Latest news with #Nato
The Journal
an hour ago
- Politics
- The Journal
Sinn Féin MEP calls on EU commissioner to withdraw 'deeply inaccurate' remarks about Ireland
SINN FÉIN MEP Kathleen Funchion has called on the EU's foreign commissioner to her withdraw remarks on Ireland's neutrality. During a debate at the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Tuesday on the upcoming Nato summit next week, Funchion criticised the EU's inaction on dealing with Israel's military operations in the Gaza, Iran and other parts of the Middle East. The Ireland South MEP later noted the sovereign right of each member state to choose its own foreign policies and if they participate in military alliances such as Nato. She said that the EU hopes it recognises Ireland's right to maintain its historical neutral stance. 'We in Ireland have a proud history and tradition of UN peacekeeping, and long may that continue,' Funchion said, adding that it was 'important to reference the creeping militarisation into EU politics'. 'This debate has been a combination of maddening and depressing for the past two hours, listening to the vast majority of speakers. I would also remind people that, at its core, the EU is supposed to be a peace project, and we should not move away from this' Other members also voiced concern over the fulfilment of international law obligations in the conflict during the debate and called for a renewed effort to achieve peace in the Middle East and in Ukraine. 'Peace does not mark end of suffering' During her closing remarks, the European Commission Vice President and foreign affairs Commissioner Kaja Kallas said that peace can only be achieved in Ukraine when the aggressor, Russia, is willing to negotiate. She addressed Funchion's remarks and claimed that Ireland had the chance for 'prosperity' in the years following the World War II, while the rest of Europe experienced 'atrocities'. She said, in that context, that a negotiated peace through surrender would not benefit countries under siege by others. Advertisement 'I want to address our Irish colleagues,' Kallas said. 'Peace doesn't mean the human suffering will stop. If you surrender, you [still] have the aggressor. [If] you say, 'Take all that you want', it doesn't mean that human suffering will stop. 'In our experience behind the Iron Curtain [the border between the Soviet Union and Europe during the Cold War] after World War II, countries like Ireland got to build up their prosperity, but for us, it meant atrocities, mass deportations, suppression of our culture and language. 'This is what happens, it is peace – but not freedom. It's not freedom of choice for people. And that is what the EU is all about and that's what we're fighting for.' 'Ill-advised remarks should be withdrawn' The remarks have been criticised as 'deeply inaccurate' by MEP Funchion, who said the vice-president was dismissive of the post-war experience of people on the island of Ireland. Funchion said Kallas' comments were 'ill-advised and deeply insensitive to the experiences of Irish communities still seeking justice to this day'. She added: 'Ireland too endured atrocities, from the Ballymurphy massacre to Bloody Sunday, where innocent civilians were shot and killed by British soldiers. Our people suffered internment without trial, and widespread discrimination in housing and employment, particularly in the North. 'Furthermore, the suppression of Irish language and culture has been an ongoing battle, as evidenced by the decades-long campaign for an Irish Language Act in the North. She added: 'I have written to the vice-president asking her to withdraw her remarks and to acknowledge the reality of Ireland's past.' Kallas' office has been contacted for comment. Includes reporting by Press Association Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone... A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation. Learn More Support The Journal
Spectator
4 hours ago
- Business
- Spectator
Is Iran about to choke the West's energy supply?
Nato has learned nothing from Russia's energy blackmail – and Iran is about to prove it. With precision warheads and hypersonic payloads tearing Israeli and Iranian skies, you might think we're witnessing the next frontier in modern warfare. But it's an old game, played with old rules. And once again, Tehran reaches for its well-worn lever of power: energy blackmail. Already, markets are twitching. Crude has jumped over 10 per cent Senior Iranian officials, including Revolutionary Guard commander Esmail Kowsari, have warned that, if Israeli attacks continue, Tehran will not only exit the non-proliferation treaty (thus tearing up its last fig-leaf of nuclear restraint), but will also close the Strait of Hormuz. That's no idle bluster. A third of the world's oil and a fifth of its liquefied natural gas flows through this 21-mile corridor. Already, markets are twitching. Crude has jumped over 10 per cent. Should the blockade materialise, some project $150-a-barrel oil: a level unseen even during the early days of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Faced with this looming storm, Nato has chosen…silence. There's been the usual call for de-escalation, but Secretary-General Mark Rutte leans on Washington to act. As for the upcoming Nato summit next week, the agenda appears to be more focused on Russia and defence budgets. Iran barely makes a footnote. This is staggering. Europe's last encounter with Moscow's weaponisation of energy should have been a wake-up call. Cyberattacks and sabotage targeted LNG terminals, undersea pipelines, and critical infrastructure. It devastated industrial output and cost Europe hundreds of billions of pounds. Yet Nato's energy strategy remains anaemic, overly reactive and built around tabletop scenarios rather than hardened defences. Space and cyberspace are treated as frontline domains. Energy, bizarrely, isn't. That strategic blind spot has consequences. All Iran needs to do is plant doubt. The markets will recoil. Oil prices will spike. Russia, as Tehran's close ally, will pocket the windfall, doubling down in Ukraine with fresh funds. And while Hamas and Hezbollah may now be spent forces from Tehran's perspective, Iran still has foxes in the field, particularly in Africa, where the Polisario Front remains a useful partner. This is why Nato cannot afford to palm off responsibility to the Americans and sleepwalk into another energy crisis. The economic and political costs are simply too high. What's needed is a harder-nosed energy doctrine. The long-term answer lies in renewables. The West must sprint, not stumble, toward clean energy independence. But in the short term, we must secure reliable energy flows from more reliable partners in North Africa and North America. It also means investing heavily in dual-use energy-defence infrastructure. LNG ports like those in Świnoujście and Klaipėda on the Baltic, sit at the fault lines of the next potential hybrid assault. These sites must be shielded with cybersecurity and military bulwarks, especially as energy routes become prime targets in future conflicts. If one ally's energy infrastructure is sabotaged, it must trigger a collective Nato response Nato must also draw a new red line. A legislative revolution, no less: an Energy Article 5. If one ally's energy infrastructure is sabotaged, it must trigger a collective Nato response. This would signal clearly that energy blackmail won't be tolerated. Of course, this demands more than lofty declarations. Political will is one thing; paying for it is another. Nato's push for 5 per cent of GDP on defence sounds bold until you remember it took decades just to drag most members to the 2 per cent baseline. But for all the alarm it causes with Hormuz sabre-rattling, the Gulf region may hold the solution to the problem, becoming one of the West's most important energy investors. After all, Gulf states like the UAE and Saudi Arabia are awash with capital. They know the clock is ticking on oil. That's why they're pouring billions into renewables, infrastructure, and energy technology across the West. Look at Masdar, the UAE's clean energy powerhouse, which recently raised $1 billion (£740 million) to fund 100 GW of renewables, including major projects in Germany and the Baltic Sea. Or Qatar's 20-year LNG deal with Germany, signed at the height of the energy panic. Then there's ADNOC, Abu Dhabi's national oil company. It recently finalised a $16 billion (£12 billion) deal to acquire Covestro, a German chemicals firm battered by the gas crisis. It's also planning to invest a staggering $440 billion (£320 billion) over the next decade in U.S. energy, spanning LNG terminals, renewables, and petrochemicals. Its current $19 billion (£14 billion) bid for Australian gas producer Santos further expands this global footprint. These are vital acts of strategic underwriting. They help insulate Western economies from hostile actors, and they show that energy security needn't rest solely on the state's shoulders. Private capital, deployed wisely, can be a force multiplier. The U.S. has already secured over $2 trillion (£1.5 trilion) in Gulf investment, so why the sluggishness elsewhere? Nato should be chasing these deals with equal urgency. There's a clear path here: a hybrid strategy of asymmetric leverage, using capital to reinforce energy defences. If Nato can't spend its way to resilience, it must attract the money that will. We cannot delay until the next crisis comes knocking. Because once Iran shows the West how energy can humble empires, every rogue regime will come hunting for the spigot.
AsiaOne
6 hours ago
- Politics
- AsiaOne
Zelenskiy appoints new commander of Ukraine's land forces, World News
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Thursday (June 19) appointed Hennadiy Shapovalov as commander of Ukraine's land forces, replacing a commander who resigned over a Russian strike on a training area. Shapovalov, whose appointment was announced in a presidential decree, had previously acted as a liaison at a Nato coordination centre in Germany. Before that, he had served as commander of the forces of the Operational Command South. Zelenskiy, speaking later in his nightly video address, said Shapovalov's experience in working with Nato would be put to good use in introducing changes in Ukraine's forces. "All this useful experience of this coordination and all the real combat experience of our soldiers must be applied now within Ukraine's land forces," he said. "Changes are needed and this is an imperative." Shapovalov takes over as head of land forces from Mykhailo Drapatyi, who tendered his resignation this month after a deadly Russian strike on a training camp in southeastern Ukraine. Zelenskiy reassigned Drapatyi to the post of commander of the joint forces as part of a military shakeup. [[nid:719245]]
Business Times
10 hours ago
- Politics
- Business Times
Trump to make Iran war decision in ‘next two weeks'
[WASHINGTON] US President Donald Trump said on Thursday he will decide whether to join Israel's strikes on Iran within the next two weeks as there is still a 'substantial' chance of talks to end the conflict. Trump's move to hit the pause button could open up space for diplomacy, after days of fevered questions about whether or not he would order US military action against Tehran. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt read out a message from Trump after what she called 'a lot of speculation' about whether the United States would be 'directly involved' in the conflict. 'Based on the fact that there's a substantial chance of negotiations that may or may not take place with Iran in the near future, I will make my decision whether or not to go within the next two weeks,' Trump said in the statement. Trump has set two-week deadlines that subsequently shifted on a series of other tough topics in the past, including the Russia-Ukraine war - but Leavitt denied he was putting off a decision. 'If there's a chance for diplomacy the president's always going to grab it, but he's not afraid to use strength as well,' Leavitt said. BT in your inbox Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox. Sign Up Sign Up At the same time Leavitt reinforced the sense of urgency, telling reporters that Iran could produce a nuclear weapon in the space of a 'couple of weeks.' 'Iran has all that it needs to achieve a nuclear weapon. All they need is a decision from the supreme leader to do that, and it would take a couple of weeks to complete the production of that weapon,' she said. Iran denies seeking a nuclear weapon, saying that its programme is for peaceful purposes. 'Trust in President Trump' Trump said on Wednesday that Iran had asked to send officials to the White House to negotiate a deal on its nuclear programme and end the conflict with Israel - although Iran denied making any such request. Washington and Tehran had continued 'correspondence' since Israel first struck Iran last week, Leavitt said. She said however that there were currently no plans for Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff to join European diplomats meeting Iran's foreign minister in Geneva on Friday. Trump met his top national security team in the White House Situation Room for the third day in a row on Thursday. He will have similar meetings daily until he leaves for a Nato summit in the Netherlands on Monday, the White House said. His two-week deadline comes after a tense few days in which Trump publicly mulled joining Israel's strikes on Iran and said that Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was an 'easy target.' Trump had spent weeks pursuing a diplomatic path towards a deal to replace the nuclear deal with Iran that he tore up in his first term in 2018. But he has since backed Israel's attacks on Iran's nuclear facilities and military top brass, while mulling whether to join in. A key issue is that the United States is the only country with the huge 'bunker buster' bombs that could destroy Iran's crucial Fordo Iranian nuclear enrichment plant. 'We have capabilities that no other country on this planet possesses,' said Leavitt. The White House meanwhile urged Trump supporters to 'trust' the president as he decides whether to act. A number of key figures in his 'Make America Great Again' movement, including commentator Tucker Carlson and former aide Steve Bannon, have vocally opposed US strikes on Iran. Trump's promise to extract the United States from its 'forever wars' in the Middle East played a role in his 2016 and 2024 election wins. 'Trust in President Trump. President Trump has incredible instincts,' Leavitt said. AFP
The Irish Sun
12 hours ago
- The Irish Sun
Brit AI-drone gunships to fly alongside Apache helicopters in war of the future
BRITAIN'S new AI-drone gunships will fly alongside Apache helicopters in future battles. Apache pilots will command up to six drones, known as mules, carrying missiles, sensors and jamming kit. Advertisement 1 Britain's new AI-drone gunships will fly alongside Apache helicopters in future wars The mules will also be programmed to fight autonomously and control swarms of smaller drones on the ground. This triple-layer system will give the Army far greater firepower and aims to protect our fleet of Apache AH-64Es, Challenger 3 tanks plus soldiers on the ground. More integration of crewed and uncrewed aircraft had been hinted at in the Strategic Defence Review announced earlier this month. Advertisement READ MORE ON DRONES 'Our Autonomous Collaborative Platforms (the mules) will fly alongside the Apache attack helicopters and enhance the Army's ability to strike, survive and win on the battlefield. 'This will be a game-changer. It will be applying the lessons from Ukraine in a world- leading way. It will be putting the UK at the leading edge of innovation in Nato.' Chief of the General Staff Sir Roly Walker said 80 per cent of the Army's weapons in future wars would be drones — as it could take months to build Apaches and tanks and years to train their crews. He said drones were vital as the Ukraine war had 'shown how a £20million tank and four experienced crew can be lost to a £1,000 drone operated by a kid with a few days' training'. Advertisement Most read in Tech He added of the mule drones: 'You don't want to lose them but, if you do, it's not a tragedy because, although sophisticated, they are uncrewed.' Israeli drones obliterate Iranian F-14 fighter jets in explosive aerial assault
