyiv loan package'. (Source: Luxembourg Times)
25.09.2025 Russian surveillance satellites are tracking satellites used by German armed forces and NATO allies, German defense minister Pistorius said speaking at a national space technologies conference. He warned that Russia is currently positioning its reconnaissance satellites close to satellites used by the German military and its allies. Russia and China can disrupt, blind, manipulate, or kinetically destroy satellites. In space, there are no borders or continents. There, Russia and China are our direct neighbors. Currently, two IntelSat satellites, which are also used by the German armed forces, are being tracked by two Russian Luch-Olymp reconnaissance satellites, Pistorius said. The minister also announced that the German government plans to invest approximately 35 billion euros ($41 billion) by 2030 for space projects and security architecture. He said the program will enhance orbital surveillance through radars and telescopes, deploy guardian satellites, and develop both defensive and offensive capabilities to deter potential threats. (Source: Anadolu Agency - Turkey)
The Netherlands
25.09.2025 Beginning last week, for 50 days, organized by the Rotterdam Palestine Coalition Foundation, every Monday and Thursday for 24 hours, the names and ages of over 65,000 Palestinians killed in Israel’s attacks on Gaza have been read aloud outside the Dutch Foreign Ministry in The Hague. (Source: Anadolu Agency - Turkey)
European Commission
September 24, 2025 Der Leyen’s messages auto-delete to save space on her phone, Commission says, erasing some of the EU’s most politically sensitive communications. The European Ombudsman announced this week it has launched a probe in reference to a text message from French President Macron urging European Commission chief der Leyen to block the EU-Mercosur trade deal. (Source: Politico - U.S.)
September 24, 2025 EU concedes trade deal with Trump falls short of WTO rules. The pact, brokered in July by European Commission President der Leyen and U.S. President Trump in Scotland, goes against reciprocity and nondiscrimination - two principles at the heart of the rules-based system. The agreement does not fulfill the conditions of article XXIV of the World Trade Organization rule that allows countries to remove tariffs on one another without granting the same benefits to others as long as they strike a full-blown trade deal. (Source: Politico - U.S.)
September 24, 2025 On Saturday, Bloomberg reported that the EU was considering unspecified trade measures to cut off oil through the Druzhba pipeline, through which Hungary and Slovakia purchase Russian oil. The move follows Trump’s claim that the United States is willing to impose tough sanctions on Russia as long as NATO allies cut imports of Russian oil first. ’In practice, that means that just three countries must cut off Russian oil’: Turkey, which is not an EU member; Hungary; and Slovakia, where infrastructure made it difficult to quickly switch to alternative sources. Hungary and Slovakia have said they have concerns over the price of oil from Croatia’s Adria pipeline, the primary alternative to Russia’s Druzhba pipeline. Hungary has also benefited from the cheap cost of Russian oil, received as much as a 77 percent discount versus non-Russian oil. The EU is already moving toward a blanket Russian energy ban process structured as an internal market regulation in order to prevent Hungary and Slovakia from blocking it with a veto. Polish Energy Minister Motyka, in an open letter to other European energy chiefs, said on Sept. 16 that Europe should stop importing oil by the end of 2026. "According to the Financial Times' the EU will provide 550 million euros (about $648 million) in funds to Hungary in order to win approval for a recently announced Russian sanctions package that includes a faster-than-planned phaseout of Russian gas. The EU also has powerful stick. ’It could withhold subsidies for Hungary and Slovakia over rule-of-law issues if the countries do not cut off Russian oil. The EU couldn’t connect the two issues legally, but ’such an arrangement would be within the bloc’s political powers’. Hungary and Slovakia also have cards to play. Trump has sympathy for their leaders. Hungary, at least, has a powerful ally in the White House in Trump, with whom Orbán is close. The renewal of sanctions on Russia requires a unanimous vote from EU members every six months, giving Hungary and Slovakia powerful vetoes. Orbán has threatened to block renewal of the sanctions as recently as January. If Orbán were to call Trump and complain of EU pressure, for instance, U.S. pressure on the EU could theoretically melt away. (Source: Foreign Policy - U.S.)
United Kingdom
September 24, 2025 Britain has warned Moscow it is ready to shoot down Russian jets and drones that violate Nato airspace. On Monday a number of drones were spotted near Copenhagen airport, forcing the airport to shut for several hours. They were suspected of being Russian drones and, if confirmed, the incursion into Denmark would be the furthest west 'its aircraft' have strayed during the current wave of incidents. Ambassador Holland, the head of the UK delegation to the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), said today in a speech in Vienna to the OSCE: “Russia should be in no doubt that Nato and allies will employ all necessary military and non-military tools, in accordance with international law, to defend ourselves and deter all threats in a manner, timing and domain of our choosing.” At the weekend RAF Typhoon fighter jets began a new mission to patrol the airspace over Poland, codenamed Eastern Sentry. “Let us be clear: Nato is a defensive alliance. Its purpose is to protect, not provoke. That is why the UK has contributed to Eastern Sentry to bolster Nato’s security along our entire Eastern Flank,” Holland added. Russia is a member of the OSCE but suspended its participation last year. Holland said that the international community should not allow Russia’s provocations elsewhere to distract from the urgent need to end this war [in Ukraine]. Russia has refused to respond to requests from the UK and other allies to confirm responsibility for deliberate violations of Nato airspace. (Source: The i Paper – United Kingdom)
Asia
Japan
Sep 25, 2025 Japan has scrapped a plan to promote cultural exchanges between regional cities and four African countries. The Africa Hometown initiative was meant to pair four small Japanese cities with Nigeria, Ghana, Mozambique and Tanzania. But a statement from the Nigerian government went much further, promising immigration through special visas. Japanese citizens reacted online, many assuming it would lead to unlimited African migration into Japan’s countryside. If this continues, there will be no Japan, just some islands where Japanese people used to live, Musk commented on X. Barely a month after its announcement, the initiative has now been abandoned. Immigrants represent in Japan, about 3 per cent of the population. Political parties such as Sanseito have tapped into the issue, and immigration policy is a point of contention in the ongoing race for leadership of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party. (Source: The Straits Times - Singapore / Bloomberg - U.S.)
North America
United States
September 25, 2025 ' ' 'Europe' is at war with Russia. ' ' The fighting in Ukraine is only part of Russia’s wider war against the continent as a whole. The only way Moscow can now achieve its objectives is by weakening Europe’s support for Ukraine and exploiting divisions within and among NATO nations. This is what its covert war against Europe aims to do. (Source: Politico - U.S.)
by Daalder, former U.S. ambassador to NATO, 'a senior fellow at Harvard University’s Belfer Center'
NATO
September 25, 2025 Russia maintains a nuclear-powered submarine fleet, destroyer-class combatant ships, strategic bombers, hypersonic missiles, and a world-leading collection of icebreakers right next door to Canada. Testing boundaries, hybrid warfare, and imposing psychological trauma on neighbors is well-documented Russian behavior. The vastness of the Arctic region, which Russia is working daily to militarize and leverage for both security and economic reasons, combined with Canada’s weak security readiness, ’represents an enormous NATO vulnerability’. The weakness of NORAD’s current defensive capabilities in the north, represent a gaping soft spot in the NATO phalanx. Last year, there were 12 instances when Royal Canadian Air Force and U.S. Air Force jets had to scramble planes to address and occasionally escort Russian aircraft flying provocatively and needlessly close to North American airspace. Qaidari recently noted in Policy Options a range of near-term solutions which could boost Canada’s ability to patrol the high north and safeguard its sovereignty: a hybrid air fleet and multidomain surveillance network to expand visibility of manned or unmanned aerial incursions, seabed sensors and unmanned subsurface ships to patrol underwater routes, and mobile missile units capable of responding to threats. Acquiring and deploying a twin-engine aircraft known as the E-7 Wedgetail, to sight aerial threats and report on them to NORAD and NATO commands was recommended. A report also recommended space-based radar systems and leveraging Canadian and U.S. public investment in a new push to secure the Arctic. The proposals should be considered in the context of Trump’s plan to establish a “Golden Dome” for North American aerospace defense. (Source: Foreig Policy - U.S.)
by Bondy, a senior fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute in Ottawa and CEO of Bondy & Associates.
Global
24 September 2025 Shipping faces ‘stormy seas’ as trade slows and costs rise (Source: UN News)
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