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BREAKING: IDF ATTACKS – Elimination of key Beirut operative linked to Hamas | TBN Israel 1
Update from Ukraine | Russia loses strategic bomber and best helicopters | War with Iran possible 1
Trump announces sweeping new tariffs, upending decades of US trade policy. 1
‘Nowhere on Earth is safe’: Trump imposes tariffs on uninhabited islands near Antarctica. 3
War-torn and struggling countries among those facing Trump’s biggest reciprocal tariffs. 4
Canada’s Trump tariff relief ‘like dodging a bullet in the path of a tank,’ says business leader 6
Trump’s tariff wall risks driving up prices and business chaos. 7
Trump news at a glance: Sweeping tariffs announced; Elon Musk could be nearing end of role 9
Trump goes all out to promote his tariff plan – and nobody’s a winner. 12
Mike Waltz’s team set up at least 20 Signal chats for national security activities – report 14
Ukraine war briefing: No Trump tariffs on Russia as its officials host investment czar Putin 15
Netanyahu to visit Hungary as Orbán vows to defy ICC arrest warrant 16
Stena tanker crew members recount the moment of the ship’s impact – April 1, 2025. 17
Norway uncovers Russian maritime insurance fraud scheme – March 30, 2025. 18
Disclosures: DragonFire laser to be mounted on four Type 45 destroyers – April 1, 2025. 19
Finland promises to increase defense spending to 3% of GDP by 2029 – April 1, 2025. 21
If annual appropriations are dead, there’s an opportunity for defense – April 1, 2025. 22
APM Terminals acquires Panama Canal Land Bridge Railroad – April 2, 2025. 24
China ship sales plummet as industry sweats over US ports plan. 25
Russia is making a double ship-to-ship LNG transfer to get around the latest EU sanctions. 26
China discovers 100 million-ton oil field in South China Sea. 27
How NORAD could be affected by US-Canada tensions. 28
US satellites could tell if India’s MiG-21 did indeed shoot down a Pakistani F-16, but no dice 29
Ukrainian drones destroy Russian BK-16 landing craft and Raptor Raptor near Crimea (video) 30
How Trump’s team changed the Houthi bombing – Apr. 2, 2025. 31
ISWAN advocates for a seafarer-centered future – April 2, 2025. 33
Seven ships attacked in armed robbery while transiting Singapore Strait – April 2, 2025. 35
Greece plans to spend 25 billion euros to modernize defense sector – 2.04.2025. 43
UK to transfer Puma HC.2 helicopters to Ukraine. 44
BREAKING: IDF ATTACKS – Elimination of key Beirut operative linked to Hamas | TBN Israel
Update from Ukraine | Russia loses strategic bomber and best helicopters | War with Iran possible
Trump announces sweeping new tariffs, upending decades of US trade policy
President to impose ‘reciprocal’ tariffs on biggest trading partners and says new tariffs will bring ‘golden age’
Lauren Aratani in New York and David Smith in Washington
Wed Apr 2 2025 23.51 23.51 CEST
Donald Trump on Wednesday announced sweeping tariffs on some of his biggest trading partners, overturning decades of US trade policy and threatening to unleash a global trade war on what he called “liberation day”.
Trump has said he will impose a 10% universal tariff on all imported foreign goods, in addition to “reciprocal tariffs ” on several dozen countries, imposing additional tariffs on countries Trump claims have “cheated” America.
The 10% universal tariff will take effect on April 5, while reciprocal tariffs will begin on April 9.
“This is one of the most important days, in my opinion, in American history,” Trump said in a lengthy speech on the White House lawn. For decades, America has been “robbed, robbed and raped” by its trading partners, he said. “In many cases, the friend is worse than the enemy.”
In recent months, Trump has rattled global stock markets, alarmed corporate executives and economists and sparked heated disputes with the US’s biggest trading partners, announcing and postponing plans to impose tariffs on foreign imports several times since taking office.
But for the start of what looks set to be a dramatic shift in US trade policy that could cause ricochets in the global economy, Trump has tried to sell the tariffs in a celebratory tone.
Nine giant US flags flanked Trump on stage in the Rose Garden as the president spoke in front of his cabinet and a crowd of union workers wearing hard hats and fluorescent construction worker vests. Before Trump took the stage, a marching band played celebratory music to get the crowd excited.
At one point, Trump interrupted his speech to throw a Maga hat into the crowd. In the next breath, he announced the 10% universal base tariff.
In the middle of his hour-long speech, the president displayed a chart showing “unfair” tariffs that countries were imposing on the US, along with new “reciprocal reduced US tariffs.” China has imposed “unfair” US tariffs of 67% and said the US will now levy a 34% tariff. The EU levies 39% on imports, according to the White House, and will now levy a 20% tax. Trump has said the UK will be taxed 10% – the base tariff – equal to the Trump administration’s calculations of UK tariffs on US imports.
Special exceptions were made for Canada and Mexico, although the countries were previously targets of the proposed broad tariffs. The White House has said goods covered by an existing trade deal with Canada and Mexico will continue to see no tariffs.
Trump said the tariff calculation also includes “currency manipulation and trade barriers,” though the White House did not detail how the new tariffs would be calculated.
Trump has reportedly emphasized the tariffs that countries have imposed on US exports by industry. In his speech, Trump criticized policies such as the EU’s ban on chicken imports, Canada’s tariffs on dairy products and Japan’s tariffs on rice.
Trump said the US would levy half of the tariffs that he believes trading partners are unfairly imposing because the American people are “very kind”. Countries have “put massive tariffs on [American] products and created non-tariffs to decimate our industries,” Trump said, calling them “common-sense reciprocal tariffs.”
“Reciprocal: that means they do it to us and we do it to them. Very simple, it doesn’t get simpler than that,” he said. “This will truly be America’s golden age,” he said.
In the end, Trump fulfilled a promise he made during the election: during the campaign, Trump floated the idea of a 10% universal tariff on all imported goods.
The new tariffs add to a series of tariffs Trump has already put in place: an additional 20% tariff on all imports from China and a 25% tariff on all steel and aluminum imports. There is also a 10% tariff on energy imports from Canada.
Trump also announced in March a 25% tariff on all imported vehicles and possibly imported auto parts, which will go into effect Thursday.
“These tariffs will give us growth like you’ve never seen before and it’s going to be something very special to watch,” Trump said.
Trump has made clear the goals he wants to achieve with his tariffs: to bring manufacturing back to the US, respond to unfair trade policies of other countries, increase tax revenues and boost the crackdown on migration and drug trafficking. So far, however, implementation of its tariffs has been haphazard, with multiple reversals and postponements and vague promises that have yet to materialize.
But the threats have damaged US relations with its biggest trading partners. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney called them “unjustified ” and vowed to retaliate. The EU said it has a “strong plan” for retaliation. Further retaliatory tariffs could eventually lead to higher prices that would hurt US exporters.
US stock markets closed slightly higher on Wednesday ahead of Trump’s announcement, with a slight boost from news that Elon Musk may soon step down from his White House role to focus on his business.
Even with the slight rise, two of the three major stock exchanges recorded their worst quarter in more than two years after the first quarter ended on Monday.
Consumer confidence fell to its lowest level in four years in March. Polls showed tariffs are unpopular with Americans, including Republicans. Just 28 percent of people surveyed in a Marquette Law School poll released Wednesday said tariffs help the economy.
Uncertainty surrounding Trump’s tariff policies have increased the likelihood of a recession, according to recent forecasts by economists at Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and other banks.
,,, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/02/trump-new-tariffs-liberation-day
‘Nowhere on Earth is safe’: Trump imposes tariffs on uninhabited islands near Antarctica
Australian prime minister surprised after foreign territories – including tiny Norfolk Island and remote penguin-hosting islands – targeted by US president
Thursday April 3, 2025 04.48 04.48 CEST
A group of deserted and uninhabited volcanic islands near Antarctica, covered in glaciers and home to penguins, have been caught up in Donald Trump’s trade war as the US president slaps a 10% tariff on goods.
The Heard and McDonald Islands, which form an external territory of Australia, are among the most remote places on Earth, accessible only by a two-week boat trip from Perth on Australia’s west coast. The islands are completely uninhabited, last visited by humans almost 10 years ago.
However, Heard and McDonald islands are on a list published by the White House of “countries” on which new trade tariffs will be imposed.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Thursday, “Nowhere on Earth is safe”.
The Heard Islands and McDonald Islands are among several of Australia’s “external territories” listed separately in the tariff list for Australia, which will have a 10% tariff imposed on its goods.
External territories are part of Australia and are not self-governing, but have a unique relationship with the federal government. Such territories on the White House list are the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Christmas Island and Norfolk Island.
Norfolk Island, which has a population of 2,188 people and is 1,600km northeast of Sydney, was subject to a 29% tariff – 19 percentage points higher than the rest of Australia.
In 2023, Norfolk Island exported $655,000 (A$1.04 million) worth of goods to the US, with its main export being leather footwear worth $413,000 (A$658,000), according to data from the Economic Complexity Observatory.
Albanese said Thursday, “Norfolk Island has a 29% tariff. I’m not quite sure that Norfolk Island, as far as I’m concerned, is a trade competitor with the giant US economy, but this shows and exemplifies that nowhere on earth is safe from that point of view.”
Heard and McDonald Islands’ export figures are even more surprising. The territory has a fishing ground, but no human habitation or buildings.
Despite this, according to export data from the World Bank, the US imported products from Heard and McDonald Islands worth US$1.4 million (AU$2.23 million) in 2022, almost all of which were imports of “machinery and electrical equipment”. It was not immediately clear what those goods were.
In the previous five years, imports from Heard Island and McDonald Islands ranged from US$15,000 (A$24,000) to US$325,000 (A$518,000) a year.
The White House, the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Australian Antarctic Division were contacted for comment.
h ttps://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/03/donald-trump-tariffs-antarctica-uninhabited-heard-mcdonald-islands
War-torn and struggling countries among those facing Trump’s biggest reciprocal tariffs
Myanmar, reeling after a huge earthquake and civil war, faces a 44% rate amid suspicions that China is the underlying target
Thursday April 3, 2025 04.18 04.18 CEST
Developing nations in Southeast Asia, including war- and quake-ravaged Myanmar, and several African nations are among the trading partners facing the biggest tariffs set by US President Donald Trump.
Overturning decades of US trade policy and threatening to unleash a global trade war, Trump on Wednesday announced a series of tariffs that he said were aimed at preventing the US economy from being “cheated”.
“This is one of the most important days, in my view, in American history,” Trump said Wednesday. “It is our declaration of economic independence.”
The US president hailed the moment as a “day of liberation”, but the tariffs are likely to be met with strong protests in some of the world’s weakest economies. One expert said Trump is likely to target countries that receive investment from China, regardless of the situation in that country.
The tariffs come at a time when many Southeast Asian countries are already facing the consequences of the USAid cutbacks, which provide humanitarian assistance to a region vulnerable to natural disasters and support for pro-democracy activists fighting repressive regimes.
Cambodia, a developing economy where 17.8% of the population lives below the poverty line, according to the Asian Development Bank (ADB), is the worst-affected country in the region, with a tariff rate of 49%.
In second place is Laos, a landlocked Southeast Asian country heavily bombed by the US during the cold war, with a rate of 48%. According to the ADB, Laos has a poverty rate of 18.3%.
Not far behind are Vietnam, at 46%, and Myanmar, a nation facing a devastating earthquake on Friday and years of civil war following a 2021 military coup, at 44%.
Indonesia, Southeast Asia’s largest economy, faces a 32% tariff rate, while Thailand, the second-largest, has been hit with a 36% rate.
The US’s main rival and trading partner, China, has been slapped with a 34% reciprocal tariff on top of the 20% already imposed.
Dr. Siwage Dharma Negara, a senior fellow at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore, said the tariffs imposed on Southeast Asian nations were aimed at hurting China.
“The administration believes that by targeting these countries, it can target Chinese investment in countries like Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Indonesia. By targeting their products, it may hurt Chinese exports and the economy,” he said.
“The real target is China, but the real impact on these countries will be quite significant because these investments create jobs and export revenues.”
Tariffs on countries such as Indonesia, he said, would be counterproductive for the US, and the details of how they would be applied remained unclear.
“Some apparel and footwear [companies], some are American brands like Nike or Adidas, American companies that have factories in Indonesia. Will they also face the same tariffs?” he said.
Other nations among the hardest hit are several African nations, including Lesotho – a country Trump said last month that “no one has ever heard of ” by 50%, Madagascar by 47% and Botswana by 37%. Lesotho, a small mountainous kingdom surrounded by South Africa, has the second-highest level of HIV infection in the world, with nearly one in four adults HIV-positive.
In South Asia, Sri Lanka faces a rate of 44%. In Europe, Serbia faces a rate of 37%.
In addition to reciprocal tariffs on dozens of countries, Trump will impose a 10% universal tariff on all imported goods. This tariff will take effect on April 5, while reciprocal tariffs will begin on April 9.
The US president has justified the changes by saying they are a payback for countries that have “cheated” America for a long time, and the tariffs will bring jobs back to the US.
But economists have warned that the sweeping changes will increase costs, threaten jobs, slow economic growth and isolate the US from a global trading system it initiated and promoted over several decades.
“This is how you sabotage the world’s economic engine while pretending to supercharge it,” said Nigel Green, CEO of global financial advisory group deVere.
“The stark reality is that these tariffs will drive up the prices of thousands of everyday goods – from phones to food – which will fuel inflation at a time when it is already uncomfortably persistent.”
Canada’s Trump tariff relief ‘like dodging a bullet in the path of a tank,’ says business leader
Auto industry and Prime Minister Mark Carney notes that the 25% tariffs on Canadian steel, aluminum and automobiles will go into effect in a few hours
Leyland Cecco in Ottawa
Thursday April 3, 2025 01.47 01.47 CEST
Canada’s exemption from Donald Trump’s global tariffs was “like dodging a bullet in the path of a tank,” business leaders say, as other tariffs are poised to hit the key industries that drive the country’s economy.
On Wednesday afternoon, in a theatrical unveiling of tariffs on countries with “unfair” practices, Canada was conspicuously absent, along with trade ally Mexico.
But speaking to reporters on Parliament Hill, Prime Minister Mark Carney said the 25% tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum, as well as automobiles, would take effect within hours.
Canada will “fight these measures with countermeasures,” he said ahead of a meeting with cabinet ministers. “In a crisis, it’s important to come together. It is essential that we act decisively and forcefully, and that is what we will do.”
In response to the tariffs imposed by Trump, Canada has already imposed a 25% duty on C$30 billion ($21 billion) worth of US goods. Among the goods targeted are spirits, wine and orange juice – products designed to cause specific economic pain. The federal government has repeatedly promised to maintain its retaliatory measures until the US lifts all tariffs on Canadian products.
Carney warned that while Trump has preserved key elements of the bilateral relationship, the global tariffs announced earlier in the day “fundamentally change the international trading system”.
The prime minister is expected to outline the next steps in Canada’s response on Thursday. According to the prime minister’s office, a Carney cabinet meeting will follow. The Liberal leader is also expected to meet virtually with Canadian premiers.
Flavio Volpe, president of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers Association, posted on social media that the outcome was “like dodging a bullet in the path of a tank.”
“The. Auto. Tariff. Package. Will. Close. Down. The. Auto. Auto. In. The. USA. And. in. Canada,” he wrote. “Don’t be distracted. 25% rates are 4 times the 6/7% profit margins of all companies. Math, not art.”
Candace Laing, head of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, said in a statement that the world “is waking up today to a reality that Canada has been living with for months” and that the tariffs mean businesses around the world “have expanded their uncertainty … the chain reaction of tariffs and counter-tariffs will have a real and painful economic impact on Americans, Canadians and the global economy.”
It’s unclear to what extent a “highly productive ” phone call between Trump and Carney last week influenced the decision to grant Canada a reprieve. The call, requested by the White House, was the first time the two leaders have spoken since Carney became prime minister on March 14.
Carney had previously said he would not speak with the president until Trump showed respect for Canada’s independence. “I’m available for a call, but we’ll talk on our terms. As a sovereign country – not what he claims we are – and on a comprehensive deal.”
The sweeping tariffs, some of which apply to remote and uninhabited islands, have rattled markets, and Canadian officials were bracing for tariffs that could devastate manufacturing centers and resource-based economies.
“The positive thing we saw was that we weren’t on that list,” Ontario Premier Doug Ford told reporters at Queen’s Park. “Hopefully some positive news will come.”
The much publicized announcement from the White House has already thrown a wrench into the federal election campaign. On Tuesday night, Carney flew from Winnipeg to Ottawa to convene a virtual meeting of business and labor leaders who sit on the Council on Canada-U.S. Relations.
In a document, the White House said the president’s use of the Emergency International Economic Powers Act remained in effect – a statement made in reference to the alleged smuggling of migrants and fentanyl across the border.
According to the White House, none of the items that comply with the continental free trade agreement will be taxed, but “nonconforming goods” will be taxed at 25 percent and energy and potash products will be subject to a 10 percent tariff. If the emergency order were rescinded, all “nonconforming” goods would be subject to a 12 percent tax.
The news boosted the Canadian dollar, a currency that has been depressed in recent months by the ongoing trade war.
Canada has repeatedly claimed that a tiny amount of US fentanyl comes from the north. In new figures published by the Globe and Mail, the U.S. border agency attributed less than a pound of seized fentanyl, or 0.13 percent of all seizures, to Canada.
Canada’s efforts to reach key US voices have had some success. On Wednesday night, a bipartisan group of senators passed a resolution to end the national fentanyl emergency, invoked by the president earlier this year to justify the 25 percent tax on Canadian imports.
The move, which drew Republican senators Mitch McConnell, Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski and Rand Paul from across the political aisle, is seen as a strong rebuke to Trump. But the vote is likely to be largely symbolic. House Speaker Mike Johnson is unlikely to bring the measure to a vote.
,,, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/apr/03/canada-trump-tariffs-exemption
Trump’s tariff wall risks driving up prices and business chaos
Heather StewartEconomics Editor
The president promised relief, but may have thrown the US into recession and the world into economic turmoil
Wed Apr 2 2025 23.37 23.37 CEST
Donald Trump is finally fulfilling his campaign promises to “build that wall” – but instead of steel fencing along the Mexican border, it will be built of tariffs and surround the entire United States.
In his combative and typically rambling speech on the White House lawn on Wednesday, Trump laid out his plans for import tariffs, which range from 10 percent to more than 40 percent.
The president promised “relief,” but the immediate impact will most likely be higher prices for American shoppers and corrosive uncertainty for businesses, exacerbating an economic slowdown that may already be underway.
Outside the wall, countries will be affected depending on how dependent their economies are on exports to the US – and how exposed they are to the global trading system. For some, the effects are likely to be devastating.
The UK will be relieved to be hit by just the low of 10% after Keir Starmer’s charm offensive, while the EU would have feared worse than 20%. For some countries, Trump outlined much higher rates: 46% for Vietnam, 49% for Cambodia and 29% for Pakistan, for example.
The precise effects of radical tariffs of this historic magnitude are hard to predict. One factor is how rival economies will react: retaliatory tariffs tend to make a bad situation worse, although they may make short-term political sense (see Mark Carney’s ratings in Canadian polls ).
Another question is whether the dollar might appreciate, softening the blow for US importers somewhat. This could limit the effect on prices, which would otherwise have to rise as the cost of importing goods and materials increases.
However, the main challenge in assessing the exact impact of the plans is that Trump’s statement did not mark the end of the period of deep economic uncertainty that began with his arrival in the White House – quite the contrary.
Instead, it kicked off a new and inherently unpredictable battle, in which governments will fight back with their own punitive tariffs – at the same time as negotiating hard to try to win relief.
As in the UK, where ministers are hoping to secure an “economic deal” that looks likely to involve concessions for big US tech companies and lower tariffs on food imports, these talks are likely to have economic consequences of their own.
And it remains unclear how likely Trump will be to be persuaded.
On the one hand, he seems to relish the theater of using tariffs to win political concessions, which he can then present as a winning deal. Trump observers have sometimes argued that a dramatic drop in stock prices could cause the president to abandon the toughest version of policy. His press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, insisted Tuesday that Wall Street “will be fine” as a result of the tariff package.
But at other times, Trump seemed to suggest that a bit of market turbulence could be part of the plan. “There’s a transition period because what we’re doing is so big,” he said in a recent interview with Fox News – in which he also declined to rule out a recession.
There’s also the small matter of the revenue the administration hopes to raise from tariffs, which it wants to use to fund tax cuts. White House trade adviser Peter Navarro has suggested that the tariffs could generate a whopping $600bn (£460bn) a year: hardly a match for offering relief to every major economy knocking on the door.
Giving in would also undermine another sometimes contradictory Trump goal: persuading businesses to create new manufacturing jobs under the shelter of the tariff wall.
As bewildered trade pundits repeatedly asserted in the run-up to what Trump called “Liberation Day” and will likely continue to assert after Trump’s Rose Garden exit, it’s almost impossible to guess what will happen next.
All of this creates an alarming level of uncertainty that consumers and businesses abhor. Measures of US consumer confidence have already fallen sharply. In addition to weeks of headlines about ambiguous tariff plans, the tens of thousands of steep government job losses operated by Elon Musk’s “government efficiency department” are unlikely to have improved the mood.
And in boardrooms, puzzled executives may be reluctant to pursue significant investments – for example, bringing manufacturing back to the US, as Trump hopes – when it’s unclear how long the tariffs will last.
Whatever the medium-term prospects for jobs and factories to come back “in full force” to the US, as Trump has predicted, for now, what some have already dubbed the “Trumpcession” seems far more likely to happen than the “golden age” he promised.
Trump news at a glance: Sweeping tariffs announced; Elon Musk could be nearing end of role
Trump announces “reciprocal” tariffs on US’s biggest trading partners; Elon Musk could leave government role at end of 130-day cap. Here’s a roundup of the top US political news of April 2, 2025
Guardian staff
Thursday April 3, 2025 04.24 04.24 CEST
Donald Trump on Wednesday announced sweeping tariffs on some of his biggest trading partners, overturning decades of US trade policy and threatening to unleash a global trade war on what he called “liberation day”.
Trump has said he will impose a 10% universal tariff on all imported foreign goods, on top of “reciprocal tariffs ” on several dozen countries, imposing additional tariffs on countries Trump claims have “cheated” America.
The 10% universal tariff will take effect on April 5, while the reciprocal tariffs will begin on April 9. Markets crashed at the opening of Thursday’s Asian session – you can follow the latest here live.
Trump launches trade attack with a celebratory air
For the start of what looks set to be a dramatic shift in US trade policy, one that could cause ricochets in the global economy, Trump tried to sell tariffs in a celebratory tone.
Nine giant US flags flanked Trump on stage in the Rose Garden as the president spoke in front of his cabinet and a crowd of union workers wearing hard hats and fluorescent construction worker vests. Before Trump took the stage, a marching band played celebratory music to get the crowd excited.
At one point, Trump interrupted his speech to throw a Maga hat into the crowd. In the next breath, he announced the basic 10% universal tariff.
Canada exemption ‘like dodging a bullet in the path of a tank’
Canada’s exemption from Donald Trump’s global tariffs was “like dodging a bullet in the path of a tank”, a business leader has said, as other tariffs are poised to hit key industries that drive the country’s economy.
Speaking to reporters on Parliament Hill, Prime Minister Mark Carney said the 25% tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum, as well as automobiles, would go into effect within hours.
Republicans join Democrats in symbolic Senate vote to repeal Canada tariffs
Several Republican senators joined Democrats to pass a resolution that would block Donald Trump’s tariffs on Canada, a rare rebuke of the president’s trade policy just hours after he announced plans for sweeping import tariffs on some of the country’s biggest trading partners.
In a 51-48 vote, four Republicans – Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and both Kentucky senators, former Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul – defied Trump’s pressure campaign and backed the measure. Democrats used a procedural maneuver to force a vote on the resolution, which would end the national fentanyl emergency that Trump is using to justify tariffs on Canada.
Musk will soon retire from Trump administration – report
Elon Musk’s polarizing stint slashing and attacking the federal bureaucracy will likely come to an end soon, with the world’s richest man’s government service hitting its legal limit in the coming weeks. Insiders reportedly told Politico that Musk will leave when the 130-day limit on government service expires.
Musk’s joy after liberal judge wins Wisconsin race
Democrats on Wednesday tasted unfamiliar triumphalism after the election for a vacancy on the Wisconsin Supreme Court turned into an emphatic repudiation of Elon Musk, Donald Trump‘s wealthiest supporter and key ally.
Waltz’s team set up at least 20 Signal chats – report
DonaldTrump‘s national security adviser Mike Waltz and his team set up at least 20 different group chats on the encrypted messaging app Signal to coordinate sensitive national security work, sources tell Politico.
US health secretary and his agency sued by 23 states over $11 billion funding cut
Twenty-three states and the District of Columbia are suing the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr, claiming that the abrupt termination of $11 billion in funding for public health was “harmful” and “unlawful”.
DC African-American museum director on leave
Kevin Young, the director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) in Washington DC, is not currently at the helm of the museum and has been on leave since March 14 as Donald Trump targets the Smithsonian museum network for its content.
Joe Rogan breaks with Trump over Venezuela deportations
Joe Rogan, the influential podcast host and prominent Donald Trump supporter , has criticized the president’s administration over the deportation of a professional make-up artist and a hairdresser to a prison in El Salvador, calling it “horrible”.
What else happened today:
- Joe Biden’s former White House chief of staff Joe Biden paints a devastating picture of the then-US president’s mental and physical state before the debate with Donald Trump that led to the collapse of his 2024 campaign.
- A judge has dismissed the corruption case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams, weeks after he bowed to pressure from the Trump administration to cooperate on an immigration crackdown.
- Xavier Becerra, the former health secretary in the Biden administration , became the latest Democrat to join the crowded circle trying to become California’s next governor.
,,, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/03/trump-tariffs-liberation-day
Trump goes all out to promote his tariff plan – and nobody’s a winner
There were graphs and scores as The Price Is Right came to Washington. The grand prize? A global trade war
David Smith in Washington
Thursday April 3, 2025 01.35 CEST
It was Jeopardy, or The Price Is Right, come to Washington.
On an unseasonably chilly day in the Rose Garden of the White House, Donald Trump stood with a huge table listing the reciprocal tariffs he would impose on China, the European Union, the United Kingdom and other unhappy competitors.
The winner?
Trump, of course, the master of phony populism, chased by a crowd that included men in hard hats and fluorescent construction-worker vests.
The losers?
Everyone else.
Sensing a bad headline, Trump didn’t want his “liberation day” to coincide with April Fool’s Day, so he waited until April 2 to enter April Fools’ Paradise. It turned out to be a liberation for his decades-old grievances about the US being cheated, with Trump holding up two fingers to the world.
“For decades, our country has been robbed, pillaged, raped and pillaged by nations near and far – friend and foe alike,” the president declared against the backdrop of nine giant US flags on the White House colonnade. “Foreign cheats have plundered our factories, and foreign plunderers have destroyed our once beautiful American dream.”
He nodded to the steelworkers, auto workers, farmers and American artisans in the audience. These blue-collar workers have been at the center of Trump’s political rise. Their industrial cities in the Midwest and elsewhere were drained by the trade policies of Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton, which sent thousands of jobs overseas where labor was cheaper.
Trump could not say that “Liberation Day” represents a final repudiation of Reagan, still a god in Republican circles. But he drove a stake through the heart of the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement, or Nafta, describing it as “the worst trade deal ever.”
In the great anti-globalization revolt of 2016, forgotten workers could have voted for the left-wing populism of Bernie Sanders, but he lost the Democratic Party nomination to Hillary Clinton.
Instead, enough people voted for Trump to make him president, believing in his promises that only he could solve the problem, end the American carnage, and get the factories pulsing again. As it turned out, he introduced a $1.5 trillion bill that cut taxes for corporations and the wealthy.
Many working people have duly turned to Democrats, with Joe Biden in 2020. He has put money into manufacturing – for example, through the Chips and Science Act, a bipartisan bill investing $52 billion to revitalize the semiconductor industry.
In 2024, however, the pendulum swung again.
Somehow, a Manhattan billionaire with a criminal record once again convinced blue-collar workers that he was on their side. He claimed he could wave tariffs (taxes on foreign imports), which he described as the most beautiful word in the English language, like a magic wand.
In reality, experts say, it will drive up prices and slow economic growth. Ontario Premier Doug Ford called this not Liberalization Day, but Layoff Day, because of all the jobs that will be lost. Trump playing with tariffs is like a child playing with matches.
As he prepared to sign an executive order imposing reciprocal tariffs on some 60 countries, he thought it was payback time: ‘Reciprocal: it means they do it to us and we do it to them. Very simple. It doesn’t get simpler than that. This is one of the most important days, in my opinion, in American history. It is our declaration of economic independence.”
It was an odd message to hear from the leader of the world’s richest and most powerful country, which has imposed tariffs on countries such as Ethiopia, Haiti and Lesotho.
“For years, hard-working American citizens have been forced to sit on the sidelines while other nations grew rich and powerful, largely at our expense. But now it is our turn to prosper … Today we stand up for the American worker and finally put America first,” he said.
Even then, Trump claimed he was being gracious by not being “totally reciprocal.” He summoned his trade secretary, Howard Lutnick, to bring the chart to the podium and, as if it were a parlor game, began going through the scores on the doors:
“China, front row. China, 67 percent. These are tariffs levied on the US, including currency manipulation and trade barriers. So 67%, so we’re going to charge a reduced reciprocal tariff of 34%. I guess in other words, they tax us, we tax them, we tax them less. So how can anybody be upset?
“European Union, they are very tough traders – very, very tough. You know, you think of the European Union, very friendly. They are robbing us. It’s so sad to say, it’s so pathetic. Thirty-nine and nine percent. We’re going to ask them for 20%, so we’re basically asking them for half.
“Vietnam: great negotiators, great people, they like me. I like them. The problem is they’re asking us for 90%. We will charge them 46%.”
And so on to Taiwan, Japan (“very, very tough, great people”), Switzerland, Indonesia, Indonesia, Malaysia and Cambodia: “UK, 10%, and we’ll do 10%, so we’ll do the same”.
After reviewing the figures, Trump rambled, as he is wont to do at a campaign rally: ‘The price of eggs is now down 59%, and will go down, and availability is fantastic. They were saying, for Easter, please don’t use eggs. Could you use plastic eggs? We said, we don’t want to do that.”
And, “It’s such an old-fashioned term, but a nice term: shopping. It refers to a bag with different things in it. Shopping has grown a lot and we campaigned on it. We talked a lot about the word ‘groceries’ and now energy costs are down. Shopping is down.
In other words, everything is going great despite Signalgate, despite Tuesday’s disappointing election results, despite a falling stock market and low consumer confidence. Now a global trade war, too. The US is about to discover that the only thing more dangerous than a politician who believes in nothing is a politician who believes in something stupid.
,, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/02/trump-tariffs-white-house-sketch
Mike Waltz’s team set up at least 20 Signal chats for national security activities – report
The national security adviser and team shared “sensitive information” in group chats on the app, sources tell Politico
Joseph Gedeon in Washington
Wed Apr 2 2025 22.25 22.25 CEST
DonaldTrump‘s national security adviser Mike Waltz and his team created at least 20 different group chats on the encrypted messaging app Signal to coordinate sensitive national security work, sources tell Politico.
The revelation, which cites four people with direct knowledge of the practice, comes in the wake of heightened scrutiny of how the administration handles sensitive information, after The Atlantic recently published messages from a chat in which Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, shared operational details of deadly strikes against Houthi rebels in Yemen.
The anonymous sources in question told Politico that the Signal chats covered a wide range of policy areas, including Ukraine, China, Gaza, broader Middle East politics, Africa and Europe. All four individuals said they had seen “sensitive information” discussed in these forums, though none said they had any knowledge of classified material.
In recent days, Waltz’s nonchalant nature about protecting national security secrets has been exposed. The Washington Post has reported documents revealing that Waltz’s team conducted government business through personal Gmail accounts.
The White House again defended the practice, with a spokesman for the National Security Council, Brian Hughes, telling Politico that Signal “was not banned on government devices” and was automatically installed on some agencies’ phones.
“It’s one of the approved methods of communication, but it’s not primary or even secondary,” Hughes said, adding that any claims of sharing classified information are “100 percent false.”
The insistence by administration officials that none of the messages were classified, including earlier remarks by White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt and Hegseth, contradict the Defense Department’s own rules on what would count as classified.
In the earlier discussion, Hegseth shared specific operational details about the military strikes in Yemen, including the launch times of F-18 fighter jets and Tomahawk missiles. Those details, according to former State Department lawyer Brian Finucane, who has advised on previous strikes on Yemen, would typically be classified based on his experience.
Other national security officials have similarly warned that using a messaging app like Signal could violate federal record-keeping laws if chats are automatically deleted and could compromise operational security if a phone is confiscated.
Despite previous controversies, Leavitt indicated Monday that Trump stands firmly behind his national security adviser and that an investigation into how Waltz accidentally added a journalist to a sensitive discussion has been closed.
,,, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/02/trump-mike-waltz-signal-groups
Ukraine war briefing: No Trump tariffs on Russia as its officials host investment czar Putin
Kryvyi Rig hit as Kharkiv endures a Shahed drone barrage; NATO foreign ministers including Marc Rubio to meet in Brussels. What we know on Day 1,135
Warren Murray and the Agencies
Thursday April 3, 2025 03.56 CEST
- Vladimir Putin’s envoy for investment, Kirill Dmitriev, met with US officials in Washington on Wednesday, officials said, as the Trump administration considers business deals with Moscow even as Russia continues to wage war in Ukraine and refuses a ceasefire. Because of the war, Dmitriev is under sanctions that the US had to suspend so he could visit.
- Dmitriev is the highest-ranking Russian official to travel to the US on state business since Russia began the full-scale war in 2022. It was not clear what he discussed Wednesday with U.S. officials. Dmitriev has close ties to the Trump team dating back to the 2016 election, in which the Mueller investigation uncovered “extensive and systematic” Russian interference in favor of Trump.
- Also on Wednesday, the Trump administration did not include Russia on an expanded list of countries that will face new high tariffs. Ukraine was penalized with a 10 percent tariff, according to a fact sheet released by the White House.
- A team from Ukraine could come to the U.S. as early as this week or next week, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Bloomberg Television on Wednesday.
- A Russian ballistic missile has killed at least four people and wounded 14 others in Kryvyi Rig, the hometown of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The head of the military administration in Kryvyi Rig, Oleksandr Vikul, said Russia had attacked civilian infrastructure, causing a major fire, and that a rescue operation had been launched. Earlier on Wednesday, a 45-year-old man was killed when a Russian attack hit parked cars in front of a house in Zaporizhzhia, said Ivan Federov, head of the military administration in the Ukrainian region.
- Russian forces launched an hour-long barrage of 17 Shahed drones on Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, late Wednesday, sparking fires, said the regional governor, Oleh Syniehubov, who reported that five people were wounded in an attack on the same district earlier in the day. Syniehubov also reported a drone attack on the town of Derhachi, northwest of Kharkiv, resulting in one person wounded. A strike sparked a fire in Cherkaska Lozova, also outside Kharkiv.
- NATO allies have pledged more than €20 billion in military support for Ukraine in the first three months of the year, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said on Wednesday. Foreign ministers from the alliance are meeting Thursday and Friday in Brussels to discuss further support for Ukraine. Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, is due to arrive in Brussels on Thursday for the two days of talks, bringing with him Matt Whitaker, the newly confirmed US ambassador to NATO.
- More details have emerged about secondary sanctions that US senators want to impose on Russia-friendly countries if Moscow continues to disrupt peace talks. The group of 50 Republican and Democratic senators is proposing tariffs of 500% on imports from countries that buy fuel and uranium from Russia. The Trump administration has so far failed to fulfill the president’s promise to broker a ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia in just 24 hours. Ukraine offered an unconditional 30-day general ceasefire, which Moscow rejected.
- On Wednesday, Ukrainian authorities charged five suspects with involvement in a military procurement scandal that led to swift anti-corruption reforms during the war. The five, including a former defense ministry department head, are accused of inflating prices when ordering food for troops and embezzling millions of euros between August and December 2022. They have received “suspicious tip-offs” which could lead to formal charges of embezzlement, suspected embezzlement and money laundering. It is alleged that the embezzled funds were probably used in part to buy property abroad, including hotels in Croatia.
- Russia and Ukraine accused each other on Wednesday of new attacks against the other’s energy facilities, citing a US-brokered moratorium, although no formal agreement is in place.
- The computer systems of Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s Civic Platform party were affected by a cyber attack, he said on Wednesday. Poland has been on high alert for foreign interference and sabotage ahead of presidential elections scheduled for May, as it says its role in supporting Ukraine has made it a key target for Russian security services.
Netanyahu to visit Hungary as Orbán vows to defy ICC arrest warrant
Israeli PM begins four-day trip after his Hungarian counterpart says court ruling ‘will have no effect’
Thursday April 3, 2025 06.00 CEST
Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to begin a four-day official visit to Hungary on Thursday, marking the first time the Israeli prime minister has stepped on European soil since the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for him on Gaza war crimes charges.
Hours after the ICC announced the warrants in November, Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said he would defy the court to host Netanyahu, telling reporters he would “guarantee” that the ICC ruling “will have no effect in Hungary”.
Hungary has been a signatory to the ICC since the court was established more than two decades ago and has adhered to the requirement to arrest and surrender anyone subject to an arrest warrant if they set foot in the country. In recent days, Orbán government sources have reportedly raised the possibility of withdrawing from the court.
The visit comes as Netanyahu has declared that Israel is “land-grabbing ” and plans to “partition” the Gaza Strip, two weeks after ending a fragile ceasefire by resuming bombardments and deploying ground troops on besieged Palestinian territory.
This is Netanyahu’s second trip abroad since the announcement of arrest warrants for him and his former defense chief and Hamas leader Ibrahim al-Masri. Israel rejected the court’s accusations, describing them as politically motivated and fueled by anti-Semitism.
In February, Netanyahu traveled to the US – which, like Israel, is not a member of the ICC – to meet Donald Trump. The US president used the visit to sign an executive order seeking to impose ICC sanctions over its investigation into Israel’s actions in the conflict, which began when Hamas attacked southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking 250 captive.
Since then, Israel’s retaliatory military campaign in Gaza has killed more than 50,000 people, mostly civilians, according to the territory’s health ministry.
In the EU and its 27 members – all signatories to the ICC – the issue of the implementation of arrest warrants has long been a source of division. While states such as Spain, the Netherlands and Finland have said they will maintain the warrants, Poland earlier this year looked into the possibility of Netanyahu attending the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, while Germany’s acting chancellor Friedrich Merz said last month that he promised to find a way for Netanyahu to visit Germany without being arrested.
When asked earlier this week about the reports of Netanyahu’s visit, a European Commission spokesman said all states should ensure “full cooperation with the courts, including through the prompt execution of outstanding arrest warrants,” according to Politico.
Hungary’s decision to violate the court ruling has been criticized by human rights groups.
In a statement, Erika Guevara Rosas of Amnesty International said, “Prime Minister Netanyahu is an alleged war criminal who is accused of using famine as a method of war, intentionally targeting civilians and crimes against humanity of murder, persecution and other inhumane acts. Hungary’s invitation shows contempt for international law and confirms that alleged war criminals wanted by the ICC are welcome on the streets of an EU member state.”
Human Rights Watch highlighted the accusations that Orbán has repeatedly faced of weakening democratic institutions and gradually undermining the rule of law.
“Allowing Netanyahu’s visit in violation of Hungary’s obligations to the ICC would be Orbán’s latest attack on the rule of law, adding to the country’s dismal rights record,” Liz Evenson of the organization said in a statement. “All ICC member countries must make it clear that they expect Hungary to comply with its obligations to the court and that they will do the same.”
In a statement to The Guardian, the ICC said member states have a legal obligation to implement the court’s judgments and added that it is not up to the parties but up to the ICC “to unilaterally determine the merits of the court’s legal decisions.”
h ttps://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/apr/03/netanyahu-to-visit-hungary-as-orban-vows-to-defy-icc-arrest-warrant
Stena tanker crew members recount the moment of the ship’s impact – April 1, 2025
The Stena Immaculate after the collision (HM Coastguard)
The Seafarers’ International Union (SIU) has published a first-hand account from the crew of the oil tanker Stena Immaculate, which was struck by a ship off the UK last month.
On March 10, the Portuguese-flagged bunkering vessel Solong was on a routine coastal voyage off Hull, UK, making 16 knots on a steady southerly trajectory. Without slowing or maneuvering, the Solong struck the port side of the moored oil tanker Stena Immaculate, penetrating two tankers.
Jeffrey Griffin told SIU he was practicing on deck at the time of the accident.
“All we could see was something big and blue heading toward us. We knew right away we weren’t going to miss it,” Griffin said. “We were front and center when it came alongside between seven and six cargo tanks in the harbor. There was a great loud noise. It was followed by a lot of firing.”
At first, the crew responded with shock and amazement. Those on and below deck felt the vibration and knew something was wrong.
“It wasn’t a huge shock. I remember looking through the fog. I could vaguely see the white outline of the other ship’s house. And then the first fireball happened,” recalls OS Benjamin Brown.
The crew ran out of hoses and began laying foam to suppress the flames on deck. Two officers remained forward on the bow, and firefighting efforts were successful enough that they were able to get through and return to the quarterdeck.
After half an hour of fire fighting, the skipper instructed the crew to abandon ship. “I won’t say we came close to putting out the fire, but we did well,” Griffin said. “I was about to do a muster when I heard the words, forget muster, abandon ship.
The crew assembled at the lifeboat and, after the first mate confirmed that everyone was on board, they gravitated to the water and took off. Bosun noticed fuel burning on the surface of the water during the escape. Despite the fiery smoke and dense fumes, they were unharmed and were quickly rescued by nearby Good Samaritan vessels.
Griffin said he was already ready to leave again. “I’m a little shaken up, but I’m ready to get back to work. The fire – it happened. The abandoned ship – it happened. We trained for it, we prepared for it and everybody survived, so obviously we’re doing something right,” he told SIU.
The Immaculate Stena’s cargo will be pumped for safety and the ship will be towed to Newcastle for a port of refuge. A crew member of the Solong is missing and presumed dead; the Solong’s skipper has been arrested on charges of negligent homicide, and Stena and operator Crowley have sued the Solong’s owner for damages.
The owner, a subsidiary of Ernst Russ, is setting up a damages fund in the UK as proceedings begin. The firm has filed a limitation of liability case in the U.K. admiralty court, which would limit the total value of the claims to the value of the ship and its cargo.
Source: here
Norway uncovers Russian maritime insurance fraud scheme – March 30, 2025
Norwegian investigators have indicted four people in connection with an alleged maritime insurance fraud linked to the Russian dark fleet, according to NRK.
The investigation centers on the activities of insurer Ro Marine AS, a company with a listed address in the prestigious Norwegian Shipowners’ Association building in Oslo. According to the NRK and the shipowners’ association, Ro Marine was never present in the building – and the Norwegian Financial Authority says the company was not selling actual insurance either.
A routine check of the insurer’s documents revealed that it had sent customers a forged document purporting to be a letter of approval from Finanstilsynet, the Norwegian Financial Supervisory Authority. The seal was wrong; the signature was forged; and the document referred to non-existent regulations, Finanstilsynet told NRK. The agency reported the apparent fraud to the police and on March 4 instructed Ro Marine AS to cease operations immediately.
Four people have been charged in connection with the scheme: two Norwegians, who deny knowledge of any wrongdoing; a Bulgarian; and a Russian resident of St. Petersburg, who owns and manages the business. NRK contacted Ro Marine by e-mail, and the company denied any sanctions violations.
The company’s Russian owner is not in custody and, despite instructions from Norwegian authorities, the company’s website remains live. As of March 25, Finanstilsynet said it had been unable to contact the brokerage house.
“Finanstilsynet warns against entering into agreements with Romarine AS and against using services offered through the company’s websites,” the agency warned in a statement.
The new insurance inspection regime in the Baltic Sea has uncovered seven tankers claiming to be covered by Ro Marine, including the tanker Achilles. The fake cover documents passed at the time, given the Norwegian address and Ro Marine’s connections, but had no real insurance behind them. This left the tankers dangerously exposed in the event of an accident or spill.
“Fake insurance directly violates international conventions and increases the danger for everyone,” said Harvard sanctions expert Craig Kennedy. “It violates a basic principle of global shipping safety and should be a concern for all coastal states.”
The Ro Marine case is one of many alternative insurance arrangements used by the “dark fleet” of Russian-linked oil tankers. These ships cannot access Western insurance markets because of sanctions and have turned to Russian and Indian insurers to bridge the gap, with questionable results. It may be the most glaring example of a solution, experts say.
“There have been isolated cases, but not on this scale and not so systematically. It is outrageous. It completely undermines the system,” says Kristina Siig.
Source: here
Disclosures: DragonFire laser to be mounted on four Type 45 destroyers – April 1, 2025
It was not previously confirmed on which class of warships the UK air defense laser will be installed on.
Four of the UK’s six Type 45 destroyers will be equipped with DragonFire. Credit: UK Ministry of Defense/Crown Copyright
The UK government has revealed that the DragonFire laser-directed energy weapon DragonFire (LDEW) will be fitted to the Royal Navy’s Type 45 destroyers from 2027, in a landmark disclosure.
Detailed for the first time, it has been confirmed that the DragonFire LDEW will equip four of the six Royal Navy Type 45 destroyers currently in service.
Which four ships are the four are still unknown, nor whether DragonFire will be interchangeable depending on availability, as with the old Harpoon anti-ship Harpoon missiles, or whether the LDEW system will be fixed.
“The Ministry of Defense is committed to accelerating DragonFire laser-directed energy weapons into operational capability by equipping four [Royal] Navy destroyers with this world-leading system from 2027,” Maria Eagle, the defense procurement minister, said April 1.
Britain only operates one type of destroyer, the Type 45.
“By doing this, we are bringing laser technology into the Navy around five years earlier than previously planned, which will protect our armed forces and allow us to learn by doing, helping us to make continuous improvements in areas such as integration, software and overall lethality,” Eagle added.
The facility will serve to support the development of the DragonFire system, as well as the choices the UK government is making on future DEW capabilities, Eagle confirmed. In addition, the defense funding committed during the recent Spring Statement would help “guarantee the in-service date” for DragonFire.
DragonFire and Type 45: an obvious combination
Originally started in 2017 under the previous Conservative administration, the DragonFire program is proving to be a game-changer in defense development policy, not only surviving multiple administrations, but also seeing a demonstration platform with a roadmap for entry into service.
During a rare visit in 2024 to Porton Down, home to some of the UK’s most secretive weapons development, Naval Technology was given considerable insight into the kind of capabilities DragonFire has and the aspirations of industry partners on how far it could develop.
QinetiQ’s DragonFire laser weapon from QinetiQ will be fitted to Royal Navy warships from 2027. Credit: QinetiQ
Tests at the Hebrides military range have proven the concept, the challenge now to find a way to integrate DragonFire on Type 45 destroyers.
The choice of the Type 45 makes sense, the air defense destroyers being the largest surface combatant in Royal Navy service and likely capable of generating the power needed to operate the LDEW.
It should be noted that with the addition of DragonFire, the Type 45 destroyers are developing into very capable air defense platforms, with LDEW already adding another ground-to-air capability to the class thanks to the expansion of its traditional missile with the Sea Ceptor system.
Source: here
Finland promises to increase defense spending to 3% of GDP by 2029 – April 1, 2025
The new funding decision allows Finland “to respond to the current security situation in Europe and the military threat posed by Russia,” according to Defense Minister Antti Häkkänen.
Finland announced today that it plans to increase defense spending to a minimum of 3% of GDP over the next four years and that government preparations are underway to withdraw from the Ottawa Convention, which focuses on banning anti-personnel landmines.
Finland’s ministerial committee for economic policy approved the 3% of GDP target after it was proposed by Defense Minister Antti Häkkänen, the Finnish government said in a statement.
Häkkänen added that the spending increase “will further strengthen Finland’s defense” and pledged to “launch the modernization of the army and the strengthening of other threat-based defense capabilities.”
The new funding decision allows Finland “to respond to the current security situation in Europe and the military threat posed by Russia”, according to Häkkänen. He said the Finnish defense forces will receive “additional funding” worth 3.7 billion euros ($4 billion) by 2029.
Helsinki said “Russia’s development of its military capabilities and its political aspirations pose a long-term security threat to Europe and Finland”.
In response, “it must sustain its ability to counter broad-spectrum influence, resist long-term military pressure and fight large-scale wars lasting for years, using national resources and as part of NATO,” today’s statement added.
‘What we see now is a more hollow, aggressive and authoritarian Russian leadership [compared to past decades] and, as many Baltic and Eastern European countries have said, while currently preoccupied with Ukraine, things could change quite quickly,’ said Robin Häggblom, a Finnish defense expert. “There is a concern [including in Finland] that Russia turning … to a war economy means that they will have problems to return to some kind of peaceful coexistence, even if somehow the situation in Ukraine has been magically resolved.”
In its statement, Helsinki spoke of the decision to “launch material projects for the army in an anticipatory manner” and pledged to increase “resources” as well as to speed up “the process of selecting priorities for increasing Finland’s expertise”.
Häggblom labeled the new spending commitment as a “significant increase” from current spending levels, which see Helsinki’s regular military budget “hovering” at around 2% of GDP, in line with NATO’s target. However, when purchases outside the defense budget are added – including an order for 64 fifth-generation Lockheed Martin F-35A Lockheed Martin F-35A fighter jets and four Pohjanmaa-class multirole corvettes made by Rauma Marine Constructions – the Scandinavian nation is spending about 2.4% of GDP, according to Häggblom.
Given that local public finances are in a “bad state”, he said the spending pledge sends a “strong signal that both the government and the opposition agree that things need to be done” and done “differently”.
“The alternative is more instability and cross-border risk on a border where the Lebanese and Syrian maps differ in key ways,” analyst Aram Nerguizian told Breaking Defense.
Text by Agnes Helou
Häggblom commented that the decision to make army modernization a priority is also “significant” because aging East German, Polish and Russian equipment acquired in the 1990s – such as heavy artillery systems, rocket launchers, armored personnel carriers and the BMP-2 infantry fighting vehicle – are “rapidly approaching obsolescence.”
“All these [weapon systems] will have to be replaced fairly soon,” Häggblom said, adding that new investments will also be needed in “the army’s primary units”, linked to more modern helmets and sights. In addition, he expects a decision on a modernization or replacement of the German-made Leopard 2A4 Leopard 2A4 main battle tanks to take place “very soon”. Plans to bolster air defense capabilities are already in motion, thanks to the 2023 decision to purchase David’s Sling, produced by Israel’s Rafael.
In parallel, Finland has donated “quite a lot of ex-Soviet artillery … to Ukraine [and] that has also increased the urgency to get these replacements on the books,” Häggblom noted.
According to Finnish Defense Ministryfigures, it has “presented” military aid packages to Ukraine worth more than €2.5 billion. In February, Helsinki also announced plans for a new €660 million tax package, which would allow Kiev to order equipment directly from Finnish suppliers.
Häggblom noted that Finnish government officials stressed at a press conference today that the new orders must be placed quickly, as the equipment deliveries could take several years to arrive, but, he added, “authorizing the military to start making these purchases now means that the actual invoices will be sent out in about four years.”
In a separate statement issued today, Helsinki said it was “initiating preparations to withdraw from the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction (the so-called Ottawa Convention)”. The change in policy, according to the statement, is because the weapons are capable of “complementing the capabilities of the Defense Forces”.
Finland’s approach mirrors that of the Baltic states and Poland, which publicly expressed their support for leaving the treaty last month.
Source: here
If annual appropriations are dead, there’s an opportunity for defense – April 1, 2025
“With Congress’s failure to pass a budget, the administration has been presented with an opportunity for DoD to manage its budget more flexibly,” write AEI’s Elaine McCusker and Bill Greenwalt.
On March 11, 2024, the Pentagon and the military services submitted their budget requests for fiscal year 2025. (Graphic by Breaking Defense, original images courtesy DVIDS, Getty)
America has three equal branches of government. Or does it?
Congress has failed to fulfill its fundamental responsibility – passing annual appropriations legislation for federal government operations – on time for decades. This year, for the first time, the Department of Defense is covered by a full-year continuing resolution (CR), and the prospects for a return to regular order – i.e., passage and enactment of individual bills before the new fiscal year begins – are highly questionable.
The implications of this new state of affairs offer interesting opportunities. Leaving aside the immediate and cumulative impact on national security, economic competitiveness, and international reputation of the recurring CR debacle – are we heading into a new era? One where we have no annual appropriations at all, just continuations of what went before?
And if so, what might or should this mean for congressional committee functions and federal budgets, especially for defense?
The one-year CR contains important exceptions for defense that could signal changes for the future. It allows for new beginnings. It provides more general transfer authority so the department can make adjustments between appropriations to better reflect updated priorities. In addition, it increases the annual budget directly from the previous year, although only by a small amount.
These exceptions demonstrate that the CRs can deviate from traditional CR restrictions. Recognizing the need for these flexibilities, Congress acknowledged that changes to the defense budget structure are long overdue and that it no longer has the ability to manage its constitutional power to punch the bag.
Congress could save some of the appearance and move to an oversight role by agreeing to more changes to this new way of doing business for the nation.
The Defense Department has been handcuffed for decades in ways that other agencies are not and cannot operate effectively under a traditional CR. Other federal agencies do not need the flexibilities because they already have them, as documented in a congressionally mandated report by RAND to support the Planning, Programming, Budgeting, and Execution (PPBE) Commission’s reform. The RAND research expertly details the impact of restrictions on DoD that other agencies do not have, such as arranging appropriations by mission or theme, funding that does not expire, advance appropriations that provide more budget stability, nonrecurring spending funds, and the ability to carry funds across fiscal years.
These flexibilities should be provided to the Department of Defense so that it can be a smarter, faster, and more agile customer on behalf of the warfighter and the nation’s security. Any future appropriation measures should include any changes necessary to provide the DoD at least the same level of maneuver room that others already have. This would include multi-year funding and carryover and removing restrictions on the types of funding that other agencies do not have.
In addition, the DoD budget should be organized by specific missions, themes, and programs, with consolidated program elements and budget lines to simplify both oversight and execution. Similar to NASA, this change would replace legacy statutory appropriation titles with portfolio- or outcome-focused funding packages.
The current budget divisions were created to track a program as it progresses through research, development, testing, acquisition, and sustainment. Many programs no longer go through this linear process, and even when they do, the intended transparency for program cost and oversight is lacking because these accounts are constrained by the type of money, rather than fully burdened cost estimates for an outcome or capability. This change would also allow for agility in responding to the changing needs of warfighters and encourage broader industry participation in the development, production, and deployment of solutions.
The Republican appropriations leadership signaled its own fall from relevance by sending more than 181 pages of funding tables to DoD to indicate its congressional intent for the CR for FY 2025. These tables are the annual power source for congressional appropriators. While the binding statutory authority of these tables has been an open question, this year there is not even an attempt to portray these tables as part of the law. Consistent with the changes in budget structures above, Congress should eliminate the detailed authorization and appropriation funding tables and combine any relevant oversight and program direction into a single annual defense omnibus that would pass on time each year.
With Congress’s failure to pass a budget, the administration has been presented with an opportunity for DoD to manage its budget more flexibly and limit congressionally mandated micromanagement in favor of strategic oversight and routine transparency.
It remains to be seen whether the Trump administration and Congress will conclude that the best path forward is to continue funding the government through a new type of appropriations that provides needed budget increases for defense while limiting restrictions to those specified in law. But time is already short between now and the end of the next fiscal year, so now is the time to turn failure into success in funding the nation’s security.
Elaine McCusker is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI). She previously served as the Pentagon’s acting undersecretary of defense (comptroller). Bill Greenwalt is a non-resident fellow at the think tank American Enterprise Institute (AEI), a former member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and a former deputy undersecretary of defense for industrial policy.
Source: here
APM Terminals acquires Panama Canal Land Bridge Railroad – April 2, 2025
APM Terminals, the terminal operating division of AP Moller-Maersk, has acquired the Panama Canal Railway Company (PCRC) from Canadian Pacific Kansas City Limited and Lanco Group/Mi-Jack, significantly expanding its intermodal capabilities in Central America.
The acquisition comes as the Panama Canal recovers from operational challenges caused by low water levels during the El Niño drought of 2023-2024. The 76-kilometer railway, which parallels the Panama Canal, provides vital freight transportation between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
In 2024, PCRC generated US$77 million in revenues and US$36 million in EBITDA.
“Panama Canal Railway Company represents an attractive infrastructure investment in the region, aligned with our core intermodal container movement services,” said Keith Svendsen, CEO of APM Terminals. “The company is highly regarded for its operational excellence and will provide us with a significant opportunity to offer a broader range of services to the global transportation customers we serve.”
The timing of the acquisition is strategic, following Maersk’s implementation in 2024 of a “land bridge” solution across Panama to address severe transit restrictions at the Panama Canal, where drought has forced the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) to reduce daily transits and maximum vessel draft.
The railroad has already proved valuable in the Maersk network, particularly in modifying the OC1 service between Oceania and America. Instead of using the canal, the ships used the railroad land bridge across Panama, creating two operational loops: the Pacific ships turn at Balboa, the Atlantic ships at Manzanillo, with the railroad connecting these points.
For CPKC, the sale represents a strategic sale. Keith Creel, president and chief executive officer of CPKC, noted, “The sale of this non-core asset creates value for our shareholders and reflects our commitment to optimize our assets as we focus on growing our core North American rail business.”
This acquisition will enable APM Terminals to better manage the challenges of the Panama Canal, providing a reliable alternative for moving goods during the constraints of the canal, congestion and exorbitant fees to skip the queue.
Source: here
China ship sales plummet as industry sweats over US ports plan
Apr 2, 2025 (Bloomberg) — Shipping companies stopped buying dry-bulk carriers that were built in China as the industry waits to see whether President Trump will continue with historic port fees on ships built in the Asian country.
Only four China-made bulk carriers – ships that haul everything from coal to salt – were sold on the used market in March, according to Clarkson Research Services Ltd. data compiled by Bloomberg and compiled by Bloomberg. That’s the lowest since at least 2022 and about one-fifth of the monthly levels seen last year. Transactions involving Japanese and Korean carriers were little changed over the same period.
The slowdown in purchases is the latest sign that the US proposals are having an impact on the markets and hampering Chinese-owned ships even before they are finalized and introduced. The Office of the US Trade Representative is seeking to introduce fees that could reach more than $1 million per port call, but the measures are opposed by parts of the global shipping industry and the supply chains it serves.
“There is clearly more buying interest in ships built in Japan compared to those built in China at present,” said Burak Cetinok, head of London-based research at Arrow Shipping, a shipbroking company. “This is reflected in both transaction volumes and asset values. Most of the ships that have changed owners in recent weeks are built in Japan.”
Under the initial proposals, fees could theoretically reach up to $3.5 million per ship in some scenarios, Clarkson previously said.
Ship owners and firms that charter their vessels have also amended their leases to cope with the prospect of multi-million-dollar fees being introduced between the time a ship departs and the time it arrives at a US port.
The head of shipping at Mercuria told a conference last week that the measures, if introduced as planned, could be catastrophic for US grain exports by dry bulk dry bulk vessels.
Buyer beware
There are signs that buyer caution may have affected the value of China-built carriers – even if the sample size of transactions makes direct comparisons difficult.
Clarkson data show that a Chinese-built vessel sold for about $5.8 million less than a comparable Japanese carrier last week. Before the USTR measures were announced, vessels of similar size and age were selling for $4.8 million less than those built outside China. Figures from the SSY brokerage put the discount for new Chinese-built vessels at the highest level since early 2023 compared with those built in Japan.
However, the impact is mixed, depending on the ships in question. The giant 300-meter Capesize Capesize ships have not been as heavily impacted because they don’t call at U.S. ports as frequently, according to Arrow’s Cetinok. It also creates a buying opportunity for some.
“Those focused on Pacific or other non-U.S. deals increasingly see this bifurcation of valuations as an opportunity to acquire ships at attractive prices,” he said. “Others, particularly those exposed to US trade, remain more cautious.”
There has also been a slowdown in the number of smaller bulk carriers ordered for construction in China, according to Bilal Muftuoglu, head of dry bulk research at Howe Robinson Partners.
“For new construction activity in China, we only had one order in February and nothing firm in March, which is very unusual,” he said.
In the first quarter, 13 such ships were ordered in China, compared with 21 in Japan, Muftuoglu said.
“Japan recording higher orders than China is also unusual lately,” he added.
Source: here
Russia is making a double ship-to-ship LNG transfer to get around the latest EU sanctions
Just days after the EU banned the transshipment of Russian liquefied natural gas, Russia has deployed four LNG carriers for an unusual double ship-to-ship transfer at the Kildin anchorage near Murmansk. The ships are carrying supercritical gas from the Yamal LNG project operated by the Russian company Novatek.
The Arc7 LNG carriers Nikolay Urvantsev and Vladimir Rusanov, both controlled by Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd, met the Lena River and Clean Vision ice-class vessels under the management of Dynagas. AIS data and satellite imagery show that the four ships paired just south of Kildin Island between March 28 and March 31. An STS transfer typically takes around 36-48 hours.
Lena River left China more than three months ago, in late December 2024. The ship remained idle for weeks in the North Sea, Celtic Sea and Barents Sea. Clean Vision departed Mirs Bay near Shenzhen in late February. Nikolay Urvantsev and Vladimir Rusanov both left the Yamal LNG plant about a week ago.
AIS data and satellite imagery showing the four LNG carriers paired up and arriving at the Kildin anchorage (Source: Shipatlas/Planet.com).
Since early 2020, Novatek has been transferring the majority of the LNG reloaded at the Fluxys terminal in Zeebrugge, Belgium, with additional volume coming from Montoir, France. As of March 27, this option is no longer available. EU terminals are now banned under the 14th sanctions package.
Prior to 2020, Novatek also relied on STS operations in northern Norway near Honningsvåg, where it transshipped several dozen cargoes between 2018 and 2020. This option has become increasingly unsustainable politically, with US officials expressing dismay at the transfers.
Under normal operating conditions , the Kildin transfer point is mainly used during the winter season to shorten the distance the Arc7 LNG tankers have to travel. Refueling at Kildin, rather than Zeebrugge, reduces about 4-5 days of a round trip for Arc7 vessels.
Over the past five years, the company has completed about a dozen STSs at the site annually. This number is expected to grow rapidly. In the first three months of 2025, data from commercial intelligence firm Kpler already shows 13 transfers, including the double transshipment late last week.
Source: here
China discovers 100 million-ton oil field in South China Sea
China National Offshore Oil Corporation has discovered an oil field in the eastern South China Sea , with proven reserves of more than 100 million tons, according to China’s official Xinhua news agency.
The Huizhou 19-6 oil field is located about 170 km from Shenzhen in south China’s Guangdong province and lies at an average water depth of 100 meters, the report said.
Test drilling resulted in a daily production of 413 barrels of crude oil and 68,000 cubic meters of natural gas, it added.
In December 2023 it announced that the Philippines wants to drill in the South China Sea
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr has said his country is working to solve “exploration problems” in the South China Sea so it can start new energy exploration projects in the resource-rich waterway to meet his nation’s energy needs.
Marcos, in an interview with Japanese media on Saturday, said that tensions in the South China Sea have “increased rather than eased” in recent months, warning that a “more assertive China” poses a “real challenge” to its Asian neighbors.
The Philippines and China have resumed talks on joint exploration of oil and gas resources in the South China Sea, where the two nations have squabbled for decades over sovereign rights to develop natural resources on the strategic waterway.
But there has been “very little progress” in the talks, Marcos said, according to a press release from his office, while attending a summit in Tokyo of Japan and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
“We are still in a stalemate at the moment,” Marcos said, emphasizing his country’s right to tap energy reserves in the West Philippine Sea at a time when the Philippines wants to reduce its dependence on fossil fuels and coal and switch to liquefied natural gas.
Manila refers to the portion of the South China Sea that lies within its exclusive economic zone (EEZ) as the West Philippine Sea.
Efforts to find a legally viable way to cooperate on energy exploration have repeatedly stalled, with the previous administration abandoning talks in June last year, citing constitutional constraints and sovereignty issues.
A week ago, Manila and Beijing traded accusations over a collision of their ships near a disputed shoal in the South China Sea, as tensions over claims to the vital waterway escalate.
In addition to the Philippines, ASEAN members Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei claim parts of the South China Sea disputed by China, which claims nearly all of the sea, a conduit for more than $3 trillion in annual trade.
The Permanent Court of Arbitration ruled in 2016 that China’s claims have no legal basis, a decision the US supports but Beijing rejects.
“I’m afraid we will have to be able to say that tensions have increased rather than decreased in recent months or in recent years,” Marcos said, emphasizing the need to resolve issues peacefully.
The challenge posed by China requires “new solutions,” said Marcos, who vowed to defend his country’s rights in the South China Sea after the collision, which Manila described as a “serious escalation.”
Source: here
How NORAD could be affected by US-Canada tensions
The US commander says a Canadian exit would partially blind the Pentagon to enemy missiles – at least until new defenses could be built.
If President Trump’s tariffs and threats shatter the US-Canada defense partnership, the Pentagon would lose some of its ability to track incoming enemy threats.
Without Canada’s radar locations, “northern approaches would be severely lacking and we would lose a significant amount of domain awareness and response in northern approaches, which is the quickest and easiest approach for adversaries in North America,” said Gen. Gregory Guillot, head of North American Aerospace Defense Command and US Northern Command.
The future of NORAD, the world’s only bi-national command, has been called into question amid Trump’s threats to impose hefty tariffs and turn America’s northern neighbor into the 51st state. In response, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney recently declared that the centuries-old US-Canada relationship was “over“.
Everything NORAD does is “intertwined” with Canada, so the command would have to “fundamentally change” how it conducts air defense and maritime warning, Guillot told lawmakers during a House Armed Services Committee hearing.
He said the US will have to spend big on radars, airplanes and warships to rebuild its ability to detect threats.
However, Guillot said the U.S.-Canada military relationship remains “as strong as ever” and that he did not see the White House’s position causing friction at NORAD.
“We have several hundred Canadians working side-by-side with us as well on installations. At the military relationship level, we have no problems or concerns. Everyone is focused on the defense of our continent,” he said.
During the hearing, Democratic lawmakers voiced concern that Trump’s trade wars are alienating allies from the US, pointing to a recent agreement between Japan, South Korea and China.
Trump is expected to announce new tariffs on Wednesday with the stated aim of reducing US dependence on foreign goods.
“We’ll all find out tomorrow the magnitude of the next level of these tariffs, but it’s impossible for anyone to reasonably argue that it doesn’t impact our ability to interact with our allies when their governments are under such pressure and pressure with these policies that seem to cascade out every day. ” said Rep. Joe Courtney, D-CT.
Border operations
Defense officials also testified about the department’s stepped-up border operations, which have cost the Pentagon $376 million in the past two months, according to Rafael Leonardo, who serves as assistant secretary of defense for homeland defense and hemispheric affairs. The money went to send more troops to the border, use military planes to deport people and expand detention operations at Guantanamo Bay, among other missions.
The department expects that level of spending to continue, Leonardo said, which could bring the total to $2 billion in Trump’s first year – but costs could continue to rise with the unusual deployment of two Navy destroyers to help with border operations.
Those operations will likely continue for years, Guillot said.
“The initial results of sealing the border have been fantastic, if you look at the statistics, but we need to make sure it’s one that lasts and goes through all the cycles of illegal migration that we see. The seasonal impact is significant in that sense. And then we need to make sure that it is sealed and stays sealed. And I think that will probably take a few years,” Guillot said.
Currently, there are about 6,700 troops at the border, with 10,000 in total expected to be deployed. Guillot said 90 percent of the troops carry out surveillance missions at the border and emphasized that the troops are not detaining migrants.
But officials are mulling plans for NORTHCOM to take command of the land along the border and designate it as a military installation, CNN reported, so that if migrants set foot on the land, they would be placed in “detention” for trespassing, allowing the military to detain the migrants.
Source: here
US satellites could tell if India’s MiG-21 did indeed shoot down a Pakistani F-16, but no dice
An interesting illustration of how reliable access to public satellite intelligence data can depend on the motives behind foreign policy
During the fighting between India and Pakistan in early 2019, there was an episode in which the Indian side claimed that the MiG-21, developed in the mid-20th century, would shoot down a modern Pakistani multi-role fighter. While the claim was hard to believe, neither the Pakistani side nor independent observers were able to reliably refute it.
One would have hoped that data from American satellites would clarify the situation, but this did not happen. The Americans have not released any material, including satellite imagery, that could provide additional information in the case, as The War Zone noted in 2019. This dated article appears in a new light in the context of Washington’s recent denial of access to satellite services for Ukrainian users, now back to normal.
For starters, recall the background. From February 27 through March 4, 2019, India and Pakistan had cross-border clashes involving heavy artillery and aircraft, though they did not escalate into an all-out war. The episode in question took place on February 27, when a full-scale air battle broke out, with eight fighter jets (2x MiG-21, 2x Mirage 2000 and 4x Su-30MKI) engaged on the Indian side and up to 24 Pakistani aircraft, including eight F-16s.
Later, India claimed that the MiG-21 shot down a Pakistani F-16 fighter, but then the heroic aircraft was destroyed by an enemy JF-17. It should be made clear that both fighter jets (MiG-21 and F-16) went down over Pakistani territory – this detail only added to the media chaos that followed the statements by both sides of the conflict.
Snapshot of the situation in the skies near the air battle zone on February 27, 2019, shown by India / Open-source archive image
For instance, at first, the Pakistanis claimed that the Indian side had outright lied, for one reason, as the Pakistan Air Force on that day did not use F-16s at all. But the Indian side later presented fragments of an AIM-120 missile as proof that Pakistan used F-16s on February 27, 2019.
Pakistan then claimed that it found the wreckage of the downed Indian MiG-21, and its examination would have shown that none of the four air-to-air missiles mounted on this aircraft had been fired, hence it could not have shot down the F-16. Here again, since the wreckage of the plane was discovered on Pakistani soil, the statement was largely not perceived as 100% reliable.
The debate snippets above clearly show why, even nine months after the incident, the question of whether the MiG-21 really shot down the Pakistani F-16 remained open in December 2019.
Amid this exchange, TWZ authors wondered whether the United States could dot the i’s and cross the t’s by publishing data collected by its infrared satellites. In any case, this would be beneficial, as it was also about the reputation of American-made weapons: as a fourth-generation airplane, the F-16 should have been unbeatable against a third-generation MiG-21.
However, as summarized by the portal’s authors, despite the ability to do so, Washington chose not to publish data that might clarify what actually happened. One possible explanation is that the White House decided not to intervene for its own geopolitical reasons.
Therefore, Defense Express adds, even 5 years later, the mystery of whether the Indian MiG-21 managed to shoot down the Pakistani F-16 remains unsolved.
Source: here
Ukrainian drones destroy Russian BK-16 landing craft and Raptor Raptor near Crimea (video)
Raptor ship / screenshot from video
Defense Intelligence Service special unit operations demonstrate lethal effectiveness against high-value targets
Defense Intelligence Unit Prymary demonstrated its aerial prowess in a recent operation over Crimea. According to the report, the unit’s drones skillfully evaded Russian air defense missiles and successfully struck two significant targets: the BK-16 landing craft BK-16 (Project 02510) and the Raptor Raptor.
VIDEO: here
In addition to these strikes, the drones also targeted the Russian Tor-M2 surface-to-air missile system, further degrading the enemy’s operational capabilities. The operation, captured on video, highlights both the advanced reconnaissance skills and offensive effectiveness of the Prymary unit.
This footage highlights the evolving role of UAVs in modern warfare, showing their ability to perform precision strikes while avoiding countermeasures. As the war continues, such operations not only impede enemy mobility, but also serve as a powerful reminder of Ukraine’s commitment to defend its territory.
Source: here
How Trump’s team changed the Houthi bombing – Apr. 2, 2025
This image taken from a video provided by the U.S. Navy shows an aircraft launched from the USS Harry S. Truman in the Red Sea ahead of airstrikes in Sanaa, Yemen, on March 15, 2025 (US Navy via AP) (US Navy via AP)
Before the Trump administration started striking targets in Yemen to reopen global shipping, before many of its top officials included a journalist in a group chat to plan those strikes, in fact, even before Donald Trump took office in January, many in his administration didn’t think attacking the Houthis was such a good idea.
“We’re prepared for tens of billions of dollars for what really amounts to a bunch of terrorists who are proxies for Iran,” then-Rep. Mike Waltz, now the president’s national security adviser, told Politico last year. “Iran is the core of the problem.”
“It is truly a sign of how unhinged our foreign policy is that we are now engaging in ongoing military strikes in Yemen – Yemen! – with no real prospect they will be effective,” Elbridge Colby, nominated to lead Pentagon policy, posted on the social media site X last year.
Ever since the group chat on the Signal commercial messaging app became public last week, the Trump administration has argued that the scandal only distracts from the “highly successful” airstrikes it began in early March. Moreover, it framed the campaign as a return to American power after years of “deferred maintenance” under the Biden administration.
But as some of the officials’ earlier statements indicate, the airstrikes campaign shows a shift in how some members of the Trump administration view the Middle East and America’s interests there. The strikes have certainly escalated since last year, experts said. But they represent a high degree of continuity with the Biden administration’s strategy – and are likely to encounter the same problems.
“It’s extremely unlikely to make the Houthis cry for mercy,” said Michael Knights, an analyst at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
A “relentless” campaign
The most recent attacks in Yemen began on March 15, when US Central Command struck 30 targets in Yemen belonging to the Houthis, a terrorist group backed largely by Iran. Immediately, the administration sought to distinguish these attacks from its predecessor’s approach.
“Joe Biden’s response was pitifully weak, so the unarmed Houthis continued,” Trump posted on his Truth Social app shortly after the attacks began.
Shortly after Israel’s war in Gaza began in the fall of 2023, the Houthis began attacking merchant ships passing through the Red Sea, where 15% of global trade had passed through by that year.
In response, the US and a group of other countries set up a task force aimed at protecting those shipping lanes. The US military sent aircraft carriers, destroyers and other ships to the Red Sea to escort ships and began routine air strikes against Houthi sites in Yemen.
The problem, Biden Pentagon officials later acknowledged, was that these strikes did not solve the main problem. Even when under attack, the Houthis were able to replenish their stockpiles with Iranian support, and the group gained prestige by continuing to salvos.
“One thing we’ve learned from our experience is not to underestimate Houthi resilience,” said Daniel Shapiro, the Pentagon’s Middle East policy chief until January, who is backing the current airstrike campaign.
The Trump administration’s response has been to hit harder. It has carried out more than 100 strikes in Yemen so far, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said last week, and has shifted targets. While the previous administration largely limited itself to military sites – think ammunition depots or launch sites – this one is much more willing to hit enemy leaders, including those closest to civilians in urban areas.
“We have destroyed command and control facilities, air defense systems, weapons production facilities and advanced weapons storage locations. While the Houthis still maintain their capability, this is largely due to nearly 10 years of support from Iran,” a US defense official said.
These attacks have happened much faster than the previous campaign. And they are taking place in conjunction with a larger effort to inspect ships entering Yemen for equipment aimed at resupplying the Houthis, potentially slowing the group’s recovery.
“This campaign will be relentless to degrade their capability and open shipping lanes in the region,” Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a March 17 briefing.
Rising prices
However, outside experts say those lanes will likely remain closed for months, if not indefinitely.
Shipping companies have almost uniformly chosen to reroute around the Red Sea, on the grounds that it’s more important for a ship to arrive safely than quickly. This has increased their revenues, which will make it harder for any country to force a return to the status quo.
“The Houthis have reshaped global shipping and have done it in a way that is more profitable for global shipping,” Knights said.
The other problem is that the Houthis have been here before. In fact, the group has been in an almost constant state of war for the past 20 years – against Saudi Arabia, the Yemeni government, the United Arab Emirates and now the United States.
“The problem with the air war there is that it’s not going to work,” said Ben Friedman, an analyst at Defense Priorities, a think tank that calls for a more restrained US foreign policy.
The Houthis began their attacks again on March 11, after a brief pause following the cease-fire in Gaza. An easier way to stop their attacks might be to pressure Israel to allow more humanitarian aid to reach the Palestinian people, Friedman argued, although US officials are wary of making it appear that the Houthis are fighting a noble cause by attacking merchant ships.
Instead, the administration has continued to escalate the military campaign.
Last week, it extended the deployment of the Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier strike group already in the Red Sea and announced it would bring in another one from the Indo-Pacific, leading to several weeks of overlap before Truman’s departure. He also brought additional B-2 stealth bombers and limited air defense batteries.
Meanwhile, the airstrikes continue, including weekend rounds that hit areas of Yemen.
“We’re hitting them every day and night – harder and harder,” Trump tweeted on Monday, again threatening Iran if it continues to support the group.
The Red Sea hasn’t reopened to shipping companies, and the military surge has many congressional Democrats worried about the mixing of means and ends.
“They are cognizant that this is going to have costs for readiness,” a Democratic congressional aide, speaking anonymously under office policy, said of the Pentagon.
Criticism may sound like the kind of partisan bluster that often occurs in Washington. But last year, it wasn’t an entirely Democratic issue – at least for Waltz.
“We use a lot of ammunition,” the then-representative said at a March 2024 hearing, describing the Biden administration’s strategy. “We’re prepared.”
Source: here
ISWAN advocates for a seafarer-centered future – April 2, 2025
The maritime sector must adapt quickly to meet major challenges, including the urgent need for decarbonization and the targeting of shipping in geopolitical conflicts. These factors have a significant impact on the day-to-day realities that seafarers face during their life and work at sea.
Against the backdrop of the growing recruitment and retention crisis in the maritime sector, it is more important than ever for the industry to take proactive steps to understand and address the challenges faced by seafarers and their families.
In launching its new three-year strategic plan, ISWAN shares its vision for a safe, fair and inclusive maritime sector that provides fulfilling careers and sustainable livelihoods for all seafarers and their families.
This includes giving seafarers and their families a meaningful role in decision making and taking a holistic approach to wellbeing and safety that considers their physical, mental, emotional and financial health.
Through its helplines and case work, ISWAN frequently hears from seafarers who feel that the challenges they face in their life and work at sea are not recognized or taken into account.
In response, ISWAN intends to influence change in the maritime sector by using its platform to amplify the voices of seafarers and their families, raise awareness of their concerns and advocate for evidence-based solutions.
Simon Grainge, Chief Executive of ISWAN, said, “We are working to ensure that all our projects, services and resources at ISWAN are informed by the needs of seafarers and their families, as well as information from our helplines. We will strengthen our commitment over the next three years to work in partnership with active seafarers and families to develop solutions that fully account for the unique challenges of sailing. However, ISWAN’s new strategic plan not only charts a course for us as an organization; it also shares the seafarer-centric change we want to see in the maritime sector.”
Ambassador Nancy Karigithu, ISWAN’s Ambassador at Sea and Special Envoy and Kenya’s Advisor on Maritime and Blue Economy to the Executive Office of the President, said, “In the face of an impending recruitment and retention crisis fueled by geopolitical conflicts and the transition to decarbonized shipping, the need to protect the safety, welfare and livelihoods of seafarers cannot be underestimated.
ISWAN’s holistic approach to seafarers’ wellbeing, encompassing physical, mental, emotional and financial health, will be a major catalyst for a more diverse, resilient, sustainable and, most importantly, humane maritime sector.”
As ISWAN publishes its 2025-28 strategic plan, it is encouraging the entire maritime sector – across the shipping, yachting and cruising industries – to create an environment where all seafarers feel safe, valued and respected and have the support and resources they need to meet the challenges of life at sea.
ISWAN shared its vision, mission and goals with a number of seafarers in its network prior to the launch for their feedback.
Zaldrene John Gabales, a skillful sailor at Leonis Navigation Company Inc. and maritime social media influencer, said, “I really appreciate ISWAN’s vision and mission as it takes a holistic and practical approach to seafarers’ wellbeing, especially when it comes to mental health. Life at sea is not easy – we have to deal with long contracts, isolation and all sorts of challenges that affect us. That’s why it means a lot to have an organization that really cares about seafarers and their families. I am one of many who have benefited from their initiatives and I know first-hand how important this kind of support is. It’s great to see them pushing for real, seafarer-centered change in the industry.”
Majella Angelie Parreño-Albances, third officer at Wallem Shipmanagement, said, “ISWAN’s growing presence and involvement in the shipping industry is a testament to the fact that our seafarers need help for their wellbeing and welfare. Companies have their own initiatives and policies, but without firm support from outside the confines of the workplace, seafarers are reduced to nothing more than ordinary individuals who don’t know where to turn for help. Like ISWAN, may we strive to get involved in improving the quality of life of our seafarers, both on board and at home.”
ISWAN believes that strategic partnerships, joint working and cross-sector collaboration are essential to avoid duplication, and the organization aims to facilitate collaboration and knowledge sharing to improve outcomes for seafarers.
Tina Barnes, Impact Director at The Seafarers’ Charity, said, “It is important to listen to the voices of seafarers and hear about their needs and aspirations. This is why The Seafarers’ Charity continues to fund ISWAN’s fantastic SeafarerHelp. As a 24-hour multilingual helpline, it enables seafarers to describe their challenges in their own words and, most importantly, get the help they need. ISWAN’s new strategic plan with the vision of ‘A Safe, Fair and Inclusive Maritime Sector’ will resonate with all those who care about the psychological safety and well-being of seafarers.”
Source: here
Seven ships attacked in armed robbery while transiting Singapore Strait – April 2, 2025
Armed robbery against ships has increased significantly in the Singapore Strait. A total of 35 incidents were recorded in the Straits of Malacca and Singapore (SOMS) between January and March 2025.
The Regional Cooperation Arrangement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery Against Ships in Asia (ReCAAP ISC) has issued an alert warning and urged ship operators to increase vigilance while passing through these waters.
ReCAAP ISC ReCAAP has reported seven new cases of armed robbery occurring on board vessels transiting the Phillip Channel in the eastern lane of the Traffic Separation Scheme (TSS) in the Singapore Straits.
The vessels affected included three container ships, three bulk carriers and an oil tanker.
Among these incidents, one vessel reported losing a portable welding machine, while another lost spare engines. The other ships reported no items stolen. Fortunately, no crew members were injured during these incidents.
Due to the increasing number of incidents of looting at sea, ReCAAP ISC issued an incident alert on March 31, 2025.
Six incidents were recorded in the Singapore Strait between March 28 and March 30.
Image credits: ReCAAP
Attacks on March 30Three vessels were targeted in 90 minutes in the Phillip Channel: –
The container Kota Halus (18,872 dwt, 1,080 TEU capacity), operated by Pacific International Line (PIL), was boarded by three intruders. They were discovered and jumped overboard in a small boat. Later, a portable welding machine was found missing from the vessel.- The Vacvrierul Junior (92,995 dwt) was boarded by a single perpetrator who fled after being detected. No theft has been reported.- The Vancian vessel Andreas Petrakis (76,000 dwt) was also targeted by a lone intruder who escaped without stealing anything.
March 29 incidents
– Four people were seen on the container Wan Hai 327 (37,160 dwt). They were seen moving between a small boat and the stern of the vessel, but left without stealing anything.- An hour earlier, five perpetrators attempted to board the VLCC Agneta Pallas III (319,000 dwt). They fled without taking any items from the vessel.
March 28 incident
– The container Selatan Damai (8,150 dwt, 28 TEU capacity), also operated by PIL, was boarded by four persons who ran towards the engine room. They escaped, but the crew later discovered missing engine spare parts.
The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG), in coordination with other security agencies, has reassessed the threat of kidnapping the crew for ransom in the Sulu-Celebes Sea.
Due to ongoing military operations targeting the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG), which has been responsible for previous kidnappings, the threat level has been reduced from ‘moderate-low’ to ‘low’.
This means that no current information suggests an imminent attack in the Sulu-Celebes Sea and no incidents are expected.
As a result, the ReCAAP ISC updated its advisory on February 14, 2025, advising vessels to “exercise vigilance when transiting the Sulu-Celebes Sea and report incidents to Philippine Operations Centers and the Eastern Sabah Security Command (ESSCOM).”
Vessels were also reminded to maintain communication with relevant authorities while sailing in the area.
Source: here
A quiet and bloodless revolution is underway that has the potential to rewrite the rules of engagement and fundamentally alter the world order. Two sleeping giants with massive economic power and unrivaled technological superiority, but scarred by their own hyper-nationalist and militaristic past, are slowly awakening from their slumber to realize their true potential.
If taken to its logical conclusion, this process may alter the fundamental order of global powers that we have become accustomed to since the end of the Second World War.
In many ways, the world order of 2025 still reflects the realities of power in 1945. The world’s third and fourth largest economies, Germany and Japan, respectively, are not permanent members of the UN Security Council (UNSC). Nor does the world’s most populous country, India, with the world’s second largest military force and fifth largest economy, find a place in this coveted club of permanent members of the UN Security Council.
All five permanent members of the UN Security Council, who enjoy a veto over all and can block any UN resolution on their own, are the victors of World War II: the USA, the Soviet Union (now Russia), Britain, France and China.
Take Britain, for example. It is the sixth largest economy in the world and has an armed force about one-tenth the size of the Indian armed forces. According to the Global Firepower Index, Britain has the eighth most powerful military in the world, after India, Japan and South Korea. And yet Britain sits on the UN Security Council.
While UN Security Council reform is an ongoing agenda for which Germany, Japan, India and Brazil have formed the G4 to support each other for the UN Security Council, Germany and Japan’s lack of global power status also has much to do with their post-war domestic political consensus.
Germany and Japan: the two “sleeping giants”
Germany and Japan were Axis powers during the Second World War.
During the war, unspeakable atrocities were committed by both sides. However, as the famous saying goes, “History is written by the victors” and only one side’s atrocities are mostly remembered.
The Axis powers were blamed for the war, and in the aftermath of the terrible war and terrible defeat, the Axis powers, especially Germany and Japan, internalized this sense of guilt for the war.
They internalized the guilt that their hyper-nationalistic, militaristic and expansionist policies were responsible for the war. Never mind the three centuries of brutal colonialism imposed by the West, especially France and Britain, on the whole world.
One could very well argue that what led to World War II was that a small handful of Western European nations colonized the entire world, and newly industrialized countries like Germany, Japan and Italy wanted their fair share of the colonies. However, that is a debate for another day.
In the face of defeat, Germany and Japan internalized guilt for starting the war, for bringing unspeakable horrors upon the entire world, and sought to cleanse their souls through penance.
The penance included excluding the most powerful decision-making body in the post-war world, the UN Security Council, abandoning all pretensions to being a global power, reducing their military personnel to minuscule levels, expressly rejecting war as a means of expansion, entrenching pacifism in their constitution and instead focusing their energies on becoming economic power centers.
The Potsdam Agreement of 1945, which ended World War II, called for the “complete disarmament and demilitarization of Germany”. The West German constitution of 1949 expressly prohibited “wars of aggression”.
Similarly, after the Second World War, Japan adopted a pacifist constitution in 1947, Article 9 renouncing war as a sovereign right and prohibiting the maintenance of military forces, and pursuing a peaceful international order.
“Sincerely aspiring to an international peace based on justice and order, the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as a means of settling international disputes. To realize the purpose of the preceding paragraph, land, sea, and air forces, as well as other potentialities of war, will never be maintained. The state’s right of belligerency shall not be recognized,” reads Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution.
Japan, the only victim of a nuclear attack in history, has also adopted the “three non-nuclear principles” of non-possession, non-production and non-introduction of atomic weapons. Even though all five World War II victors built their nuclear weapons.
Similarly, in 1954, shortly after the end of the Second World War, the first Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, Konrad Adenauer, signed an agreement renouncing the production of his own nuclear, biological or chemical weapons on his own territory. In return, Germany received the protection of American atomic weapons.
Germany maintained this position even after the fall of the Berlin Wall and its reunification through the so-called “Two Plus Four Treaty“: No nuclear weapons! On September 12, 1990, the four victorious powers of the Second World War (the USA, the Soviet Union, France and Great Britain) stipulated that East and West Germany should be reunified and renounce nuclear weapons.
Economic power without military power
Germany and Japan renounced wars of aggression, militaristic societies and nuclear weapons production, but both were proud countries and technological giants. In the post-war era, they directed their countries’ nationalist impulses towards becoming economic powers and technological leaders.
Japan, a small island nation with a small population, became the world’s second largest economy in 1990, after the disintegration of the Soviet Union. In the 1990s, Japan was briefly the world’s largest economy. Germany was also the world’s third largest economy between 1990 and 2008, when China overtook it.
They are now the world’s third and fourth largest economies.
However, despite their economic strength and technological advances, they are not a significant military power.
Germany’s armed forces have almost 185,000 men behind Poland, France, Ukraine and Russia in Europe. Germany has no nuclear weapons of its own, no aircraft carriers and only six submarines. Similarly, Japan has no nuclear weapons and depends on the US for security guarantees.
A war and US elections: Germany’s awakening
The militarization of Germany has recently attracted media attention. However, this process started at least three years earlier.
On February 27, 2022, three days after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock declared: “This war is an attack on all the values of a rules-based international order. This war is an attack against peaceful human coexistence. And it is a war that requires a revision of the very principles of our foreign policy.
“Germany may be leaving behind today a special and unique form of restraint in foreign and security policy. The rules we set ourselves must not mean that we cannot take responsibility. If our world is different, then our policy must be different too”.
A few days later, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced that Germany would end its dependence on Russian gas, spend another €100 billion on its army and deliver hundreds of anti-tank weapons and Stinger missiles to Ukraine.
It was a clear indication that Germany had finally left the baggage of World War II behind and entered a new era.
“We are entering a new era,” Scholz told parliament. “And that means the world we live in now is not the world we knew before.”
Scholz also promised to spend more than 2% of Germany’s GDP on defense. Since Germany is the largest economy in Europe, it made a big difference.
However, this shift took momentum after Donald Trump returned to power in the US. In March, acting Chancellor Friedrich Merz announced hundreds of billions of euros for defense. Germany is already NATO’s biggest spender in dollars after the US.
On March 18, German lawmakers voted to change the constitution to allow a massive increase in defense and infrastructure spending. The law will exempt defense and security spending from Germany’s strict debt rules and create a €500 billion ($547 billion) infrastructure fund.
Germany is also working to increase its armed forces. It currently has about 185,000 armed members. Bundeswehr General Carsten Breuer believes Germany needs at least 100,000 more soldiers. He also insists a return to military service is “absolutely” necessary.
“You will not get these 100,000 without one or another recruitment model. We don’t have to determine now which model gets them. For me, it is only important to bring in the soldiers,” the general was quoted by the BBC as saying.
Germany, which already has some of Europe’s biggest military contractors such as Rheinmetall AG, Diehl Stiftung & Co. KG, Airbus SE and Krauss-Maffei Wegmann GmbH & Co. KG, also plan to develop a defense industrial complex.
German automaker Volkswagen is ready to start producing military equipment. Germany is the most industrialized country in Europe, and if Berlin helps develop an indigenous military-industrial complex, it can unleash a lot of untapped German industrial power.
Rise of the dragon and Japan’s awakening
China’s military muscle in the South China Sea, territorial disputes with China, the expansion of North Korea’s nuclear and missile arsenal, Japan’s spat with Russia over the Ukraine crisis, and Donald Trump’s return to the White House are pushing Japan to shed its post-war inhibitions and adopt a more proactive defense role in the Asia-Pacific.
While all these factors have played a role, the process in Japan began many years earlier. Former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe played an important role in this. Abe raised the prospect of the country hosting US nuclear weapons facilities on Japanese soil, increased defense spending, and called for an assertive foreign and security policy.
Under Abe’s leadership, Japan passed legislation allowing Japanese self-defense forces to engage in combat missions abroad. In essence, this bill allows Japan’s armed forces to help defend its allies, such as America, even if Japan itself is not attacked. The Japanese constitution, in the wake of the devastation of war, previously limited Japanese forces to self-defense within its borders.
In December 2024, Japan approved a 9.4% increase in defense spending for fiscal 2025. This marked another record 11th consecutive year for Japan’s national defense budget. Japan, which has historically spent less than 1% of its GDP on defense, has also pledged to increase it to 2% of GDP by 2027.
This increase in defense spending was part of the Defense Consolidation Program, which outlines $273 billion in defense spending over the five-year period through fiscal 2027.
Japan is also building alliances with China’s adversaries. It has developed and promoted military ties with several countries in the Indo-Pacific region and beyond. It has strengthened security cooperation with Australia and India – both Quad members along with Japan and the US – through high-level dialogues, joint military exercises, intelligence sharing, and reciprocal access to each other’s military facilities.
In December 2022, Japan announced a joint program with Italy and the U.K. to develop a new sixth-generation fighter aircraft – the Global Combat Air Program (GCAP). Japan is developing two hypersonic weapon concepts: the hypersonic cruise missile (HCM) and the hypervelocity glide projectile (HVGP), as well as long-range missiles.
GCAP
Last month, Japan’s Ministry of Defense (MOD) announced that it had conducted successful flight tests for its hypersonic hypersonic island defense vehicle (HGV). Four test launches were conducted at a location in California, with one launch in August 2024, two in November 2024, and one in January 2025.
Japan’s new 10 kW high-powered 10 kW high-energy laser electronic warfare (EW) vehicle recently entered service to counter aerial and missile threats, including hostile unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and low-altitude missile systems.
Conclusion
Japan and Germany are great economic powers and technology leaders with huge untapped industrial potential. Both have a strong hyper-nationalist and militarist past.
In recent years, these countries have invested in new military equipment, increased defense spending, and removed constitutional obstacles to expanding defense spending or deploying troops in foreign conflicts.
Both Tokyo and Berlin are putting post-world war inhibitions behind them. There are signs that the two countries may rethink their nuclear doctrines in the next few years, if circumstances warrant.
A concerted effort by these countries to expand their armed forces and develop a military-industrial complex could have far-reaching consequences for the current world order. Both Germany and Japan are sleeping giants that have adopted pacifist constitutions and imposed self-restraints on their power ambitions.
However, the war in Europe, the flexing of China’s muscles and the unpredictability of Donald Trump are forcing these giants to shed their inhibitions and adopt a proactive security policy. They have the economic strength, industrial base and technological acumen to massively increase defense spending and develop an indigenous military-industrial complex within a few years.
The awakening of Germany and Japan could fundamentally alter the global order.
Source: here
An important element in the politics of the major industrialized powers is the acquisition of rich but untapped energy sources and mineral wealth.
The Central Asian region came to prominence with the beginning of Britain’s famous geopolitical strategy in the mid-19th century, the “Great Central Asian Game”.
The strategy essentially focused on limiting the expansion of Tsarist Russia’s influence southward into Central Asia and securing the British colony of India, the most precious jewel in the British crown.
Hindsight reveals that the “Great Game” was a game of political rivalry between the two great powers of the time and was least motivated by the quest for energy sources or the mineral wealth of the vast piece of land called Central Asia.
While imperial Russia was expanding southward to cross the Badakhshan mountain watershed and reach the warm waters of the Indian Ocean, Britain was determined to checkmate Russia’s southward expansion and thus secure the northern borders of the Indian Empire.
Target posts changed
In contemporary times, not only the actors of the classic “Great Game” strategy have changed, but their goals and objectives and the methodology for achieving them have taken new directions.
Map of Central Asia.
The goal is not to grab large or small pieces of land. It is not just to checkmate the growing political and economic footprint in the vast territories of Central Asia, but, more importantly, to gain access to Central Asia’s hydrocarbon deposits and mineral wealth.
Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, which have rich hydrocarbon deposits, have signed agreements with China allowing the exploration and exploitation of their oil fields. With the fourth largest gas reserves in the world, Turkmenistan exports natural gas to some European buyers.
However, the TAPI (Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India-Pakistan-India) gas pipeline project has been stalled for almost two decades because of political or technical problems. Unconfirmed reports suggest that Turkmenistan is seriously considering partially starting the process.
Digital technology
In the last two or three decades, IT in general and advanced digital technology in particular have fostered dramatic changes in the geostrategy of the region. New vistas of human ingenuity have opened up. Digitalization has begun to reveal its potential to impact contemporary lives, aspirations and perceptions.
In the process, the importance of various critical minerals was also established. This intensified the global demand and search for crucial minerals. Driven by their futuristic industrial and technical needs, advanced countries such as the US, EU, China and Japan have caught up with the times.
China and Russia lead the way
China is the only superpower whose borders touch at least three Central Asian republics: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.
Today, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan are the Central Asian states with rail links to China, with the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway project further strengthening these links. Kazakhstan has a well-developed rail network linking with China and is a key transit country for goods moving between China and Europe.
A proposed rail link called the Five Nations Railway Corridor would connect China, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan and Iran. This large-scale rail connectivity gives China easy access to the energy and mineral resources of not only the Central Asian states but also Afghanistan and Iran.
Russia, with its long-standing historical relations with the Central Asian region before and after the Soviet Union, has actively worked to maintain and expand its influence in the Central Asian mining and energy sectors. Russia and China are pursuing nuclear energy projects and mineral development agreements with some Central Asian states.
Central Asian nations are engaged with several international powers to develop their nuclear energy capabilities and mining sectors, creating a complex geopolitical landscape with competing interests.
US and EU
In recent months, the United States and the European Union have shown growing interest in critical minerals in Central Asia. They have also shown interest in building and operating nuclear power plants in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan.
EurasiaNet reported on March 24: “The US search for rare earths appears to be intensifying, underscored by a low-key tour by a US congresswoman, Carol Miller, a West Virginia Republican, who has been meeting with prominent Central Asian leaders. In a highly unusual twist of protocol for a US representative who is not a member of the legislative hierarchy, Miller met with Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev on March 20, three days after holding talks with Uzbek leader Shavkat Mirziyoyev in Uzbekistan.
Amusingly, the international media did not cover the visit. Statements issued by the presidential press services of both countries are vague summaries of the talks, without touching on mining or critical minerals.
Miller’s website doesn’t even mention that he traveled to Central Asia. However, a March 19 report in an Uzbek publication said that Miller met with top officials from Uzbekistan’s trade ministry and that Uzbekistan expressed “readiness to more actively develop partnerships in key areas such as industry, critical minerals, investment and trade.”
In an article in Nezavisimaya Gazeta, Victoria Panfilova wrote that European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas visited Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan to discuss preparations for the first Central Asia-EU summit, which will take place on April 3-4 in Samarkand. The focus will be on energy, transport corridors and climate change.
The summit is designed to identify new vectors of cooperation between Brussels. At the meeting, the parties discussed the implementation of the EU-Central Asia roadmap adopted in Luxembourg on October 23, 2023, focusing on five key areas for deepening cooperation.
Ministers discussed the prospects for developing trade, economic and investment ties and expanding transport and digital connectivity under the Global Gateway strategy.
The meeting participants enthusiastically welcomed Kajei Kallas’ statement on the readiness of European and international financial institutions to invest €10 billion ($10.82 billion) in the development of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR).
These funds are aimed at creating a competitive, sustainable, predictable, predictable, smart and efficient multimodal transport network that will significantly improve communications between Central Asia and European countries.
Conclusion
Due to the changing world order, new alignments and postulations are rapidly emerging. Old bitter rivals are shifting positions and new alliances are on the anvil.
The US and the EU, complementing each other’s political agendas in the post-Cold War era, seek divergent policies and parameters.
The US-Russia rivalry, or the Sino-US rivalry that has haunted human society for too long, is losing its luster and shine.
There are indications that the EU may overtake China, Russia and even the United States in building a new economic zone encompassing vast regions of Central Asia, Trans-Caspian, Caucasus and Southeast Europe.
Source: here
Greece plans to spend 25 billion euros to modernize defense sector – 2.04.2025
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has told parliament that the country plans to spend 25 billion euros as part of a multi-year plan to modernize its defense sector.
The plan will run until 2036 and will include the purchase of new submarines, new aerial, sea and underwater drones, as well as a satellite, ZN.ua reports, citing Reuters.
It notes that the step comes amid Greece’s emergence from the 2009-2018 debt crisis, which led to years of austerity. Now the country is trying to keep pace with its historical rival Turkey.
Mitsotakis told parliament that Greece is investing in its sovereignty, but warned that the country will have to ensure fiscal prudence despite EU plans to spend more on defense.
Greece is a member of the EU and NATO, spending about 3% of GDP on defense. That’s almost double the average in Europe, which is under pressure to bolster defense as its 75-year-old alliance with the United States comes under strain.
Earlier, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced that the EU plans to offer €150 billion ($158 billion) in loans to boost defense spending. The EU will also propose activating a provision that will allow countries to use their national budgets to spend an extra €650 billion on defense over four years without budget sanctions.
Source: here
UK to transfer Puma HC.2 helicopters to Ukraine
Britain will transfer to Ukraine Puma HC.2 transport helicopters, which were recently decommissioned by the British Royal Air Force.
This was reported by the publication Avions Légendaires, writes Militarnyi.
According to information with which the publication is familiar, the Ministry of Defense of the United Kingdom will transfer to Ukraine from 8 to 10 Puma helicopters, which were decommissioned on March 31, 2025.
The last place of these helicopters was 33 Squadron and 230 Expeditionary Squadron, which used their helicopters in East Asia.
The Puma helicopters, when used as part of the Royal Air Force, were ‘workhorses’ and were involved in all operations in which the UK participated from 1971.
After a long-term operation in the 2000s, the implementation of a program to increase resources and modernize the helicopter systems began. Thus, in 2007, the Royal PS launched a Pumas life extension program, known as the Life Extension Program.
Initially, it was planned to upgrade 28 HC.1s, but later only 24 were upgraded to the HC.2 standard. The upgrades included the installation of more powerful Turbomeca Makila 1A1 Makila 1A1 Turbomeca engines (1800 hp each), avionics upgrades (in particular, the installation of a “glass” cockpit), improvements to the protection systems and an increase in fuel capacity.
The upgrade was carried out by Airbus Helicopters (formerly Eurocopter) and cost £260 million.
At the end of March 2025, the helicopters were completely decommissioned from the Air Force.
Following RAF tradition, on March 26, the helicopters performed a farewell flight over iconic sites in their history.
Earlier, Militarnyi reported that Portugal’s Defense Ministry had handed over eight SA-330 Puma SA-330 helicopters to Ukraine as part of a military aid package at the end of 2024.
The helicopters were sent for storage in 2012 and put up for sale in flying condition in 2014.
Source: here
At the beginning of February 2024, under the auspices of NATO Command Transformation, the 15th Innovation Challenge began its 15th Innovation Challenge with the search for solutions against so-called KABs – long-range bombs, mainly UMPK kits, which are actively used by the Russian Federation.
And just the other day it was successfully finalized with the distinction of three competitors who proposed the most effective solutions and received support from the NATO innovation ecosystem. The three selected solutions were highly appreciated by Ukraine, as the jury of the NATO Innovation Challenge competition included Ukrainian military, DEFENSE EXPRESS writes.
In first place is France’s Alta Ares, which proposed a solution that uses artificial intelligence to detect, identify and predict the flight trajectory of hover bombs. As mentioned, the company has adapted the existing system, which was created for reconnaissance missions in Ukraine, to the new task.
The system uses artificial intelligence algorithms to process video and acoustic information. It supports two key functions – notifying troops in the expected strike zone to turn on electronic warfare equipment and occupying a dugout that is supposed to save from a bomb that can no longer provide adequate precision of destruction. In addition, the system allows you to predict the possible directions of a Russian attack for preventive action.
In second place is German startup Tytan Technology, which has offered its Tytan anti-air drone, which already knows how to shoot down UAVs, to intercept KABs. Recall that its tests began in Ukraine at the level of December 2024. This low-cost drone has a range of over 15 km, a speed of over 250 km/h and a warhead of 1 kg. Artificial vision is responsible for aiming at the target.
Third place went to another French representative – startup Atreyd with the idea of creating an autonomous swarm of kamikaze drones. The idea is to form a “wall of drones” to intercept CABs in flight using an ultrasonic detection and guidance system.
According to the head of NATO’s Transformation Command, Pierre Vandieu, a total of 13 out of 40 proposals made it through to the final. And the three winners “were highly commended by Ukraine as meeting today’s needs”, while one of the jury members was a Ukrainian military officer who is now on the front line.
And in addition to the teams from NATO countries, one of the finalists was the Ukraine Night Watch team, although the possible participation of non-NATO companies in the competition was not announced. It should be noted that it is publicly known about the Ukrainian development of the Night Watch Lima – an electronic warfare complex aimed specifically at countering CABs.
Interestingly, on the issue of kinetic countermeasures, the newspaper writes, most of the teams agreed on drones, with a tendency towards the use of swarms, one of the systems allowed simultaneous control of 200 drones, as well as their minimal price. Attention was also paid to electronic warfare systems that neutralize the precision of guidance, as Russian CABs use a satellite navigation system. At the same time, it is noted that one such electronic warfare system using artificial intelligence algorithms has already proven itself very well under combat conditions.
The proposal to use microwave energy to burn electronics is also mentioned. But there is never a mention of combat lasers, which directly suggests the realistic deployment of such weapons in the near term. In addition, Pierre Vandieu has already announced the next Innovation Challenge topic for June 2025 – fighting drones with fiber optics.
Source: here
Despite a limited ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine after three years of war, lasting peace remains elusive due to geopolitical maneuvering and the controversial leadership of Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelenski.
Russia and Ukraine have managed to reach a limited ceasefire after three years of continuous conflict. Both sides suffered significant losses. However, Russia has done significant damage to Ukraine because of its military supremacy over the latter. Despite the loss of significant territory, the Ukrainian president remains adamant about continuing the armed conflict at the request of European leaders.
The West’s role in escalating the conflict
The Ukrainian president has sought to widen the conflict in order to perpetuate his rule, endangering the lives of Ukrainian citizens
Ukraine has provoked Russia by seeking NATO membership, despite multiple warnings from Moscow. Since he was elected president of Ukraine, Zelensky has acted like a European puppet. In violation of the historic agreement signed at the end of the Cold War, the Western leadership has offered NATO membership to numerous Eastern European countries. Moscow has always expressed concern about NATO’s eastward expansion. However, all these calls for caution and caution fell on deaf ears. Russia was forced to take decisive action to secure its sovereignty because of Ukraine’s application to join NATO.
On February 24, 2022, an armed conflict broke out between Russia and Ukraine. Despite its obvious military supremacy, Russia has shown significant restraint in this conflict. However, the Ukrainian president has attempted to widen the conflict to perpetuate his rule, endangering the lives of Ukrainian citizens. Russia has taken control of significant Ukrainian territory. However, all international calls for a ceasefire have been rejected by Ukraine and European leaders.
Zelensky’s leadership: a barrier to peace
The EU and the US have supported Ukraine militarily and diplomatically to achieve their strategic ambitions. The US and the EU are pursuing Ukraine’s natural resources, as evidenced by President Trump’s demand for some of the latter’s rare minerals. Moreover, Western leadership is trying to trap Russia in a longer regional war to slow its rapid rise as the world’s new superpower.
President Trump recently tweaked the US foreign policy discourse. He is trying to show a division between the US and the EU on the Ukraine issue, in his attempt to restructure Washington’s international stance. However, recent events show that this move is just a disguise and part of the new great game of Western powers. The reality of Trump’s sincerity in peacemaking between Russia and Ukraine has been exposed by the flawed peace proposal agreed between Ukraine and the United States.
Russian President Vladimir Putin initially expressed concern about the proposed ceasefire agreement. However, following his attempt to establish regional peace, he agreed to a limited ceasefire with Ukraine. However, a long-term ceasefire and peace between the countries is impossible until a war-monger like Volodimir Zelenski. The recent spat between him and US President Donald Trump has further exposed his warlike personality.
Since the start of the war, Russia has shown significant restraint to minimize humanitarian casualties on both sides. Russia has avoided attacking Ukrainian energy sites under a self-imposed moratorium. However, the Ukrainian air force has not missed any opportunity to attack Russia’s energy infrastructure. Recently, Russian spokesman Dmitry Peskov warned, “If the Kiev regime does not respect the moratorium, we reserve the right not to respect it.”
In addition, due to Zelenski’s efforts to prolong the armed conflict, Russian President Putin has spoken of his illegitimacy and the introduction of an interim administration in Ukraine. The latter’s term as president of Ukraine expired in May 2024. However, he continues to govern the country invoking emergency constitutional provisions, which he uses as justification to prolong the conflict.
While speaking on the sidelines of the Arctic forum, he said Russia is ready for talks on peacemaking “under the supervision of the United Nations, with the input of the US, Europe and Moscow’s allies. What for? To organize democratic presidential elections that would result in a competent government coming to power that has public confidence and then to start negotiations with these authorities on a peace agreement and to sign legitimate documents.” Russian spokesman Dmitry Peskov also backed this statement, accusing the Ukrainian president of losing control of his army.
Indeed, only a truly democratic leader with the trust of Ukrainian citizens can establish peace between Russia and Ukraine. If President Trump is sincere in his effort to establish peace between Russia and Ukraine, he must push for new elections in Ukraine. Moreover, the EU leadership also realizes that their treacherous policies are costing the lives of Ukrainian citizens. A perpetuated peace between Russia and Ukraine will also ensure peace and stability among European nations. However, this is possible only if all the irritants of the truce are removed by the West and Zelensky is replaced by a democratic and peace-loving president.
Taut Bataut – is a researcher and writer who publishes on the geopolitics of South Asia
Source: here