Månad: juli 2025

[…] On Friday, a Polish parliamentary delegation visiting Washington pressed U.S. officials to ensure that any such reduction would not affect NATO’s eastern flank.
The delegation held high-level meetings in Congress, the State Department, the Pentagon and the National Security Council.
Paweł Kowal, Chair of the Polish Foreign Affairs Committee, told reporters: “We had a clear, straightforward message tied to our national interest—our contributions to defense spending and our security ties within NATO.

“We highlighted how much gas Poland currently buys from the U.S., how involved we are in nuclear energy cooperation and how important this is for the independence of all of Central Europe and Poland’s security.” Läs artikel

On 9^th of July 2025, the President of the United States, Donald Trump, sent a letter to the Brazilian President Luis Inácio Lula da Silva communicating that the US will impose a 50% tariff over Brazilian imports starting August 1^st. […]

Trump’s letter to Brazil reeked of interventionism. Unlike similar letters sent to other states’ informing them of higher tariff rates this week that followed a boiler-plate pattern, his motivations for imposing tariffs on Brazil forefronted two issues: putting an end to the prosecution of former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, and halting judicial and legislative efforts aimed at ensuring social media companies, such as Trump’s “Truth Social” and Elon Musk’s “X/Twitter”, comply with Brazilian law. Needless to say these tariffs are not about redressing any sort of trade dispute — the point is to weaponize trade to accomplish unrelated policy goals.

The first paragraph of Trump’s letter already mentions Bolsonaro’s treatment by the Brazilian government, labelling it “an international disgrace”, and his trial a “Witch Hunt” (sic.), that should “end immediately”. Bolsonaro is currently facing criminal proceedings for orchestrating an attempted coup that involved plans to assassinate President Lula and other government officials on the 8^th of January 2023. Läs artikel

Producenterna av SVT-serien ”Sverige och kriget” Kristina Lindström och Henrik Stockare –förstärkta med tre till produktionen knutna historiker: Henrik Berggren, Karin Kvist Geverts och Klas Åmark – avfärdar vår kritik på DN Debatt med argumentet att vi företräder en ”småstatsrealism”. Men vårt syfte är bara att peka på faktafel och problem. […]

Det verkligt ”ohistoriska” är påståendet att tyska styrkorna i Norge förstärktes via permittenttrafiken september–november 1940. Det är inte sant, oavsett vilka månader eller veckor man talar om. I själva verket var det ett underskott på 4 600 man i trafiken till Norge 1940. […]

Vår kritik om att den svenska järnmalmsexporten – som omnämns flera gånger i serien – borde ha satts i sitt sammanhang svarar man att ”över huvud taget är det väldigt lite med om järnmalmen” och att detta beror på att ”det inte var ett neutralitetsbrott”. Debattörerna bekräftar alltså det vi kritiserat. SVT väljer att inte ge tittaren den avgörande kontexten: att Sverige var beroende av import av kol och koks från Tyskland. […]

I alla fel och utelämnanden (till exempel om kommunistiska SKP:s roll under de första krigsåren och partiets underdåniga följsamhet mot Moskva) finns ett mönster, nämligen moralismen, vilket bekräftas av serieskaparna. Moralisera kan man självklart göra, men det hindrar inte att fakta återges korrekt. Och där har produktionen brustit, svårare än så är det inte. Läs artikel

EU har idag antagit ett 18:e sanktionspaket med anledning av Rysslands fortsatta anfallskrig mot Ukraina. Sanktionspaketet innehåller flertalet nya och utökade åtgärder för att begränsa ryska energiinkomster och den ryska skuggflottan. Bland annat sänks det så kallade oljepristaket från 60 till 47,6 dollar per fat inom EU.

I en seremoni i Dakar torsdag vil Frankrike returnere Camp Geille, sin største base i landet, og flybasen ved Dakar lufthavn. Da vil den franske hæren stå uten permanente leirer i Vest- og Sentral-Afrika.

Rundt 350 franske soldater, som primært har vært ansvarlige for å gjennomføre felles operasjoner med den senegalesiske hæren, vil forlate den vestafrikanske nasjonen etter en avreiseprosess som begynte i mars. Med regjeringer over hele Afrika som i økende grad stiller spørsmål ved Frankrikes militære tilstedeværelse, har Paris stengt eller redusert antallet militærbaser over hele sitt tidligere imperium. Bare den lille nasjonen Djibouti på Afrikas Horn vil være hjem til en permanent fransk hærbase etter torsdagens tilbaketrekning. Läs artikel

The Ministry of External Affairs on Thursday responded to North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) chief Mark Rutte’s remarks on possible sanctions over India’s trade with Russia, cautioning against ”double standards”.

MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal, at the weekly media briefing in Delhi, said, ”We have seen reports on the subject and are closely following the developments. Let me reiterate that securing the energy needs of our people is understandably an overriding priority for us.” […]

”So please make the phone call to Vladimir Putin and tell him that he has to get serious about peace talks, because otherwise this will slam back on Brazil, on India and on China in a massive way,” Rutte added.

However, European and NATO members continue to be large buyers if Russian energy exports. According to to the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, EU has been the largest buyer of Russian liquified natural gas and pipeline gas since 2022 and Turkey, a NATO member, has been the largest buyer of Russian oil products. The EU has proposed to phase out Russian oil and natural gas imports by 2027 and January 2028, respectively. Läs artikel

France and Italy will not take part in a new NATO-led initiative to finance the delivery of U.S. weapons to Ukraine, Politico and La Stampa reported on July 16, citing undisclosed government officials in both countries.

Despite being a long-standing supporter of Ukraine, France has opted out of the plan, which was unveiled during U.S. President Donald Trump’s meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in Washington on July 14. Under this scheme, NATO will purchase advanced arms from the U.S., including air defense systems, and deliver some of them to Ukraine.

According to two French officials, France declined to join the plan because of President Emmanuel Macron’s push for European nations to strengthen their own defense industries by purchasing domestically produced arms. […]

Italy, meanwhile, has taken a similar position. According to La Stampa, Italian officials ruled out direct purchases of U.S. weapons, citing fiscal limitations and the country’s focus on different technological systems, such as the Italian-French-made SAMP/T air defense system already supplied to Ukraine.

Italian Defense Ministry sources stressed that the decision should not be seen as a lack of support for Ukraine, but rather as a call to explore alternative ways to contribute to the broader effort. Läs artikel