Egyik 19

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France
September 11th, 2025  Could French nuclear weapons protect Europe? In his 5 March 2025 address, President Macron was initiating a strategic dialogue on extending the protective value of French deterrence to European allies – while retaining presidential sovereignty over nuclear decisions. Rooted in the Gaullist concept of an independent force de frappe, the French model emphasises deterrence from the weak to the strong and allows for political flexibility in its application, including possible first-strike authority. This is offering greater transparency without shifting control, thereby reframing deterrence as an instrument of collective European security rather than unilateral French power. France’s surging defence ambitions are, however, impeded by structural budgetary limitations. While Macron’s government has pledged not to raise taxes to fund increased defence expenditures, the financial leeway appears narrow, effectively pointing to reliance on debt or budget reallocation – a model questionable in terms of long-term sustainability. France’s military programming law outlines a plan to elevate defence spending significantly by €413 billion through 2030, a roughly 40% increase over the prior cycle. This is aimed at modernising nuclear forces, cyber-capabilities and high-technology systems. ’Still, economic analysis underscores that Europe overall will require additional fiscal leeway – either via long-term debt, tax increases or cuts to civilian spending – to meet higher defence spending benchmarks’. The interplay between defence ambitions and electoral politics constitutes a further challenge. Macron’s pledge to avoid new taxes for increased military funding aims to limit domestic backlash, but it may fall short, potentially triggering public discontent, social unrest, and electoral gains for the National Rally - an outcome with profound implications for European policy coherence. (Source: LSE – United Kingdom)
by Ryan, a Network Research Fellow at CESifo, Munich.

(10 September 2025)  France is seeing a day of protests led by a grassroots movement named Bloquons Tout (Let's Block Everything). In a show of anger against the political class and proposed budget cuts, the demonstrations are taking place on the same day new Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu was sworn in. The radical-left France Unbowed party has already said it will table a no confidence motion in Lecornu as soon as possible. However, that motion would need support by other parties to pass. Lecornu will first need to come up with a budget palatable to a majority of MPs in France's hung parliament - the same challenging endeavour which brought down his two predecessors. France's deficit reached 5.8% of GDP in 2024 but the three distinct ideological groups in the deeply divided Assembly disagree on how to tackle the crisis. As it stands, the largest parliamentary party - the 'far-right' National Rally - said it would listen to what Lecornu had to say albeit "without many illusions". Several thousand people gathered in Paris, Marseille, Bordeaux and Montpellier. The Let's Block Everything movement has a distinct left-wing character. Its demands include more investment in public services, taxation for high income brackets, rent freezes and Macron's resignation. (Source: BBC - United Kingdom)

Poland
Friday 12 September 2025  Warsaw said it was deploying 40,000 troops along its borders with Belarus and Russia. Interior minister Kierwinski said that the drills were directly aimed at Poland and the European Union. His remarks come after Mr Tusk said the drone attack 'was not aimed only at Poland, but at European states as well'. US president Trump suggested the incursion of Russian attack drones into Poland could have been “a mistake”, but added, “I’m not happy about anything to do with the whole situation.” But Tusk responded on X, today, saying: 'We would also wish that the drone attack on Poland was a mistake. But it wasn’t. And we know it.' (Source: The Independent - United Kingdom)

Sept. 11, 2025  The Trump administration is conducting a review of American troops abroad, and the expectation is that thousands will be pulled out of Europe, either to be sent to Asia or returned home, where Defense Secretary Hegseth has said “the real battles” are. That is why countries that are geographically close to Russia, like Poland and the Baltic nations, have dramatically increased their military spending, in part hoping to convince Mr. Trump to leave American troops there. Some 10,000 American troops are currently based in Poland. Last week, speaking alongside President Nawrocki at the White House, Mr. Trump remarked that not only would U.S. troops remain in Poland, but 'we’ll put more there, if they want.' Yet he is expected to pull thousands more American troops from Germany and other countries. For Russia, there may be another factor at work. The drones came to Poland over Belarus. Mr. Trump has reached out recently to President Lukashenko about releasing political prisoners in return for American re-engagement and support for its sovereignty. Mr. Krawczyk, a former Polish intelligence official, said Russia was also seeking to undermine those efforts to preserve its domination of Belarus. “Russia aims to demonstrate that Belarus is merely a pawn in Moscow’s game,” he said. (Source: The New York Times - U.S.)

September 10, 2025, Wednesday  Poland has confirmed that Russian drones violated its airspace overnight on September 10, describing the incident as an act of aggression and announcing that several of the intruding objects were shot down. Polish and allied radar tracked several of the drones, and the operational commander ordered the use of weapons against those deemed a threat. Searches for wreckage and crash sites are ongoing. Allied aircraft, including AWACS early warning planes, were also active in Polish skies. The military emphasized that its forces remain on full alert and that air defense and radar reconnaissance systems have been raised to high readiness. Authorities temporarily closed multiple airports, including Warsaw’s Chopin, Lublin, and Rzeszów-Jasionka, citing unplanned military activity related to ensuring state security. Rzeszów is a key hub for the transfer of Western military aid to Ukraine. President Nawrocki stated that he was in constant contact with Defense Minister Kosiniak-Kamysz and would lead a National Security Bureau briefing. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said he had already informed NATO Secretary General Rutte. Polish Deputy Defense Minister Tomczyk was asking the public to follow instructions from the armed forces and police. ’The Sept. 10 incursion into Poland represents a direct military confrontation on NATO soil’. Residents in Podlaskie, Mazowieckie, and Lublin were urged to remain indoors, as these regions were considered at the highest risk. Podlaskie lies about 50–70 kilometers from the Ukrainian border, while Lublin directly borders Ukraine. (Source: Novinite – Bulgaria)

European Commission
11.09.2025  European Parliament's Left group submits motion of censure against der Leyen. Left group calls for resignation of commission due to detrimental trade deals, failure to act against Israeli government's systemic violations of international law in Gaza. (Source: Anadolu  Agency - Turkey)

10.09.2025  Right and left wings in European Parliament set to file separate no-confidence motions against der Leyen. Political groups aim to submit motions against European Commission president at midnight if they get necessary 72 signatures. A recent Cluster17 survey found that six in 10 Europeans believe von der Leyen should resign following the announcement of the EU-US trade deal framework. (Source: Anadolu Agency – Turkey)

(10 September 2025)  ' The European Commission announced the preliminary allocation of a €150 billion ($175.6 billion) defence fund under its new Security Action for Europe (SAFE) programme. The funding will be distributed among 19 member states that requested support, based on a pre-allocation system. Poland is set to receive the largest share with €43.7 billion. It is followed by Romania (€16.68 billion), France and Hungary (€16.21 billion each), Italy (€14.9 billion), Belgium (€8.34 billion), Lithuania (€6.37 billion), Portugal (€5.84 billion) and Latvia (€5.68 billion). The final amounts will depend on each country's defence projects and preparedness levels. It forms part of the European Commission's ReArm Europe Plan/Readiness 2030, aiming to mobilise over €800 billion in defence spending. Ukraine and EEA-EFTA countries will also be eligible to participate in joint procurement under the scheme. ' (Source: TRT World – Turkey)

Belarus
Friday 12 September 2025  Russia and Belarus have launched today long-planned joint military exercises, dubbed “Zapad 2025,” or “West 2025,” which will last through Tuesday. The maneuvers follow Wednesday's incursion of Russian drones into Polish airspace earlier this week. The Russian military said it wasn’t targeting Poland. Belarus suggested drones veered off course. But "European' leaders described it as a deliberate provocation, forcing NATO allies ’to confront a potential threat’ in its airspace for the first time. The Russia-Belarus exercises also have drawn worries in Kyiv and its allies of Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, which border Belarus. Belarusian defense officials initially said about 13,000 troops would participate in the exercise that was to take place near its western border. In May, however, its Defense Ministry said the number would be cut nearly in half, and that the main maneuvers would take place deeper inside the country. Last month, Defense Minister Khrenin said most of the drills will happen around the city of Barysaw, about 74 kilometers northeast of Minsk, although some “small units will carry out practical tasks to repel a hypothetical enemy” in areas close to the border with Poland and Lithuania. In Moscow, the Defense Ministry said today that parts of the exercise will be held on the Russian territory, as well as as the Baltic and the Barents Seas. Khrenin noted that the troops will practice “planning the use of” Russian nuclear weapons and the new nuclear-capable Oreshnik intermediate range missiles that Moscow has promised to station in Belarus. In December, Russia and Belarus signed a pact giving Moscow's security guarantees to its ally, including the possible use of Russian nuclear weapons to help repel any aggression. Belarus’ President Lukashenko has allowed Russia to deploy some of its tactical nuclear weapons to his country. Lukashenko also has proposed to host Russia's latest Oreshnik intermediate-range ballistic missile that Moscow used for the first time in November against Ukraine. Putin has said that Oreshnik missiles could be deployed to Belarus in the second half of 2025, adding they will remain under Russian control but Moscow will allow Minsk to select targets. Lukashenko recently signaled willingness to mend his relationship with the West. The past year has seen regular releases of political prisoners and public calls for a rapprochement with the West. Last month, Lukashenko spoke by phone with Trump, who called him a “highly respected President” in a social media post, a stark contrast from other Western leaders. Yesterday, Belarus freed 52 political prisoners as part of a deal brokered by the United States, which lifted some sanctions on the country’s national airline. Belarus sent formal invitations to all member states of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and nine countries with NATO military attaches in Minsk to monitor the drills. (Source: The Independent - United Kingdom / The Associated Press - U.S.)

Russia
14.09.25, 02:45 PM  Russia said today that it had fired a Zircon (Tsirkon) hypersonic cruise missile at a target in the Barents Sea and that Sukoi Su-34 supersonic fighter-bombers had carried out strikes as part of joint military exercises with Belarus. Russia's ’Zapad’, or West, joint strategic exercise with Belarus began on Sept. 12 aiming to improve military command and coordination in the event of an attack on either Russia or Belarus, the defence ministry said. Moscow and Minsk have said the exercises are exclusively defensive and that they do not intend to attack any NATO member. The U.S.-led military alliance announced an ’Eastern Sentry’ operation after the incursion of Russian drones into Poland on Sept. 9-10. Russia's defence ministry released footage of the Northern Fleet's Admiral Golovko frigate firing a Zircon hypersonic missile at a target in the Barents Sea. According to objective monitoring data received in real time, the target was destroyed by a direct hit, the ministry said. Long-range anti-submarine aircraft of the Northern Fleet's mixed aviation corps were also involved in the exercise. Su-34 crews practiced a bombing strike against ground targets. Russian President Putin said in 2019 that the Zircon can fly at nine times the speed of sound and hit targets at sea and on land at a range of more than 1,000 km. Russian media sources say the missile’s warhead mass is around 300 kg-400 kg. (Source: The Telegraph – India / Reuters – United Kingdom)

14/09/2025 - 11:23  Ukrainian drones today attacked the Kirishi oil refinery in the northwest Leningrad region. The refinery is one of Russia’s largest, refines about 17.7 million metric tons per year (355,000 barrels per day) of Russian crude, or 6.4% of the country’s total. Kirishi is the second oil refinery to be targeted in less than 48 hours. Three drones were destroyed in the Kirishi area. Debris from the shot-down drones caused a temporary fire, Russian officials said. Russia said that more than 80 Ukrainian drones were destroyed overnight. (Source: France 24 / „with Reuters” - United Kingdom)

(12 September 2025)  In recent months, Ukrainian strikes have reached deeper into Russian territory, hitting refineries, fuel depots and logistics hubs hundreds of miles from the frontlines. They escalated sharply in August, with more than a dozen refineries hit. During those attacks, Ukraine disabled 20% of Russia's oil refining capacity during August, the White House said last month. Russian media has downplayed the cause of the damage, citing unscheduled repairs. Russian newspaper Moskovskij Komsomolets warned this week that petrol supplies were near critical, with drivers in far eastern Russia reporting kilometre-long queues, rationing and soaring prices. Strikes have also hit the Druzhba pipeline, disrupting exports to Hungary and Slovakia. Moscow has intensified its missile and drone attacks on Ukrainian cities and energy facilities over the summer. Kremlin spokesman Peskov told reporters today that there had been a pause in peace negotiations, blaming Ukraine's European allies for hindering the process. More than half of 221 drones sent to Russian territory overnight were intercepted over the Bryansk and Smolensk regions, where Lukoil facilities were reportedly targeted, the Russian defence ministry said. Ukraine has also struck Russia's largest oil terminal on the Baltic Sea. The aerial assault targeted the Primorsk oil port in the Leningrad region, the final station of the Baltic Pipeline System, a crucial hub for Russia's maritime exports. 28 drones were brought down and a fire had broken out at a vessel and a pumping station in Primorsk. The blaze was extinguished without casualties or leaks. Operations at St Petersburg's Pulkovo airport were briefly suspended. The Ukrainian security services said drone strikes also hit several pumping stations feeding the Ust-Luga terminal, near the border with Estonia. Russian state energy firm Rosatom reported a drone attack on a power unit at its Smolensk Nuclear Power Plant, near the Belarussian border. Yesterday night's attacks came ahead of the start of a major joint military exercise between Russia and ally Belarus today, which is staged every four years, taking place just days after a number of Russian drones were shot down or fell on Poland, in what Warsaw called an unprecedented incursion into its airspace. (Source: BBC - United Kingdom)

September 10, 2025  European Commission Vice President Kallas who also serves as the EU’s foreign policy coordinator, indicated that available evidence suggests that the airspace violation attack was intentional, not accidental. Ordash, Moscow’s charge d’affaires in Warsaw, said to Russian state news agency RIA that the Kremlin was absolutely not interested in any escalation with Poland, and denied that the drones had been of Russian origin. The violation of Polish airspace by Russian drones and their shooting down by NATO forces marks a concerning escalation - though as Tusk noted, it probably will not directly result in a broader Russia-NATO war. (Source: The National Interest - U.S.)

Ukraine
Sept 10, 2025, 3:37 am EDT  Zelensky today pushed for a common air defence system with Kyiv's European allies. 'Ukraine has long proposed to its partners the creation of a joint air defence system to ensure the guaranteed downing of Shaheds, other drones, and missiles through the combined strength of our combat aviation and air defences,' Zelensky said on social media. (Source: Barron's - U.S. / Agence France-Presse)

Wednesday 10 September 2025  On 2 September, as thousands attended Parubiy’s funeral in Lviv, Stelnikov told a court he had assassinated Parubiy in order to retrieve the body of his son, a Ukrainian soldier missing in action since May 2023. Parubiy was a former speaker of the Ukrainian parliament, current MP and member of the parliament’s defence committee. 'In 2014 he had been a key coordinator of the Euromaidan revolution'. 'Yes, I admit, I killed him – and I want to ask that I be exchanged for prisoners of war, so that I can go and find my son’s body,” Stelnikov said. Asked why he killed Parubiy, Stelnikov replied: 'Because he was nearby.' Ukrainians 'recruited by Russia' are thought to have been responsible for the shootings of Hanul, another Euromaidan participant, killed in Odessa in March; and Farion, a former MP murdered in Lviv last year, among others. (Source: The Observer - United Kingdom)

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Europe

Belgium
September 10, 2025  The U.S. has been struggling with fentanyl, a synthetic drug estimated to be 50 times stronger than heroin. According to estimates from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly 80,000 people died from drug overdoses in 2024, a significant decrease from the 110,000 deaths recorded the previous year. U.S. President Trump is taking drastic international action to target cartels and designated them as foreign terrorist organizations. U.S. homeland security chief Noem arrived at the port of Antwerp today to pledge American support toward smashing narco gangs, as drug-fueled violence plagues Belgium. Ports here, like this one, are a crime target for foreign terrorist organizations, Noem said during a press conference following a meeting with Belgian Prime Minister De Wever. “There’s a plague of fentanyl traffic that is spreading around the world,” said Noem, adding that “we need to stop it and work together so that we have the ability to use our experience in America to help Europe.” “The U.S. understands that we need to be aggressive in fighting these organizations and we want to partner with you in an even greater way to do so into the future.” Noem noted that the collaborative action will involve sharing data and security information, and dealing with shipping companies. “I think Europe should focus a lot more on European cooperation on one hand, and on cooperation with our friends in the United States in order to crush the business model of organized crime”, said De Wever, a Flemish, who spent more than 10 years as mayor of Antwerp before becoming Belgian prime minister. Belgian authorities seized a record 121 metric tons of cocaine at the port in 2023.The Belgian port city of Antwerp has witnessed a stark increase in drug-related shootings and explosions amid the surging drug traffic. Drug violence has gripped Brussels too, with about 60 shootings this year alone. The government is currently mulling deploying soldiers on the streets by the end of the year to deter criminals. (Source: Politico  U.S.)

Denmark
12.09.2025  Denmark make largest-ever arms purchase, at over $9.1B. The eight ground-based air defense systems, acquired from arms manufacturers in France, Italy, Germany, and Norway, will each consist of four units capable of independently launching guided missiles to protect cities, military sites, and critical infrastructure across Denmark. (Source: Anadolu Agency - Turkey)

United Kingdom
(9 September 2025)  It’s now been a few months since the publication of the Strategic Defence Review (SDR) and the International Security Strategy. While the strategy documents may be fine as far as they go, there is something missing in the connection between UK strategy and the world as it really is, at home and abroad. To be fair to the present government and the authors of the reviews, this realist element has been missing from UK thinking under multiple governments for many years since the end of the Cold War. We need:     An explicit concept of the national interest for the new realist world;     Far greater honesty about the gap between our aspirations and our current resources and organisation;     A recognition that active public support rather than disinterested acquiescence will be key to achieving sharper national objectives.    We certainly need a new approach today – and not just because of Trump. US policy today is as much a function of a changing world as of a new President. The rise of multipolarity on the back (particularly) of the growth of Asia and the relative decline of the West mean that even after Trump/Trumpism, US policy won’t (can’t) revert to the unipolar status quo ante. Wilsonianism and neoconservatism will never be the same again: even if their exponents return to government, their power will be much constrained. It seems inconceivable that the US public will be prepared to support and pay for the old posture. The same applies on this side of the Atlantic. Today there are as many threats as before, if not more, which the International Security Strategy sets out well. What’s changed is that we won’t be able to address them without a clear underpinning of national purpose: if there isn’t a clearly defined national interest to defend, neither our finances nor public opinion will have the staying power to sustain increased defence expenditure and national effort. We need to choose our allies and partners on the basis of national interest rather than aesthetic preferences. Talk of a 'coalition of the willing' is dangerous if we convince ourselves that 'willing' is the same as “able”. Unrealistic unipolar-era ambitions reinforced by a misplaced 'can do' mindset is even worse. BFPG’s recent survey found that the British public feel safer this year than last. They do support greater defence spending, but not at the expense of domestic priorities. In that respect, the Government’s revealed preferences (modest increases in real defence spending, but not yet) is a better reflection of public opinion than some of the rhetoric about the country moving towards 'warfighting readiness'. BFPG research also suggests that young Britons (under 35) care much more about Gaza than Ukraine and are not greatly concerned by the security implications of a closer relationship with China. On the right, there is also a fracturing between consistent supporters of Ukraine and those who believe that security begins closer to home with the need to combat illegal migration. Whatever one’s views, there is little sense here of the settled sense of national interest which informs the “whole of nation” approach to security seen in parts of Central Europe and the Baltics. (Source: The British Foreign Policy Group - based in London, United Kingdom)

Caribbean

Puerto Rico
(Monday), 9/8/2025  Defense Secretary Hegseth and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Caine visited Puerto Rico today, as the Pentagon looks to intensify military operations against drug cartels based in Latin American countries. The unannounced visit follows last week’s deadly military strike against a vessel in the Caribbean Sea that President Trump said was smuggling narcotics from Venezuela and bound for the United States. Eleven ’narco-terrorists’ were killed in the operation, the president has said. Senior administration officials have forecast that additional strikes are possible, with Vice President Vance saying Saturday on social media that ’killing cartel members who poison our fellow citizens is the highest and best use of our military.” A Department of Homeland Security document from 2020 says that the Coast Guard is the lead and only federal maritime law enforcement agency with both the authority and capability to enforce national and international law, including drug interdiction, on the high seas, and that it shares the lead for interdiction and enforcement responsibilities with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in U.S. territorial waters. Sen. Paul, a Republican from Kentucky, has raised concerns about the administration’s vision for drug interdiction. If the new policy is that we blow you up if we think you might be a drug dealer, Paul said, "that’s kind of a worrisome policy.” In announcing the strike, the president said the vessel’s crew had been positively identified as members of Tren de Aragua, a criminal group his administration has sought to connect to Venezuelan President Maduro and violent crime in the United States. He claimed later that the U.S. government has “tapes” of the suspects speaking. The Pentagon is weighing plans to make Puerto Rico a part of its operations in the region, possibly conducting military flights out of the island territory. The effort includes the possible deployment of fighter jets to the island. “This fight against drug trafficking, in which @POTUS Trump is investing, will firmly position Puerto Rico as the United States’ border in the Caribbean,” Puerto Rico Gov Colón (R). posted to social media during Hegseth’s visit. Hegseth also flew to the amphibious warship USS Iwo Jima, which is in the Caribbean as part of a buildup of warships in the region. Puerto Rico is the most obvious and nearest place to Venezuela, and its ports and airfields provide additional options for expanded military counternarcotics operations, said Berg, director of the Americas Program and head of the Future of Venezuela Initiative at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “This administration has signaled for a while that there would be paradigm shift in how we do security operations in the Western Hemisphere,” Berg said. With the strike last week, which the U.S. executed under a 2001 authorization for the use of military force after Trump designated the cartels as terrorist organizations, “they want to show it’s not just rhetorical, and show there’s different rules of engagement with these organizations now,” Berg said. The U.S. military has assembled an armada of at least eight warships in the region - effort as an “enhanced counter narcotics operation.” Military installations on Puerto Rico include Fort Allen, a National Guard training center east of Ponce, near the southern coast, and Muñiz Air National Guard Base, just east of the capital, San Juan. About 14,000 U.S. troops were deployed in response since the aftermath of Hurricanes Maria and Irma in 2017, including more than 9,300 on the ground to help with recovery, airlift supplies and assist with rebuilding. Another 4,400 personnel were involved on nearby ships, including the USNS Comfort, a hospital ship. (Source: MSN / The Washington Post = U.S.)

North America

United States
(Saturday), Sep 13, 2025  In a Senate confirmation hearing on Thursday, Veprek, Trump's nominee to run the State Department's refugee division, called for reshaping the global approach to asylum."The current framework of international agreements and norms on migration developed after the Second World War in a completely different geopolitical and economic context. It cannot be expected to function in our modern world, and indeed it does not.' While some like-minded governments may support the effort, there have been no signs of broad support for a worldwide realignment. At a meeting of the State Department's Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration on Tuesday, top Trump refugee official Chretien said the Trump administration would seek to replace decades-old global accords and "build a new framework." Chretien said the top goal for the bureau - set by the highest levels of the White House - would be resettling white South Africans from the country's Dutch-descended Afrikaner minority. Trump froze refugee admissions from countries around the world when he took office in January, but weeks later called for Afrikaners to be prioritized. As of Monday, 138 in total had arrived. An internal document drafted by officials in the State Department and U.S. Health and Human Services Department in April suggested the Trump administration could also prioritize bringing in Europeans as refugees if they were targeted for expressing certain views, such as opposition to mass migration or support for populist political parties. A report in August said that Trump officials were discussing setting a refugee admission ceiling of 40,000 people in fiscal year 2026 with a heavy focus on Afrikaners. The administration has since discussed a ceiling as high as 60,00.U.S. President Trump's administration plans to call for sharply narrowing the right to asylum at the United Nations later this month. It seeks to undo the post-World War II framework around humanitarian protection. Under the proposed framework, asylum seekers would be required to claim protection in the first country they enter, not a nation of their choosing. It calls for reforming the global approach to migration worldwide and greatly limiting the ability of people to seek asylum., which 'is routinely abused to enable economic migration'. Asylum would be temporary and the host country would decide whether conditions in their home country had improved enough to return. Deputy Secretary of State Landau would lead the side event at the U.N. (Source: The Japan Times / Reuters - United Kingdom)

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)

Sep. 11, 2025  The 31-year-old Turning Point USA creator Kirk was shot dead at Utah Valley University. The event was a stop on his American Comeback Tour. The conservative influencer had just answered a question about transgender shooters when he was shot. Kirk, a rising MAGA star, is survived by his wife and two young children. The shooter is still at large. Gun recovered in Kirk assassination revealed - and ammo bore pro-trans, anti-fascist messages. (Source: The New York Post - U.S.)

3:13 a.m.· Sept. 11, 2025.  President Trump shares a message on the assassination of Kirk. (Source: X – U.S.)
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8M views

(11 September 2025)  "Kirk, Trump ally who opposed US aid to Ukraine, shot dead in Utah: What to know' (Source: Kyiv Post - Ukraine)

10/09/2025  In May, American energy officials had become concerned after experts found rogue communication devices in some Chinese inverters and batteries. U.S. officials say solar-powered highway infrastructure including chargers, roadside weather stations, and traffic cameras should be scanned for the presence of rogue devices – such as hidden radios – secreted inside batteries and inverters. The advisory, disseminated by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration, comes amid escalating government action over the presence of Chinese technology in America's transportation infrastructure. The August 20 advisory said the devices were used to power a range of U.S. highway infrastructure, including signs, traffic cameras, weather stations, solar-powered visitor areas and warehouses, and electric vehicle chargers. The risks it cited included simultaneous outages and surreptitious theft of data. In January, the Commerce Department finalized rules that will effectively bar nearly all Chinese cars and trucks from the U.S. market by late 2026, as part of a crackdown on vehicle software and hardware from China. (Source: MSN / The Washington Post = U.S.)

NATO

12 Sep. 2025  At a meeting of the North Atlantic Council on Wednesday (10 September 2025), Allies discussed the situation in light of Poland’s request for Article 4 consultations. Today, NATO Secretary General Rutte and Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) General Grynkewich held a joint press conference * to outline NATO’s response to the violation of Polish airspace by Russian drones two days earlier. Mr Rutte announced the launch of ’Eastern Sentry,’ a military activity aimed to bolster NATO’s posture along the eastern flank. Commencing in the coming days, Eastern Sentry will involve a range of Allied assets and feature both traditional capabilities and novel technologies, including elements designed to address challenges associated with drones. He added that Allies across Europe and North America work together every day on strengthening air defences and protecting critical undersea infrastructure in the Baltic Sea. (Source: NATO - headquarters Brussels, Belgium)
* /Video/

September 12, 2025  We still don’t know what happened over Poland. The same people who have spent the last five years doing everything in their power to get the United States and NATO more directly involved in the ongoing Ukraine War are at it again. A recent incident involving upwards of 19 suspected Russian drones - specifically notoriously inaccurate Gerbera-type unmanned aerial vehicles - breaching the airspace of NATO member Poland has triggered a cascade of recriminations and accusations. The drone swarm, successfully downed by Polish and Dutch warplanes, did not cause any injuries in Poland and did not last very long in Poland’s well-defended airspace. The Kremlin has denied intentionally launching the drones at Poland. The consensus both from official NATO sources and the defense punditry class is that the Russians deliberately launched the attack at Poland’s borders as a means of testing NATO’s resolve. Multiple defense intellectuals have been brought out across Western media outlets and echoed similar talking points. Yet what precisely did Moscow have to gain from such an attack? What does the Kremlin have to gain by expanding the war in Europe at this moment? There is an anxiety today among the NATO class that Ukraine’s loss to Russia - the most likely outcome of the ongoing war - would equate to a military defeat of NATO. It would not have been the case had NATO avoided entanglement in the war in the first place. Yet Ukraine was never part of NATO, and in spite of vague future promises of a pathway to admission, was not on track to join when Russia invaded in early 2022. With this in mind, it is somewhat strange that NATO has gone as far with supporting Ukraine as it has. NATO was supposed to be a defensive military alliance committed to protecting its neighbors - not intervening in the affairs of its non-NATO neighbors, no matter how morally righteous it might believe them to be. But even if Moscow manages to subdue Ukraine, there is little evidence that it intends to trigger a wider regional war against the European defense alliance. Thus far, the Russians have largely kept their war in Ukraine confined to the Russian-speaking Eastern portions of the country, which they regard as a natural part of the “Russian world.” Since its abortive and ill-fated attempt to seize Kyiv in February 2022, Russia has refrained from launching an incursion into western Ukraine - instead creating a defensive perimeter around the Crimean Peninsula, Russia’s crown jewel on the Black Sea. As such, it is safe to say that Russia is not interested in expanding the war - and certainly not seeking to wage war directly with NATO. And what evidence does NATO have that the drones were deliberately deployed into Polish airspace as part of a larger provocation strategy by Russia? Less than 24 hours after the downing of the Russian drones, virtually every pro-NATO voice in the West has taken to the press and given nearly identical talking points about the alleged Russian attack on Poland. Some of NATO’s members in Europe are chomping at the bit to broaden NATO’s involvement in Ukraine. By ballooning this incident with the Russian drones, NATO’s supporters in Europe and America believe they can force Trump to change course on Ukraine. He shouldn’t. As Trump insists that his support for Ukraine is unwavering and that he is angry with Russian leader Putin for perceived diplomatic slights, the White House has been angling to reduce America’s military commitments to Europe. In fact, the Pentagon issued * a major strategy document indicating that the US military would be deprioritizing Europe, the Middle East, and even the Indo-Pacific in favor of Western hemispheric defense. All this is sending the European members of NATO into panic mode. Europeans accustomed to the American security umbrella view NATO as a sacrosanct entity and, without the United States being fully committed to NATO, the alliance will wither. And if NATO dies, Europe will be undefended from their bogeyman of Russia. As things stand, we don’t yet know for sure what happened in the skies above Poland. What we do know is this is not the first time something like this has happened and, in the previous instances, the incidents were either accidental or not the Kremlin’s fault. It will take weeks and months to know what precisely happened; until an investigation is conducted, the last possible thing America should be doing is jumping to conclusions that lead to a wider war and greater levels of US military commitment. So, by ballooning this incident with the Russian drones into a grand conspiracy on the part of Putin’s Russia to escalate the war against NATO, NATO’s supporters in Europe and America believe they can force Trump to fully invest in Ukraine’s defense - and in so doing to get Trump to restore the primacy of NATO in US foreign policy. (Source: The National Interest - U.S.)
By Weichert, a senior national security editor at The National Interest, who has consulted regularly with various government institutions and private organizations on geopolitical issues. His newest book, A Disaster of Our Own Making: How the West Lost Ukraine. 
* At the moment, reference to: „US no longer ‘primarily focused’ on Europe’s security, says Hegseth. US defence secretary says Europe should lead in defending Ukraine and that restoring pre-2014 borders is unrealistic” (In: The Guardian, Wed 12 Feb 2025 16.00 CET)

(Thursday, 11 September 2025)  Nato strengthens defences after Russian drones shot down over Poland. The Netherlands and the Czech Republic said they would send defences to Poland. The Dutch were going to deploy air defence systems, artillery and 300 troops, while the Czech would send helicopters and 100 soldiers, Polish Defence Minister Kosiniak-Kamysz said. Lithuania would receive a German brigade. Germany also said it would 'intensify its engagement along Nato's eastern border' and extend and expand air policing over Poland. Warsaw will set restrictions for drones and small air traffic along its eastern borders with Belarus and Ukraine, and Latvia has announced its eastern airspace would be closed for a week. France's Macron announced the country would send three Rafale fighter jets. 'This Russian provocation...is nothing more than an attempt to test our capabilities," Poland's President Nawrocki said, echoing comments by his German and French counterparts. Today, Nato's top military commander Grynkewich acknowledged it was not yet known whether the act had been intentional and said even the precise number of drones which had crossed into Polish airspace was still to be determined. Joint military exercises between Belarus and Russia, dubbed Zapad 2025, are due to start tomorrow. This year's exercise involve up to 30,000 troops in total, according to Lithuanian military intelligence chief Mazonas. (Source: BBC - United Kingdom)

September 10, 2025  After Poland shoots down 'huge number' of drones that violated its airspace, Secretary-General Rutte calls Russia's behavior 'reckless.' This is the first time NATO planes have engaged potential threats in allied airspace, NATO spokesman Col. O’Donnell said. NATO chief spokesperson Hart said the alliance’s 32 national envoys will discuss the matter at a planned meeting, according to the AP. (Source: Fox News - U.S.)

South America

Brazil
12.09.2025  Former Brazilian President Bolsonaro was sentenced yesterday to 27 years and three months in prison after a Supreme Court panel convicted him of attempting a coup to remain in power after his 2022 election defeat. Four of the five justices on the court's panel voted to convict Bolsonaro on five charges in the historic case. According to the prosecution, the coup plot included a plan to assassinate President Lula, his Vice President Alckmin and Supreme Court Justice Moraes using explosives, weapons or poison. Bolsonaro has been convicted of ’plotting a coup d'état, participating in an armed criminal organization, attempting to abolish Brazil's democratic order by force, committing violent acts against state institutions, and damaging protected public property during an assault on government buildings’ by his supporters on Jan. 8, 2023.The 70-year-old former president, who is currently under house arrest, has denied any wrongdoing. His lawyers have announced that they will appeal the verdict to the full Supreme Court of 11 justices. The verdict drew immediate reactions from the United States. US President Trump expressed shock at the outcome. "I thought he was a good president of Brazil, and it's very surprising that this could happen.' US Secretary of State Rubio called the verdict unfair and said the United States would respond accordingly to this witch hunt. (Source: Anadolu Agency - Turkey)

South America
September 8, 2025  From now through October 2026, Latin America will have presidential elections in seven countries: Bolivia, Chile, Honduras, Costa Rica, Peru, Colombia and Brazil. Polls indicate that left-wing candidates belonging to the Sao Paulo Forum (FSP) - established by former Cuban leader Castro and Brazil’s President Lula in 1990 are likely to face defeat. Guided by Cuba and funded by the late Venezuelan leader Chavez, the FSP evolved into a powerful platform for political parties which wield control over 11 governments across the region. Right-wing parties face risks including threats of political violence, electoral fraud and judicial interference. Since Trump’s return to the White House in 2025, regional dynamics have begun to change. His measures addressing unauthorized immigration, organized crime, trade tariffs and efforts to curb China’s influence, are reconfiguring regional politics. Socialism is losing ground while right-wing movements are gaining momentum. This shift stems from President Trump’s strategy of imposing high tariffs and sanctions to penalize his detractors, while offering low tariffs and exemptions to those he considers allies. In March, Ecuadorian President Noboa met with Mr. Trump to forge a strategic alliance. He ultimately won the second round. A key factor to the expected defeats of FSP candidates are the shortcomings of the economic policies implemented by these governments. There is a rising sense of dissatisfaction among the Latin American people, many of whom have deep Christian values, toward the progressive ideology pushed by socialists. There are also allegations regarding ties between leaders of the Sao Paulo Forum and organized crime. Venezuelan President Maduro, is accused of being the leader of the infamous Cartel of the Suns. In August, the Trump administration classified the cartel as a specially designated global terrorist organization.     The general election was held in Bolivia on August 17. The leftist ruling party, Movement Toward Socialism (MAS), which had been in power for much of the past 20 years, had been defeated. The surprise frontrunner was center-right senator Pereira, who began his campaign with only 3 percent support in the opinion polls. Castillo of the MAS party received just 3.2 percent.    Chile goes to the polls on November 16, with a likely runoff on December 14. There are four right wing candidates: Kast, Matthei, Parisi and Kaiser. The left is fielding a single candidate, Jara, who is affiliated with the Communist Party. According to the polling, Mr. Kast is currently leading in first-round voting intentions with 29 percent, while Ms. Jara follows behind with 25 percent.     The election on the calendar is scheduled for November 30 in Honduras, where candidates compete in a single-round system. The three leading candidates are Asfura of the National Party (right) with 37.2 percent approval, Nasralla of the Liberal Party (center-right) with 33.7 percent and Moncada of the Libre Party (Sao Paulo Forum) with 28.8 percent. Mr. Asfura has promised to strengthen ties with the U.S., reestablish relations with Taiwan and utilize the skills of returning migrants to revitalize the economy. As Ms. Moncada faces the prospect of defeat, former deposed President Zelaya, leader of the Libre Party has threatened that, if necessary, he may incite violence by rallying irregular groups throughout the country. There is also a high risk of fraud. Republican Congresswoman Salazar has urged U.S. Secretary of State Rubio to ensure that the presidential elections in Honduras are free and fair.    The presidential election will be held in Costa Rica on February 1, 2026, with a possible runoff on April 5. Since the current President Chaves is not eligible for reelection, the ruling Social Democratic Progress Party is looking to replace him with one of his ministers. Ms. Fernandez is leading with 24 percent of the vote. In a distant second place is right-wing candidate Alvarado with 7.2 percent, followed by centrist Ramos with 7.1 percent. The FSP-affiliated parties currently have limited support.    Peru’s presidential election is set for April 12, 2026, with a potential runoff on June 7. Lima’s mayor, Aliaga is leading with 14.2 percent, followed by comedian Alvarez at 10.9 percent and Fujimori, daughter of former president, with 7.9 percent. Left-wing candidates currently trail in the polls. Those intending to cast blank ballots and those who chose not to participate in the polls account for 50 percent of the electorate, a trend also observed in countries such as Bolivia and Costa Rica.    The election will be held in Colombia on May 31, 2026, with a probable second round on June 21. Political violence and the decline of its institutions characterizes this election. Many believe that Colombian President Petro, a former guerrilla member, has prioritized the interests of drug traffickers and armed groups over the needs of the people. Turbay, a young Colombian senator and the leading opposition candidate, tragically lost his life in August after being shot during a political rally in June. He was a member of the Democratic Centre party. Before his death, he was projected to win the election with 13.7 percent of the vote. He was followed by journalist Davila, also from the right, with 11.5 percent. Third was the leftist Bolivar (10.5 percent) and fourth was centrist Fajardo (8.7 percent). On July 28, former President Velez was convicted in the first instance for allegedly bribing witnesses. He also belongs to the Democratic Centre party.    In Brazil election will take place on October 4, 2026, with a likely runoff on October 25. If former President Bolsonaro had not been disqualified due to his trial over an alleged coup plot, the race would be between him and President da Silva, who, despite his age (79 years), has announced his intention to run for a fourth term.  Lula leads in first-round voting intentions and would tie with Sao Paulo Governor Freitas in a potential runoff; however, this scenario would change if Mr. Bolsonaro were to run. On July 9, President Trump threatened Brazil with a 50 percent tariff, accusing President da Silva of conducting a witch hunt against Mr. Bolsonaro. In response to “U.S. interventionism’ Lula has used this threat to invoke Brazilian nationalism. The Brazilian president has efforts to promote the creation of a new international currency to compete with the U.S. dollar through BRICS, and to grow political and trade relationship between Brazil and China. It seems unlikely that Lula will back down from his persecution of Mr. Bolsonaro. This stance is raising concerns that the country is moving toward an authoritarian system where the judiciary serves the executive branch. Consequently, social protests are erupting across the country      Most likely: Latin America shifts to the right, the right wing is poised to secure victories in all seven upcoming elections, including the second rounds. In four countries – Bolivia, Chile, Costa Rica and Peru – the left wing concedes defeat. In Honduras, Colombia and Brazil, socialists attempt to disrupt the electoral process through violence and lawfare, employing tactics such as physical intimidation and manipulative legal challenges. Despite these efforts, they fail to secure power for themselves. Latin American governments and the Trump administration collaborate on joint efforts against organized crime.      Less likely: Political polarization in Latin America. Right-wing parties secure victories in Bolivia, Chile, Costa Rica and Peru. Left-wing governments maintain power in Honduras, Colombia and Brazil. This division across the continent creates two opposing camps, which could give organized crime groups greater political support. Lula could emerge as a key figure in opposing President Trump’s policies in the region. /Source: Geopolitical Intelligence Services (GIS) – Liechtenstein/
by Esclusa

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Europe

Hungary
09.09.2025  Hungary stands by Qatar, Foreign Minister Szijjártó said today after unexpected airstrike in Doha, highlighting the Gulf state’s importance for regional stability and hostage negotiations. He spoke with his Qatari counterpart Muraikhi shortly after the Israeli strike on Doha targeting Hamas leadership. "We reaffirmed the friendship between Qatar and Hungary and our joint commitment to peace in the Middle East. For Hungary, the security of the entire region, including Qatar, is of great importance," Szijjártó said. "Qatar’s mediation for the release of Israeli hostages is highly valued, and we are grateful for its continued efforts in freeing Hungarian hostages." (Source: Anadolu Agency - Turkey)

France
September 9, 2025  French President Macron has tapped the 39-year-old Armed Forces Minister Lecornu as the country’s next prime minister. National Rally leader Le Pen was quick to slam the appointment and reiterated her calls for new parliamentary elections. “The president has fired the last shot of macronism, holed up in his bunker with his small group of loyalists,” she wrote in a post on X. France Unbowed leader Mélenchon called the appointment a “sad comedy of contempt for parliament” and called on Macron to resign. (Source: Politico - U.S.)

Tuesday 09 September 2025  The Bloquons Tout (Block Everything) movement's called-for day of blockades, strikes, demonstrations and other acts of protest tomorrow is now falling as President Macron - one of the movement's targets - is hunting for a fourth prime minister in 12 months. Although ostensibly unrelated to the planned protests, the discovery of severed pigs' heads - five of them written with Macron's name - near nine Paris-area mosques today caused additional unease, bearing possible hallmarks of previous suspected Russian-linked acts of attempted destabilization that have targeted France and other allies of Ukraine. Coffins left near the Eiffel Tower - some draped in the French flag and inscribed with the words “French soldiers of Ukraine" - in 2024 were linked by French authorities to Russian intelligence services. 80,000 police and gendarmes will be deployed to keep order, backed by helicopters, drones, and armored vehicles. Aviation authorities warned of possible disruptions and delays to flights. (Source: The Independent - United Kingdom)

08/09/2025  French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou lost a confidence motion in parliament, forcing a third change in government in just over a year and reviving uncertainty over how the country can tackle its mounting debt burden. Just 194 lawmakers voted in support of the prime minister and 364 voted against. Parties across the political spectrum in France’s lower house joined forces today to overwhelmingly issue the rebuke to Bayrou, who called the motion in a failed attempt to rally support for his unpopular budget reforms. France is ’drowning in a tide of debt,’ Bayrou told lawmakers today ahead of the vote. “You have the power to bring down the government but you don’t have the power to erase reality.” President Macron will now have to decide whether to name a new premier or dissolve the National Assembly and call a new election. The new government would still have to find a way to pass a new budget — an exercise that has now toppled the last two prime ministers. (Source: Luxembourg Times / Bloomberg - U.S.)

Germany
08.09.2025  Chancellor Merz says Europe's partnership with US can no longer be taken for granted, as it's increasingly becoming more issue- and interest-driven, emphasizing that this approach should be free from ’false nostalgia’. Addressing the annual Ambassadors Conference at the German Foreign Ministry, Merz said Europeans can no longer expect the US to bear the main burden for security in Europe. Instead, they must strengthen the European pillar of NATO in the coming years. The conservative leader emphasized that the US remains Europe's most important partner, and Europeans will continue to seek cooperation and close coordination with the Americans. However, ’Europeans” must strengthen their unity and play a more active role in global politics. This means that our position vis-a-vis the US will depend on our strength as ’Europeans”. This is new, and it also means that we must forge new partnerships around the world, and expand and strengthen existing partnerships, more and more proactively than we have done so far, he said. The chancellor emphasized that Germany must pursue a pragmatic and more active foreign policy based on German interests ’while also considering broader European interests’. He also emphasized that Germany should diversify its markets and supply sources, in order to avoid over-dependence on any single country. For our security and our competitiveness, it must be a priority to diversify our supply chains and trade routes, he added. (Source: Anadolu Agency – Turkey)

Russia
September 8, 2025  According to Novaya Gazeta, there have been 56 deaths of successful businesspeople and officials under strange circumstances since February 2022. For Russia’s elites, fear has become a highly effective means of control. They own their wealth only as long as the state allows them to do so. Some 140 officials and administrators of medium and high rank were arrested in June and July alone, mostly on corruption-related charges. Putin’s goal is to avoid internal threats, embezzlement of military funds. Mini-patrons are no longer able or willing to protect their vassals. Putin has now indicated that he trusts, at least for the moment, those who protect Russia. As of mid-August, 28,000 people were enrolled in Russian universities in 2025 under the preferential quota for special military operation participants and members of their families - a nearly 75 percent increase over the previous year. Over time, the replacement of Russia’s elite with a new generation of military heroes can degrade the quality of the regional and federal bureaucracy. In certain crucial areas, it could more directly threaten the functioning of the state. (Source: Foreign Affairs - U.S.)
by Kolesnikov

(September 7, 2025) 16:11  Ukraine's military said it attacked the Druzhba oil pipeline in Russia's Bryansk region, inflicting comprehensive fire damage during an overnight attack today. Ukraine's defence ministry said that a new meeting of Kyiv's allies was planned for next week and air defences and supplies for Kyiv's deep strikes on Russia would be discussed. (Source: Irish Independent - Ireland / Reuters - United Kingdom)

6 Sep 2025  Russia vows to work with China in the Arctic; Beijing pledges AI cooperation. At the Eastern Economic Forum in its eastern economic hub of Vladivostok, President Putin said Moscow and Beijing could work together in the Arctic region, and that “the opportunity of working in the trilateral format” had already been discussed, though he did not elaborate on who the third party might be. It will be mutually beneficial cooperation in the sphere of gas, in the sphere of oil, the Russian leader told a plenary session of the three-day forum which concluded today. Arctic cooperation was not mentioned when Putin met Chinese President Xi in Beijing earlier this week. During Chinese Premier Li’s visit to Moscow last year, he and Putin highlighted collaboration in the Arctic, especially in shipping, shipbuilding and scientific research. Li, vice-chairman of the National People’s Congress Standing Committee, told the forum that Russian and Chinese leaders had already reached a consensus on AI collaboration. Earlier this year, Sberbank, Russia’s leading majority state-owned bank, said it planned to collaborate with Chinese researchers on joint AI projects. The bank’s leader, Vedyakhin, told the Vladivostok forum that there had been collaboration between Russian companies and Chinese AI model developers. Russia will also propose establishing joint institutions and laboratories with Chinese AI, according to Vedyakhin. Putin also met Li on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum, where he promised a visa-free programme for Chinese passport holders, as a reciprocal response to similar exceptions for China travel granted to Russian nationals. Starting September 15, Russian nationals holding ordinary passports will be able to enter China visa-free for up to 30 days under a one-year trial programme. (Source: South China Morning Post)

Ukraine
Sept. 9, 2025  A Russian bomb exploded today in a crowd of older people as they picked up pension payments in village Yarova near the front line in eastern Ukraine, killing at least 23 people and injuring 18. It was the first time a Russian bomb had hit a pension distribution site. (Source: The New York Times - U.S.)
by Varenikova, reporting from Kyiv, Ukraine

08.09.25, 10:43 AM  Independent estimates of the number of Americans volunteering since 2022 have varied widely, from more than 1,000 to several thousand. The Ukrainian military does not release figures. Over time, the makeup of American volunteers has shifted, with higher proportions of people who have no military background, are older or are US veterans seeking to restart military careers closed off to them at home because of age or injuries. An American soldier, who uses the call sign Alabama for his home state, where he worked as a welder before enlisting in late 2023, was motivated, he said, by a chance to fight for a just cause, and also by the Ukrainian government's promise of four acres of free land to anyone, Ukrainian or foreign, who serves in the military and survives the war. (Source: Telegraph India / New York Times News Service - U.S.)

September 7, 2025, 9:33 AM  Russia launched 810 drones and 13 missiles overnight, Kyiv said. Overnight into Sunday morning 747 drones and four missiles were shot down. Nine missiles and 54 drones impacted across 33 locations. The attack saw impacts reported in Kyiv, Zaporizhzhia, Sumy, Chernihiv, Dnipro, Kremenchuk and Odesa regions. Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said on Telegram that the attack damaged the roof and upper floors of the cabinet building located in the Pecherskyi district in the center of the city. Russia's Defense Ministry, meanwhile, said its forces shot down 69 Ukrainian drones overnight. (Source: ABC News - U.S.)

Sunday 07 September 2025 13:01 BST  Mass mortuaries, forensics and rare cooperation with Russia: The agonising task of identifying Ukraine’s war dead. A forensic specialist about the ongoing work to put names to bodies in Ukraine after Moscow agreed to return thousands of the fallen. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has a caseload of 154,200 people missing from both sides of the front line as of August, whose fate or whereabouts remain unknown. It is expected that it will take decades for families to receive answers about their loved ones. (Source: The Independent - United Kingdom)

Africa

Ethiopia
(9 September 2025)  Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed today has inaugurated the $4.5 billion Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), the largest hydroelectric project in Africa. Towering 145 metres high and stretching nearly two kilometres across the Blue Nile near the Sudanese border, the megastructure is designed to hold 74 billion cubic metres of water. Launched in 2011 under the late Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, the project on the Blue Nile is designed to generate 5,150 megawatts of electricity - more than double Ethiopia's current capacity.- to ease chronic shortages and expand exports. Some 45 percent of Ethiopia's 130 million people lack electricity, according to World Bank data. Ethiopia asserts the dam is a symbol of national unity and a step toward regional cooperation, which will also bear great benefit for downstream countries. The GERD could transform Ethiopia's economy, boosting industrial production, enabling a shift toward electric vehicles, and supplying power-hungry neighbours through regional interconnectors that stretch as far as Tanzania. Egypt and Sudan have long raised concerns over the project’s impact on their water security. Neighbouring Egypt with a population of 110 million and little rainfall is dependent on the Nile for 97 percent of its water. President Sisi has repeatedly called the dam an ’existential threat’. Egypt has strengthened ties with Eritrea and Somalia - both of which have tense relations with Ethiopia - and coordinates closely with Sudan, which also worries about reduced flows. (Source: TRT World - Turkey)

West Africa
(Sunday), 07/09/2025  A gateway for Europe’s cocaine market. On Monday, the French Navy seized nearly six tonnes of cocaine from a fishing vessel in international waters off the West African coast. Drug trafficking now affects all West African countries. The Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime (GI-TOC) says Balkan crime groups are embedding across West Africa to move large quantities of cocaine to Europe, forging alliances with Brazilian cartels and local intermediaries. ’A third of Europe’s cocaine now transits through West Africa, and that share could rise to half by 2030,’ Bird Ruiz, director of GI-TOC’s Observatory of Illicit Economies in West Africa, told. ’Groups from Montenegro, Serbia and Albania are today among the most significant actors in the global cocaine trade, and their presence in the region is increasingly entrenched.’ Montenegrin clans such as Kavac and Skaljari – rivals with ties to Italy’s ’’Ndrangheta  mafia group – have forged close partnerships with Latin American cartels. Brazil’s Primeiro Comando da Capital, the country’s most powerful criminal organisation formed in Sao Paulo’s prisons, is one of their main partners. GI-TOC says this collaboration has allowed Balkan groups to control the supply chain from production in South America to retail markets in Europe. The report says West Africa offers traffickers expanding port facilities, weak oversight and a location that makes it ideal as a transit point. ’The cocaine market in Europe grows larger every day, while controls on direct routes from Latin America have intensified. That is why West Africa has become so important for traffickers,’ Bird Ruiz said. Traffickers are increasingly using coastal states such as Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, Sierra Leone and Cape Verde. The trade is driving corruption, local drug use and instability across the region. GI-TOC says a key feature of this phase is the role of brokers, often Balkan nationals sent to West Africa for months. Payments to brokers are sometimes made in drugs instead of cash, driving up local consumption. The report stresses that tackling the trade will require more than occasional high-profile seizures. It calls for stronger intelligence systems, better data collection and above all closer cooperation between African and European law enforcement agencies, port authorities and private companies. “It’s not just a question of organised crime,' Bird Ruiz told. 'It’s a public health issue, a governance issue, and potentially, a security issue for the entire region.' (Source: RFI - France)
See also: Main cocaine trafficking to and from the Sahel countries and territories with individual cocaine seizures in West and Central Africa January 2019-September 2023 /Map/ (Source: RFI - France / UNDOC - United Nations)

Asia

Nepal
Sep 9, 2025  The curious timing of Nepal protests. The Gen Z protests seem to be spontaneous. Nepal's young YouTubers were exposing the Oli govt on issues from potholes to migration. The anti-Oli protests turned massive and spread across the country in no time. At least 20 people were killed in the protests yesterday as groups of youngsters clashed with security forces. There is a sudden burst of media reports that has the potential to add confusion to the crisis. Nepal has long-standing instability. Since the end of monarchy in 2008, Nepal has seen 13 governments. There was systematic corruption and underdevelopment. The rallies in favour of King Gyanendra were linked to those. The multiple regime changes in Nepal have been linked to not just domestic crisis but to external forces too. There is possibility of diverse internal and external forces taking advantage. India's immediate neighbourhood has become a playground of diverse external forces which may still exploit it. Nepal is strategically important for India and is the second country in the immediate neighbourhood to be witnessing political unrest in the last one year. In July-August 2024, a student protest was converted into a movement to topple the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who was considered a pro-India leader. Like Bangladesh, Nepal too has been witnessing diverse external forces engaged in a tug of war for political sway. The massive protests in Nepal came ahead of PM KP Sharma Oli's planned trip to India on September 16 and after his return from China after attending the SCO Summit in Tianjin. Under Oli's leadership, Nepal signed the framework agreement to join China's Belt and Roads Initiative in December 2024. This even as the US is investing around $700 million in infrastructure projects through the Millennium Challenge Corporation's (MCC's) Nepal Compact. Oli, a veteran Communist leader who took over as the Prime Minister of Nepal in July 2024, is seen as pro-China. Experts suggest Oli isn't pragmatic in his politics because he tries to compare Indo-Nepal ties, which are centuries old and much deeper, to that with China's. Who's pulling the strings of the protesters in Nepal? There are yet some who link the Gen Z movement against Nepali nepo kids to pro-monarchy agitators, who are seen as pro-India. Some say Oli is pro-China and see a US role, like in Bangladesh's case. Others say Beijing is fuelling the protests because of Washington's MCC investment. China wouldn't be in a position to create such trouble across Nepal. It's influence is believed to be largely restricted to the Kathmandu Valley. Historically, Nepal shared a border with India and Tibet, not China. (Source: India Today)

Pakistan
8 Sep 2025  Intense monsoon rain, flooding continue to engulf Pakistan’s Punjab. Authorities issue new evacuation warnings to communities near the Chenab, Sutlej, and Ravi rivers. (Source: Al Jazeera - Qatar)
/Video/

South Korea
(9 September 2025)  In 2022, South Korea's top court ruled that the government had illegally established, managed and operated brothels for the US military, ordering it to pay around 120 plaintiffs compensation. 117 victims, South Korean women forced to work as prostitutes for US soldiers stationed in the country have filed a landmark lawsuit accusing Washington of abuse and seeking an apology from the US military. The lawsuit seeks 10 million won ($7,200) in compensation per victim. Tens of thousands of South Korean women worked for state-sanctioned brothels from the 1950s to 1980s, serving US troops 'stationed in the country to protect the South from North Korea". The economy surrounding military brothels in US base towns, including restaurants, barbershops and bars catering to American GIs, made up about 25 percent of South Korea's GDP during the 1960s and 70s. The suit names the South Korean government as the defendant, since under existing laws Seoul must compensate victims of illegal acts committed by US soldiers on duty and later seek reimbursement from Washington, lawyers said. "This lawsuit seeks to hold both the South Korean government and the US military authorities jointly liable for the unlawful acts,' lawyer Ha told AFP. The US still stations around 28,500 troops in South Korea. 'We affirm that we do not condone any behaviour that violates Republic of Korea laws, rules, or directives, and we remain committed to maintaining the highest standards of good order and discipline," the United States Forces Korea says. (Source: TRT World - Turkey)

Qatar
(9 September 2025)  Hamas said Israel had failed in what it called an attempt to assassinate the group's top leadership, the ceasefire negotiation team. It has said that five of its members and a Qatari security officer had been killed in Israeli attack on Doha, including the son of senior Hamas leader Hayya, and his office director, Lubad, along with several aides. The strike took place during a meeting of the group’s negotiating team to discuss a US proposal for a Gaza ceasefire. Hamas said its leaders Hayya and Jabarin were among those who escaped the strike unharmed. Israel's military claimed that it conducted a ’precise strike’ on senior Hamas leadership. (Source: TRT World – Turkey)

Red Sea
(7 September 2025)  Microsoft announced via a status website that the Mideast may experience increased latency due to undersea fibre cuts in the Red Sea. NetBlocks, which monitors internet access, said a series of subsea cable outages in the Red Sea has degraded internet connectivity in multiple countries, which it said included India and Pakistan. It blamed ’failures affecting the SMW4 and IMEWE cable systems near Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.’ In the United Arab Emirates, home to Dubai and Abu Dhabi, internet users on the country's state-owned Du and Etisalat networks complained of slower internet speeds. The Southeast Asia–Middle East–Western Europe 4 cable is run by Tata Communications, part of the Indian conglomerate. The India-Middle East-Western Europe cable is run by another consortium overseen by Alcatel-Lucent. Internet traffic not moving through the Middle East “is not impacted.” It wasn't immediately clear what caused the incident. There has been concern about the cables being targeted in a Red Sea campaign by Houthis, which the group describes 'as an effort to pressure Israel to end its genocidal war on Gaza'. In early 2024, Yemen’s internationally recognised government in exile alleged that the Houthis planned to attack undersea cables in the Red Sea. Several were cut, but the Houthis have denied attacking the lines in the past. Today morning, the Houthis' al Masirah satellite news channel acknowledged that the cuts had taken place. (Source: TRT World - Turkey)

North America

United States
(Monday), 08/09/2025  US President Trump signalled his administration was prepared to enter a second phase of tariffs against Russia following its largest aerial assault on Ukraine. 'Certain European leaders are coming over to our country on Monday or Tuesday individually,' Trump said, without elaborating which leaders would make the trip across the Atlantic. Yesterday, Treasury Secretary Bessent indicated the US would be open to partnering with European countries to impose more sanctions on countries that purchase Russian oil in order to 'collapse the Russian economy.' 'If the US and the EU can can come in, do more sanctions, secondary tariffs on the countries that buy Russian oil, the Russian economy will be in total collapse,' Bessent added. (Source: Euronews - based in Lyon, France)

(6 September 2025)  President Trump signed an executive order yesterday that directs the Department of Defense to be known as the Department of War. The move restores a name existed until 1947. The order says Secretary of Defense Hegseth will be known as secretary of war. US media expect a billion-dollar price tag for the overhaul of hundreds of agencies, emblems, email addresses and uniforms. 'We’re going to go on offence, not just on defense. Maximum lethality, not tepid legality. Violent effect, not politically correct,' speaking during the signing, Hegseth said. “We’re going to raise up warriors, not just defenders.” (Source: SANA - Syria)

Global

September 6, 2025  Is this a New World Order? (Source: ChinaFile - U.S.)
by Aamer, the Director of South Asia Initiatives at the Asia Society Policy Institute (ASPI) in New York;    Stallard, a Senior Editor for global affairs at the New Statesman, former correspondent for Sky News, based in Moscow and Beijing. She is the author of Dancing on Bones: History and Power in China, Russia, and North Korea (Oxford University Press, 2022);   Madan, a Senior Fellow in the Project on International Order and Strategy in the Foreign Policy program, and Director of The India Project at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C.;   Repnikova, an expert on Chinese political communication, and Associate Professor in Global Communication and William C. Pate Chair in Strategic Communication at Georgia State University. She is the author of the award-winning book, Media Politics in China: Improvising Power Under Authoritarianism (Cambridge, 2017), as well as the recent Chinese Soft Power (Cambridge Global China Element Series, 2022);    Sun, a fellow and head of the U.S.-Europe program at the Center for International Security and Strategy (CISS), at Tsinghua University.  His latest books are Profound Changes Unseen in a Century and the U.S.-Europe Alliance (2023) and The Gravity of Power in the White House: The National Security Council (1947-2019) (2020).

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Europe

Germany
Wednesday 03 September 2025  Ahead of the local election for the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia, police have said 'it does not suspect foul play after six AfD candidates have died in recent weeks. The deaths of the candidates have meant new ballots must be drawn up and reprinted, and some postal voters will have to re-cast their vote. More than 20,000 candidates will run for office in the election on 14 September across the state, which has a population of 18 million. German police told that the deaths were either the result of natural causes or were not being revealed for privacy reasons. (Source: The Independent - United Kingdom)

Ireland
3 Sep 2025  EU presents Mercosur deal for approval. The text needs to be approved by at least 15 of the EU’s 27 member nations – and the European Parliament – to be formally adopted. Irish Farmers Association had agreed to opposed the deal and that this 'commitment has to stand'. IFA said it ‘cannot countenance a deal that refuses to recognise the gap in standards between the EU and Brazil. The Irish Farmers Association calls for MEPs to oppose agreement. (Source: The Journal - Ireland)

Poland
04.09.2025  Coalition instability and the increasingly public spat between Polish Foreign Minister Sikorski - who met with US Secretary of State Rubio Tuesday in Miami, Florida - and Polish President Nawrocki have added further fuel to the fire and tested relations between the pro-EU and pro-Ukraine Tusk government and the more Washington-centric and Ukraine-skeptical PiS opposition. 'We know well how many PiS pilgrimages have gone to Washington to explain to our American partners what a monster I am. Perhaps this has had some effect', Polish Premier Donald Tusk said today during a press conference following a meeting of the 'Coalition of the Willing' in Paris. I won't talk to anyone on my knees, Tusk added. Poland does not plan to send troops to Ukraine, but we are responsible for logistics; we are the largest aid hub here, and everyone accepts this significant role, after the Paris meeting, Tusk also noted. About 10,000 US troops are stationed in Poland, although reports suggest the Trump administration may want to reduce that figure. Trump said yesterday he would not withdraw US troops from Poland, one of the most pro-Ukrainian EU members. The US is a crucial provider of defense equipment to Poland, and last month approved the sale of $1.85 billion in F-35 equipment to Warsaw. Tusk also said that everyone was impressed 'by the hostile demonstration,' referring to the summit in China. The presence of the Slovak Prime Minister and the Hungarian Foreign Minister at this anti-Western demonstration in Beijing 'looked a bit unsettling,' he added. (Source: Anadolu Agency - Turkey)

September 4, 2025  Nawrocki arrived in Washington with the message that Poland’s strength rests in part on unity with its CEE partners and allies. Ahead of his visit, he met with the leaders of Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Denmark in Warsaw. The group also held a video conference with Zelensky. 'With its rising investments in defense capabilities (the majority of which are American-made), Poland is on track to field NATO’s third-largest army'. 'Europe’s' security bloc already underpinned by the American and British nuclear deterrents is laying the groundwork for a security framework encompassing the UK, Poland, and the Nordic countries in close alignment with Washington. 'Trump made it clear that Poland will be America’s key transatlantic anchor in Europe'. The United States 'will never use energy to coerce your nations, and we cannot allow others to do so,' speaking in Warsaw in July 2017, Trump said. Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, there was a 141 percent increase in US LNG exports to Europe, driven by expansion of US liquefaction capacity. Today, the United States is the European Union’s number one supplier of LNG and oil, accounting for 55 percent and 17 percent of all EU import. Trump’s trade deal with the EU, signed this summer, stipulates that over the next three years, the EU will procure American LNG, oil, and nuclear fuels worth more than $250 billion per year. Poland is the hub for American LNG to flow into the CEE region and to other parts of Europe. 'Sooner or later (whether they like it or not), countries like Hungary and Slovakia will be cut off from Russian gas. Trump has the opportunity to secure the European energy market'. Poland and the Three Seas Initiative, designed to create the necessary north-south infrastructure axis in this critical sector, are seen by the White House as a means of achieving this goal. (Source: The National Interest - U.S.)
by Markiewicz, executive director of the Washington, DC office of the Polish Institute of International Affairs (PISM) and is advisor to the PISM director for US operations; Olchawa, author of several books on Ukraine, including Mission Ukraine and Imperial Games: Ukraine in the United States’ Geopolitical Strategy.

3 September 2025  Poland’s President Nawrocki has decided to visit the White House without any government representatives in his delegation. That was, he said, because of past attacks on US President Trump made by Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and foreign minister Sikorski. A recent letter by the foreign ministry to Nawrocki instructed  him on how to approach talks with Trump. The contents of the letter were leaked to the media after Sikorski had announced its existence on August 28. In the document, the ministry told the President to avoid making any commitments to further Polish arms purchases from the US, not to declare support for a US company to be the contractor for a planned second nuclear power plant in Poland, and to avoid discussing the government’s plans for a new digital tax and to impose controls on social media. It was bizarre for a government that had such poor relations with Washington to try to dictate what the president should and should not say. (Source: Brussels Signal - Belgium)

European Commission
On 3 September 2025, the European Commission adopted proposals for Council decisions on the signature and conclusion of two parallel legal instruments: the EU-Mercosur Partnership Agreement (EMPA) and the interim Trade Agreement (iTA). Text of the agreements (Source: European Commission).    03 Sep 2025 Why the Mercosur deal brings a geopolitical opportunity for the EU? Concerns from Europe's farmers have held up the signing of an EU-Mercosur trade deal / by Warborn (EPP, SE), a member of the European Parliament’s Committee on International Trade;    14 Aug 2025 Mercosur deal of deceit must not be signed! The planned EU-Mercosur deal risks setting back Europe’s farmers through unfair competition, and raises safety concerns for European consumers / by Bricmont (Greens/EFA, BE), a member of the European Parliament’s delegation for relations with Mercosur. (Source: The Parliament Magazine - based in Brussels, Belgium, owned by a British Company)

Russia
September 5, 2025 11:08am EDT  Putin warns Western troops deployed to Ukraine would become 'legitimate targets for defeat,' raising fresh threats against the idea of international peacekeepers once a ceasefire is reached. "This is one of the root causes (of the war): trying to involve Ukraine in NATO,' Putin said, speaking at an economic forum in Russia’s Far East. Putin countered that if Moscow and Kyiv are able to finalize a political settlement, foreign soldiers would only complicate matters. Kremlin spokesman Peskov said that any settlement would require guarantees "to both us and the Ukrainians." From China, Putin revealed that U.S. President Trump had asked him to engage directly with Zelenskyy about ending the war. "Donald asked me if it was possible to hold such a meeting. I said yes, it is possible. In the end, if Zelensky is ready, let him come to Moscow. Such a meeting will take place," Putin said. (Source: Fox News - U.S.)

Serbia
04.09.2025  Serbian president accuses neighbors of military pact - signed as a joint declaration on March 18 - against Belgrade. Vucic says Kosovo, Croatia and Albania alliance threatens Belgrade’s security. They did not create it against Austria, Hungary or Slovenia, but against Serbia, Vucic told reporters in Beijing. (Source: Anadolu Agency - Turkey)

03.09.2025.  Serbian President Vučić stated during the yesterday’s meeting in Beijing with Russian President Putin that cooperation with Moscow at the highest level is of great importance for Belgrade across all areas. Vučić particularly emphasized Serbia’s collaboration with Moscow in the fields of energy and Russian gas supply. He noted that Serbia, thanks to an oil pipeline to be jointly built with Hungary, would be able to further enhance its energy cooperation with Russia. Putin stated that Moscow respects Serbia’s independent orientation under Vučić’s leadership. Serbia remains the only EU candidate country in the Western Balkans that has not imposed sanctions on Russia. Both presidents were guests of Chinese leader Xi, who is marking the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II with a military parade. (Source: European Western Balkans - Serbia)

Ukraine
5 September 2025  More than two dozen countries have pledged to join a force to deploy in Ukraine after any eventual peace deal with Russia. Mainly European countries want to offer ’reassurance force’ to Ukraine if the war ends via a peace deal or a ceasefire. Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Japan have also been part of the ’coalition of the willing’ talks. The meeting yesterday was hosted by French President Macron and attended by Zelensky. The US was represented by Trump’s special envoy Witkoff, who also met with Zelensky separately. Others participated remotely. ’We have today 26 countries who have formally committed – some others have not yet taken a position – to deploy as a reassurance force troops in Ukraine, or be present on the ground, in the sea, or in the air,’ Macron told. The troops would not be deployed ’on the front line’ but aim to prevent any new major aggression, the French President said. Macron added that another major pillar was a regeneration of the Ukrainian army so that it can not just resist a new attack but dissuade Russia from a new aggression. There are divisions within the coalition, with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz urging more pressure but remaining cautious about the scope of involvement. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni reiterated that her country would not send troops to Ukraine but it could help monitor any potential peace deal. Russian President Putin is now showing no interest in a peace accord. Before the Paris talks, Moscow has made clear that no western forces should be deployed to Ukraine. Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Zakharova said Moscow would not agree to the deployment of foreign troops in Ukraine “in any format” and has insisted that it should be one of the countries acting as guarantors – an idea rejected by Kyiv and its allies. The extent of any US involvement in any eventual security backstop remains uncertain, even after European leaders spoke to US President Trump via video conference following yesterday’s summit in Paris of the so-called ’coalition of the willing’. ’We discussed different options and the most important is using strong measures, particularly economic ones, to force an end to the war,’ Zelensky said on social media. Trump recently indicated that US backing could probably come in the form of air support. Trump said the European Union should work with the US to halt imports of Russian oil and gas. Russia had received €1.1bn in fuel sales from the bloc in one year, although the true figure is likely far higher, experts believe. The EU has set a target of ending all gas and oil imports by the end of 2027. The US was said to be planning to end long-running military assistance for European countries close to Russia, as Trump’s administration pushes the continent to play a greater role in its own defence. The Financial Times also reported the news about Washington’s decision to halt funding for programmes to train and equip eastern European militaries along Russia’s border. A White House official pointed to a January executive order by Trump on the re-evaluation of US foreign aid. “This action has been co-ordinated with European countries in line with the executive order and the president’s longstanding emphasis on ensuring Europe takes more responsibility for its own defence,” the official said. NATO secretary general Rutte warned against being naive about Russia. As he said, Moscow would remain a long-term threat, particularly given its increasingly close relations with the likes of China and North Korea. (Source: Brussels Signal - Belgium)

03.09.2025  Zelenskyy today arrived in Denmark to hold bilateral negotiations, as well as to meet with leaders of the Nordic and Baltic states. Ukrainian authorities have reported overnight Russian airstrikes across the country earlier today. Ukraine’s Air Force is claiming on Telegram that its air defenses shot down 430 out of 502 drones, as well as 21 out of 24 various types of missiles. The Russian Defense Ministry said in a later statement that it launched a group strike overnight on enterprises of the military industrial complex and fuel infrastructure of Ukraine. (Source: Anadolu Agency - Turkey)

United Kingdom
05.09.2025  Moscow slams UK's seizure of Russian frozen assets to purchase military equipmen for Ukraine as criminal act. 'Such actions would be considered unlawful under any jurisdiction'. On Sept 3, UK Defense Secretary Healey revealed that Ukraine has already purchased military equipment and weaponry worth £1 billion using the British loan. In October 2024, the UK Government announced that it would provide Ukraine with a loan worth £2.26 billion funded by revenue from frozen Russian assets. To date, London has transferred two-thirds of the designated amount to Kyiv. (Source: Anadolu Agency - Turkey)

September 5, 2025  Labour Party veteran Cooper, one of the most experienced members of Keir Starmer’s Cabinet, has replaced Lammy as foreign secretary. She had been serving as home secretary. Lammy, seen by some lacking heft on the international stage, indecisive and underwhelming, or a deep thinker who counts former President Obama among friends, will now become justice secretary - and also step into the post of deputy prime minister vacated by Rayner. Mahmood, the outgoing justice secretary will now become home secretary. (Source: Politico - U.S.)

Asia

China
September 4, 2025 CRINK economic ties: Uneven patterns of collaboration. Existing data reveals signs of deepening collaboration among CRINK countries, including expanded bilateral agreements, closer energy ties, mutual support in sanctions evasion, and efforts to integrate financial and payment systems. However, similar to the Axis powers during World War II, economic ties among CRINK nations are far from fully developed. (Source: The Center for Strategic and International Studies – U.S.)

September 4, 2025 The leaders of China, North Korea and Russia stood shoulder to shoulder yesterday as high-tech military hardware and thousands of marching soldiers filled the streets of Beijing. Two days earlier, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Russian Putin and Chinese President Xi huddled together, smiling broadly and clasping hands at a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. China’s military parade commemorating the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, and the earlier economic gathering, is more of the self-interested, diplomatic jockeying that has marked regional power politics for decades. The gatherings in China this week could be read as a striking, maybe even defiant, message to the United States and its allies. Xi has tried to position China as a leader of countries that feel disadvantaged by the post-World War II order. This parade showcases the ascendancy of China propelled by Trump’s inept diplomacy and President Xi’s astute statecraft, said Kingston, a professor of Asian studies at Temple University Japan. A summit and parade in China may signal a geopolitical shift. It is wrong to believe that China, Russia and North Korea are reinforcing bloc-building. At the very least, they offered yet more evidence of a burgeoning shift away from a U.S.-dominated, Western-led world order, as President Trump withdraws America from many of its historic roles and roils economic relationships with tariffs. Xi is rallying support for an alternative. China has a tense standoff with Taiwan, the self-governing island that Beijing claims as its own. Xi needs cheap Russian energy and a stable border with North Korea, his nuclear-armed wildcard neighbor. For China, obviously, Russia’s war in Ukraine provides a distraction to the U.S. Putin is hoping to escape Western sanctions and isolation over his war in Ukraine. The gatherings have allowed Putin to take to the world stage as a statesman, meeting a host of world leaders. Putin’s reception by Xi is a reminder that Russia still has major trading partners. At the same time, Russia does not want to anger Trump. “Over these four days, during negotiations of all kinds, both in formal and informal settings, no one has ever expressed any negative judgments on the current American administration,” Putin told reporters. Kim wants money, legitimacy. He has sent thousands of troops and huge supplies of military equipment to help Russian forces to repel a Ukrainian incursion on their territory. Kim told Putin yesterday that if there is more that needs to be done, he will consider it as a brotherly obligation. The North Korean leader’s trip to Beijing will deepen new ties with Russia while also focusing on the shaky relationship with China. Kim’s trip, his first appearance at a multilateral diplomatic event since taking power in 2011, being embraced by UNSC permanent members Russia and China is meant to strengthen ties with friendly countries ahead of any potential resumption of talks about the North’s nuclear program with Trump collapsed in 2019. Modi is trying to manage his relationship with regional heavyweights Putin and Xi, at a moment when ties with Washington are troubled. The Indian leader did not participate in Beijing’s military parade because the distrust with China still exists. Even as he takes some steps toward China, the United States is also on Modi’s mind. India would still like to keep a window open for Washington, because they are natural allies. (Source: The Asahí Shímbun - Japan / The Associated Press - U.S.)

Wednesday 03 September 2025  ' Hypersonic missiles designed to take out ships at sea, a liquid-fuelled intercontinental strategic nuclear missile with the ’entire world under its strike range’ and space defence systems that could take out foreign satellites, were among some of the most impressive military hardware that China revealed for the world to witness its potential. The Chinese military displayed the new YJ-15 missile along with its pre-existing YJ-17, YJ-19 and YJ-20 hypersonic missiles. The YJ missiles, short for ’Ying Ji’ or ’eagle attack’ with ability to evade traditional defence systems, can be launched from ships or aircraft and are designed to inflict critical damage on large vessels. China displayed two types of extra-large uncrewed underwater vehicles (XLUUVs). The sea drone AJX002 is estimated to be around 60ft long. Their torpedo-shaped hulls and pump-jet propulsion systems revealed that the underwater vehicles were built to be stealthy. The AJX002 features four lifting lugs along its hull, indicating that it is crane-assisted. China operates the world's largest XLUUV programme with at least five distinct types already in the water. China showcased three types of nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missiles – Dong Feng-61 , Dong Feng-31BJ, and the Dong Feng 5C – for the first time during the victory day parade. The Chinese Army also revealed its first air-launched nuclear missile, the JL-1, which was displayed on a military truck. The JL-1 and JL-3, together with the DF-61 and DF-31, mark the ’first concentrated display’ of the Chinese army's land, sea and air triad strategic nuclear forces, according to state media CCTV. According to Global Times, the Dong Feng 5C has an estimated range of more than 20,000km and features improvements in defence penetration and precision. The DF-5C intercontinental strategic nuclear missile has the entire globe under its strike range, the state media added. Experts say the new variant of the Dong Feng 5C is capable of carrying up to 12 war heads on a single missile. The HQ-29 space defence system capable of taking down foreign satellites was displayed for the first time at the parade in a prominent display of aerial power. ' (Source: The Independent - United Kingdom)

September 3, 2025, Wednesday  Beijing hosted a grand military parade marking the 80th anniversary of Japan’s surrender in World War II. Please give my warmest regards to Putin and Kim, as you conspire against the United States of America, Trump wrote in a message directed at Xi. The parade in Beijing was notable for bringing together Xi, Putin, and Kim in a rare public display of solidarity. Addressing more than 50,000 people at Tiananmen Square, Xi presented China as a force for peace, declaring that humanity faces a choice 'between peace or war, dialogue or confrontation, win-win or zero-sum.' The parade was designed to showcase Chinese military strength. More than 10,000 troops took part alongside 100 aircraft and vehicles, with displays of cutting-edge weapons, including hypersonic missiles, nuclear-capable DF-61 intercontinental ballistic missiles, drones, and laser systems. Putin and Kim left the parade grounds afterward for bilateral talks. Russia and North Korea, both facing isolation, have leaned on China for legitimacy and support. Pyongyang has supplied Moscow with artillery shells, missiles, and even personnel, while Beijing, though officially neutral, has continued to purchase Russian oil and provide dual-use technologies that bolster Moscow’s war effort. The event came days after the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit, which also brought Xi, Putin, Kim, and other leaders together, reinforcing Xi’s vision of China at the centre of a new world order. (Source: Novinite - Bulgaria)

(3 September 2025)  BBC correspondents react to China's military parade. (Source: BBC - United Kingdom)
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India
5 September 2025  The 2025 Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Tianjin could evolve into a disaster of historical proportions, as Europe and the US alienated their partner India and strengthened adversaries and competitors Russia and China – all in one go. After Europe’s backing of Trump’s 50 per cent tariffs on India pushed Delhi away, Narendra Modi signalled his country’s shift toward the BRICS posing alongside Xi and Putin. Xi’s call for a “dragon-elephant” partnership met Modi’s mutual trust. Europe’s support of the Trump secondary tariffs, led by der Leyen and enthusiastically praised by Kallas, endangers its $189 billion (€162 billion) trade with India in goods and services. As for India’s weight, its 7.8 per cent growth in Q1 2025 makes it a major amplifier of the BRICS’ importance as India’s 1.4 billion-strong market slips toward the BRICS, a group with almost half of the world’s population and three nuclear powers. BRICS pushes a multipolar vision of the international future. Der Leyen and her gang can find other, much more useful things to agree on with the temperamental POTUS. Diplomacy, not tariffs, can keep India engaged with the West. (Source: Brussels Signal - Belgium)

Iran
(3 September 2025) 1:53 PM  Iranian officials have stressed they are seeking to use every diplomatic capacity in the East to ease pressure from sanctions and revive leverage in nuclear talks. Standing alongside Xi, Putin and Kim placed Pezeshkian visibly within a bloc of leaders under Western sanctions. While Western leaders gather in diplomacy, an autocratic alliance is seeking a fast track to a new world order, EU foreign policy chief Kallas, 4, told reporters in Brussels. “Looking at President Xi standing alongside the leaders of Russia, Iran and North Korea in Beijing today, these aren’t just anti-Western optics: This is a direct challenge to the international system built on rules.' The comments came as Chinese President Xi stood flanked by Russian President Putin and North Korean leader Kim in Tiananmen Square for a showpiece military parade. At the commemoration of Japan’s surrender in World War II Iranian President Pezeshkian was also present, joining more than 25 world leaders. (Source: Iran International)

Pakistan
5 Sep 2025  Pakistan blames India for catastrophic floods that have killed hundreds. Experts say India would need to flood itself to flood Pakistan. Heavy monsoon rains swell rivers on both sides of the border. Northern Indian states, including Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Indian Punjab, have seen widespread flooding. Since late June, when the monsoon season began, on the Indian side, the casualty count has crossed 100, with more than 30 dead in Indian Punjab. In eastern Pakistan half a million flood-hit people were evacuated. At least 884 people have died nationally, more than 220 of them in Pakistan’s Punjab. For Pakistan, the Indus river basin is a lifeline. It supplies water to most of the country’s roughly 250 million people and underpins its agriculture. In Punjab, which borders India, federal minister Iqbal has accused New Delhi of deliberately releasing excess water from dams without timely warnings. ’India has started using water as a weapon’, Iqbal said last month, citing releases into the Ravi, Sutlej and Chenab rivers, all of which originate in Indian territory and flow into Pakistan. Those accusations come amid heightened tensions between India and Pakistan, and the breakdown of a six-decade-old pact that helped them share waters for rivers that are lifelines to both nations. In April, after the Pahalgam attack, in which gunmen killed 26 civilians in Indian-administered Kashmir, India walked out of the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT), the transboundary agreement that governs the Indus Basin’s six rivers. The two countries were required to exchange detailed water-flow data regularly. Under the IWT, India controls the three eastern rivers – Ravi, Sutlej and Beas – while Pakistan controls the three western rivers, Jhelum, Chenab and Indus. India is obligated to allow waters of the western rivers to flow into Pakistan with limited exceptions, and to provide timely, detailed hydrological data. India has built major dams on the eastern rivers it controls, and the flow of the Ravi and Sutlej into Pakistan has considerably reduced since then. It has also built dams on some of the western rivers – it is allowed to, under the treaty, as long as that does not affect the volume of water flowing into Pakistan. In early May, the neighbours waged a four-day conflict, targeting each other’s military bases with missiles and drones. With India no longer adhering to the pact, fears have mounted in recent months that New Delhi could flood its western neighbour through sudden, large releases - an oversimplification of the causes of the crisis. Any excess water that will be released from these rivers will significantly impact India’s own states first. Melting glaciers, an unusually intense summer monsoon, depleted forests are behind Pakistan’s dangerously raised levels in the western rivers. Surging flows put infrastructure on the eastern rivers in India at serious risk. When the capacity of the dams is exceeded, water must be released or it will put the entire structure at risk of destruction. Among the major dams upstream in Indian territory are Salal and Baglihar on the Chenab; Pong on the Beas; Bhakra on the Sutlej; and Ranjit Sagar (also known as Thein) on the Ravi. These dams are based in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir, Indian Punjab and Himachal Pradesh, with vast areas of Indian territory between them and the border. By the end of August, reservoirs across the region were full, spillways had to be opened for downstream releases. There is no other option available - controlled releases have become a necessary, if dangerous, part of flood management on both sides of the border, said experts. According to September 3 data on India’s Central Water Commission website, at least a dozen sites face a severe flood situation, and another 19 are above normal flood levels. The same day, Pakistan’s Ministry of Water Resources issued a notification, quoting a message from the Indian High Commission, warning of “high flood” on the Sutlej and Tawi rivers, after three earlier warnings last week, but none contained detailed hydrological data. On September 4, on the Pakistani side, two sites on the Sutlej and Ravi faced extremely high flood levels, while two other sites on the Ravi and Chenab saw very high levels. The blame game, analysts warn, can serve short-term political purposes, especially after May’s conflict. Blaming India won’t stop the floods. But it appears to be an easy way out to relinquish responsibility. (Source: Al Jazeera - Qatar)

North America

United States
Sept. 5, 2025  U.S. could take lead watching Ukraine buffer zone if peace deal with Russia comes together. The idea for a buffer zone to protect Ukraine, part of a tentative plan to guarantee its security, would have to be agreed upon in any peace deal. (Source: NBC News - U.S.)

September 4, 2025  How much aid is the U.S. still giving Ukraine? We’re no longer involved with funding Ukraine, but we are involved with trying to stop the war and the killing in Ukraine. ’So we’re selling missiles and military equipment, millions and millions and ultimately billions of dollars to the NATO people,’ Trump said. ’So, they’re funding the entire war. We’re not funding anything. I think it’s an important point to make.’ On the military side, the United States is still set to spend billions of dollars on weapons for Ukraine, while on the civilian side, aid continues to flow, albeit with significant reductions. The bulk of U.S. aid to Kyiv has come through five mammoth congressional appropriations bills totaling $175 billion in support, of which $128 billion goes to programs that directly support Ukraine’s military and civil society, according to the Council on Foreign Relations think tank. The rest goes to secondary goals related to Russia’s assault on Ukraine, such as supporting nearby countries and boosting the U.S. military presence in Europe. Of that $128 billion figure, $70.6 billion has gone to efforts that help Ukraine’s military, chiefly in the form of sending it weapons and munitions, according to report. Presidential drawdown authority (PDA) buys new U.S. weapons to replace stockpiled arms sent to Ukraine. Through two separate programs, known as the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI) and Foreign Military Financing (FMF), Washington buys brand new weapons for Kyiv. The remaining money of the $128 billion has funded humanitarian programs and direct government support, which helps Ukraine pay the salaries of first responders, teachers, and other key workers. On the military side, Trump is correct in that, in his second term, Congress has announced no new funds for Ukraine. The Biden administration previously announced spending plans for all of the $70.6 billion allocated for military aid, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) think tank. Only a portion of the previously allocated $70.6 billion in military aid has actually been delivered. Delivering weapons takes months, and building them from scratch can take years. More than $50 billion in Ukraine-related PDA, USAI, and FMF funding has been appropriated but not actually spent yet, according to the State Department. In combination with the funds expected from Europe under Trump’s plan, that means that Ukraine will continue to see levels of military aid on par with past years, according to analysis by CSIS. That means that Russia will be less likely to make breakthroughs on the battlefield. It’s not enough for offensive operations. So Ukraine will struggle to regain any ground - essentially freezing the conflict’s lines as they stand. The situation remains challenging along the 600-mile front line. On the nonmilitary side, the United States has completed the transfer of nearly all of the $33 billion allocated to the Economic Support Fund, the primary means by which Washington has paid into Kyiv’s budget, according to the State Department. The United States has not announced any further budgetary aid to Ukraine. It means that Ukraine will face as much as a $19 billion dollar budget deficit next year, according to the Financial Times. European Union member states are in discussion about how to make up the budget shortfall. However, the United States continues to spend money on humanitarian aid - 91 percent of funding for Ukraine having survived the massive cuts to global aid programs, according to a June analysis by the New York Times. Rand, a former State Department official led foreign assistance efforts for Ukraine. Surviving programs include efforts to provide water and medical services for children, according to a document sent by the State Department to Congress in March. (Source: Foreing Policy - U.S.)

September 4, 2025  Following a call between Trump, Zelenskyy and European leaders who met in Paris for a Coalition of the Willing summit, a White House official said: 'President Trump emphasized that Europe must stop purchasing Russian oil that is funding the war – as Russia received €1.1 billion [nearly $1.3 billion] in fuel sales from the EU in one year". White House Special Envoy Witkoff also attended the meeting in Paris. The President also emphasized that European leaders must place economic pressure on China for funding Russia’s war efforts. Macron said following the meeting that some 26 nations had agreed to deploy troops by land, sea or air to Ukraine the day after a ceasefire deal is secured – a move that Putin has repeatedly condemned. (Surce: Fox News - U.S.)

3 September 2025  The 50-day deadline expires September 3. Putin has overplayed his hand. 'The United States and its allies have both the right and the ability to force' a satisfactory end of this war and it is time to do it. (Source: Brussels Signal - Belgium)
by 'Black
/Photo/

NATO

September 5, 2025  Ukraine probably won’t join NATO. Could NATO join Ukraine instead? The Kremlin has continued to reject any deployment of NATO personnel to Ukraine, including to monitor a ceasefire and to serve as peacekeepers. 'Why are we interested in what Russia thinks about troops in Ukraine? It’s a sovereign country. It’s not for them to decide,' Rutte said. 'Russia has nothing to do with this.' Trump made it clear that American troops would not join in the mission. The United Kingdom, France, and Estonia have been among the countries that have volunteered for the deployment of military personnel in Ukraine. Other nations, including Poland, have indicated that they would not participate. Russia’s problems may run far deeper than its battlefield losses. Its economy remains constricted by international sanctions - and is now 'smaller than that of the US state of Texas'. We have to stop making Putin powerful - 'he’s the governor of Texas, nothing more, said Rutte'. 'Let’s not take him too seriously.' (Source: The National Interest - U.S.)

03.09.2025  Speaking at a joint news conference with Estonian President Karis in Brussels, NATO chief reiterates his call for more investment in defense. Rutte said Russia remains 'the most significant and direct threat' to the Euro-Atlantic security. 'Karis reaffirmed Estonia's commitment to continue supporting Ukraine on its path toward NATO membership'. (Source: Anadolu Agency - Turkey)

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Europe

Czechia
(1 September 2025) During an election rally in Dobrá, some 376km east of the capital, Prague, the ANO (Yes) party leader - Czech opposition leader and former prime minister Andrej Babis - had been hit in the head with a metal crutch several times. He was taken to hospital by car where, after performing a CT scan, doctors discharged him. His party blamed the government for a campaign of hatred in billboards and social media. Czechs are due to vote in general elections on 3 and 4 October. (Source: BBC - United Kingdom)

France
2 September 2025  Le Pen calls for new elections as her party eyes absolute majority. (Source: Brussels Signal - Belgium)

September 2, 2025  France's latest political crisis ahead of Sept. 8 confidence vote. Prime Minister Bayrou with unpopular budget plans and massive debt crisis tries to save his position holding talks this week with leaders across the political spectrum, including 'far-right' leader Le Pen. Bayrou succeeded the conservative Barnier, who was ousted after only three months in office. (Source: ABC News / Associated Press = U.S.)

’ ’ 13:48 ET, Sep 1 2025  France orders hospitals to ready for ‘WW3’ and treat hundreds of wounded soldiers per day in less than a year. The plan assumes France will become a hub for battlefield casualties. (Source: The Sun - United Kingdom) ’ ’

Germany
01.09.2025  The Germany-led military training exercise Northern Coasts began today in the Baltic Sea region with participation from NATO allies, including the US and Canada. The military exercise involves 8,000 soldiers from 14 nations, 40 ships, 30 aircraft, and more than 1,800 vehicles and will practice transporting troops and equipment to Lithuania by sea, land, and air. 'Russian President Putin is watching us. His plans extend beyond Ukraine. As armed forces, we must prepare for this,' Germany's top military commander Gen. Breuer announced at a Berlin press conference. (Source: Anadolu Agency -Turkey)

European Commission
(1 September 2025)  EU foreign policy chief Kallas has said that the bloc's credibility is at risk due to its lack of unity on the Middle East, particularly the war in Gaza. Speaking at the Bled Strategic Forum in Slovenia today, ’Kallas acknowledged that member states remain divided over their approach to the conflict, unlike on Ukraine, where a consensus * has been reached’. (Source: TRT World - Turkey)
* ?

Russia
09/02/2025, 15.37  The China-Russia summit, which also involved other Asian countries like Mongolia, is starting to yield its first results. Gazprom's CEO announced a “legally binding agreement" with the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC). The pipeline, which Russia has been pushing for years, could supply up to 50 billion cubic metres of gas per year to China over 30 years. For Russia, it would be vital to offset lost markets in Europe. Chinese media have been silent on the details. (Source: AsiaNews, press agency of the Catholic Church's Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions /PIME/ - Italy)

September 2, 2025 at 9:31 AM  Putin has attacked NATO 'horror movie makers' for making up scare stories about Russia's apparent aggressive intentions. 'They keep fanning hysteria about Russia allegedly planning to attack Europe. I think that for anyone in his right mind this looks like a clear provocation or evidence of utter incompetence," Putin said during a meeting with Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico today, according to TASS. (Source: Miami Herald / Newsweek = U.S.)

Ukraine
(2 September 2025)  Suspect in murder of Ukraine's ex-parliament speaker Parubiy denies Russian links. Stselnikov, 52, said it was an act of personal revenge against the Ukrainian authorities. (Source: TRT World - Turkey)

7:34 pm, September 1, 2025  Parubiy was assassinated in broad daylight. Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zakharova suggested the murder could be attributed to the group of Ukrainian divers suspected of attacking the Nord Stream pipeline, one of whom made his way from Italy to the port of Odesa. Rogov, head of the Russian Civic Chamber’s “commission on sovereignty,” claimed it ’is the result of internal power struggles and a cleanup of those who knew too much about the crimes in Odesa and Donbas.’ Miroshnik, a Russian Foreign Ministry special envoy, said that ’the new Banderites are clearing the ‘political field’ of the old Banderites in anticipation of hypothetical elections.’ Sheremt, a Russian State Duma deputy from annexed Crimea, claimed that Parubiy ’was often called an executioner’. Russian-installed authorities in occupied regions have claimed that Kyiv is behind Parubiy’s killing. Saldo, the head of the occupied Kherson region, said the murder ’shows how the Ukrainian political system is rotting from within.’ Russian state media has alleged that Parubiy ’directed snipers’ who shot participants in the clashes in Kyiv in February 2014, and that he personally oversaw and organized the fire at the Trade Unions House in Odesa in May of the same year. In 2023, the Russian Investigative Committee charged Parubiy in absentia with being responsible, as former secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, for mass shelling in the Donbas region beginning in 2014. According to investigators, the suspect is a 52-year-old resident of Lviv with no documented employment. (Source: Meduza - based in Riga, Latvia)

(Monday), 01/09/2025 - 16:31  Zelensky is set to meet European leaders in Paris on Thursday a source told AFP today. US President Trump is is not so far expected to be there, the source told. Russia has pushed back against any Western peacekeeping troops, with the Kremlin saying last week it viewed such discussions negatively. (Source: France 24 "with AFP" = France)

Asia

Afghanistan
02 September 2025  The magnitude six quake has already left more than 800 dead and at least 2,000 injured, but the total impact could be in the 'hundreds of thousands', according to the UN’s top aid official in the country, Ratwatte. (Source: The United Nations  Office at Geneva)

India
02.09.25, 04:51 PM  Azerbaijani President Aliyev met with Pakistani Prime Minister Sharif in Tianjin, China and congratulated Islamabad for what he described as Pakistan’s victory over India in the recent military conflict. India blocks Azerbaijan’s SCO bid over Pakistan tilt, China backs Baku’s entry. The reports claimed that India’s move violated principles of 'multilateral diplomacy' and was aimed at curbing Azerbaijan’s growing role in the region. (Source: The Telegraph - India)

1 September 2025 20:38  Saudi Aramco and Iraq’s state-owned SOMO have stopped selling oil to India’s Nayara Energy, in Vadinar, Gujarat, with a capacity of 400,000 barrels per day, a refinery that is majority-owned by a consortium led by Russian state-controlled oil giant Rosneft. The company normally purchased about 2 million barrels of Iraqi oil and 1 million barrels of Saudi oil per month, but last month it did not receive a single shipment from either Middle Eastern country. EU restrictions introduced in July have effectively cut Nayara off from supplies sourced from the Persian Gulf. Earlier, U.S. presidential senior advisor for trade and industry Navarro stated that India could achieve a 25% reduction in American tariffs if it stopped purchasing Russian oil. In July, India became the largest supplier of diesel to Ukraine, accounting for over 15% of the country’s total imports. (Source: Insider - Headquarters Riga, Latvia)

Israel
Sep 2, 2025 9:41 AM EDT  Israel pushes into initial stages of Gaza City offensive. At least 60,000 reservists will be gradually called up, Israel’s military said last month. It will also extend the service of an additional 20,000 reservists already serving. (Source: PBS - U.S.)

North America

United States
10:39 PM CEST, September 2, 2025  President Trump said today that the U.S. has carried out a strike in the southern Caribbean against a drug-carrying vessel that departed from Venezuela. Secretary of State Rubio said on X that the vessel was being operated by a designated narco-terrorist organization. He described the operation as a lethal strike. (Source: The Associated Press - U.S.)

September 2, 2025  How to understand Trump’s Russia strategy? Diplomacy with Russia is not capitulation, and talking to Putin is not a reward for good behavior. By engaging in strategic diplomacy, not only with Putin but also with other players on the gameboard, Trump has altered the dynamic in ways that will work to the US’ advantage over time, irrespective of what form the peace eventually takes, if it happens at all. All of this matters for reasons that extend beyond Ukraine. For too long, the US foreign policy establishment has rolled out the tired old Munich analogy any time a US president talks to an adversary. But diplomacy is not surrender, and talking is not a reward for good behavior. The point of diplomacy in strategy is not to transform an opponent from within but to shape his incentives in ways that make him more likely to do what you want for reasons of his own interest. That’s what Trump is attempting to do with Putin, and there’s a good chance he will succeed. (Source: The National Interest – U.S.)
by Mitchell, a principal at The Marathon Initiative and a former US Assistant Secretary of State for Europe. His new book, Great Power Diplomacy: The Skill of Statecraft from Attila the Hun to Kissinger, will be released in October 2025.

September 2, 2025  Defense Secretary Hegseth has approved sending up to 600 military lawyers to the Justice Department to serve as temporary immigration judges. (Source: The Associated Press - U.S.)

Pacific Ocean

September 2, 2025  US and Russia reveal nuclear submarine movements in Pacific. The United States and Russia have recently sent nuclear-powered submarines for Pacific missions. The U.S. Navy said the Los Angeles-class fast-attack submarine USS Springfield reaffirmed its vital role in maintaining security and stability in the region during a routine deployment. Distinguished Russian navy crew members assigned to the Yasen-M-class cruise missile submarine Krasnoyarsk were awarded medals and promoted to higher military ranks. (Source: Miami Herald / Newsweek = U.S.)

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Asia

China
Monday, September 01, 2025  Chinese President Xi today pressed his vision for a new global security and economic order that prioritises the Global South, in a direct challenge to the United States, during a summit that included the leaders of Russia and India. Xi was hosting more than 20 leaders of non-Western countries at a summit in the Chinese port city of Tianjin for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, a China-backed initiative given renewed impetus by the presence of Russian President Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Putin and PM Modi were shown holding hands as they walked jovially towards Xi before the summit opened. The three men stood shoulder-to-shoulder, laughing and surrounded by interpreters. If the U.S. president and his acolytes thought they could use tariffs to pressure China, India, or Russia into submission, that (encounter) says otherwise” wrote Olander, editor-in-chief of The China-Global South Project, a research agency. Beijing has used the summit as an opportunity to mend ties with New Delhi. Modi, visiting China for the first time in seven years, and Xi agreed on Sunday their countries are development partners, not rivals, and discussed ways to improve trade. We must continue to take a clear stand against hegemonism and power politics, and practise true multilateralism, Xi said. Global governance has reached a new crossroads, he added. Xi did not set out any concrete measures in what he called his “Global Governance Initiative” – the latest in a series of policy frameworks from Beijing geared to promoting China’s leadership and challenging the U.S.-dominated international organisations that took shape after World War Two. Earlier, Xi also pushed for what he described as more inclusive economic globalisation amid the upheaval caused by Trump’s tariff policies, touting the SCO’s “mega-scale market” and economic opportunity. Xi called for the creation of a new SCO development bank, in what would be a major step towards the bloc’s long-held aspiration of developing an alternative payment system that circumvents the U.S. dollar and the power of U.S. sanctions. Beijing will provide 2 billion yuan ($280 million) of free aid to member states this year and a further 10 billion yuan of loans to an SCO banking consortium. China will also build an artificial intelligence cooperation centre for SCO nations, which are also invited to participate in China’s lunar research station, Xi added. Separately, Xi will preside over a massive military parade on Wednesday in Beijing where he is expected to be joined by Putin and North Korean leader Kim. That parade will feature China’s latest military technology in a show of force. Putin, whose country has forged even closer economic and security ties with China amid the fallout from the Ukraine war, said the SCO had revived genuine multilateralism, with national currencies increasingly used in mutual settlements. This, in turn, lays the political and socio-economic groundwork for the formation of a new system of stability and security in Eurasia, Putin said. “This security system, unlike Euro-centric and Euro-Atlantic models, would genuinely consider the interests of a broad range of countries, be truly balanced, and would not allow one country to ensure its own security at the expense of others.” After the summit, PM Modi shared a ride with Putin in the Russian leader’s armoured Aurus limousine en route to their bilateral meeting. China and India are the biggest buyers of crude oil from Russia, the world’s second largest exporter. Trump has imposed additional tariffs on India over the purchases but not on China. (Source: DD News, an Indian Hindi-language public broadcast television news channel / Reuters – United Kingdom)

Iran
Monday, September 01, 2025  UN Security Council permanent members China and Russia backed Iran today in rejecting a move by European countries to reimpose UN sanctions on Tehran loosened a decade ago under a nuclear agreement. A letter signed by the Chinese, Russian and Iranian foreign ministers said a move by Britain, France and Germany to automatically restore the sanctions under a so-called snapback mechanism was legally and procedurally flawed. China and Russia were signatories to Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, along with the three European countries. Iran and the E3 held talks aimed at a new nuclear agreement after Israel and the U.S. bombed Iran’s nuclear installations in mid-June. But the E3 deemed that talks in Geneva last week did not yield sufficient signals of readiness for a new deal from Iran. The Europeans launched the snapback mechanism last week, accusing Iran of violating the deal, which had provided relief from international financial sanctions in return for curbs to Iran’s nuclear programme. President Trump pulled the United States out of the agreement in his first term in 2018. Iran has long since broken through the limits on uranium production set under the 2015 deal, arguing that it is justified in doing so as a consequence of Washington having pulled out of the agreement. The deal expires in October this year, and the snapback mechanism would allow sanctions that were lifted under it to take effect again. (Source: DD News – India / Reuters – United Kingdom)

NATO

September 1, 2025  In June, following pressure from President Trump, NATO countries formally committed to spending 5 percent of GDP on defense by 2035: 3.5 percent on 'core' defense spending and 1.5 percent on 'non-core' defense spending on bolstering critical infrastructure and civil preparedness. The United States 'needs to pivot to the Indo-Pacific'. That means its European allies must shoulder the main responsibility for Europe’s conventional defense - but America remains committed to NATO and will provide certain strategic enablers. Poland, the Baltics, the Nordics, and Germany - all plan to reach 3.5 percent of core defense spending well before 2035. Countries that are increasing their defense spending and may be able to reach 5 percent by 2035 – France, Greece, North Macedonia, Hungary, Czechia, Romania, Bulgaria, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Albania, and Montenegro - all agreed to reach the 5 percent target by 2035. Countries that say they will reach the 5 percent number by 2035 but whose paths to 5 percent are hazy - Italy, Belgium, Slovenia, Croatia, Portugal, Luxembourg, and Canada - all agreed to spend 5 percent by 2035; however, they were all well below the 2 percent threshold in 2024 and have historically been unreliable defense spenders. Slovakia - despite being at 2 percent in 2024 - hinted that it would not increase defense spending to 5 percent of GDP. Many of these countries also face serious financial and political constraints that will make the 3.5 percent target difficult to attain. Their path to reaching the goal is less clear. The country that altogether refuses the new defense spending goal is Spain. (Source: The National Interest - U.S.)
by Beaver, a Senior Policy Advisor for defense budgeting at The Heritage Foundation; Kurzweil, a member of Heritage’s Young Leadership Program.

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Europe

European Commission
' 31/08/2025  'Europe' has ‘pretty precise’ plan to send troops to Ukraine, von der Leyen said. She spoke while on a tour of eastern EU states close to Russia this weekend. Last week, defence chiefs from the so-called coalition of the willing met and had worked out 'pretty precise plans', der Leyen said, ’including discussions on the necessary items for a functioning build-up of troops’. ’Putin has not changed, he is a predator,’ she said. ’Brussels’ existing funding streams to Ukraine, including budgetary support, would need to remain during peacetime’, von der Leyen said, ’meaning that an extra payment has to be provided for the Ukrainian armed forces’. The EU 'will also maintain funding for the training of Ukrainian soldiers after any peace deal'. ’It is encouraging member states to use a €150 billion loans-for-arms fund to either enter into joint production agreements with Ukrainian defence companies or to purchase weapons that can be given to Kyiv’ she said. The character of warfare has completely changed, she added, citing ’the need for EU militaries’ to invest in drones, air and missile defence, space and cyber capabilities. Der Leyen’s remarks came amid planning for a meeting of European leaders this week at which they are set to firm up national commitments to the western force. Those who met Trump in Washington are expected to gather in Paris on Thursday at the invitation of France’s President Macron to continue the discussions. ' (Source: Luxembourg Times / The Financial Times - headquarters London, England)

Russia
August 2025  The scale of Russian sabotage operations against Europe’s critical infrastructure. (Source: The International Institute for Strategic Studies - U.S.)
/Map/ of certitudes: 'Realistically possible; Likely; Highly likely; Almost certain'.

United Kingdom
Sunday 31 August 2025 15:31 BST  ‘The Wizard of the Kremlin’, Venice film-review. Law is an intense, torso-baring Putin in this mediocre drama. ‘The Wizard of the Kremlin’ is awaiting UK release. (Source: The Independent - United Kingdom)

Asia

China
(Sunday), 31.08.25, 11:30 AM  Russian President Putin arrived to attend the Shanghai Cooperation (SCO) summit. Russia and China have taken a common stand against 'discriminatory sanctions" that hinder the socioeconomic development of BRICS member countries and the world at large, Putin remarked in an interview with China’s state-run Xinhua news agency. He said that Russia and China are paying special attention to mobilising additional resources for critical infrastructure projects, and stand united in strengthening BRICS' ability to address pressing global challenges. Putin's remarks came in the backdrop of US President Trump threatening the member countries of intergovernmental organisation BRICS with 10 per cent tariffs. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is due to meet Putin on the sidelines of the SCO summit being held here from Sunday to Monday. In the written interview with Xinhua, Putin said Russia and China support reforming the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. The two sides share the view that a new financial system must be built on the principles of "openness and true equity", which can provide equal and non-discriminatory access to its tools for all countries and reflect the real standing of member states in the global economy. "We seek progress for the benefit of all humanity”, he said. Besides attending the summit and holding talks with Chinese President Xi, Putin will also attend China’s V-Day parade to commemorate the 80th anniversary of its victory against Japan in WWII. He hoped that the SCO Tianjin Summit will inject powerful new momentum into the 10-member organisation and strengthen its capacity to respond to contemporary challenges and threats, and consolidate solidarity across the shared Eurasian space. All this will help shape a fairer multipolar world order, he said. The SCO's appeal lies in its simple but powerful principles: a firm commitment to its founding philosophy, openness to equal cooperation, not targeting third parties, and respect for the national characteristics and uniqueness of each nation, he said. "Drawing on these values, the SCO contributes to shaping a fairer, multipolar world order, grounded in international law, with the central coordinating role of the United Nations," he said. (Source: The Telegraph - India)

Gaza
August 31, 2025 | 10:28 AM  Death toll hits 76 since dawn Saturday due to Israeli airstrikes on Gaza. (Source: Gulf Times - Qatar)

5 8 31.10:10

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Europe

Hungary
30.08.2025  In the aftermath of the informal meeting of EU foreign ministers in Copenhagen, Denmark’s capital, EU’s foreign policy chief Kallas said the EU is exploring the use of frozen Russian assets for Ukraine's defense and reconstruction. She said: 'Russia is not preparing for peace. It is the opposite. They are preparing for more war.' In response to this, Hungarian Foreign Minister Szijjártó said on the US social media company X: 'At today’s EU foreign ministers’ meeting in Copenhagen it became clear that Brussels and most member states are preparing for a long war, not peace.' They want to send tens of billions of euros to Ukraine for soldiers’ salaries, drones, weapons, and the operation of the Ukrainian state, he added. Szijjártó criticized the EU Commission for prioritizing Kyiv over member states. 'They completely ignore Hungarians in Transcarpathia and our energy security, still refusing to answer the joint letter we sent with Slovakia on Ukraine endangering our supply route,' he added. He outlined Hungary’s position: supporting only a US-Russia peace agreement, rejecting Ukraine’s fast-tracked EU accession, refusing to fund the Ukrainian army, and opposing sanctions that could hit Hungarian energy supply and household costs. (Source: Anadolu Agency - Turkey) 

Germany
29.08.2025  German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, speaking today at a joint news conference with French President Macron in Toulon, said that 'Europeans should be prepared for a prolonged war' in Ukraine due to what he called Russia's reluctance to engage in negotiations. He said the US and its European allies should carefully discuss potential steps next week to increase pressure on Russia, compelling it to engage in diplomacy with Ukraine and accept a ceasefire. (Source: Anadolu Agency - Turkey)

August 28, 2025  Russia or its proxies are flying surveillance drones over routes that the United States and its allies use to ferry military supplies through eastern Germany, concentrated in the eastern German state of Thuringia, collecting intelligence that could be used to bolster the Kremlin's sabotage campaign and assist its troops in Ukraine, according to U.S. and other Western officials. In written testimony to the Senate in June, Gen. Grynkewich, now the head of U.S. European Command, said targeted sabotage incidents had declined this year due to heightened public scrutiny and robust law enforcement efforts by European authorities. (Source: Miami Herald - U.S.)

European Commission
30.08.2025  Foreign ministers of EU member states are gathering in Copenhagen, Denmark for an informal meeting to discuss international issues. The agenda includes military support to Ukraine, potential sanctions on Russia, using Russian frozen assets to contribute to Ukraine's reconstruction, as well as discussions on recent developments in the Middle East and Gaza. The EU’s foreign policy chief Kallas, 4, also addressed the humanitarian situation in Gaza. “The situation in Gaza is going to be discussed today. And what more can we do as EU, we have made some proposals. We haven't, unfortunately, moved on those'. (Source: Anadolu Agency - Turkey)

29.08.2025  Following an informal meeting of EU defense ministers, EU foreign policy chief Kallas said today that there is broad support among member states 'to expand the bloc’s military mission to provide training and advice inside Ukraine' after any truce. 'We have trained over 80,000 soldiers so far, and we must be ready to do more. This could include placing EU trainers in Ukraine and military academies and institutions,'  she noted, adding that 'the bloc’s civilian mission could also strengthen Ukraine’s resilience' against Russian hybrid attacks. She also noted that the bloc’s military 'and civilian operations' will continue to be evaluated. Kallas said discussions on EU defense readiness, record defense spending would continue ahead of the October European Council. Danish Defense Minister Poulsen also said Ukraine required urgent support. He added that Denmark will soon invite the first Ukrainian defense company to start production inside the country, in a safe environment. He also expects that more Ukrainian defense companies will follow later this year. (Source: Anadolu Agency - Turkey)

Aug. 28, 2025 / 11:29 AM  "Following last night's attack on Kyiv, our British Council office has been severely damaged and will be closed to visitors until further notice," the Council said on X. The European Union's delegation in Kyiv 'was also severely damaged' in the attack. Two Russian missiles hit within 54 yards of the EU offices within about 20 seconds. The delegation is still "fully operational' and "open,' a spokesperson told. Der Leyen, president of the European Commission, said she was outraged by the attack and confirmed that no member of the delegation had been harmed. She promised that the E.U. will add a new package of 'hard biting' sanctions soon. While the world seeks a path to peace, Russia responds with missiles, High Representative Kallas said on X and announced she was summoning the Russian envoy in Brussels, Malayan. No diplomatic mission should ever be a target, Kallas said. "The Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of 1961 created protection for diplomatic and consular premises against intrusion or damage, but during war, it's common for these buildings to suffer damage'. (Source: UPI - U.S.)

European Union
30.08.2025  Meeting of EU defense ministers: Sweden, Belgium, Lithuania back stronger support. Swedish Defense Minister Jonson said security guarantees for Ukraine must be robust and include US engagement. Jonson noted Sweden could contribute in the air domain or in the maritime domain if conditions are met. Belgian Defense Minister Francken pledged military and training assistance, highlighting the delivery of fighter jets. ’On Ukraine, with everything we have, also F-16 will be delivered as soon as possible,’ he said. He noted that training Ukrainian soldiers outside Ukraine was preferable until a cease-fire due to security risks. Lithuanian Defense Minister Sakaliene stressed that “Putin is not to be trusted’ and that the best security guarantee is twofold: strong Ukrainian army and pressure on Russia. She added that secondary sanctions were the most efficient mechanism to cut cash flow to Moscow’s war machine and confirmed Lithuania’s €30 million ($35 million) contribution under the ’April format’ weapons list initiative. (Source: Anadolu Agency - Turkey)

Russia
August 30, 2025 10:33 CET  Ukrainian drone forces struck two major Russian oil refineries - Krasnodar in southern Russia and Syzran in the Samara region - overnight on August 30, igniting fires and causing explosions in facilities key to supplying fuel for Russian military units. The Krasnodar refinery produces around 3 million tons of gasoline, diesel, and aviation fuel annually, while the Syzran plant can process up to 8.5 million tons each year. Russian forces launched one of the largest aerial offensives in weeks, firing 537 drones and 45 missiles at targets across Ukraine. The Ukrainian air force said it successfully intercepted 510 drones and 38 missiles, though five missiles and 24 drones struck seven locations. Falling debris was recorded at 21 sites. In Zaporizhzhya, residential areas, apartment blocks, and industrial sites were damaged, with multiple fires reported at the impact zone. No new date has been set for further talks between the two governments. Meanwhile, the United States approved an $8.5-billion deal to sell Patriot air-defense systems to Denmark, which plans to forward the systems to Ukraine to reinforce its air defenses. Other NATO countries are making similar arrangements. (Source: RfERl - U.S.)

Ukraine
30.08.2025  According to Ukrainian media, Parubiy was shot eight times in Lviv, and as a result of his injuries, he died instantly. Between February and August 2014, he served as the head of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council. Parubiy played a significant role in the Euromaidan protests and held influential positions in government and security agencies. He began his political career as a lawmaker and served as speaker of the Ukrainian parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, from 2016 until 2019. Parubiy was believed to be a member of former Ukrainian President Poroshenko's team, whom the country's media and experts dubbed "Zelenskyy's main rival and opponent." (Source: Anadolu Agency - Turkey)

August 29, 2025, Friday // 10:10  European leaders are exploring the creation of a 40 kilometer buffer zone on Ukrainian territory as part of potential ceasefire or postwar arrangements with Russia, Politico reported on August 28, citing five European diplomats. The proposed buffer zone would likely involve territorial concessions from Ukraine, though it remains unclear if Kyiv would accept such terms. Some European officials have expressed concerns that the zone could put Ukrainian cities at greater risk, warning that it may be ineffective against an adversary unwilling to negotiate in good faith. ’French and British troops are expected to constitute the bulk of any peacekeeping force, with additional allies potentially providing military equipment’. Estimates for the number of peacekeepers range from 4,000 to 60,000, pending decisions from Kyiv’s allies. Peacekeepers would be tasked with patrolling the demilitarized area ’and training Ukrainian forces’. European partners await guidance from the Department of Defense regarding America’s role. The United States is not directly involved, even as President Trump continues efforts to broker a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia. The U.S. has ruled out sending troops. Washington may provide technical support. NATO members on the alliance’s eastern flank, including Poland, have raised concerns that deploying large numbers of troops to Ukraine could reduce their defensive presence elsewhere. Russia has shown little willingness to cooperate toward peace. On August 24, Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov reiterated that Moscow would not accept Zelensky’s signature on documents defining terms to end the war, repeatedly challenging his legitimacy. Presidential aides Yermak and Umerov are scheduled to travel to New York to discuss security guarantees and future talks, according to Zelensky. Overnight on August 28, Russian missile and drone strikes on Kyiv killed at least 23 people, including four children, and wounded 63 others, highlighting the ongoing volatility. While Trump has advocated for a bilateral summit between Zelensky and Putin, followed by a potential trilateral meeting, European officials emphasized that Russia continues to target civilians, making direct negotiations increasingly difficult. ’The European Commission is considering a plan to channel nearly €200 billion in frozen Russian assets into a special fund’ to support Ukraine’s postwar recovery. ’The plan could serve as a step toward eventual confiscation of Russian assets, though immediate seizure is opposed by many EU members” due to legal and financial concerns. The scheme is set to be discussed during an informal meeting of EU foreign ministers in Copenhagen, with proponents including Economy Commissioner Dombrovskis and foreign policy chief Kallas. ’Baltic states and some other EU countries advocate full confiscation, but larger nations such as Germany, Italy, remain cautious”. Critics, including Euroclear CEO Urbain, have warned that any losses from riskier operations could fall on EU taxpayers. Countries farther from Russia, such as Spain, and Belgium are showing increasing support for the initiative. (Source: Novinite - Bulgaria)

August 29, 2025  Mapping the Russia-Ukraine war endgame. Ukraine faces a difficult choice: end the war and risk conceding territory or fight on and absorb more material, manpower, and territorial losses. (Source: The National Interest - U.S.)
by Allison, the Douglas Dillon Professor of Government at Harvard University, where he has taught for five decades. Allison is a leading analyst of national security with special interests in nuclear weapons, Russia, China, and decision-making. Allison was the Founding Dean of Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government and, until 2017, served as Director of its Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, which is ranked the “#1 University Affiliated Think Tank” in the world.

Thursday, Aug. 28, 2025.  Diplomatic efforts to reach peace have stalled. Since U.S. President Trump met with Putin in Alaska earlier this month to discuss ending the war in Ukraine, few details have emerged about the next step, while Russian troops move deeper into Ukraine. This week, Ukrainian military leaders conceded Russian forces have broken into an eighth region of Ukraine seeking to capture more ground. Russia launched a major air attack early today. Ukraine's Air Force said Russia launched 598 strike drones and decoys and 31 missiles of different types across the country, most of them striking targets in Kyiv, that included a rare strike on the city center, killing at least 18 people, wounding 48. The numbers were expected to rise. At least 33 locations across all 10 of the city's districts were directly hit or damaged by debris, Tkachenko, the head of Kyiv’s city administration. said. Nearly 100 buildings were damaged. Ukraine’s national railway operator, Ukrzaliznytsia, reported damage to its infrastructure in the Vinnytsia and Kyiv regions, causing delays and requiring trains to use alternative routes. Russia’s Defense Ministry said it carried out a strike against military air bases and companies „within Ukraine’s military-industrial complex” using long-range weapons, including Kinzhal missiles. All designated objects were hit, the ministry said in a statement. Ukraine has ramped up domestic arms production to fight Russia’s invasion. Many weapons factories operate covertly, with some embedded in civilian areas with superior air defenses. Indiscriminate Russian attacks claiming to target Ukraine’s defense industry have killed many civilians. European Commission President der Leyen said two strikes landed about 50 meters from the EU Mission to Ukraine building in Kyiv. She said no staff were injured in the strike. ’In response, we are summoning the Russian envoy in Brussels,’ Kallas, the European Union’s top diplomat, said today in a post on X. The British Council, said its Kyiv office had been severely damaged in the attack and was closed to visitors until further notice. A guard was injured, council chief executive McDonald posted on X. The Russian ambassador to London was summoned to the foreign office. The Russian Defense Ministry said it shot down 102 Ukrainian drones overnight, mostly in the country’s southwest. A drone attack sparked a blaze at the Afipsky oil refinery in the Krasnodar region, while a second fire was reported at the Novokuibyshevsk refinery in the Samara region in an attempt to weaken Russia’s war economy, causing gas stations in some Russian regions to run dry and prices to spike. (Source: Bowen Island Undercurrent - British Columbia, Canada / The Associated Press – U.S.)

Europe
Aug. 30, 2025  Anti-immigration parties have already entered government in countries such as Italy, Finland and the Netherlands. 'Populist' right wing parties lead polls in Europe’s three biggest countries of the U.K., France, and Germany. The first time they have been ahead in Europe’s biggest economies. 'That could provoke a period of political turbulence in all three countries', even if national elections are likely still a few years away. (Source: The Wall Street Journal – U.S.)

Asia

Gaza
30/08/2025 - 10:52  The Israeli military yesterday declared Gaza City a dangerous combat zone before a new offensive in the Palestinian enclave's largest city. (Source: France 24)

Indonesia
29 Aug 2025  Nationwide protests began on Monday, when black-clad demonstrators threw rocks and set off fireworks at riot police as they attempted to break into Indonesia’s parliament building. Public unrest continued the following days, but on Thursday, a video on social media showing the death of a motorcycle taxi driver shocked the nation and spurred more violence against security forces. They follow reports that 580 parliamentarians receive a monthly housing allowance of 50 million rupiah ($3,000) in addition to their salaries. The allowance, introduced last year, is almost 10 times the Jakarta minimum wage and about 20 times the monthly minimum wage in poor areas of the country. Police and members of parliament are often accused of corruption in the country of more than 280 million people. Protesters claim taxes and inflation are making life impossible for many. Organisers have been demanding that the minimum wage be raised in accordance with inflation rates. Indonesia’s general-turned-president Prahowo is expected to depart for Tianjin, China, over the weekend, to participate in meetings on the margins of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit. He is also expected to join Chinese President Xi and other leaders at a military parade on September 3 to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II in Asia. (Source: Al Jazeera - Qatar)

Iran
30 Aug 2025  Iran has arrested eight people suspected of attempting to transmit the coordinates of sensitive sites and details about senior military figures during the country’s 12-day war - that began on June 13 with Israel and the United States - to the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad, according to its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), alleging that the suspects had received specialised training from Mossad via online platforms. It said they were apprehended in northeastern Iran before carrying out their plans, and that materials for making launchers, bombs, explosives and booby traps had been seized. State media reported earlier this month that Iranian police had arrested as many as 21,000 suspects during the June conflict. Iran has executed at least eight people in recent months, including nuclear scientist Vadi, hanged on August 9 for passing information to Israel about another scientist who was killed in Israeli air strikes. The Israel-US-Iran conflict has also led to an accelerated rate of deportations for Afghan refugees and migrants believed to be illegally in Iran. Local authorities have also accused some Afghan nationals of spying for Israel. “Law enforcement rounded up 2,774 illegal migrants and discovered 30 special security cases by examining their phones. [A total of] 261 suspects of espionage and 172 people accused of unauthorised filming were also arrested,” police spokesperson Montazerolmahdi said earlier this month. He added that Iran’s police handled more than 5,700 cases of cybercrimes such as online fraud and unauthorised withdrawals during the war, which he said had turned “cyberspace into an important battlefront” (Source: Al Jazeera - Qatar)

Yemen
29/08/2025 11:10 GMT+2  Iran-backed Houthi PM Rahawi was killed in Israeli airstrikes on Yemen's capital. Rahawi died in his Sanaa apartment during the Israeli strikes, several of his associates - top military officials, including the group's defence minister Atifi - were killed in the same strike. ’Whoever raises a hand against Israel  -  his hand will be cut off," Israeli Defence Minister Katz, who approved the strikes along with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said. The Houthis, who control most of the country's northwestern region including the Red Sea coast and the capital Sanaa, have regularly launched missiles and drones toward Israel and targeted ships in the Red Sea throughout the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. The Trump administration announced a deal with the Houthis to end the strikes in return for an end to attacks on shipping in May. However, the group said the agreement did not include halting attacks on targets it believed were aligned with Israel. (Source: Euronews - based in Lyon, France)

Australia

30 Aug 2025  Australia has announced an agreement with the tiny Pacific nation Nauru enabling it to send hundreds of immigrants to the barren island. The deal affects more than 220 immigrants in Australia, including some convicted of serious crimes. The Sydney Morning Herald said that Australia would pay Nauru Aus$408 million (US$267 million) and about Aus$70 million a year thereafter under the deal. "Anyone who doesn't have a valid visa should leave the country," Burke said in a statement. Australia's government has been searching for a way to deal with immigrants who have no other country to go to when their visas are cancelled. Nauru, population 12,500, is one of the world's smallest countries with a mainland measuring just 20 square kilometres. (Source: The Peninsula - Qatar)

North America

Mexico
(August 30, 2025)  The Trump administration weighs possible military action against Mexican drug-trafficking organizations. Guadalajara, a World Cup site next year, lies in a cartel stronghold where young people are mysteriously disappearing. Guadalajara is nicknamed Mexico’s Silicon Valley, boasting offices for more than 1,000 tech companies, including Intel, Oracle and IBM. It’s also the capital of Jalisco state, which has suffered the most disappearances in Mexico: more than 15,700. They’re a sign of the insidious presence of the Jalisco New Generation cartel and the breakdown of order in even the most industrialized parts of the country. The U.S. government has labeled six Mexican cartels, including Jalisco New Generation, as terrorist groups. The Pentagon is considering attacking them with drones or missiles, as it did the islamic state. Cartel activity is hardly new in Jalisco. In the 1980s, the Guadalajara crime network smuggled huge amounts of cocaine and marijuana over the U.S. border. It was the era of swaggering, hard-partying druglords - Gallardo, ’El Chapo’ Guzmán, Quintero - chronicled in the Netflix series ’Narcos: Mexico.’ It was largely an export business, with little presence in local communities. What changed, in a radical way, is that territorial control became key. Today, Jalisco New Generation cells occupy Mexican towns and neighborhoods, and extract millions of dollars through extortion and the sale of drugs and contraband goods. As Trump considers attacking drug gangs, it offers a cautionary tale. Mexican cartels aren’t dependent on a handful of high-profile extremists. They’re among the country’s top employers and often have relationships with local politicians and police. Disappearances are a sign of their hidden control. Killing or capturing a few leaders is unlikely to destroy their structures. Now in Mexico more than 132,000 people are missing. In the first investigation of its kind, a U.N. committee is studying whether Mexicans are being disappeared ’in a generalized or systematic way’. The U.N. Committee on Enforced Disappearances concluded a years-long investigation into Mexico’s crisis. It asked for Mexico’s response. There had already been signs that cartels were abducting people for labor. A study published in Science magazine in 2023 estimated they take in 350 new employees per week. Some join willingly, others are forced. But the U.N. committee under international law noted: ’enforced disappearance’ means the government is involved - whether it’s by security forces, or criminals who enjoy ’the authorization, support or acquiescence of the State.’ President Sheinbaum denied the charge. “In Mexico, the government doesn’t carry out forced disappearances,” she told reporters. “There’s a phenomenon of disappearance linked to organized crime, and we’re doing everything in our hands to fight it.” The Jalisco state government has also taken steps to address the crisis. It recently established a ministry to coordinate intelligence and strategy to find the disappeared. It’s tried to help families find mass graves by using high-tech drones. It has launched campaigns to warn young people about cartel recruitment. In July a grave site was found by a construction company in Zapopan, in Jalisco state. Barrientos, the state commissioner in charge of searching for the missing, acknowledged that corrupt officials have sometimes been involved in disappearances. Three former local police officers have been accused of aiding in disappearances. In the past seven years, more than 300 government employees in Jalisco have been investigated in connection with disappearances, according to the state justice department. People are disappeared in Jalisco for many reasons. Some are involved in drug trafficking. Others did something to aggravate a cartel boss. People can be snatched because they witnessed a crime, or by mistake. The Mexican government hasn’t created a functional justice system, so criminals operate relatively freely. Only about 1 percent of crimes reported in Jalisco last year ended up with a culprit sentenced, researchers reported recently. Such lawlessness wouldn’t be resolved by a military strike by the Trump administration. A unilateral attack would also enrage a country with deep memories of past American invasions. “ (Source: The Washington Post - U.S.)

United States
30 Aug (2025)  US President Trump expressed confidence that a trilateral summit involving Russia, the United States, and Ukraine will take place in the future, though he is uncertain whether Russian President Putin will meet with Zelensky, Trump said in an interview with The Daily Caller. On August 27, Russian presidential press secretary Peskov stated that the Russian side remains committed to resolving the Ukrainian conflict preferably through political and diplomatic means. Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov emphasized, Russia is ready to engage in negotiations on Ukraine in any format, provided that the process is honest and not reduced to drawing the United States into Europe’s military campaign. (Source: TASS - Russia)

(Saturday), August 30, 2025 12:11pm Updated August 30, 2025 4:15pm  The president disappeared for days. He hasn’t even been seen in public since Wednesday. There has been absolutely no confirmation on where he has been, or even any news on his health. A pizza shop tracker, which tracks the number of deliveries to various important places, has noticed a spike of activity near the Pentagon, which typically means there is something big happening. But it might be due to a US missile cruiser heading towards the Caribbean. Vice President Vance, in trying to quash the rumours, only made it worse, insisting he is ready to take the top job in case of a ‘terrible tragedy’. He told USA Today: ‘Yes, terrible tragedies happen. But I feel very confident the president of the United States is in good shape, is going to serve out the remainder of his term and do great things for the American people. ‘And if, God forbid, there’s a terrible tragedy, I can’t think of better on-the-job training than what I’ve gotten over the last 200 days.’ Images emerged of him this morning with his granddaughter Kai on the south lawn of the White House, and they are due to fly to the Trump National golf course in Virginia. Trump was meant to be at his resort in Bedminster, New Jersey, for the final two weeks of August before Labor Day on September 1. But he scrapped plans to travel, and decided to stay on in the White House, The Washington Times reports. (Source: Metro - United Kingdom)

Saturday, 30 August 2025  US appeals court rules most Trump tariffs illegal; In its decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, D.C., said: "The statute bestows significant authority on the President to undertake a number of actions in response to a declared national emergency, but none of these actions explicitly include the power to impose tariffs, duties, or the like, or the power to tax.' The court allowed the tariffs to remain in place through October 14 to give the Trump administration time to file an appeal with the US Supreme Court. President calls ruling incorrect. Trump’s Department of Justice argued that the law allows tariffs under emergency provisions enabling a president to "regulate" imports or block them completely. (Source: The Telegraph - India / Reuters - United Kingdom)

30.08.25  The White House has informed Congress it intends to cancel $4.9 billion that lawmakers approved for foreign aid programmes, invoking a little-known and legally untested power to slash spending without their approval. As a “pocket rescission”, it is an effort to unilaterally claw back money that has already been appropriated by waiting so late in the fiscal year, which ends on September 30, to make the request that lawmakers do not have time to reject it before the funding expires. The request largely targets accounts funding the US’ contributions to the UN and soft power programmes run by the state department and the US Agency for International Development, which has already largely been dismantled. The single biggest clawback would be a $445 million cut to US funding of peacekeeping operations abroad, including through the United Nations. The request also proposes a $132-million rescission of the $140 million approved by Congress for the Democracy Fund at the state department. (Source: Telegraph India / "New York Times News Service" - U.S.)

30 Aug (2025)  President Trump is in talks with European countries about the potential deployment of US private military companies (PMC) personnel to Ukraine to provide security guarantees, The Daily Telegraph reported. The PMC employees would reportedly assist in building fortifications and new military bases, as well as safeguarding US business interests in Ukraine. European analysts view the deployment of private contractors as a potential deterrent to Russia. The report added that using PMCs instead of active-duty US troops could also ease concerns among Trump supporters who oppose Washington’s direct involvement in foreign military operations. (Source: TASS - Russia)

Saturday 30 August (2025)  US blocks Palestinian President Abbas and 80 other officials from United Nations' annual meeting in New York. US secretary of state Rubio has revoked the US visas of delegates from the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), and denied others from applying for one. "It is in our national security interests to hold the PLO and PA accountable for not complying with their commitments, and for undermining the prospects for peace,' a statement from the US State Department said. It added that, to be considered partners for peace, both groups "must consistently repudiate terrorism, and end incitement to terrorism in education, as required by US law and as promised by the PLO". The State of Palestine is an observer member of the UN, meaning it can speak at meetings but not vote on resolutions. Under a 1947 UN agreement, the US is generally required to allow access for foreign diplomats to the UN in New York. But Washington has said it can deny visas for security, extremism and foreign policy reasons. (Source: Sky News - United Kingdom)

August 28, 2025  The United States is capable of producing 600 Patriot missile interceptors a year, and has deployed around 30 to counter Iranian attacks on US bases in Qatar. Other critical capabilities, such as long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles, may also be facing shortages in supply caused by low production rates and high usage in strikes on Yemen’s Houthi rebels - 80 Tomahawk munitions were used in the first two days of Operation Prosperity Guardian in 2024, compared to the total 55 munitions procured by the Navy in 2023. Considering the American strikes in Iran and the continued supply of arms to Israel and Ukraine over the past two years, protecting American stockpiles and ensuring the availability of critical material capabilities ought to be a central element of any arms deal Washington pursues within or outside of NATO. Under a new deal, the Trump administration has resumed providing military supplies to Ukraine via an arrangement where NATO members purchase armaments directly from the United States, most notably Patriot air defense systems, and distribute them to Ukraine. This deal is prioritizing European peace of mind over American material capabilities and long-term planning. Rather than patting themselves on the back for a job well done, policymakers in Washington should view the new NATO deal as a short-term solution for European interests. Regardless of events occurring in Ukraine, the Trump administration should reflect and act on delineating European interests from American priorities, and make clear to European leaders that 'the defense of Europe' is primarily a European problem, not an American one. (Source: The National Interest - U.S.)
By Collins, a Contributing Fellow at Defense Priorities.

South America

Argentina
(August 28, 2025)  Argentine diplomat Grossi, the current head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has formally announced his intention to run for the post of United Nations secretary general. Trained in Political Science at the Universidad Católica Argentina (UCA), Grossi earned a master’s degree and a doctorate in International Relations and History at the Graduate Institute in Geneva. He joined the Argentine diplomatic corps in 1985. The secretary general seat will become vacant in January 2027. (Source: Buenos Aires Times - Argentina)

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Europe

Denmark
Wednesday, August 27, 2025  Denmark’s foreign minister Rasmussen has summoned charge d’affaires Stroh, the chief U.S. diplomat in Copenhagen over reports that several American citizens were conducting an influence operation in Greenland. One of the men traveled to Greenland’s capital, Nuuk, and collected a list of individuals who support President Trump. The people mentioned in the list would form the base of a secessionist party in Greenland. This is the second time Denmark has summoned Mr. Stroh this year over concerns of U.S. influence operations inside of Greenland. (Source: The Washington Times - U.S.)

Germany
August 27, 2025  Forget rearmament: Germany needs to focus on unmanned weapons. There is no way that Germany will be able to achieve its existing mobilization and rearmament goals as currently stated - but cheap and effective naval drones could provide an alternative.  (Source: The National Interest - U.S.)

27/08/2025  The German government has approved a bill proposing a new law aimed at promoting voluntary recruitment. From 2026, all young men and women will receive a questionnaire from the Bundeswehr that asks about their state of health, educational qualifications, and interest in serving. Completion of the questionnaire will be mandatory for men and voluntary for women, in line with the German constitution. The new model would initially be voluntary, with the Bundeswehr aiming to attract around 100,000 recruits by 2030. The bill would also allow the Bundestag to reintroduce compulsory military service with a simple amendment if not enough recruits enlist voluntarily. All males born from 2008 onwards who were previously registered via the questionnaire would then be eligible for service. (Source: Euronews - based in Lyon, France)

Moldova
(Wednesday), August 27, 2025  Commissioner for Youth and Culture Micallef heads to Moldova this weekend and will meet with President Sandu on Tuesday. There he will sign a pact 'allowing Moldova to participate in Creative Europe, an initiative that provides billions in funding' and support for the EU’s cultural sector, from theater and television to music and video games. The program is set to be expanded in the bloc’s next seven-year budget. The commissioner’s visit comes days after the leaders of France, Germany and Poland converged on Moldova on Wednesday in a flashy show of support for the country’s bid for EU membership and ahead of a critical parliamentary election on Sept. 28. (Source: Politico - U.S.)

Russia
27 August 2025  The Kremlin says it is against European countries sending peacekeeping troops to Ukraine and has pushed back against the idea of a speedy meeting between President Putin and Zelensky. “Any high-level or top-level contact must be well-prepared in order to be effective,” Peskov told reporters. Russia’s desire to prevent NATO countries from having a military presence in Ukraine was one of the initial reasons behind the conflict, which Moscow launched in February 2022 with its all-out offensive. (Source: Brussels Signal - Belgium / AFP - France)

26/08/2025 - 17:58  Ukraine acknowledged for the first time today that Russia’s army has entered the Dnipropetrovsk region, a central administrative area previously spared from intense fighting. They have fully captured the villages of Zaporizke and Novogeorgiivka, battlefield monitor DeepState, which has close ties to Ukraine’s military, said. (Source: France 24 "with AFP" = France)

(27 August, 2025)  Russia had carried out almost 100 drone attacks overnight. More than 100,000 Ukrainian homes have been left without power by the latest attacks on energy infrastructure in the Poltava, Sumy and Chernihiv regions. Today, Russia's defence ministry said its troops have made recent gains, had seized a village in the Donetsk region. (Source: BBC - United Kingdom)

Ukraine
26.08..2025  Ukrainian Foreign Minister Sybiha participated in a telephone conversation dedicated to the path to peace and security guarantees for Ukraine, organized by US Secretary of State Rubio. The talks included Finnish Foreign Minister Valtonen, French Foreign Minister Barrot, German Foreign Minister Wadeful, Italian Foreign Minister Tajani, Polish Foreign Minister Sikorski, UK Foreign Secretary Lammy and EU foreign policy chief Kallas. Sybiha confirmed Ukraine’s readiness for a trilateral peace meeting at the leadership level with the US and Moscow in any format and geographical location. (Source: Anadolu Agency - Turkey)

United Kingdom
Aug 27, 2025  Every year, the U.S. Department of State releases a report on human rights practices in other countries (CRHRP). Certain governments sometimes take issue with how their policies are characterized in the CRHRP. Usually, the governments taking the most criticism in the CRHRP are repressive or feckless regimes, from China to Zimbabwe, that suppress free speech, stifle religious expression, or oppress women, minority groups, and political dissidents. South Africa’s President Ramaphosa seemed bewildered in May when President Trump took him to task for the murders of white farmers. China doesn’t just reject U.S. criticism, they’ve cheekily published their own report criticizing the U.S. for “the chronic disease of racism,’ and ’basic rights and freedoms being disregarded.’ This year, the Country Report on the UK flags Britain as a risky place to speak your mind. Britain isn no longer the country we Americans thought it was. The CRHRP claims that ’the human rights situation worsened in the United Kingdom during the year,’ citing “credible reports of serious restrictions on freedom of expression, including enforcement of or threat of criminal or civil laws in order to limit expression; and crimes, violence, or threats of violence motivated by anti-Semitism.’ The report notes restrictions on speech - even silent meditation - near abortion clinics, and the Online Safety Act’s curtailment of internet speech, policed by Ofcom. It calls out government censorship of speech deemed misinformation or ’hate speech’, including in relation to migrants and crimes committed by foreign nationals. In its section on Worker Rights, the CRHRP doesn’t discuss the people who have been sacked or disciplined for refusing to accept the forced speech codes of gender ideology, like prison officer Toshack or nurse Melle; or for social media posters who have criticized government action, like teacher Pearson. „In reaction, I expect the British Left to be as indignant and in denial as the establishment in Washington D.C. is” about crime. Now Trump has temporarily taken over local law enforcement in the city, the Leftist establishment and the national media are claiming that violent crime is lower than in recent years. Even the supposedly lower murder rate puts Washington among the most dangerous cities in the nation. Like the D.C. establishment, the British government and much of the media are happy to ignore Connolly, who is still in prison after she made an unwise online post (and then deleted it); Coskun, who was prosecuted after he burnt a book; and the thousands of ordinary Brits who have been accused of ’Non-Crime Hate Incidents,’ which is at the very least an astonishing waste of police time. Orwell, Huxley, and other writers of the early 20th century predicted a future where the populace was dumbed down, repressed, and fed information by an authoritarian state. In 1984 and Brave New World, independent, critical thinking was banned and speech violators were punished. That sounds like the logical destiny of Britain if it maintains its present course. There is already a semi-official dogma on gender ideology, immigration, and crime which it is costly to challenge. Censorship and group-think get worse if not disrupted. „I hope Britain will heed the warning of its Atlantic cousins and return to the people their right to speak their minds. For the land of Magna Carta to slowly sink into repression and state control would be a great injustice to Britain’s present inhabitants, and an insult to our ancestors’ work of centuries”. (Source: The Heritage Foundation - U.S.)
By Hankinson, a Senior Research Fellow in the Border Security and Immigration Center at The Heritage Foundation.
„This piece originally appeared in The Telegraph”.

26.08.2025  Reform UK leader Farage set out a five-year strategy - Operation Restoring Justice - and has plans for mass deportations if he becomes UK premier. He described the small boats crisis as an invasion and said young men were 'illegally breaking into our country.' The party estimates 600,000 people could be removed from the UK in five years. Home Office data shows there were 10,652 asylum-related returns in 2025 to June. The party pledged to leave the European Convention on Human Rights, which has been used to stop deportations, and replace the Human Rights Act with a British Bill of Rights applying only to Brits and those with a legal right to live in the country. (Source: Anadolu Agency - Turkey)

Eurasia

August 27, 2025 8:38 AM  Russian and Chinese submarines have conducted their first-ever joint patrol in the Asia-Pacific. The Russian Pacific Fleet said the patrol began in early August, involved diesel-electric submarines and followed the completion of Russian-Chinese naval exercises in the Sea of Japan. (Source: Miami Herald / Newsweek = U.S.)

Africa

Africa
(August 26, 2025) 5:00 a.m. EDT  Africa wants to redraw the world map. The Mercator projection, a centuries-old map style from the age of sail, still prevails in the internet age. The African Union earlier this month joined a campaign calling for the replacement of the Mercator projection with maps that show Africa’s accurate size. /Map/ (Source: The Washington Post – U.S.)

Asia

India
(August 26, 2025)  US issues draft notice to implement 50% tariffs on Indian goods from August 27. The hikes in the levy could hurt close to 55% of India’s merchandise exports to the US worth $87 billion. (Source: Scroll – India)

Iran
August 27, 2025  Russia, Iran, Israel, China: Assessing Sadr’s publicly alleged claim that Moscow shared Iranian air-defense secrets with Israel. (Source: Robert Lansing Institute - U.S.)

Israel
(Wednesday), 27th August 2025  A war far more complex than the standard narrative allows. The IDF’s strike on the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis in Gaza on Monday, reportedly killing 20 Palestinians, including five journalists, has put Israel back at the centre of international attention. Israel is condemned for fighting an enemy that hides behind the sick and wounded. Hamas uses hospitals and schools as military bases, which is why Israel has had no option but to strike them at times. Hamas gains a cruel advantage: if Israel refrains from striking, Hamas benefits militarily. But if Israel does strike, Hamas benefits politically, as images of civilian casualties dominate headlines worldwide. The Nasser Hospital has not been a neutral space during the war in Gaza. In fact, it has repeatedly been abused by Palestinian militant groups. Some of the journalists killed in the strike appear to have been members of, or have close ties to, Hamas. Salama, a journalist for Al Jazeera, videoed and participated in the 7 October invasion of Israel that started the war. Daqqa, who freelanced for the AP, allegedly used her press credentials to protect Hamas fighters. Another, Aziz, openly celebrated the 7 October massacre. This does illustrate the way Hamas deliberately blurs the line between civilian and combatant, between journalist and operative. In such circumstances, mistakes are inevitable. Video footage showing a second strike that killed emergency workers responding to the initial impact is deeply troubling. Netanyahu said Israel ‘deeply regrets the tragic mishap’ that led to the strike, and promised a thorough investigation. The IDF owes Israelis, Palestinians and the international community a clear and transparent explanation. (Source: Spiked - United Kingdom)

August 26, 20254:59 AM ET  Israeli forces killed 22 people, including five journalists, in two consecutive strikes on a Gaza hospital, drawing global condemnation and prompting a rare admission of regret from the government.  Audio/ (Source: NPR – U.S.)

North America

United States
08/27/2025  Anton, an influential adviser to the secretary of State, is leaving his role at the department. He directs the State Department’s Policy Planning Staff, has been a low-profile but powerful presence with major roles on Russia, Iran and other foreign policy matters, including helping shape President Trump’s still-unpublished national security strategy. "I’m grateful for his service and his ongoing leadership in drafting a groundbreaking National Security Strategy that will operationalize America First foreign policy for years to come,” Rubio said in a statement. (Source: Politico - U.S.)

Wed, August 27, 2025  Defense tech companies increasingly build technologies that take humans out of the equation. Anduril and General Atomics have both created unmanned fighter drones that can fly alongside human-driven aircraft. During the Air Force and Navy’s test this month, US fighter pilots took directions from an AI system for the first time in a test that could drastically change combat tactics. In action they typically communicate with ground support who monitor radar and tell pilots where to fly. Pilots instead consulted with Raft AI’s “air battle manager” technology to confirm their flight path was on track and to receive faster reports of nearby enemy aircraft. Such developments change how war is fought and won. It also changes the pace at which critical decisions are made. Raft AI CEO Mishra told that once took minutes only take seconds with the new technology. While that can help pilots intercept threats faster, it also risks removing strategic judgment from the loop. (Source: Semafor – website, /? U.S.; China ?/)

Aug 27th, 2025  "Soros, and his wonderful Radical Left son, should be charged with RICO because of their support of Violent Protests, and much more, all throughout the United States of America.' “We’re not going to allow these lunatics to rip apart America any more, never giving it so much as a chance to ‘BREATHE,’ and be FREE. Soros, and his group of psychopaths, have caused great damage to our Country! That includes his Crazy, West Coast friends.' “Be careful, we’re watching you! Thank you for your attention to this matter!” added the president for good measure. (Source: Mediaite - U.S.)

8.27.2025 10:30 AM  Inside Epstein's spy industry connections. Leaked emails show Epstein’s attempts to dabble in security tech - across borders - in the last years of his life. (Source: Reason /magazine/ - U.S.)

Aug 27, 2025 6:00 AM  Dark money group is secretly funding high-profile Democratic influencers. They were being offered $8,000 per month to take part in a secretive program aimed at bolstering Democratic messaging on the internet. (Source: Wired - U.S.)

August 27, 2025  'A bandage for a deeper wound'. Trump continue selling advanced American weapons to Kyiv, just promised 3,350 Extended Range Attack Munition (ERAM) cruise missiles to Ukraine - valued at around $850 million - which boast a strike radius of up to 288 miles. It is 'a waste of time, resources, and diplomatic capital by the Trump administration' - in a vain effort to gain leverage over Russia. The Pentagon has quietly imposed new restrictions on Ukrainian use of American munitions, blocking Kyiv from using US-supplied long-range missiles for strikes deep inside Russia. This policy, aimed at avoiding escalation and encouraging peace talks, confines ERAM to defensive roles within Ukraine or border areas, neutering the value of its long-range capabilities. (Source: The National Interest - U.S.)
by Weichert

Aug 27, 2025  The Ukraine Peace Talks highlighted Europe’s disunity. Notably absent were any Central and Eastern European leaders, despite being Ukraine’s closest neighbors. It was perhaps a signal that Kyiv is aware of the resurgence of populism across the region given the outcome of the Polish presidential election in May, which the right-wing Law and Justice party’s candidate, Nawrocki, narrowly won. Similarly, right-wing populist Andrej Babis is expected to return to office in Czechia’s elections in October, and Hungary’s Viktor Orbán and Slovakia’s Robert Fico, two men who style themselves on Trump, continue to enjoy popular support. Still, removing pro-democratic regional leaders from the high-level gatherings like the summit in Washington risks undermining their influence. (Source: World Politics Review - Tampa, Florida, U.S.)

Tuesday 26 August 2025  Trump has claimed that EU leaders have referred to him as ‘The President of Europe’. /Video/ (Source: The Independent - United Kingdom)

Tue., Aug. 26, 2025 12:38 p.m.  Trump’s big gay government. (Source: The Spokesman-Review - U.S.)

Tuesday 26 August 2025 14:07 BST  Federal Reserve governor Cook said that she will not resign afterTrump vowed to remove her from the role immediately. In a letter to Cook posted to social media by the White House yesterday evening, Trump claimed there is sufficient reason to believe that the policymaker made false statements on one or more mortgage agreements. Trump touted his powers under the Constitution and U.S. law to justify the unprecedented move for a president to dismiss a member of the central bank's leadership. (Source: The Independent – United Kingdom)

August 26, 2025 at 11:40 JST  President Trump took to social media before meeting with South Korean President Lee yesterday to threaten not to do business with Seoul because of a 'Purge or Revolution' that he claimed was taking place in the country. But any prospect of a hostile Oval Office meeting evaporated after Lee heaped praise onto the U.S. president - lauding the decor, beseeching Trump to continue to help with Korean peace efforts and even suggesting a Trump Tower in North Korea. (Source: Asahí Shimbun - Japan / The Associated Press - U.S.)

NATO

27.08.2025  ’Europe, America together’ on track to 'turn the tides on defense production,' says NATO chief Rutte at a news conference in Berlin. He lauds rapid expansion of ’European’ defense industry, saying: ’Russia and China are expanding their militaries and their capabilities at speed and skill with little transparency.’ He claimed that Russia plans to deploy at least 1,500 tanks, 3,000 armored vehicles, and hundreds of Iskander missiles this year, whereas China already commands the world’s largest navy and has some of its largest defense companies. Their defense industries are producing weapons and have military equipment at an incredible rate, he added. Rutte stressed the importance of financial and industrial commitments, saying: ’Germany has already announced that it plans to invest almost €153 billion in defense by 2029.’ Regarding the role of German defense company Rheinmetall, he said: ’This factory alone plans to produce 350,000 artillery shells a year.’ He linked defense to economic growth, saying: ’Increased defense production is an engine of economic growth. (Source: Anadolu Agency - Turkey)

South America

Venezuela
August 27, 2025  Venezuela yesterday deployed warships and drones to patrol the country's coastline after the United States dispatched three destroyers to the region to pressure strongman President Maduro. Washington accuses Maduro of heading a cocaine trafficking cartel, Cartel de los Soles, which the Trump administration has designated a terrorist organization. Venezuela yesterday announced the deployment of 15,000 troops to the Colombia border in Zulia and Tachira states to fight drug trafficking. Interior Minister Cabello announced the seizure of 53 tons of drugs so far this year. Yesteray, Defense Minister Padrino said an ongoing operation in Venezuela's northeastern corner had resulted in the dismantling of shipyards where criminals intended to manufacture semisubmersibles and boats to transport drugs by sea to markets in Europe and North America. (Source: CBS News / "The Associated Press contributed" = U.S.)

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Europe

Germany
04.08.2025  59% of Germans say they would probably not or definitely not be prepared to defend Germany militarily 'if attacked'. Among women, this reluctance was even higher at 72%. Only 16% of respondents said they would definitely take up arms to defend Germany, while an additional 22% indicated they would probably do so. The poll was commissioned by the media group RedaktionsNetzwerk Deutschland between July 28 and 29. (Source: Anadolu Agency - Turkey)

(Sunday, 04.08.2025  Today, CSU leader Soder called for an end to citizen's benefit payments for all those who have come from Ukraine, adding that this should apply not only to future arrivals but to all Ukrainian refugees currently receiving benefits. Germany has taken in more than 1 million Ukrainian refugees since 2022. Last year, German authorities spent €46.9 billion ($54.3 billion) on Burgergeld payments, with €6.3 billion ($7.3 billion) specifically allocated to Ukrainian refugees in the country. Only one in three employable Ukrainians is actually working. The “citizen's benefit” (Burgergeld) payments to Ukrainians are not typically available to refugees from other countries. (Source: Anadolu Agency - Turkey) 

The Netherlands
August 5, 2025 11:18am EDT  ' Netherlands becomes first NATO ally to buy US weapons for Ukraine. Dutch defense minister announces funding for Patriot systems under Trump-NATO agreement '. (Source: Fox News –U.S.)

Poland
August 1, 2025   ' Poland will locally produce the South Korea’s K2 Black Panther Tanks under a $6.5 billion deal. ' (Source: The National Interest - U.S.)

European Commission
(1 August 2025)  NGO Transparency - Database of the European Commission’s NGO contracts. The European Commission directly finances thousands of non-governmental organisations (NGO) throughout Europe and beyond. A great number of these organizations pursue political activities. Contrary to the traditional principles of civil society, they do not represent certain groups of society, but the voice and will of Brussels institutions. This website is an essential tool of ensuring transparency. It provides a comprehensive database of the organisations that were supported by the European Commission from 2019 to 2023. (Source: Patriots for Europe group in the European Parliament)
Note: Over 37,000 contracts, worth a total of €17 billion.

Russia
Tuesday, August 5, 2025 3:29:55 PM  Russia withdraws from Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. (Source: UAWire - Ukraine)

Switzerland
(1 August 2025)  39% for Switzerland – these are the highest tariffs in Europe. Switzerland sells more (primarily in pharmaceuticals, gold jewellery, watches and machine tools) to the US than it buys. The Swiss trade deficit with the US was $47.4 billion in 2024. (Source: BBC - United Kingdom)

Ukraine
(4 August 2025) 06:30  ' Ukraine's weapons plants remain hidden from Moscow. A key priority of Ukraine is to build its own missiles that match the destructive power and long reach of the Shahed killer drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles that Moscow has been launching in recent weeks. Pavlohrad, in Ukraine’s south-eastern region of Dnipropetrovsk, recently suffered its biggest aerial attack. It has been home to missile production facilities since Soviet times, and Russia’s defence ministry claimed, after the attack, it had struck facilities producing components for missiles and drones. Ukraine is already producing and using a family of missile systems named Neptune, Palyanytsia, Peklo, and Ruta. According to Kyiv, production multiplied eight times between 2023 and 2024. Zelensky has said Ukraine intends to produce 3,000 cruise and drone missiles in 2025. Long-range missile called Bars (Leopard) is a hybrid between long-range drones and cruise missiles powered by a turbojet engine, giving it great speed and with a range of 700-800km with a warhead of 50-100kg of explosives. Zelensky alluded last year to the successful test of an engine for a homemade ballistic missile - an offspring of the Sapsan Operational-Tactical Missile System – also known as Hrim and Hrim2 – that was conceived in the early 2000s. Everyone, even senior officials, are forbidden to talk about this subject. The only person allowed to reveal anything is Zelensky. Despite the war, despite the missile attacks, we were able to increase our defence industry output by 35 times during the last three years, Sak, adviser to the Strategic industries ministry said. The conflict in Ukraine has seen a profound shift toward drones, with Ukraine planning to produce five million this year. The Russians are trying to destroy any locations they identify where those missiles and other weapons are being developed or manufactured. Three or four smaller, concealed sites replicate the same weapons system and, if one is hit, overall production continues. The sites are protected by air defences to counter Russian missiles and drones. A factory within a sprawling, somewhat dilapidated, Soviet-era industrial zone in western Ukraine previously produced heavy precision machinery and engine parts converted to weapons manufacture in early 2024 to become one of three concealed facilities scattered across Ukraine producing Bucephalus armoured personnel carriers. Until 2022, it was produced at a large plant in the east Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, targeted by Russia early in the full-scale war. The engines are brought in from Germany and the weapons are fitted elsewhere. They produce four per month. ' (Source: Irish Independent - Ireland)

03.08.2025  Ukraine’s anti-corruption bodies said they detained four officials as part of a large-scale corruption scheme in which military drones and electronic warfare equipment were procured at inflated prices. Those detained allegedly received kickbacks of up to 30% of contract costs. (Source: Anadolu Agency - Turkey)

(August 2, 2025)  More than a million Ukrainians have returned to their country after fleeing the 2022 invasion, according to United Nations figures. More than 5 million Ukrainian refugees remain outside the country. In a survey of Ukrainians abroad published in March by the Centre for Economic Strategy, a think tank in Kyiv, 43% of respondents said they would like to return. (Source: NPR - U.S.)

02/08/2025 - 11:22  Russia's military advance in Ukraine accelerated for a fourth straight month in July. Moscow claims to control nearly 80 percent of the Donetsk region. (Source: France 24)

Europe
August 5, 2025 1:51 PM ET  ' 4 European countries agree to buy a combined $1 billion in U.S. weapons for Ukraine. ' (Source: NPR - U.S.)

Africa

(Sunday), August 3, 2025 6:36 AM  Jihadis' operations of isis affiliated forces. Militant groups aligned with the islamic state (isis) are ramping up violence across Africa. Over the past week they claimed a deadly attack against a church in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo on Sunday and killing of soldiers in Burkina Faso on Thursday. Deep-rooted insecurity makes combatting the group in Africa. The risk is that ’it rises into something much larger that then presents a much greater threat on the global scene, so, a threat direct to the homeland of the United States, or to Europe or outside of Africa’. In 2013 militants in Libya, taking advantage of chaos in the wake of longtime leader ’Qaddafi's downfall at the hands of a NATO-backed rebellion’, had begun to tie their ideology to Islamist violence. In 2017, an isis acolyte from Libya conducted the group's first Africa-origin attack in the West, killing 22 people at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England. That same year, four U.S. soldiers and five Nigerien personnel were killed in an ambush staged by the islamic state in the Greater Sahara (isgs). Today, isis counts a number of partner groups across the continent. They include isgs, islamic state West Africa province (iswap), islamic state Central Africa province (iscap), islamic state Mozambique province and islamic state Somalia province. For three years now, an absolute majority of deaths due to terrorism globally have been in Africa, including roughly half of all terrorism-related fatalities in the world happening in just the Sahel region. The threat level of all is affiliates are becoming more lethal. They are increasingly demonstrating capacity to hold large amounts of territory or deny governments the ability to function in many areas. Geographical isolation from another may be changing, with the potential for isis' local affiliates to expand further into Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger and pose a large enough threat to some of the criminal groups in Northwest Nigeria. Maybe it absorbs some of those groups. islamic state Greater Sahara might be able to carve out its own presence in that space. A potential connection being forged between isis' fronts in Sahel and West Africa, where the group has stepped up attacks in Nigeria. Already, a junction between the two self-proclaimed isis provinces is being established between Nigeria and the Sahel. With the three junta-led governments of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger having expelled U.S. and French forces in recent years and now focusing Russia-backed operations against Tuareg rebels, the primary challenger to isis in this front is another hardline Islamist group, the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Jama'at Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin (JNIM). It is the affiliate of Al-Qaeda that is stopping the attempt of islamic state moving further south. Failed states, corruption, unsustained borders, and most importantly, human rights abuses by local security and armed forces – this combination of conditions risks threatening to set the stage for new attacks once the jihadis find sufficient footing to project their militant plans abroad, as they did from Libya in 2017. When they had a foothold in Libya, on the shores of the Mediterranean, they did not hesitate one second. If they get the means, of course they will. The area of the Sahel that intersects Mali and Burkina Faso has become a global epicenter of jihadist terrorism and continues to pose a severe threat. Al-Qaeda tends to be a little more pragmatic while is franchises tend to be more ideological. Both have proven lethal, both have made gains, and both are contributing to the rising death toll. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a Ugandan group established in the late 1990s, swore allegiance to isis' Central African outfit in 2018. This group claimed responsibility for the slaying of nearly 40 people at a church in the eastern DRC, along with an earlier massacre against another church in February. Such anti-Christian operations demonstrated that the group once known as the ADF is now applying the orders at the top of the islamic state by the letter. While isis has made enemies of all who oppose its ultra-fundamentalist doctrine  - including other Muslims - targeting Christians both serves the group's desire to inflame sectarian tensions and live up to the prophetic narratives upon which it was founded. Isis affiliated groups have had a history of attacking Christians in DRC but also across other parts of Africa too, and it fits within their playbook. It forms part of their apocalyptic narrative about the armies of Islam having to fight against the armies of Rome (sometimes taken to mean Christians) in the end of times. Isis' in the DRC has in the past made mention of an 'economic war against Christians,' while more recently it has made a more concerted effort to convert local Christians to Islam, in addition to forcing others to pay the jizya [tax on non-Muslims]. The fact that it primarily combats, or more accurately, kills Christians, has been a main feature of propaganda and internal messaging. Isis fighters in the DRC were operating in an area that is overwhelmingly Christian. Africa is divided near-evenly between Christians and Muslims. Home to more than quarter of the world's Christians, the highest portion among the continents, Africa also hosts around a third of the world's Muslims. In Nigeria (as in the Sahel), iswap's area of operation is almost entirely in almost-entirely Muslim areas. The group - and islamic state's central propaganda apparatus, which publishes all official public-facing messaging) - consistently emphasizes attacks on Christians and has in the past carried out attacks on churches. Given the relatively tiny portion of the population that is Christian in their areas of operation, these attacks are probably meant more to antagonize Christians elsewhere in Nigeria - and Christians around the world - than it is to spark religious conflict between Muslim and Christian communities in northeastern Nigeria itself where iswap primarily operates. A number of U.S. officials have come to recognize the threat posed by isis and other Islamist militant groups in Africa. ’Left unchecked, they will have a direct threat on the homeland,’ U.S. African Command (AFRICOM) commander General Langley said in response to a senator's question on the issue during an April testimony. The issue appears to receive comparatively less policy attention that other theaters. All too many armchair 'experts' who never get into the field -- if they travel abroad at all - have are reluctant to acknowledge the problem. It is not just a matter of the fighting terrorism, it is also about access to critical minerals that are needed for national security and economic growth, which can only be safely extracted and processed in partnership with African countries when there is security. U.S. foreign policy has witnessed a significant shift from counterterrorism to competition over resources which has allowed armed groups to take advantage of the situation by spreading into locations beyond America's primary airstrikes. The U.S. setbacks and the escalation in isis operations may ultimately push African nations to work together. (Source: Miami Herald / Newsweek = U.S.)

Asia

Israel
(Sunday), 03.08.2025  Israel’s 'far-right' National Security Minister Ben-Gvir led Israeli settlers in a provocative march into the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem early today, coinciding with the Jewish commemoration of Tisha B’Av. The settlers stormed the mosque compound in the morning hours performing Talmudic rituals, singing, and dancing under heavy police protection. The incursion included assaults on Muslim worshippers, journalists, and Al-Aqsa guards. The Temple Mount is for the Jews, and we will remain here forever, Ben-Gvir said. Israel occupied East Jerusalem, where Al-Aqsa is located, during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. It annexed the entire city in 1980 in a move never recognized by the international community. Al-Aqsa Mosque is the world's third-holiest site for Muslims. Jews call the area Temple Mount, claiming it was the site of two Jewish temples in ancient times. (Source: Anadolu Agency - Turkey)

South China Sea
August 4, 2025, 7:14 AM  India, Philippines stage joint sail and naval drill in the disputed South China Sea for the first time. Philippine President Marcos left today for a five-day state visit to India for talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other top officials to boost defense, trade and investment, agriculture, tourism and pharmaceutical industry engagements. (Source: ABC News / Associated Press = U.S.)

Friday 01 August 2025 10:47 BST  China’s military build-up in disputed waters. China is bolstering its presence in the South China Sea with a 3,200 hectare network of military bases, including some capable of launching nuclear bombers, according to new satellite images of Mischief Reef by the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI) which tracks maritime security issues in Asia. It’s latest satellite images show sprawling runways, missile shelters, large aircraft hangars amid several high-level military infrastructure resembling a well-defined city. ’They include harbours, large runways, more than 72 fighter jet hangars across the three big island bases, surface-to-air missile and anti-ship cruise missile emplacements, and a lot of radar, sensing and communications infrastructure,' Poling, director of the AMTI, told. China is now in control of 20 outposts in the Paracel Islands and seven in the Spratly Islands. China also controls Scarborough Shoal, which it seized in 2012, via a constant coast guard presence but it has not built any facilities on the disputed feature. China claims sovereignty over nearly all the South China Sea, including areas claimed by Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam.  A 2016 ruling by an international arbitral tribunal found Beijing's sweeping claims had no basis under international law, a decision that was rejected by Beijing. Beijing maintains its military expansion in the region is defensive, arranged to protect what it says are its sovereign rights amid opposition from Asian countries that have their own claims. These bases are the result of the quickest example of mass dredging and landfill in human history. In May this year, China landed two of its most advanced bombers in the disputed Paracel islands in the South China Sea, as seen in satellite imagery - long-range H-6 bombers on Woody Island in the Paracel islands, marking the first time China’s most advanced bombers were seen since 2020 and a signal of Beijing’s growing military capabilities. The H-6 bombers are seen as a potential threat to US bases in the region and were also seen deployed in the war games around Taiwan last October. They flew close to the US mainland in July last year for the first time. China's Southern Theatre Command, which covers the South China Sea, maintains two regiments of the bombers, according to the  London-based International Institute of Strategic Studies. The bombers are generally kept at heavily fortified bases on the Chinese mainland, where they would have more protection in a conflict from US attacks in conflict scenarios. (Source: The Independent – United Kingdom)

Syria
August 03, 2025  Syrian army and Kurdish-led SDF clash. Fighting breaks out near Euphrates. A conference of Kurdish political groups in April demanded Syria be governed under a federal system. This year, the Pentagon allocated $130 million for groups in Syria with which it has linked up in counter-isis operations, mainly the SDF, in its 2026 budget. (Source: The National - United Arab Emirates)

Turkey
08.04.2025  ' Türkiye’s defense exports to Europe surged to $1.2 billion in 2023, up from $369 million in 2020 and to over $7.1 billion in 2024. They now account for 22% of the country’s total defense exports. Baykar accounted for one-third of Türkiye’s defense exports in 2023 and one-quarter of all defense and aerospace exports in 2024. EU foreign policy chief Kallas told reporters that, as an EU candidate country, Türkiye could participate in joint projects. In a wave of cross-border collaborations, in March, drone maker Baykar Technologies partnered with Italy’s Leonardo to co-develop next-generation unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The joint venture will operate at multiple sites in Italy and target the European UAV market. Baykar acquired Italy’s 140-year-old Piaggio Aerospace. Turkish firm Repkon signed a deal with a top German defense contractor to co-produce 155mm artillery shells for the German army. Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) secured an agreement in Spain to co-produce and export HURJET – Türkiye’s first indigenously developed jet trainer and light attack aircraft – tailored for next-generation pilot training and close air support. Poland, the first EU and NATO member to purchase Bayraktar TB2 drones, received all 24 units by mid-2024. Albania and Croatia followed, with the latter also acquiring logistics, training and command-and-control systems. In 2024, Aselsan launched a regional office in North Macedonia to coordinate activities across the Balkans. Havelsan, another key Turkish defense player, won a Romanian tender to modernize maritime surveillance using its MATRA software platform. ' (Source: Anadolu Agency - Turkey)

North America

United States
8/1/2025  The U.S. Army issued Palantir a contract yesterday worth up to $10 billion over the course of the next decade. The new contract is the largest ever awarded to the software and data analysis company. (Source: MSN - U.S.)

16:35 ET, Aug 1 2025  Trump orders nuclear submarines to be moved near Russia. 'Based on the highly provocative statements of the Former President of Russia, Medvedev, who is now the Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, I have ordered two Nuclear Submarines to be positioned in the appropriate regions,' Trump wrote on Truth Social. (Source: The U.S. Sun)

NATO

Aug 5, 2025 1:55 PM EDT  ' NATO coordinating regular deliveries of large-scale weapon packages to Ukraine. ' (Source: PBS - U.S.)

.5 8 12 15:42

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Németország jövőjéről

- video -

A Világnézet című műsor vendége Bauer, az MCC Magyar–Német Intézetének igazgatója.

A beszélgetés középpontjában Németország aktuális kül- és belpolitikai folyamatai állnak,

különös tekintettel Friedrich Merz nyilatkozataira, az SPD kijevi látogatására, migrációra.

Bauer elemzései őszinték, provokatívak és mélyrehatóak – Németország jövőjéről.

(Forrás: YouTube - Egyesült Államok / Hit Rádió - Magyarország)

7356 megtekintés

Kulcsszavak:    Argentína     Ausztrália      autonómia      Balkán     Egyesült Államok     Európa     Európai Unió     Finnország     Földközi-tenger     Ghána     Grúzia     Hit Rádió     Horvátország     Izrael     Írország     Litvánia     Magyarország     Mathias Corvinus Collegium     Németország     Oroszország     Szenegál     Szíria     Ukrajna     video

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Europe

Hungary
9:54 am, August 25, 2025  At a press conference in Kyiv on August 24, Zelensky hinted that strikes on the Druzhba oil pipeline were linked to Hungary’s refusal to back his country’s bid to join the European Union. ’The war, to which we have no connection, is not a legitimate justification for violating our sovereignty,” Hungarian Foreign Minister Szijjártó responded in a Facebook post, calling on Zelensky to stop threatening Hungary and stop endangering its energy security. Ukrainian drones have struck the Druzhba pipeline several times since early August, forcing shutdowns. The pipeline delivers Russian oil to Hungary and Slovakia. The foreign ministers of both countries complained to the European Commission about the attacks, while Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán wrote to U.S. President Trump. According to Hungarian media, Trump replied that he was angry about the situation with Druzhba. (Source: Meduza - based in Riga, Latvia)

France
25-august (2025)  Ambassador Kushner will be summoned to the Quai d’Orsay on Monday 25 August. (Source: Ministère des affaires étrangères - France)

25 August 2025  US ambassador Kushner to France has written to French President Macron to denounce what he said was the French Government’s insufficient action against anti-Semitism, days after similar remarks from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. On August 19 the Israeli PM accused Macron of fomenting anti-Semitism, saying it had surged in France following the French President’s announcement in July that he will recognise Palestinian statehood. 'In today’s world, anti-Zionism is anti-Semitism – plain and simple,' the ambassador added. 504 anti-Semitic incidents were reported across the country between January and May this year. France is home to around half a million Jewish people, as well as a significant Muslim community sensitive to the plight of the Palestinians in Gaza. (Source: Brussels Signal - Belgium)

European Commission
25 August 2025  'On 24 August, we celebrated Ukraine’s Independence Day. 'Europe' continues to stand with Ukraine, every step of the way. 'The EU has provided, and will continue to provide, Ukraine with unwavering political, financial, humanitarian, military and diplomatic assistance, for as long as it takes'. 'The goal is a comprehensive, just and sustainable peace for Ukraine. This requires a diplomatic solution. '€59.6 billion have been mobilised in military support for Ukraine'. 'So far, the support amounts to €168.9 billion'. (Source: European Commission - Headquarters Brussels, Belgium)

Africa

Egypt
25/08/2025, Monday  Egypt will host the Bright Star 2025 military exercises, a regular biennial event. It includes naval, ground, air and special forces training. Egyptian army spokesperson Col. Hafez said in a video statement that 13 countries will participate directly with more than 7,900 troops, while 30 others will join as observers. 'US military forces will join the Egyptian Armed Forces, as well as other participating nations, for Exercise BRIGHT STAR 2025 at Mohamed Naguib Military Base, Egypt, 28 August – 10 September 2025,' US Central Command said in a statement on the American social media platform X. (Source: Yeni Şafak / Anadolu Agency = Turkey)

Asia

South Korea
August 25, 2025  U.S. President Trump hosts South Korean President Lee in Washington for their first summit meeting today, after the countries struck a trade deal last month lowering U.S. tariffs on the Asian ally to 15% from a threatened 25%. Alongside trade, U.S. pressure to redefine the decades-long military alliance is set to be a focus. Trump has accused its Asian ally of “free-riding” on U.S. military might, with some 28,500 American troops stationed in South Korea to deter nuclear-armed North Korea. In November last year, Seoul agreed to increase its contribution by 8.3% to 1.52 trillion won ($1.09 billion) for the first year in 2026, under a five-year plan. South Korea is currently is allocating 61.25 trillion won, or 2.3% of GDP to defense spending this year. Experts say the summit may include discussions on the idea of adjusting the role of U.S. troops from a focus on countering North Korea to also managing tensions in the Taiwan Strait and deterring China. This could be sensitive for Seoul given how President Lee has sought to take a balanced approach to ties with Beijing. South Korean Foreign Minister Cho has denied Seoul was in talks with Washington over whether to allow U.S. forces to be redeployed in the event of a Taiwan Strait emergency. When it comes to the approach of seeking to dismantle North Korea’s nuclear weapons program, Lee and Trump have a willingness to restart dialogue with Kim and they may deliver a joint message to North Korea. Trump has said more South Korean investment plans will be announced in addition to a $350 billion package agreed last month. South Korea said the leaders will discuss cooperation in sectors such as chips, batteries, shipbuilding, as well as “economic security” in areas such as cutting-edge technologies and key minerals. Investments announced during the summit should include already announced projects such as Samsung Electronics’ new chip factory in Texas and Hyundai Motor’s car factory in Georgia, as well as Hanwha’s plan to expand its U.S. shipyard. South Korea has agreed to invest $150 billion out of the overall investment package on U.S. shipbuilding cooperation. Lee will visit the Pennsylvania-based Philly Shipyard, acquired by South Korean shipbuilder Hanwha Ocean and its parent group. The leaders may also discuss the timeframe to cut U.S. tariffs on South Korean car imports from 25% to 15% as agreed under the trade deal. The countries have appeared to have a different interpretation of details of the $350 billion investment fund, while Seoul denied U.S. assertions that it had agreed to open up its rice market. Foreign Minister Cho told parliament that South Korea could try to win approval from Washington to reprocess or enrich its own nuclear material during the summit, saying this is not for nuclear armament, but for industrial and environmental purposes. While President Lee has rejected the idea of nuclear armament, his intelligence agency chief this year called for Seoul to secure the right to enrich uranium to demonstrate its ’potential nuclear capabilities.’ Wi said South Korea was in talks about cooperating on nuclear power projects in the United States. (Source: The Asahí Shímbun - Japan / Reuters - United Kingdom)

August 25, 2025  South Korean President Lee sent a special delegation led by former parliament speaker Park to his country’s main trading partner as he travels to Washington to meet U.S. President Trump. South Korea hopes to normalize relations with China that have been strained in recent years, the special envoy from Seoul told Chinese Foreign Minister Wang yesterday, and agreed to boost economic cooperation, Seoul’s foreign ministry said. Lee arrived in Washington early today. Park handed Wang a letter from Lee to Chinese President Xi and invited Xi to the summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) grouping in October. “(South Korea’s) new government will pursue a mature development of South Korea-China strategic cooperation partnership based on national interest while continuing to develop the South Korea-U.S. alliance,” Park said. The two sides agreed to work towards substantive progress on economic and supply chain cooperation. In a readout from the Chinese foreign ministry, Wang said that development of both countries’ ties has shown that good neighborliness, seeking common ground while reserving differences and expanding cooperation are the right choices. Wang added that China’s policy is to maintain stability and continuity with South Korea and he urged both sides to “improve national sentiment and manage sensitivities properly” to move bilateral relations forward steadily. Diplomatic ties between the countries have improved since a 2017 dispute over South Korea’s deployment of a U.S. missile defense system, which Beijing opposed. But they exchanged harsh words in 2023 about critical comments on Beijing by South Korea’s last president, Yoon. (Source: The Asahí Shímbun - Japan / Reuters - United Kingdom)

August 25, 2025  South Korea cannot “readily agree to” expanding the mission of American troops stationed on the peninsula beyond deterring North Korea, President Lee said ahead of his first summit with Trump today. The ROK leader’s remarks en route to Washington, came against the backdrop of the Trump administration’s push for greater strategic flexibility for U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) to focus more on countering China, a move that would increase Seoul’s responsibility for defending against DPRK attack. Min, a professor at the Korea National Diplomatic Academy, explained that the U.S. sees strategic flexibility as a way to expand the role of USFK across the Indo-Pacific region. Seoul remains cautious, believing that U.S. forces should primarily serve as a deterrent on the Korean Peninsula, he said. He warned that North Korea’s nuclear and missile development has increased significantly, making it necessary to put in many times more effort than before to achieve realistic progress toward denuclearization, peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula. Lee reiterated a belief in dialogue based on deterrence and his three-step road map to achieving denuclearization, despite Pyongyang’s persistent claims that it will never abandon its nuclear arsenal. “My hope was to first pause, then reduce nuclear weapons, and ultimately achieve denuclearization,” he said. (Source: NK News – South Korea)

South America

Venezuela
25/08/2025, Monday  Venezuelans join militia following President Maduro's order to mobilize 4.5 million members as US warships arrive in Caribbean. The military deployment, ordered by President Trump, includes three guided-missile destroyers, an amphibious squadron, at least 4,500 sailors and some 22,000 marines, the Navy confirmed. According to the Pentagon, the purpose of the heightened naval presence is to combat drug cartels in the region. The US Justice Department recently doubled its reward to $50 million for information leading to Maduro's arrest, having accused him of being one of the world’s largest drug traffickers. Guyana and Venezuela have been engaged in a border dispute over the oil-rich Essequibo region. (Source: Yeni Şafak / Anadolu Agency = Turkey)

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Europe

The Netherlands
23.08.2025  Dutch police secretly use controversial AI software by American company Palantir. Prime Minister Dick Schoof reportedly involved in purchasing software in 2011 as director general of police. (Source: Anadolu Agency – Turkey)

Kaliningrad
August 22, 2025 12:32 PM  Russia has been building a listening station on the edge of the Baltic Sea for the last two years, satellite images appear to show. The potential spying facility is in Kaliningrad's Chernyakhovsky district. It began taking shape in March 2023 and is almost finished. Russia could use the purported facility to intercept NATO radio communications and triangulate their positions. The placement of a CDAA-like structure in this region is strategically logical. Such an installation would enable Russia to monitor NATO's electronic communications across Eastern Europe and the Baltic region. It could communicate with submarines in the Baltic Sea or the North Atlantic and support passive intelligence gathering. (Source: Miami Herald / Newsweek = U.S.)

Russia
August 24, 2025 1:32 PM  The operators of a Russian nuclear power plant in the country's western Kursk region and Khinshtein, the region's governor said in posts to messaging app Telegram early today that Russian air defenses had intercepted a Ukrainian drone close to the site shortly after midnight local time. The Ukrainian drone detonated as it fell, damaging an auxiliary transformer and sparking a fire. There were no casualties, but one of the reactors was working at 50 percent capacity, the nuclear plant said, adding radiation levels hadn't changed. The United Nations' nuclear watchdog, IAEA said it confirmed that radiation was normal around the site. (Source: Miami Herald / Newsweek = The U.S.)

August 24, 2025 7:00am EDT  The current geopolitical situation Moscow is facing is ’a time of 'colossal threats  to the existence of our country' from West’ and Russia needs to update its nuclear capabilities, top nuclear official, Director General of the State Atomic Energy Corporation Rosatom Likhachev said this week. ’Therefore, the nuclear shield, which is also a sword, is a guarantee of our sovereignty.’ "We understand today that the nuclear shield must only be improved in the coming years,’ he added. New Start Treaty is set to expire in February. (Source: Fox News – U.S.)

(August 22, 2025) 9:00 a.m. UTC+3  "Peace” Talks. 'We believe that it is pointless to discuss specific proposals regarding the conditions of a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine (and even security guarantees) until there is clarity about where exactly the future demarcation line will run, and since a compromise is currently unattainable due to Russia’s unwillingness to make significant concessions'. 'We consider a meeting between Zelenskyy and Putin unlikely. Trump has already refused to organize such a meeting, according to The Guardian. It is obvious that no agreement will be reached in the near future'. Trump once again stated that peace must be achieved "within two weeks." The only open question now is whose side the US president will take when the negotiation process finally reaches a deadlock: either Trump will consider Putin to be non-negotiable and possibly increase support for Ukraine, or, on the contrary, reduce such support by accusing Zelenskyy of intransigence, or simply withdraw entirely from the process. (Source: Conflict Intelligence Team - relocated to Georgia in 2022)

Serbia
22.08.2025. National Assembly Speaker Brnabić: Novi Sad railway station collapse was a 'planned act of sabotage'. She suggested that the collapse was 'the beginning of a colour revolution' - that foreign actors are trying to destabilize Serbia. (Source:  European Western Balcans – headquarters Belgrade, Serbia)

Ukraine
23.08.2025 08:30  Western peace mission in Ukraine: Scale and limits. Reaching agreements around diplomatic issues may be much simpler and easier than carrying out a multi-year stabilization/peace mission on the border with an aggressive Russia. Whether European countries aspire to face the biggest political-military challenge of recent years? How these aspirations will be perceived in their countries, especially in gaining support among voters? There is growing talk of the possibility of sending Western troops, including ground units, to Ukraine to conduct a stabilization/peace mission along the line of demarcation with Russia in the period after the fighting stops. Everything, of course, depends on reaching a „peace agreement” between Ukraine and Russia, which Trump has been pushing for since the beginning of his term. But looking at the details of the possible Western mission, there are numerous political-military doubts. How many countries will ultimately agree to send troops to Ukraine even in the post-war period.  If there is great optimism about the British and French, however, going further, real doubts arise. One should consider the Germans. ’They continue to face problems in simultaneously participating in NATO missions on the eastern flank’. Or Italians.  For them the eastern flank is not a priority. For the countries most involved in the defense of NATO’s eastern flank, led by Poland, Romania, the Baltic states, and the Nordic countries, there will be social and military dilemmas. The scale of the mission in Ukraine and its real capacity to carry out its duties has been suggested in an article in The Wall Street Journal – a contingent of up to 30,000 troops is being discussed. The mere sending of 30,000 soldiers should be expanded by at least another 30,000, which will constitute the necessary rotation and will prepare for departure. Everyone in Europe realizes that such a mission can last not a few months, but literally years. The difficulty level is raised because the US under Trump will not be willing to dislocate its ground contingent to Ukraine. The sent soldiers from selected European countries will find themselves in a highly complicated situation on the ground. They will appear in an area where conventional troops, intelligence services, and Russia’s paramilitary structures are operating. It will be closer to the situation in Lebanon, where both sides, i.e., Israel and Hezbollah, strongly disregarded UNIFIL forces. The current Russian propaganda narrative, implanting in the heads of its soldiers that they are not fighting Ukraine, but rather the so-called „collective West,’ will also become a problem, especially on the tactical level. Suddenly, the West appears at Russia’s borders, materializing the propaganda records as they were. Real threats to the lives and health of soldiers will naturally be threats related to IEDs, mines, but also mortar fire, snipers, and new ones associated with the impact of unmanned systems (not only classic UAS, but also FPVs and potentially UGVs). Regarding the equipment and hardware used, this will be the first mission to require a strong C-UAS component in its entirety and EW. The Russians will most likely try to contest the presence of Western soldiers in the cyber, info, and electromagnetic domains. Mission commanders must contend with a threat to the entire C5 (command, control, communication, computers, cyber) complex on a scale unknown from the Balkans or even the Middle East. All these things will translate into mission costs. Russia will try to test the Western mission from day one, especially if the Russian side will be able to resort to actions below the threshold of war. A massive intelligence crackdown on the Western contingent, which will thus have to have a powerful counterintelligence cover, seems inevitable. And logistics, which will also require a significant outlay of forces and resources, seeing the specifics of Ukraine’s vast territory and the distances over which it will have to operate. What area will have to be covered by the peacekeeping force? 30,000 troops becomes a relatively modest force, knowing that not all of them will be operating, for example, in patrol and observation missions. Then, there is the issue of the Black Sea as a body of water, which should also be considered when conducting security operations. In the case of the maritime domain, it even seems necessary to involve Turkey in such activities. Tere is a window for military action that is much more comfortable for Western countries – air operations, ISR missions, and support in terms of IMINT, SIGINT, etc. Support of air defense operations by land-based systems can also be added to this. The second element is to increase intelligence cooperation, aiming for a systemic view of it, rather than efforts to support Ukraine merely. Qualitative advantages should be exploited to the maximum, guaranteeing clear skies over Ukraine in the post-war period. It will be crucial to maintain the extensive training facilities for Ukrainian forces. ’In the post-war period, Ukraine will need material, equipment, and training support all the more strongly to rebuild its significantly depleted troop resources’. The question of finances: ’Ukraine is potentially set to receive a substantial military support package from the countries supporting it, with estimates as high as around $90 billion’. Most European countries’ defense budgets are already under enormous pressure from meeting NATO criteria, on top of internal economic perturbations.  (Source: Defence24 - Poland)
by Raubo

(August 22, 2025) 9:00 a.m. UTC+3  ’Zelenskyy announced the successful test of Ukraine’s new FP-5 Flamingo cruise missile. The weapon features a range of 3,000 kilometers, a circular error probable of 14 meters, and a warhead weighing 1,150 kilograms. Such a large missile will be easily visible to air-defense radar, and its subsonic speed would allow Russian fighter jets to shoot it down with relative ease. At the same time, Ukraine has shown that Russian air defenses are porous. 'Mass production of the missile is expected to begin by early 2026. Some reports claim that one FP-5 is currently being built per day with plans to scale up by October to seven per day, or roughly 200 a month. FP-1 drones now account for 60 percent of all Ukrainian strikes on Russia. Each UAV costs about $55,000. It is produced at a rate of 100 per day. Their warhead weighs 60 kilograms which is similar to that of a Shahed-136 loitering munition, which carries between 50 and 90 kilograms. (Source: Conflict Intelligence Team - relocated to Georgia in 2022)

Asia

China
23 Aug 2025  Why is the US uneasy as China’s 5-strong icebreaker fleet arrives in the Arctic? The US coastguard has accused some of the vessels of straying too close to the Alaskan coast, a claim rebutted by a Beijing-based think tank (Source: South China Morning Post)

India
August 24, 2025 Indian envoy to Russia, Kumar, asserted India's will continue to purchase oil from Russia, driven by national interest and the energy security of 1.4 billion people. The Indian envoy pointed out that both the US and the European Union are also engaged in trade with Russia. Kumar said India's oil procurement from Russia stabilised global oil market. (Source: The Week - India)

South Korea
Aug 23, 2025  KST  S. Korean President Lee begins two-day visit to Japan, meets Korean community, (Source: Korea Times – South Korea)

North America

Canada
August 24, 20255:08 PM GMT+2  Canadian PM Carney, in Ukraine, says he backed Ukraine's calls for robust security guarantees as part of any peace deal, saying Canada would not rule out sending troops under such a framework. He and Zelenskiy also signed an agreement on drone co-production. (Source: Reuters – United Kingdom)

Mexico
23.08.2025  Mexican President Sheinbaum said yesterday that remittances from the US have decreased to their lowest since 2022 as US President Trump continues to crack down on immigrants. (Source: Anadolu Agency – Turkey)

United States
23 August 2025  What to know about Bolton, former Trump adviser whose home and office are searched by FBI? Trump reportedly doesn't like Bolton's mustache. Trump has spent a career fixated on image, prizing striking looks and frequently boasting about family members and Cabinet officials who look like they “stepped out of central casting.” (Source: Asharq Al-Awsat - headquartered in London, United Kingdom, owned by a member of Saudi royal family)

23/08/2025  Lieutenant General Kruse will no longer serve as head of the US Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA). Defense Secretary Hegseth has fired him, whose agency’s initial intelligence assessment of US damage to Iranian nuclear sites angered President Trump. (Source: France 24)

23/08/2025 Saturday  US billionaires Altman, Musk in race to integrate tech into human bodies. (Source: Yeni Şafak – Turkey)

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Europe

Russia
(August 22, 2025) 9:00 a.m. UTC+3  In the evening of Aug. 21, Ukrainian drones attacked the Unecha oil pumping station in the Bryansk region. The station is one of the key nodes of the Druzhba pipeline, and it had already been attacked by the AFU on Aug. 6 and Aug. 12. (Source: Conflict Intelligence Team  - relocated to Georgia in 2022)

9:08 am, August 21, 2025  Russian drones and cruise missiles targeted Lviv overnight, damaging private homes, nonresidential buildings, and vehicles. The Russian military also fired cruise missiles at a facility in the city of Mukachevo in the Zakarpattia region, destroying warehouse buildings by 7:00 a.m. The BBC reported that the strike destroyed a plant owned by an American company. Politika Strany wrote that the facility hit was an electronics factory operated by Flex. Russian military launched 574 drones and decoy drones, along with 40 missiles, overnight. Air defenses reportedly shot down 546 drones and 21 missiles. (Source: Meduza - based in Riga, Latvia)

Ukraine
(August 22, 2025) 9:00 a.m. UTC+3  Russia has significantly escalated its aerial campaign against Ukraine. In the early hours of Aug. 21, in one of the largest coordinated attacks of the war, Russia was launching over 500 drones and 40 missiles, including 4 Kinzhal hypersonic missiles and 2 Iskander ballistic missiles, as well as 19 Kh-101 and 14 3M-54 Kalibr cruise missiles. One of the facilities targeted in the attack was the Mukachevo-based factory operated by the American company Flex, located in the Zakarpattia region. To the best of our knowledge, the plant produces electronics for major global brands, including Google, Nike, Lenovo, Philips and Nespresso. The strike highlights that the presence of American corporations on Ukrainian soil does not inherently ensure their protection. Notably, during a coordinated assault in the early hours of June 10, 2025, a Boeing office in Ukraine was also hit  - yet this incident failed to prompt any discernible response from the United States. (Source: Conflict Intelligence Team - relocated to Georgia in 2022)

21 Aug 2025  Ukrainian man, suspected of coordinating the attacks on the Nord Stream pipelines in September 2022, viewed by both Russia and the West as an act of sabotage, was arrested in Italy. K. was part of a group that planted devices on the pipelines near the Danish island of Bornholm, the German prosecutor’s office said. Officers arrested him overnight in the province of Rimini on Italy’s Adriatic coast. He will be brought before a German judge after being extradited. A German investigation concluded in 2023 that a pro-Ukrainian group was behind the Nord Stream pipeline sabotage. The team that carried out the attack reportedly consisted of two divers, two assistants, a captain, and a medic. (Source: Al Jazeera - Qatar)

August 21, 2025, Thursday // 10:03  European allies discuss rapid response plan to deter future Russian attacks on Ukraine. Potential measures range from military support to economic assistance and sanctions. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has endorsed a proposal for postwar security guarantees that would require Ukraine’s allies to respond within 24 hours if Russia launched a renewed attack. The plan resembles NATO’s Article 5 commitment to collective defense but does not include Ukraine’s formal membership in the Alliance. The proposal envisions countries that have signed security agreements with Ukraine quickly deciding on a joint response if Moscow violates a peace deal. Around 10 European states are prepared to deploy troops as part of a deterrence mission. NATO military leaders also met virtually yesterday to coordinate possible support mechanisms. President Trump has suggested Washington could provide air support, stressing that no American ground forces would be deployed. He previously rejected binding guarantees for Ukraine. Trump shifted his stance, on Aug. 18, pointed to missile defense systems or other aerial assets as possible contributions, while the White House later confirmed that air support remains an option. Discussions in Washington considered deploying French and British forces, alongside smaller contributions from other European countries. Sweden and Japan have also expressed readiness to join the  multinational ’coalition of the willing,’ Stockholm offering potential naval and air surveillance assets. Lithuania has pledged both 'troops' and equipment. Poland clarified it will not send forces into Ukraine, instead providing logistical support and reinforcing NATO’s eastern flank. French President Macron has clarified that NATO membership is not under consideration, but stressed that Ukraine’s defense will depend on a strong national military bolstered by binding allied commitments. European officials expect that a package of measures could be finalized as soon as this week. Russia has dismissed the initiatives. Foreign Minister Lavrov declared that security arrangements excluding Moscow were a road to nowhere, arguing that any durable framework should involve all permanent members of the UN Security Council. He also suggested that Western powers and China could contribute alongside Russia. Turkish President Erdogan spoke with Putin yesterday, offering Turkey once again as a possible venue for direct talks between Putin and Zelensky. Hungary has also emerged as an alternative host. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz indicated such a summit could take place within two weeks. (Source: Novinite - Bulgaria)

August 21, 2025 4:01 AM CET  Ukraine prepares to mark another Independence Day this Aug. 24. The Kremlin’s calculations assume a bet on exhaustion. Moscow believes it has the manpower and economic flexibility to sustain a conflict that exhausts both Ukraine and Western allies before it exhausts itself. The country can likely sustain operations into next year without a further mobilization. European efforts are not yet at the speed or scale required to make a tangible impact. What Ukraine needs means: ’Infantry fighting vehicles and tanks for mobility and offensive operations; a steady pipeline of 155-milimeter shells; the mass production and deployment of drones, for both surveillance and strikes; advanced engineering equipment to breach Russia’s defensive lines; and a reinforced logistics backbone to support maneuver across multiple fronts’. ’If the country is to endure and stand in a better position a year from now, it must be strong enough and armed enough to shape the end of the war on its own terms’. Any sense of a credible support package beyond a 12-to-18-month period would also force a shift in the Kremlin’s calculus. (Source: Politico - U.S.)
by 'Sleat, a senior policy advisor for Russia/Ukraine at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change.

Asia

Israel
August 22, 2025  The Israeli Ministry of Defense (MoD) recently announced that it would acquire two additional Boeing KC-46 Pegasus air-to-air refueling aircraft — in addition to the four that are already on order. Boeing received a $930 million contract in August 2022 for the first four aircraft, which will be delivered before the end of 2026. The deal for the two additional KC-46s is valued at $500 million and will be funded through existing US aid to Israel. The IAF relied on its existing refueling fleet of aging converted Boeing 707 tankers and Lockheed Martin KC-130 Hercules during its 12-day air campaign against Iran in June. (Source: The National Interest - U.S.)

Tibet
(Thursday), Aug 21, 2025  Xi, 72, makes rare visit to Tibet to showcase control as Beijing prepares for a looming struggle over the successor of the aging and exiled Dalai Lama - who fled into exile after a failed uprising against Chinese rule in 1959 - and the hearts and minds of millions of Tibetans. Communist Party cadres waved Chinese flags, People’s Liberation Army soldiers marched with rifles, schoolchildren clapped in unison and Tibetans in colorful robes performed traditional dances at a ceremony marking 60 years since the founding of the Tibet Autonomous Region. In the past, Beijing sent senior Communist Party leaders to Lhasa for each decennial celebration of the regional government - but never the top leader himself. Xi last visited Lhasa, the capital in 2021 to mark 70 years of what Beijing calls Tibet’s peaceful ’liberation’ – when Chinese Communist troops took control of the region. Tibetan exiles see it as the brutal invasion and occupation by a foreign army. To govern, stabilize and develop Tibet, the first thing is to maintain political stability, social stability, ethnic unity and religious harmony, Xi told senior Tibet officials at a meeting after landing in Lhasa yesterday, state news agency Xinhua reported. He did not speak at today’s ceremony. According to state media, Xi touted the regional government’s efforts over the past six decades in carrying out a thorough struggle against separatism. Beijing brands the Dalai Lama a dangerous separatist and blames him for instigating Tibetan protests, unrest, and self-immolations against Communist Party rule. The current Dalai Lama has spent more than six decades in exile in India. Tibetan Buddhists believe in the circle of rebirth. When an enlightened spiritual master like the Dalai Lama dies, he will be able to choose the place and time of his rebirth through the force of compassion and prayer. In a memoir published in March, the Dalai Lama states that his successor will be born in the “free world” outside China, urging his followers to reject any candidate selected by Beijing. In July, the Dalai Lama announced that his office will have the sole authority to identify his reincarnation. China’s officially atheist Communist Party insists it alone holds the authority to approve the next Dalai Lama, the spiritual head of Tibetan Buddhism. That could lead to the emergence of two rival dalai lamas: one chosen by his predecessor, the other by the Chinese Communist Party. The Dalai Lama is insisting that he seeks genuine autonomy for Tibet, not full independence – a nonviolent “middle way” approach that has earned him international support and a Nobel Peace Prize. The Chinese Communist Party has waged a decades-long campaign to discredit the current Dalai Lama and erase his presence from Tibetan life, while tightening restrictions on religious and cultural practices. Since coming to power, Xi has ramped up security and surveillance in China’s frontier regions, intensified efforts to assimilate ethnic minorities, and rolled out a nationwide campaign to ’sinicize’ religion – ensuring it aligns with Communist Party leadership and values. At yesterday’s meeting, Xi called for more efforts to systematically advance ’the sinicization of religion,’ improve the governance of religious affairs and ’guide Tibetan Buddhism to adapt to socialist society,’ according to state media. The top leader also called for local officials to advance forcefully, systematically, and effectively key infrastructure projects in Tibet, including a plan to build the world’s largest hydropower facility on the lower reaches of the Yarlung Tsangpo river, and the Sichuan-Tibet Railway. (Source: CNN - U.S.)

North America

United States
(August 22, 2025) 9:00 a.m. UTC+3  The New York Times and The Economist reported that Trump revoked security clearances from 37 current and former intelligence service employees. Many of them worked on analyzing Russia or foreign threats to US elections, which, according to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence under Gabbard, constitutes politicization or the use of intelligence as a weapon to advance partisan goals, or a violation of the rules for handling and protecting classified information. This decision, in addition to significantly reducing the level of Russia-related expertise within the US administration, sends a clear signal to American intelligence service employees that the subject of Russia is dangerous, and investigating its influence on American politics may lead to punishment or dismissal. (Source: Conflict Intelligence Team - relocated to Georgia in 2022)

August 22, 2025  Could Trump really win the Nobel Peace Prize? (Source: The National Interest - U.S.)

August 22, 2025 22:46 IST  Trump said he came to know about the FBI raid on his former National Security Advisor Bolton after it appeared in the news and that he would be briefed about it later in the day. He calls him 'a low life' who can always say something bad about him. (Source: The Week - India)

August 22, 2025 20:35 IST  Trump critic Bolton, who served in the Republican president's first administration as national security adviser, was today subjected to FBI raids at his home as part of an investigation into the handling of classified information. Earlier this month he said Trump had already punished him by removing his security protection. During his 17 months in the first Trump administration, Bolton has locked horns with the president over Iran, Afghanistan and North Korea. His scathing book, The Room Where It Happened, painted Trump as ignorant about foreign policy and unfit to run the federal government. Some of the shocking allegations levelled by Bolton in his 2020 book: he learnt that the President did not know that UK was a nuclear power; Trump allegedly asked whether Finland was "kind of a satellite of Russia"; During the 2019 G20 summit in Japan, Trump diverted the conversation with Xi to talk about the 2020 presidential elections, pleading with the Chinese president to ensure he wins; Trump said that Xi should go ahead with building the Uighur internment camps. Bolton also alleged that during his conversation with Xi, Trump said he wants to amend the constitution so that he can serve more than two terms; that Trump was ready to do personal favours for 'dictators like Turkish President Erdogan. And the Democrats committed 'impeachment malpractice' by focusing only on Ukraine issue, Bolton said. (Source: The Week - India)

August 21, 2025  A federal appeals court yestersday sided with the Trump administration and halted for now a lower court's order that had kept in place temporary protections for 61,000 migrants from Central America and Nepal. The Republican administration can move toward removing an estimated 7,000 people from Nepal whose Temporary Protected Status designations expired Aug. 5. Temporary Protected Status is a designation that can be granted by the Homeland Security secretary, preventing migrants from being deported and allowing them to work. The TPS designations and legal status of 51,000 Hondurans and 3,000 Nicaraguans are set to expire Sept. 8, at which point they will become eligible for removal. The Trump administration has already terminated TPS designations for about 350,000 Venezuelans, 500,000 Haitians, more than 160,000 Ukrainians and thousands of people from Afghanistan and Cameroon. Some have pending lawsuits in federal courts. (Source: NPR - U.S.)

 NATO

August 22, 2025  More NATO Leopard 2A8 tanks are heading 'to Russia’s border'. 'In addition to the 44 German-made tanks headed to Lithuania, another batch of 44 Leopard 2A8 MBTs is being acquired by the Czech Republic'. (Source: The National Interest -U.S.)
by: Suciu

Global

Aug 21, 2025  Musk’s AI firm, xAI, has published the chat transcripts of hundreds of thousands of conversations between its chatbot Grok and the bot’s users - in many cases, without those users’ knowledge or permission. On Musk’s Grok, hitting the share button means that a conversation will be published on Grok’s website, without warning or a disclaimer to the user. X users have been warning since January that Grok conversations were being indexed by Google. Google itself previously allowed chats with its AI chatbot, Bard, to be indexed, but it removed them from search in 2023. Meta continues to allow its shared searches to be discoverable by search engines. (Source: Forbes - U.S.)

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Europe

Hungary
August 12, 2025  2024 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Hungary. Executive sumary: There were no significant changes in the human rights situation in Hungary during the year. There were no credible reports of significant human rights abuses. The government took credible steps to identify and punish officials who committed human rights abuses and identified areas in which it could improve. (Source: U.S. Department of State)

12 August 2025  Hungary PM Orbán refuses to back EU ahead of Trump-Putin talks (Source: Brussels Sigmal - Belgium)

European Commission
(11 August 2025)  Kallas, the EU's top diplomat, said that ministers expressed support for US steps that will lead to a just peace, following the informal virtual foreign affairs council (FAC) - also attended by Ukrainian Foreign Minister Sybiha. 'Transatlantic unity, support to Ukraine and pressure on Russia is how we will end this war and prevent future Russian aggression in Europe. Meanwhile, we work on more sanctions against Russia, more military support for Ukraine and more support for Ukraine’s budgetary needs and accession process to join the EU,' she added. The situation and latest developments in the Middle East, in particular the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza, were also on the agenda for Monday's foreign affairs council. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, French President Macron, and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will on Wednesday chair an emergency meeting of the coalition of the willing 'which Trump and Zelenskyy will join'. The leaders of Italy, Finland, Poland, NATO's  Secretary-General as well as der Leyen and Costa, who helm the European Commission and European Council respectively, are also expected to participate. France said other videoconference meetings will be held on the same day in various formats, including one attended by President Trump. (Source: Euronews - based in Lyon, France)

Armenia
Tuesday, August 12, 2025 3:12 AM  Armenians, Georgians, and Central Asians vary in response to Yerevan-Baku Settlement. Geopolitical realities the agreement creates:    In Armenia, ’President’ (PM) Nikol Pashinyan is wholeheartedly in favor of the accord. But many Armenian politicians oppose the deal, viewing it as a harbinger of a further decline in the size of their country or even a harbinger of its complete disappearance. They fear that the arrangements that have been announced will leave them isolated. ’Moscow’ is likely to try to set them against the Pashinyan regime so as to return Armenia to what the Russians believe is their proper place as a part of Russia’s uncontested sphere of influence.    In Georgia, some believe the new transit arrangements will make it easier for Iran to ship via Armenia and then into Georgia for transshipment on to Europe and thus will benefit Georgia and firmly integrate it in the world. Others, most prominently former president Saakashvili who is now in prison, says that the new Zengezur route, one that bypasses Georgia, Iran and Russia will be a disaster for híd republic both at home and abroad, Georgians are ending up in complete geopolitical isolation alongside Iran and Russia. The corridor project would render Georgia’s existing ports – and the planned Lazika port – obsolete, leading to accelerated emigration and deepening poverty.    In Central Asia, the governments have come out in support of the
transit deal, confident that if it is realized, the Middle Corridor transit network will expand and work to their benefit. But many of them remain concerned that there are so many unknowns. (Source: Window on Eurasia – New Series)
by Goble

Russia
August 13, 2025 1:54pm EDT  Russia may gain Ukraine’s fertile, resource-rich territory as Trump proposes land swap. Russian forces currently occupy one-fifth of Ukraine including areas rich in lithium, coal and offshore gas reserves. (Source: Fox News - U.S.)

15:27 ET, Aug 12 2025  Russia breaks through Ukrainian frontline as Putin sends 110,000 troops days before Trump summit. It comes as Russia accused the UK of trying to sabotage upcoming peace talks between Trump and Putin. (Source: The U.S. Sun)

August 12, 2025  Russian Ground Forces (RGF) highly likely seized approximately 500-550 sq km of Ukrainian territory in July 2025, the British Ministry of Defence assessed in its latest intelligence estimate on the Russo-Ukrainian conflict - observing that this rate of advance was roughly the same as it had been in June and in previous months. Russian forces are now in control of almost all the Donetsk Oblast south of Pokrovsk. Continued losses and Ukrainian counterattacks have likely frustrated the Russian intent to establish a buffer zone in the Sumy region, the British Ministry of Defence estimated. (The National Interest - U.S.)
by Atlamazoglou

August 11, 2025  Will Russian gas return to Europe? For decades, Russia was Europe’s key source of gas, supplying up to forty percent of EU consumption, some 155 billion cubic meters, in 2021. Gazprom, Russia’s state-owned energy giant, made the bulk of its profits in Europe, which enabled the cross-subsidization of domestic industry and households, as well as advancing an economic development agenda. The political economy in Europe may have already moved against Russian gas. The EU’s stated policy goal is to phase out Russian gas by the end of 2027 and to put an end to Moscow’s ability to weaponize gas exports. Russia was reduced to a marginal supplier, delivering a mere 51.6 bcm in 2024, of which 31.6 bcm was pipeline gas. Still, some EU policymakers have been keen to keep the door open for Russian gas to return - part of a package deal should peace talks on Ukraine eventually come to fruition, reconstituting European industry’s competitiveness on a global scale. A US investor recently seemed interested in operating what’s left of the Nord Stream system after underwater explosions destroyed three of the four pipeline legs. With a major piece of import infrastructure coming back online, Russian gas flows to Europe could resume, now under US control, provided still-existing sanctions on Nord Stream 2 are lifted. Once politically palatable, Russian gas may be back in the game. Whether those molecules will find a market welcoming them is another thing. (Source: The National Imterest - U.S.)
by Goldthau, a Franz Haniel Professor of Public Policy at the faculty of economics, law and social sciences and Director of the Willy Brandt School of Public Policy at the University of Erfurt; Vatansever is Reader in Russian Political Economy in the King’s Russia Institute and author of ‘Oil in Putin’s Russia: The Contests Over Rents and Economic Policy‘. He speaks Russian, Bulgarian, Turkish and English.

Ukraine
13/08/2025 - 20:38  Ukraine will be in 'a situation similar to that of Germany in the Cold War' after ceasefire. Lucas, Professor of International Politics at the University College Dublin Clinton Institute, says that following a ceasefire, Ukraine may find itself in the same position as Germany during the Cold War, enjoying the continued support of the West and integration in Europe, and that Kyiv envisages accepting short-term occupation as Russia struggles economically and holds territory which is 'burnt to the ground.' (Source: France 24)

(13 August 2025)  The war-ravaged territories at the heart of the Trump-Putin summit (Source: BBC - United Kingdom)

Asia

China
August 11, 2025  China in Europe: July 2025. The one-day China-EU summit held in Beijing on July 24 marked years of diplomatic relations between the two sides. The talks were marked by tension from the start: Chinese President Xi refused to follow protocol and travel to Brussels, insisting that the EU leaders come to China. The decision to shorten the two-day meeting to one at China’s request reiterated Beijing’s obstinance. Trade dominated the meeting agenda. Chief among the EU’s concerns was Chinese industrial overcapacity, fueled by heavy state subsidies. The European Union’s trade deficit with China hit €300 billion in 2024, which Brussels considers unsustainable. Der Leyen noted how unless China addressed its overproduction of goods such as batteries, electric vehicles, solar panels, and steel, “it would be difficult for the EU to maintain its current level of openness.” Despite tensions, some incremental progress was made. The two sides agreed to fast-track licenses for rare earths - materials overwhelmingly controlled by China and essential to European industry. In a thinly veiled jab at Washington, Xi reminded his EU counterparts that “in the face of accelerating changes not seen in a century and a turbulent international landscape, China and EU leaders must . . . make the right strategic choices that meet the expectations of the people and stand the test of history.” The European side was far more interested in discussing Ukraine. Brussels called on Beijing to use its influence over Moscow to push for a ceasefire, as “China has an influence on Russia, like the European Union has an influence on Ukraine. . .  Costa also stressed how as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, Beijing has a special responsibility to push for a ceasefire. Overall, the summit made minimal progress on geopolitical issues. Both sides issued a joint statement reaffirming their commitment to the Paris Agreement and announced that green is the defining color of China-EU cooperation. The joint statement made no mention of the fuel, however. China and the EU also promised to submit new emissions targets before the thirtieth Conference of the Parties in Brazil this November. From July 19 to 28, Serbian special forces conducted joint training exercises in China’s Hebei Province, the first such operation between the two militaries. Code-named Peace Guardian 2025, the exercises included drone-assisted practice missions in urban and rural environments. The recent drills were conducted despite U.S. and EU objections. (Source: The Council on Foreign Relations - U.S.)
by Ruggi

August 11, 2025  For China, the Ukraine war is a laboratory. Confronting Beijing’s role is a strategic necessity. China’s position as the arsenal for Russia makes it a key arbiter of the war’s intensity. By serving as the essential economic and industrial enabler for Russia, China has gained a unique vantage point. It can assess how the components of military systems it is providing in huge numbers perform in combat, gather intelligence on the effectiveness of Ukrainian and Western weapons, and refine the concepts it will use to guide its own weapons development, military training, and organizational structures. ’All of these efforts will serve to ready the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) should it one day engage in a conflict with the United States’. As the logistical backbone of Russia’s military-industrial complex, China tests its industrial capacity to support a partner in a sustained, high-intensity conflict and to understand the implications for supporting its own forces in combat. As early as 2023, approximately 90 percent of Russia’s imported microelectronics — the chips essential for modern missiles, tanks, and aircraft — came from China. Nearly 70 percent of Russia’s machine tool imports in the last quarter of 2023, valued at around $900 million, were sourced from China, replacing the high-end German and Japanese equipment Russia could no longer acquire. Beijing also quickly became Moscow’s primary supplier of nitrocellulose, the key propellant for artillery shells, with exports surging from negligible amounts before the war to over 1,300 tons in 2023 — enough to produce hundreds of thousands of artillery rounds. An estimated 80 percent of the electronic components in Russian drones are originating from China. Russia now aims to manufacture an estimated two million first-person view (FPV) drones in 2025. In May 2025, China has not only halted sales of popular DJI Mavic drones to Ukraine but has also restricted exports of key components while simultaneously increasing those same shipments to Russia. Beijing is no longer a neutral observer but a direct participant influencing the war’s daily outcomes. The PLA is gaining critical knowledge about modern warfare — from drone employment to electronic countermeasures — all without putting a single Chinese soldier in harm’s way. PLA intelligence is meticulously studying the performance of key US-made systems, from the Patriot air defense system to the HIMARS rocket artillery. By observing how Russian forces — often equipped with Chinese components — respond to Ukrainian and Western systems and tactics, the PLA gains critical insights into how to counter them. This is particularly evident in the electronic warfare domain. China’s learning is also not passive; in fact, Chinese state-backed hacking groups have aggressively targeted Russian defense institutes to exfiltrate battlefield data that Moscow had been unwilling to share. Te war enables China to observe and adapt to new military concepts. They are also closely analyzing Ukraine’s success with naval drones as a potential template for how Taiwan could resist a PLA invasion. Taiwan manufactures over 90 percent of the world’s most advanced logic chips. ’The loss of this production would trigger a global economic crisis estimated at as much as $10 trillion’. China is closely observing the West’s use of unprecedented economic sanctions against Russia to guide its efforts to sanction-proof its own economy. Beijing is learning how to insulate its own financial systems and supply chains from similar pressure. It has dramatically increased the use of the yuan in bilateral trade, and it is building up its Cross-Border Interbank Payment System (CIPS) as an alternative to SWIFT. "A diplomatic understanding with Moscow would be ineffectual' if the Russian military continues to be armed and technologically upgraded by Beijing. The People’s Liberation Army is assiduously learning how to counter American weapons, how to wage war in a dense electronic environment, and how to sustain a high-intensity conflict — all without putting a single soldier at risk. Beijing’s state-directed system is designed to rapidly absorb and implement these lessons across its entire military-industrial complex. The central challenge is no longer just about containing Russia; it is about out-thinking and out-adapting a peer competitor who has found the perfect, low-cost laboratory for the next war. Failure to fully grasp the stakes of this learning competition will mean that when the next crisis comes, America may face an adversary that has already fought a war against its weapons and its strategies — and has learned how to win. (Source: The National Interest - U.S.)
By General Petraeus (US Army, Ret.) who served over 37 years in the US military, culminating his career with six consecutive commands, including Command of the Surge in Iraq, US Central Command, and the International Security Force in Afghanistan. He served as Director of the CIA during a period of significant achievement in the war on terror. He is currently a Partner with the global investment firm KKR and Chairman of the KKR Global Institute. He is the Kissinger Fellow at Yale University, and the co-author of the bestselling book, Conflict: The Evolution of Warfare from 1945 to Ukraine; Kaluderovic is an entrepreneur in the AI and data center sectors, a Fellow with the International Strategy Forum, and Founder and CEO of Mental Help Global, an AI-enabled social media platform being built in Ukraine.

Philippine Sea
August 13, 2025  United Kingdom, Japan and the United States are training their navies together, drilling in the Northern Philippine Sea, as part of the United Kingdom-led “Operation Highmast.” The drill of HMS Prince of Wales, USS George Washington, and JS Kaga aircraft carriers is bringing together scores of fighter jets and dozens of other warships. The US Navy deployed a Wasp-class amphibious assault ship that can also  carry fighter jets. (Source: The National Interest U.S.)
by Atlamazoglou

North America

United States
12 August 2025  Official Europe is anxious and apprehensive about Friday’s summit in Alaska between Putin and Trump. Perhaps their worst fears will finally be realised, and Trump will force Zelensky to sign a deal that imperils Ukraine’s existence. But perhaps not. It’s worth recalling that this is not the first time that Trump brokered an unprecedented summit with the world expecting him get suckered by or sign a bad deal with a tyrant – with North Korean dictator Kim in Hanoi in 2019. Kim did offer Trump a bad deal. Trump shocked everyone, including Kim, by leaving the summit early. Trump knew this was a bad deal and a day of trying to talk Kim into a better deal was going nowhere, his time was being wasted and that humiliation might be what Kim needed to wise up. Trump knows what he wants and doesn’t submit when he doesn’t get it. What does Trump want from Russia? Trump talks about an end to the war, not a limited ceasefire. Kremlin officials have stated they want to limit the size of any post-peace Ukrainian military and limit its ability to acquire more Western arms. They also want Ukraine to state neutrality between NATO and Russia and not join any mutual defence pacts with other nations. These terms would make Ukraine a sitting duck for a future Russian invasion. Trump’s pattern is to never agree to any deal that does not give him his bottom line. ’All the signals from Washington so far’ indicate that a post-war Ukraine would be genuinely independent – and that means the ability to defend itself. A grateful Ukraine would be happy to repay America for the aid that saved it through this deal. (Source: Brussels Signal - Belgium)

August 12, 2025  The U.S. government’s gross national debt has surpassed $37 trillion, a record number that highlights the accelerating debt on America’s balance sheet and increased cost pressures on taxpayers. The Congressional Budget Office’s January 2020 projections had gross federal debt eclipsing $37 trillion after fiscal year 2030. (Source: AP - U.S.)

8/12/2025  US deficit grows to $291 billion in July despite tariff revenue surge. (Source: MSN - U.S.)

August 12, 2025.  At his meeting last week with United States Special Envoy Witkoff, Russian president Putin staved off impending US sanctions by proposing a path forward for Ukraine. In return for Ukraine’s withdrawal from the Donetsk region, Putin reportedly agreed to pause the war across the front lines. After sitting down with his European counterparts over the weekend, Vice President Vance, echoing his past assessment that Moscow is asking for too much by claiming areas it has not yet captured on the battlefield, appeared to pour cold water on the prospect of Ukraine walking away completely from Donetsk. Instead, Vance set expectations that territorial control would be set at the current line of contact, and in line with “some negotiated settlement that the Ukrainians and Russians can live with.” President Trump should invite Zelensky to Alaska, a step he has reportedly contemplated. The military strongholds of Pokrovsk and Kramatorsk in Donetsk are important to Ukraine’s overall military posture that protects Ukraine’s central heartlands. Ukraine would only withdraw from these positions voluntarily 'if it is offered membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), from the West'. The United States should make clear to the Kremlin that while it will accept Russia’s de facto control over parts of Ukraine, it will not offer Moscow de jure recognition of those areas. Under the terms of any ceasefire, Ukrainians living under occupation should be offered an opportunity to pass into Ukraine-controlled territory. The United States should actively support the reconstitution of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU). ’Kyiv will need the freedom to purchase liberally from Western arms markets, likely with European financing, for munitions such as Taurus missiles and Eurofighter Typhoon fighter jets’. The United States should push for limitations on the size and scope of Russian forces in or around the newly occupied territories, and should insist that North Korean troops in Russia, reportedly numbering in the tens of thousands, return home. ’The United States should back European efforts to deploy a reassurance force’ into Ukraine, comprising British or French soldiers which stationed near vital sectors may give Russia pause. Trump should make clear to Putin in Alaska that the price of walking away from discussions or violating a US-brokered deal in the future would be economic warfare on a scale not yet seen. As Putin packs for the meetings in Alaska, the Russian military is cutting across key Ukrainian lines of communication in the eastern part of the country. The stark discrepancy between the Kremlin’s professed offer of a ceasefire and the Russian military’s inch-by-inch push for more territory raises questions about Putin’s true motives. (Source: The National Interest - U.S.)
by Rough, a Senior Fellow and Director of the Center on Europe and Eurasia at the Hudson Institute; Kasapoğlu, a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Hudson Institute. His work focuses on political-military affairs in the Middle East, North Africa and former Soviet regions.

12.08.2025  The U.S. Army Special Operations Command (USASOC) Lieutenant Colonel Fritz, writing for the Breaking Defense portal, presented a plan aimed at acquiring new territories for the United States. Lt. Col. Fritz’s original idea concerns Russia’s Commander Islands - chain of islands, located at the junction of the Pacific Ocean and the Bering Sea. The United States would gain additional protection for Arctic sea routes and the ability to deploy further undersea surveillance technologies. As Fritz points out, the Commander Islands are located near a possible route from China’s Jianggezhuang naval base to the Arctic region. The chances of a sale are currently negligible. (Source: Defence24 - Poland)

12.08.25  Trump extends US-China trade truce for 90 days, delays escalation of tariff war. Trump posted on his Truth Social platform that he signed the executive order for the extension, and that 'all other elements of the Agreement will remain the same.' (Source: The Telegraph - India)

United Nations

August 12, 2025 12:56 AM ET  China and the U.S. clash at the U.N. over the Panama Canal.

Global

August 12, 2025  2024 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices / Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (Source: U.S. Department of State)

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