Tag: Europe

North Korean weapons extending Russian stockpiles, German general says

Posted on by Lone Candle

“North Korea’s provision of weapons has strengthened Russia’s hand in Ukraine by allowing it to keep its arsenals stocked at home, Germany’s top military official said during a visit to South Korea on Monday.

Chief of Defence General Carsten Breuer said Russian President Vladimir Putin would not have reached out to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un for weapons if they were not useful.

“It’s about increasing the production of weapons for Russia’s aggression in Ukraine, it’s also strengthening Russia by making it possible for them to keep their stocks like they are,” Breuer told reporters in the South Korean capital Seoul.

Ukraine and the United States, among other countries and independent analysts, say that Kim is helping Russia in the war against Ukraine by supplying rockets and missiles in return for economic and other military assistance from Moscow.

North Korea has shipped at least 16,500 containers of munitions and related materiel to Russia since September last year, and Russia had launched more than 65 of those missiles at targets in Ukraine, Robert Koepcke, U.S. deputy assistant secretary of state, said in a speech last week.

Moscow and Pyongyang have denied direct arms transfers, which would violate United Nations embargoes.”

https://www.yahoo.com/news/north-korean-weapons-extending-russian-112037997.html

The Russian Economy at War (2024) – Sanctions, growth, inflation & mounting

Posted on by Lone Candle

The Russian Economy at War (2024) – Sanctions, growth, inflation & mounting risks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tHkwLSS-DE

Europe’s ability to deter Putin hampered by ‘unbelievable’ red tape: French general

Posted on by Lone Candle

“current obstacles to swift movement include lengthy and fragmented administrative processes to carry war materiel across borders; inadequate infrastructure — including bridges and tunnels — to move armored vehicles; and a lack of transport capacity such as rail cars.
In May, EU foreign ministers urged capitals to implement the bloc’s Military Mobility Pledge, which includes commitments to invest in infrastructure and to ensure prioritized access to road, rail and other transport methods for armed forces.

In June, France announced it would join an agreement already signed by Poland, Germany and the Netherlands to create a military transit corridor. In July, Greece, Bulgaria and Romania signed a letter of intent for cross-border military mobility cooperation.

The French army painfully realized how difficult it was to cross Europe in the spring of 2022, when it deployed a battalion to Romania in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.”

https://www.politico.eu/article/french-general-army-mobility-military-troop-movements-exercise-red-tape-russia-ukraine-war/

Europe’s manufacturing slump shows no signs of ending

Posted on by Lone Candle

“European industry — and Germany first and foremost — was battered by the surge in energy prices following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The bloc rode out the immediate emergency better than expected, finding alternatives to Russian gas, for example, through imports of U.S. liquefied natural gas.
But the hope that European industry would swiftly recover has faded, even as the eurozone economy in the aggregate returns to growth.

Eurostat’s industrial production index for the eurozone remains below its 2021 level, and is trending lower. And policymakers are starting to realize that the turnaround they had expected is not materializing.”

…

“The numbers underline the challenge of maintaining Europe’s competitiveness — and relevance — as China and the U.S. race to reshape the global economy within the context of an increasingly acute geopolitical rivalry.”

https://www.politico.eu/article/europe-manufacturing-industry-slump-weakened-eurozone-economy-energy/

Why the far right is surging all over the world

Posted on by Lone Candle

“The refugee crisis heightened the stakes for culturally conservative voters, forcing them to choose between centrist parties that were more welcoming to migrants and potentially antidemocratic extremists who opposed it. Many of them chose the latter, prioritizing preserving the traditional white-dominant society over protecting their democracy.
Across Europe, far-right parties started to reap electoral dividends. In Hungary in particular, the surge in power of anti-immigrant politics allowed a government that had already moved in an authoritarian direction to push a new and potent propaganda line, harnessing the reactionary spirit to consolidate its hold on power.

Similar events took place outside Europe. Post-Cold War Israel went through multidecade struggles over its ethnoreligious identity and occupation of Palestinian land, ultimately creating conditions for the reactionary spirit to spread from a small handful of extremists to a significant portion of the population. In India, the reactionary right’s rise began with a staged crisis designed to bring out the Hindu majority’s unease with India’s vision of equality.”

https://www.vox.com/politics/361136/far-right-authoritarianism-germany-reactionary-spirit

Russia appears to be using wired, unjammable fiber-optic drones that could fix a big problem its operators have faced in this war

Posted on by Lone Candle

Russia appears to be using wired, unjammable fiber-optic drones that could fix a big problem its operators have faced in this war

https://www.yahoo.com/news/russia-appears-using-wired-unjammable-180442739.html