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Focus Point: Security and Defense Policy- Great Power Competition
China Tries to Play Power Broker Among Palestinians| FP
Amy Mackinnon|23.07.2024 | Subscription needed
More than a dozen Palestinian factions, including bitter rivals Fatah and Hamas, signed a joint declaration in Beijing on Tuesday vowing to form an interim unity government, although experts are skeptical that the diplomatic push brokered by China will succeed in bridging long-standing animosity between the groups.
The document calls for the creation of a Palestinian unity government to oversee the Palestinian territories—including both Gaza and the Israeli-occupied West Bank—and lay the groundwork for eventual general elections. Read more…
Focus Point: Regional Security- Transatlantic Security/European Security
UK must be ready for war in three years, says Army head | BBC
Jonathan Beale and Ian Aikman| 23.07.2024
Gen Sir Roland Walker has warned against a range of threats in what he called an “increasingly volatile” world.
But he said war was not inevitable and the Army had “just enough time” to prepare itself to avoid conflict.
Central to this was doubling the Army’s fighting power by 2027 and tripling it by the end of the decade, he said. In his first speech in the role on Tuesday, Gen Walker said the UK faced danger from an “axis of upheaval”. Among the key threats facing the UK in the coming years, highlighted by the general in a briefing, is an angered Russia, which could seek retribution against the West for supporting Ukraine, regardless of who wins the war.
It doesn’t matter how it ends. I think Russia will emerge from it probably weaker objectively – or absolutely – but still very, very dangerous and wanting some form of retribution for what we have done to help Ukraine.
Gen Sir Roland Walker
He also warned that China was intent on retaking Taiwan, and Iran was likely to pursue nuclear weapons.
He said the threats they posed could become particularly acute within the next three years, and that since the war in Ukraine these countries had created a “mutual transactional relationship”, sharing weapons and technology.
But he said the path to war was not “inexorable” if the UK re-established credible land forces to support its strategy of deterrence to avoid war. Read more…
Focus Point: Security and Defense Policy- Russia-Ukraine War
Dmytro Kuleni: a just peace in Ukraine is in China’s strategic interests | Ministery of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine
Ministery of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine | 24.07.2024
On July 24, in Guangzhou, China, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba held talks with Minister of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China Wang Yi.
The meeting between the two Foreign Ministers followed up on contacts between President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Chinese leader Xi Jinping. The main topic of discussion was the search for ways to stop Russian aggression and China’s possible role in achieving a lasting and just peace.
“I am convinced that a just peace in Ukraine is in China’s strategic interests, and China’s role as a global force for peace is important,” Dmytro Kuleba
Focus Point: Regional Security- Indo-Pacific
Germany flies in combined drills with Japan during Nippon Skies | NATO
NATO Allied Air Command| 25.07.2024
From July 22 to 25, three German Eurofighters and one German A400 a flew during the Japan Air Self Defence Force (JASDF) exercise Nippon Skies reinforcing partner relations and interoperability between both air forces.
The solid military partnership between the two air forces allows to further enhance interoperability and respect
Under the 2024 deployment to the Indo-Pacific region dubbed Pacific Skies, the German Air Force together with air forces of several Allies participate in a series of exercises with air forces in Japan, India and Australia. Aimed at improving tactical skills and promoting mutual understanding, the aerial maneuvers highlight the expanding defence ties between Tokyo and key European partners – particularly NATO members – as they align their strategic interests amid shared economic and security concerns. Read more…
Focus Point: Security and Defense Policy- Russia-Ukraine War
In a first, EU transfers €1.5 billion to Ukraine using Russia’s frozen assets | Euronews
Jorge Liboreiro | 26.07.2024
The transfer is the first of its kind under the novel scheme based on Russia’s immobilised assets, estimated to be worth €210 billion across the bloc.
The European Union has sent €1.5 billion to Ukraine using the extraordinary revenues obtained from the Russian Central Bank’s assets that remain immobilised as part of the bloc’s far-reaching sanctions.
Ninety per cent of the financial assistance will help Kyiv buy more weapons, ammunition and air defence systems, which the country urgently needs to repel the advances of invading troops in the east. The remaining 10% will contribute to reconstruction efforts, particularly the energy infrastructure, badly damaged by relentless Russian strikes. Read more…
Focus Point: Security and Defense Policy- Great Power Competition
Putin says planned US deployment of long-range missiles in Germany is ‘reminiscent’ of Cold War | CNN
Darya Tarasova and Benjamin Brown |28.07.2024
“If the United States of America implements such plans, we will consider ourselves free from the unilateral moratorium on the deployment of medium and shorter-range strike weapons, including increasing the capabilities of the coastal forces of our Navy,” said Putin, speaking at Russia’s annual Navy Day in St. Petersburg. Read more..
Focus Point: Regional Security- Transatlantic Security/ The European Security
Italy and China sign a three-year plan as Meloni tries to reset relations | Euronews
Euronews with AP| 28.07.2024
Meloni’s five-day visit comes several months after Italy dropped out of China’s Belt and Road Initiative.
Meloni is trying to reset relations with China
Italy and China signed a three-year action plan on Sunday to implement past agreements and experiment with new forms of cooperation, Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on an official visit to the Chinese capital.
Meloni is trying to reset relations with China as fears of a trade war with the European Union are interwoven with continued interest in attracting Chinese investment in auto manufacturing and other sectors.
“We certainly have a lot of work to do and I am convinced that this work can be useful in such a complex phase on a global level, and also important at a multilateral level,” she said in remarks at the start of a meeting with Chinese Premier Li Qiang.
Meloni told the business leaders that the two sides had signed an industrial collaboration memorandum that includes electric vehicles and renewable energy, which she described as “sectors where China has already been operating on the technological frontier for some time … and is sharing the new frontiers of knowledge with partners.” Read more…
Focus Point: Security and Defense Policy- Russia-Ukraine War
Russia-Ukraine: Could an Istanbul Deal Have Brought Peace? | The Globalist
Andreas Umland| 28.07.2024
The experience of the post-Soviet republics with security-related agreements with Moscow is such that the 2022 Russian-Ukrainian talks had little chance of success.
Indeed,treaty violations unrelated to Ukraine illustrate the existence of a broader pattern of behaviour that does not just concern Ukraine and is not only shaped by the personality of Putin.
There are those who believe that Moscow’s signing of a document at Istanbul in 2022 – if one allows for the possibility of such scenario at all – might have resulted in temporary lowering of tensions in Russia’s war in Ukraine.
However, judging from previous Russian behaviour, the apparent deal would have, as in the case of the 2014 Minsk accords, resulted in another subversion of international law.
Above all, a hypothetical Istanbul accord would, most likely, not have been observed by Moscow. After all, Russia has an abysmal record of implementing political and security arrangements with the former Soviet republics. To this day, Russia is keen on meddling in the internal affairs of former Soviet republics. Read more…
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