• 190 Posts
  • 100 Comments
Joined 1 month ago
cake
Cake day: January 29th, 2025

help-circle










  • Windfall for European arms makers as Brussels ramps up defence spending

    Weapons manufacturers across Europe are rushing to secure contracts after EU countries announced plans to dramatically increase defence spending. Share prices of European arms companies had already risen sharply following the US decision to suspend military aid to Ukraine […] Some deals are already in motion […]

    [After Starlink satellite network-owner Elon Musk has raised concerns about the network being used for military purposes] Europe is looking at alternatives. Paris-based Eutelsat, the world’s third-largest satellite operator by revenue, is in talks to replace Starlink in Ukraine […]

    On 6 March, Italian company Leonardo signed a deal with Turkey’s Baykar for a joint venture to produce drones as defence companies rush to respond to the surge in European military spending […]

    Increased demand may revive the EU’s Eurodrone project, a four-nation development programme involving Germany, France, Italy and Spain […]

    Meanwhile, the Czech Republic announced it will extend its Czech ammunitions initiative with Denmark, Canada, Portugal and Latvia, which already supplied Kyiv with 1.6 million rounds of large-calibre ammunition last year […]

    Overall, the biggest winners from the increase in EU defence spending are likely to be Germany’s Rheinmetall, France’s Thales and Saab of Sweden, while BAE systems of the UK is well-positioned to benefit from increased military budgets across EU nations […]



















  • Not an MEP, but a Swedish lawmaker already gave some advice to Asian countries during a recent travel, raising the issues in Europe and Asia are similar:

    Swedish legislators to Asian countries: Build security alliances, bolster defense vs. Chinese aggression

    China’s hostile actions in Asia are similar to that of Russia’s aggression in Europe, particularly against Ukraine, and countries like the Philippines should prepare by building alliances and strengthening their defense capabilities, visiting Swedish lawmakers said Friday.

    Asian countries should also try to “de-risk” and remain independent from potential aggressors, which could resort to economic coercion to gain advantage in a major conflict, said Joar Forsell (Liberal Party), a member of Swedish parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee.

    “I think that something to learn is to build alliances, build very close alliances with like-minded partners, real defensive capabilities, not be naïve, buy new weapons, build the defense capabilities and also de-risk to ensure independence,” said Forsell, when asked what Europe has learned from Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, which has brought the region in its worst security crisis since World War II […]

    [Edit typo.]












  • Als Ergänzung der Report von Human Rights Watch:

    […] Seit Ende 2016 haben die chinesischen Behörden eine groß angelegte und systematische Kampagne von Menschenrechtsverletzungen gegen die uigurische Bevölkerung, bis hin zu Verbrechen gegen die Menschlichkeit, verschärft.

    Die chinesischen Behörden haben Uigurinnen willkürlich festgenommen und zu Unrecht inhaftiert, sie wegen der Ausübung ihrer kulturellen Bräuche verfolgt und sie einer Massenüberwachung und Zwangsarbeit unterworfen. Schätzungsweise eine halbe Million Uigurinnen sind im Rahmen der anhaltenden Repressionen nach wie vor inhaftiert, wobei die Behörden routinemäßig friedliches Alltagsverhalten wie Gebete oder den Kontakt zu Verwandten im Ausland mit Terrorismus und Extremismus gleichsetzen.

    Uigur*innen, denen vorgeworfen wird, China illegal verlassen zu haben, werden, falls sie zurückgebracht werden, von den Behörden mit großem Misstrauen betrachtet und sind Inhaftierung, Verhören, Folter und anderen grausamen, menschenunwürdigen und erniedrigenden Praktiken ausgesetzt, so Human Rights Watch. Die Behörden haben auch wiederholt uigurische Familien, die im Ausland leben, schikaniert.

    In einem Bericht von 2022 dokumentierte das Büro der Hohen Kommissarin der Vereinten Nationen für Menschenrechte diese zunehmenden Rechtsverletzungen und kam zu dem Schluss, dass die Handlungen Chinas „internationale Verbrechen darstellen könnten, insbesondere Verbrechen gegen die Menschlichkeit“.