At the highest level of the EU, an 800 billion euro project has just been proposed to “rearm Europe”, but much of this money is likely to end up in American pockets, according to Jenny Raflik-Grenouilleau. "If Europeans want to buy weapons quickly, they're going to have to turn to those who can sell them quickly,” she warns. And I'm afraid that European sovereignty won't be strengthened at all.”
Jenny RAFLIK-GRENOUILLEAU University Professor University of Nantes Professor of the History of Contemporary International Relations at Nantes University Jenny Raflik-Grenouilleau is a specialist in security and defense issues. Her publications include Une République moderne: La IVè République, 1946-1958 (Le Seuil, 2018), Terrorisme et mondialisation, approches historiques (Gallimard, 2016), La Quatrième République et l'Alliance atlantique (PUR, 2013).
European NATO members have become even more dependent on U.S. weapons than before, according to a report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) released Monday.
European arms imports shot up by 155 percent over 2020-2024 compared with 2015-2019 — a reaction to Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine three years ago.
While the U.S. supplied 52 percent of European NATO members' military equipment between 2015 and 2019, the share rose to 64 percent in the subsequent five-year period.
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The billionaire, who co-chairs the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), was responding to an X post that called for US to “Exit NATO *now*!”
On March 2, Musk had responded a post on X which said,"It’s time to leave NATO and the UN".
“I agree,” the Tesla chief executive officer said.
Musk’s comments comes at a time when the future of the 32-member NATO, which will mark its 76th anniversary in April, hangs in the balance.
According to NBC, US President Donald Trump on March 6 discussed with aides calibrating US engagement with NATO in a way that favours members of the alliance that spend a certain percentage of their GDP on defense.
Recent events in the White House and elsewhere have provoked strong sentiments in Europe (without Hungary and Slovakia). The sentiment runs along the line "we are too dependent on America; how can we rid ourselves of American elements in our work and daily routine?"
Some European companies said they will stop selling their products to America. Others stop selling fuel to American ships. But in everyday life, eliminating America is difficult. Google search and Yahoo email can be substituted by Qwant (the excellent French search engine) and a zillion of local email providers. Still, there are the omnipresent Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook and Tiktok (wrong, that's Chinese!) Which reminds me that some time ago we endeavored to limit the Chinese overreach on the web (Shein, Alibaba, Tencent, Temu...).
Should we now look for Chinese companies to substitute for McDonald's (why Donald, for heaven's sake?), Microsoft or Tesla (oops, wasn't Tesla made in Shanghai?). China vs.US -- isn't that like Scylla vs. Charybdis? If we try to eliminate both the US and China from our lives we will probably discover that we had already eliminated another scoundrel: Russia. It seems, our world is shrinking because more countries we once considered friends or partners have become unfriendly or outright enemies. Pity.
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Michael Bociurkiw suspects Trump insulted Zelensky during the White House shouting match because the planned rare earth deal between the US and Ukraine had been watered down so much that the Trump team had decided to drop it (and Ukraine and Zelensky with it). Other observers considered the rare earth deal to be based on unreliable data and doubted if any US companies would invest in the highly endangered Ukraine. Perhaps Trump took advantage of Zelensky's visit to dump the deal without having to confess that his project had turned out to be a bubble.
Moscow must be stunned by the sudden turn of events. Zelensky has been promoted by Trump from hero to martyr+hero, a unique combination which immediately played out in London where Zelensky was not only hugged by Prime Minister Keir Starmer but was offered to be received by King Charles: a unique honor never before granted to a foreign politician.
As European leaders prepare for a summit in London on Sunday, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and his Slovak counterpart Robert Fico are challenging the EU’s united front on Ukraine, pushing positions that echo the Kremlin’s stance.
One thing Trump achieved during the White House spat: the (almost) complete re-unification of Europe. A new Europe is rising from the embers of the White House fire, united in exclaiming No Putin, No Trump, no Vance! Of course, there are European voices cautioning against confrontation with Washington, urging continued US support for Ukraine. But at heart, Europe knows that Trump does not care at all about Ukraine and will follow through with implementing Moscow's views. Trump is forcing Europe to become a world power, able to defend itself and its neighbors. Nothing short of a European miracle is needed.
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Trumps' efforts to befriend Putin and re-integrate Russia in the world community are yielding almost daily surprises. Today, defence minister Pete Hegseth said he would stop aggressive US cyber warfare against Russia.
Ukraine? Since the Ukrainian rare earth reserves that inspired Trump to launch one of his crazy projects turned out to be doubtful and difficult to extract, the project was abandoned by Trump and the responsibility for its termination cunningly blamed on Zelensky. Now the Trump administration lost all interest in Ukraine and left it up for grabs by Putin.
Even without US support, Ukraine is not about to lose the war because a new leader eentered the scene: British prime minister Keir Starmer. In the spirit of his historic predecessor Winston Churchill he promised to never abandon Ukraine and summoned all European actors to a crisis meeting in London.
The world is wondering: why is Trump pursuing his seemingly erratic course? There are three alternative memes:
-- Trump is a Russian agent who by chance, luck and Russian influence became twice placed in the White House;
-- Trump is a friend and admirer of poor Putin upon whom the Ukraine war has been foisted
-- Trump is a cunning politician who tries to decouple Putin from his allies, especially China and Iran
Trump wants the US to ‘partner’ with Russia to weaken China: Divide-and-conquer strategy. The US government’s talks with Russia are more about China than Ukraine. Donald Trump admitted he wants to “un-unite” Russia and China, in a reverse of the divide-and-conquer strategy used by Nixon and Kissinger in the 1970s.
We, at Deutsche Rundschau, have offered a different meme: Trump tries to satisfy Putin's desire for victory in Ukraine and his re-instatement as a super power in order to stop him from helping his new friend Kim Yong-un of North Korea to produce nuclear-armed missiles which are able to reach and devastate mainland USA.
North Korea unveiled for the first time a nuclear-powered submarine under construction, a weapons system that can pose a major security threat to South Korea and the U.S. The state media agency on Saturday released photos showing what it called “a nuclear-powered strategic guided missile submarine,” as it reported leader Kim Jong Un’s visits to major shipyards where warships are built. The naval vessel appears to be a 6,000-ton-class or 7,000-ton-class one which can carry about 10 missiles, said Moon Keun-sik, a South Korean submarine expert who teaches at Seoul’s Hanyang University. He said that the use of the term “the strategic guided missiles” meant it would carry nuclear-capable weapons. “It would be absolutely threatening to us and the U.S.,” Moon said. - AP
How would China react to this scenario? China has not yet commented on Trump's efforts to restore his friendship with Putin. China would most probably be unhappy if its crazy, small neighbor North Korea became owner of nuclear weapons enabling it to trigger World War III and Armageddon.
Whichever meme caused Trump's motivation: Putin's reaction to Trump's prodding remains unknown. He will gladly accept Ukraine as a gift; he will enjoy his renewed international standing and the expected lifting of all sanctions. But will he freeze his deals with North Korea and detach himself from China and Iran? Will he trust Trump and not be afraid of another possibly Democrat president four years down the road?
The answer might not be as positive as Trumpists expect.
Even if both gentlemen meet in person amid huggings, caviar and wodka, Putin will remain inscrutable. His ability to deceive others is legendary. Scores of western politicians can testify to it -- Merkel, Schröder, Trump, Orban, Salvini, yes: even Zelensky in the prewar days. Putin is a first class actor who would probably do very well as a Hollywood villain if he wasn't chained to his Kremlin throne.
In any case: Trump is turning much of the world order upside down, and the victims are desperately trying to adjust. Ukraine has no choice but to fight, no matter how many peace plans are hatched somewhere. Putin will continue resurrecting the Soviet Union jusqu'au bout du souffle. Europe will continue to groan, haggle and start wasting enormous moneys on armaments. Sigh!
Heinrich von Loesch
Update
After Trump stopped the delivery of arms to Ukraine, even mainstream American media now appear convinced that President Trump is a vicarious agent busy to achieve Putin's goals. Trump believes that Ukraine will now be forced to surrender because Europe will not be able to step in the breach and save its bulwark.
It seems the time has come for Europeans to visualize what a Russia would look like that owns all of Ukraine.
The image of a combined Russia+Ukraine looks daunting. Ukraine would help the large neighbor to achieve a salto di qualità, a quantum leap not only in economic terms and size but in the art of warfare. By adopting modern Ukrainian fighting skills and inheriting advanced Western equipment and software, the Russian military would become a formidable challenger to NATO and Europe, full of pride and the urge to expand.
Beyond Ukraine
If we assume that Trump is indeed a Russian "asset", why would he be acting on behalf of Putin only as regards Ukraine? Could Putin's playbook also mandate Trump to create global havoc by disrupting world trade and reversing migration patterns? This suspicion conjures up a disturbing image of Putin cheerfully sitting in the Kremlin and pulling his global strings.
Hotnews is annoyed by Trump's accusations against Zelensky:
“Ukraine was accused of risking a third world war. Not the country that has nuclear weapons, that frequently threatens with such a war, that attacked Ukraine and could end the slaughter whenever it chooses by simply stopping the invasion. Ukraine is being blamed for defending itself and paying for this with tens of thousands of lives. ... What Trump and JD Vance have essentially suggested is that Kyiv should shut up and swallow the terms of capitulation. Zelensky would have heard the same thing in the Kremlin.”
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...sagt Olivier van Beemen in seinem Buch. Vertreibung, Militarisierung, Privatisierung von Land... im Namen des Naturschutzes.
Innerhalb von zwei Jahrzehnten hat sich African Parks zur größten Naturschutzorganisation in Afrika entwickelt. Unterstützt von westlichen Staaten, Philanthropen und Prominenten verwaltet die NGO heute 23 Nationalparks in 13 afrikanischen Ländern mit einer Fläche von über 20 Millionen Hektar - das entspricht der Größe Großbritanniens.
Nach vier Jahren Recherche, sechs besuchten Ländern und fast 300 Interviews beleuchtet der Journalist Olivier van Beemen in seinem am 21. Februar erschienenen Buch Au nom de la nature (Verlag de l'Échiquier) die „neokolonialistischen Praktiken“ dieser mächtigen NGO.
Er enthüllt ein Naturschutzmodell, das auf Militarisierung, Landprivatisierung und einer von westlichen Eliten dominierten Regierungsführung beruht. Wir trafen ihn in Amsterdam (Niederlande).
Reporterre - Was hat Sie dazu veranlasst, diese NGO zu untersuchen, die als Vorbild für den Naturschutz angepriesen wird?
Olivier van Beemen - Alles begann zufällig in Sambia.... Damals hatte ich noch nie von dieser NGO gehört. Schon bald entdeckte ich eine Organisation mit ungeahnter Macht.
Ihr Motto, „a business approach to conservation“, machte mich sofort neugierig. Je mehr ich las, desto mehr entdeckte ich eine undurchsichtige Verwaltung und eine Logik des Landgrabbings unter dem Deckmantel des Naturschutzes.
Was mir ebenfalls auffiel, war die wichtige Rolle, die einige große Geldgeber und internationale Institutionen bei der Expansion von African Parks spielten. Sie wird von Milliardären und westlichen Regierungen, darunter Frankreich und die Europäische Union, unterstützt.
Am schockierendsten war die Entdeckung von Fällen, in denen mutmaßliche Wilderer gefoltert wurden. Ein ehemaliger Umweltschützer erzählte mir, dass „es im Park keine Menschenrechte gibt“. Die Militarisierung des Naturschutzes unter African Parks ist so weit fortgeschritten, dass die lokale Bevölkerung als potenzielle Feinde behandelt wird. Einwohner, die Kleinwild jagen oder Holz für ihre Häuser sammeln, werden festgenommen und manchmal brutal zusammengeschlagen, genauso wie Elfenbeinhändler.
