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cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/6131721

There is more than a little irony in the fact that Ukrainians are bleeding and dying for Western democracy and the European Union at a time when so many are losing faith in both. But they are – and they have shown that they can win.

Opinion piece by Chrystia Freeland, former deputy prime minister, minister of foreign affairs, and minister of finance of Canada.

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Yes, we’ve said that we will support Ukraine for as long as it takes. And yet we have consistently failed to give Ukraine the support it needs to win.

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It is time to change that half-hearted paradigm. We need to recognize that Ukraine can win and that a Ukrainian victory is in the interests of the geopolitical West ... And then we need to devise a plan

cross-posted from: https://mander.xyz/post/43442390

[Op-ed by Anders Fogh Rasmussen, a former prime minister of Denmark and former secretary general of Nato.]

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The war in Ukraine, North Korea’s missile tests, and China’s growing assertiveness reveal a stark truth: the great divide of our age is not as geographic as it once was, but political and ideological. It is the fault line between open societies and autocratic ones.

For Europe, the imperative is clear: deepen partnerships with other democracies that share our values, our economic models, and our strategic outlook.

And few countries embody this alignment more than Japan.

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Japan is not just a major economy in the Indo-Pacific — it is a democracy of principle, a strategic actor with advanced capabilities, and a steady partner in global security.

Over recent years, Tok

cross-posted from: https://mander.xyz/post/43231602

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The regime of North Korea has continued to exploit the war in Ukraine to spread its propaganda. This week we learnt that Ukrainian children, abducted by Russia, are being sent to an infamous North Korean summer camp. The children have reportedly been taught to ‘destroy Japanese imperialists’ and heard from North Korean soldiers who destroyed the USS Pueblo, a spy ship captured and sank by North Korea in 1968.

This Ukrainian children have been at the Songdowon International Children’s Camp, located near the port city of Wonsan on the country’s east coast. Well known as a popular tourist hotspot for North Korean elites, Wonsan has recently gained infamy for the newly-opened Wonsan-Kalma tourist resort, which has been not-so-affectionately nicknamed ‘North Korea’s Benidorm

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/46768180

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A single word can crack the facade of a great power’s confidence. That’s what happened last month when Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi of Japan told lawmakers in Tokyo that a Chinese attack or blockade against Taiwan would constitute a threat to Japan’s “survival,” a term that, under Japanese law, would permit the country to deploy its military overseas.

Ms. Takaichi merely said aloud what has long been understood — that a crisis involving Taiwan would threaten Japan’s national security. But her comments were among the clearest public signals yet that Tokyo could help defend Taiwan from potential Chinese aggression.

Beijing reacted as if Ms. Takaichi, a conservative politician, had declared war. Chinese state media has portrayed her as reviving the militarist rhetoric used to justify Japan’s aggression during World War II, and a senior Chinese envoy pos

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/5952260

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This is not rhetoric; it is the logic of deterrence. Discussing the use of Russian assets is not an ideological crusade. It is a rational choice and a matter of preventive security.

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Some will point to corruption in Ukraine, a criticism revived by the recent revelations in the energy sector. Yet this scandal shows the opposite of what critics claim.

It was uncovered by Ukraine’s own oversight bodies. Investigations began immediately. And Ukraine’s civil society, one of the strongest in Europe, continues to scrutinise every euro, every contract, every decision.

A sick democracy hides its scandals. A functioning democracy exposes them and acts on them. Ukrainians are defending European values not only on the battlefield, but also through watchdog institutions, investigative bodies and rigorous public accountability.

This is exactly why fund

A short video of a private wedding went viral in Iran recently, tearing away the country’s veil of piety and exposing hypocrisy and a seeming disregard for the rules by which the theocratic regime requires that most Iranians live their lives.

The wedding in question was that of Fatemeh Shamkhani, in mid-2024. She is the daughter of Ali Shamkhani, a close adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, at the luxurious Espinas Palace Hotel in Tehran.

She wore a low-cut strapless dress with a western-style bridal veil rather than the full head-covering mandated for Iranian women. Many wedding guests also wore modern western styles and a lot of the women went without head coverings.

The video displayed images that were starkly dissonant, revealing the significant class and moral divides within the Iranian Republic and contradicting Iran’s values of revolutionary simplicity and Islamic modesty.

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That it was Shamkhani’s family wedding made matters worse. A former commander of the

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/5853903

Opinion piece by Natalia Morozova, a lawyer for Memorial Human Rights Defence Centre.

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Remember how everyone recently laughed at the UN for publishing a tearful report saying that no one reads its reports? Well, I can tell you about a fresh report that will sadly be read by even fewer people than any UN document.

Because each of its 224 pages is filled with blood and torture. In every third paragraph, someone is being beaten or electrocuted. And when there’s no beating or torture, there’s a tedious explanation of Russian missile guidance systems and why international law prohibits using such systems at night for strikes on cities — even if the missiles are supposedly high-precision and aimed strictly at military targets.

This report from the Memorial Human Rights Center, titled “Ukraine: War Crimes of the Russian Aggressors,” presents the

cross-posted from: https://mander.xyz/post/42589825

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The highly-discussed draft 28-point peace plan (now reportedly revised to 19 points) endorsed by the United States seems to address, although not resolve, all the major points, including the return of abducted children of Ukraine.

According to the available text of the initial plan, “A humanitarian committee will be established to resolve open issues,” including the return of civilian detainees and reunification of families. In the current version, such a committee will be launched after the deal is agreed upon. Such an approach is dangerous.

Russia has attempted many times to turn Ukrainian abducted children into bargaining chips. Suggestions to exchange them for POWs have been unsuccessfully floated during the Istanbul talks. The proposal demonstrates Russia’s approach to children in general: a source of leverage that can be pulled to

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/5800263

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• China is building up its military and is projected to have the capability to launch major combat operations against Taiwan by 2027.
• Historically, America has provided the deterrent to Chinese aggression. But shifting geopolitics mean that it is in the EU’s interest to help Taiwan defend itself and force China to reconsider the risks of military action.
• The Chinese government is becoming bolder: sending arms supplies to Russia, undermining security on European soil and engaging in protectionist policies that damage European trade and supply chains.
• European defence cooperation with Taiwan would bolster deterrence against Chinese aggression in the Taiwan Strait and beyond, helping secure stability for global trade and signalling that European leaders can stand firm rath

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/5783864

[Op-ed by Andrei Soldatov and Irina Borogan, two Russian investigative journalists and co-founders of Agentura.ru, a watchdog of Russian secret service activities.]

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Whatever the outcome of the current negotiations, Putin’s obsession with Europe is so great that leading European nations and hardline anti-Kremlin states like Germany, France, Poland, the Baltic states, and the UK will continue to experience attacks.

Ukraine has been the fulcrum of the Russian president’s campaign to change the post-Cold War settlement of 1989-91, but it is only one part of a much more ambitious campaign to build a more Russia-friendly Europe.

It’s worth remembering that Putin’s ultimatum to the West in December 2021, on the eve of his full-scale invasion of Ukraine, was primarily targeted at NATO’s presence on the European continent. In particular, it made extraordinary demands for the withdrawal of troops and weapons

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/5735486

This is an opinionated piece by Andrew Latham, professor of international relations at Macalester College in Saint Paul, Minn., a senior fellow at the Institute for Peace and Diplomacy and a non-resident fellow at Defense Priorities in Washington.

Addition to insert the official statement by the Canadian government: Security and defence partnership between the European Union and Canada

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Canada and the European Union have signed a new Security and Defence Partnership focused on cyber defense, maritime security, hybrid threats and industrial resilience. It may sound like bureaucratic routine, but in fact it represents the next step in the evolution of Canada’s grand strategy: a consolidation o

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/45823936

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Beijing has mastered the art of punching above its weight in multilateral organizations to wield substantially more influence than its membership positions otherwise entitle it to. This is true in a variety of organizations, from the World Health Organization to the multilateral development banks. But perhaps the best example is the United Nations (UN), which is treated by the Chinese Communist Party (the CCP) less as a neutral forum and more as an arena to rewrite norms in its favour.

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Over the last decade, Chinese diplomats have pursued a systematic campaign to place loyal nationals in senior UN posts, leveraging financial contributions, vote trading, and bilateral pressure. Since 2019, Chinese nationals have headed four UN specialized agencies—the Food and Agriculture Organization, the International Telecommunication Union, the International Civil Aviation Organization

cross-posted from: https://mander.xyz/post/41671739

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Over the past week, two moves in East Asia and Europe clearly signal that the handling of the ‘Taiwan question’ is entering a new phase. It is one in which neither Tokyo nor Brussels is prepared simply to abide by a carefully calibrated diplomatic equilibrium coordinated from Beijing.

The emergence of Japan’s new prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, with her hawkish remarks about Taiwan, in which she said any blockade of the country by Chinese forces would be tantamount to a “national survival crisis situation”, coupled to the European Union’s decision to allow Taiwan’s vice-president, Hsiao Bi‑khim, to speak at the European Parliament where she became the first ever sitting Taiwanese vice-president to do so, represent a bolder posture by both T

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/5572916

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European leaders need to recognize the true and extended nature of a partnership between Beijing and Moscow that fuses military, economic, technological, and informational tools to exhaust Ukraine militarily. In essence, Beijing evidently views the war in Ukraine as a way to tie down U.S. and European resources while keeping a China-friendly, anti-Western regime in the Kremlin in place.

Since 2022, China’s trade and financial support has been the backbone of Russia’s wartime resilience. Despite a minor slowdown this year, bilateral trade is projected to reach $230 to $235 billion by the end of the year, after a record $245 billion in 2024. Currently, nearly one-third of Russia’s external trade is settled in yuan, up from only 2 percent before the Russian invasion of Ukraine. This shift has transformed the Chinese currency into an instrument of sanctions evasion. According to Germany’s Foreign Ministry, up to *

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/5540170

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Both Russia and China are critical of the “international rules-based order”, a framework of liberal rules and political norms that emerged after the second world war. They see this order as western-centric and want to reshape the global order in their interest.

Military and economic collaboration form part of their efforts to challenge this order, but global media and online spaces are important too. Both states, for example, frequently disseminate stories that portray western countries as neo-colonial powers.

Another theme is that democracies are hypocritical actors who preach equality and fairness but do not practice it. Stories of a lack of unity in western alliances like Nato or the EU are also consistent in Russian and Chinese narration. Conversely, Russia and China are presented as logical and sane countries, seeking to protect other, more vulnerable nations from western exploitation.

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cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/5365456

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The Globe and Mail column, “Let’s free ourselves of the U.S. and forge closer ties with China”, by Julian Karaguesian and Robin Shaban, reveals a troubling lack of historical awareness and strategic judgment.

Marketed as a call for Canadian economic independence, it amounts to an argument for deeper dependence on an authoritarian regime that uses coercive diplomacy, illicit finance and political interference to erode democratic sovereignty.

Canadians should reject the notion that closer alignment with Beijing strengthens our independence. The opposite is demonstrably true.

The authors praise China’s economic dynamism and technological progress but ignore the context in which these gains were made. They are not the result of fair-market innovation, but of **systematic intellectual property the

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/44535044

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The White House meeting between Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and US President Donald Trump produced a string of positives. Chief among them is Trump’s ringing endorsement of AUKUS and his first public commitment to sell nuclear-powered submarines to Australia under phase two of the deal.

The message was clear: the defence relationship between the United States and Australia remains strong. It was also a message Australia needed to hear after yet another unsafe and unprofessional intercept by a Chinese fighter aircraft, which endangered the crew of a Royal Australian Air Force P-8 maritime patrol aircraft operating lawfully in international airspace over the South China Sea on Sunday.

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The P-8 was harassed by the Chinese fighter that rele

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/44380480

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Like Britain in this case, Germany does not call China an “enemy’. Instead it describes the country as a “systemic rival”. But in recent years, politicians in Germany have increasingly started to perceive the Communist regime there as a threat.

German federal prosecutors are more determined than the politicians to take action against infiltration. Espionage cases have been brought to court more often in recent years and are being prosecuted harshly and systematically, in co-operation with the Federal Criminal Police Office.

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The Germans have learnt the hard way that the Chinese are not harmless friends, a people you can do business with and make a fortune in the process. [...] Initially, China functioned as an extended workbench for the German automotive i

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/44322530

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Today, the Kremlin’s strategy increasingly favours hybrid means – drones, cyberattacks, disinformation, and energy blackmail – over warfare. These are not random provocations, but a coherent campaign of testing.

Each incursion and attack serves a diagnostic purpose: Can Europe detect? Can it coordinate a joint response? Can it enact this response swiftly and efficiently?

As Belgian officials admitted after a recent spate of drone sightings, the continent needs to “act faster” in building air-defence systems. Every such admission emboldens Moscow’s conviction that Europe is unprepared and divided.

Back home, these moments are curated into propaganda clips for state television, where pundits mock European “weakness” and frame the continent’s disarray as validation for the Kremlin’s confrontational stance. This manufactured crisis, in turn, is the latest application of a well-honed strategy.

With reg

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/5086288

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Michael Kovrig is Executive Director, StrategicEffects and Chief Executive, Kovrig Group SL, and a Canadian former diplomat.

China’s officials are sweet-talking Canadians. Its Ambassador, Wang Di, has given smiling interviews calling for the two countries to “have a correct perception of each other.” His other catchphrases include “mutual respect,” “win-win cooperation,” and “positive energy.” Appearing recently on CTV’s Question Period, he assured that current trade disputes would disappear if only Canada would drop its tariffs. Article content

After enduring several years of China’s abusive “wolf warrior” diplomacy, Canadians — particularly Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand, who is visiting Beijing this week — may be tempted to look for comfort in this syrupy language. But they should be wary, because while the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its envoys hav