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Category: Balkans

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: Behind bars, not beyond rights: UN Peacekeeping & the Nelson Mandela Rules

    Source: United Nations – Peacekeeping

    Written by Maya Kelly, a Strategic Communications Consultant and Social Media Coordinator for the UN Department of Peace Operations. She has a background in media, communications, technoculture, and education policy

    Human rights belong to everyone – including prisoners.  

    Nelson Mandela once said, “A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but rather its lowest ones.” Imprisoned for 27 years under apartheid, the late president of South Africa saw firsthand the injustices faced behind bars. He spent his life advocating for the fair and human treatment of all people, including prisoners. 

    His fight continues today. Around the world, prisons hold individuals convicted of violent or non-violent offences, political prisoners, juveniles, and pre-trial detainees held for months or years without any conviction – and who accounted for nearly a third of the world’s 11.5 million prison population as of 2022. 

    In many places, these prisoners’ rights are still not upheld. Many are subjected to violence. Many are denied humane treatment, clean water, adequate food, proper sanitation, healthcare, and legal protections. Overincarceration, overcrowding, underfunding, poor conditions and the serious neglect of prison services threaten the lives of prisoners, the safety of communities, and the global community’s efforts to advance human rights, sustainable development, and peace. 

    The Nelson Mandela Rules, adopted by the UN General Assembly 10 years ago, seek to change this by establishing minimum standards for the treatment of prisoners. In the countries where we operate, UN peacekeeping helps host governments put these rules into practice in countries like South Sudan, the Central African Republic, and Kosovo*. Our efforts protect the rights of detainees, improve the safety and security of communities, and help advance sustainable peace in regions affected by conflict.

    What are the Nelson Mandela Rules?

    The UN first adopted rules for the treatment of prisoners in 1955. They were not updated again until 2015, when after five years of revisions, the UN General Assembly unanimously adopted the revised United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners – known today as the Nelson Mandela Rules.  

    The new resolution was named to honour the legacy of Mandela’s lifelong struggle for global human rights, equality, democracy, and the promotion of a culture of peace. 

    The Nelson Mandela Rules are the universally recognized blueprint for effective and humane prison management in the 21st century.

    While there are 122 rules in total, they are guided by a set of key principles, which seek to create prison systems that ensure humane treatment for prisoners and help prevent repeat offences:

    1. Humane treatment: Every prisoner is a human being whose rights and dignity must be respected. This includes protection from torture and from cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment, and the right to food, water, and medical attention.
    2. Non-discrimination: The rules should be applied equally and without discrimination based on race, gender, language, religion, sexuality or another other status.
    3. Normalisation: Life in prison should be as similar as possible to life in the wider community, with access to resources and regular family contact, to support reintegration and deter repeat offences.
    4. Safety and security: Prisons should provide a safe and secure environment for prisoners, prison staff, service providers and visitors, including protecting prisoners from violence.
    5. Tailored rehabilitation: Rehabilitation opportunities, including education and vocational training, should meet prisoners’ individual needs to prepare them to live a law-abiding and self-supporting life upon release. Rehabilitation reduces the likelihood of repeat offences upon prisoners’ release. 

    Ensuring prisons meet these standards protects the prisoners and personnel inside and improves the safety of surrounding communities.

    Why are the Mandela Rules Important?

    When the Nelson Mandela Rules are applied, we’re all better off: the rules improve both prisoner and community safety and security.

    Humane, rehabilitative prisons lower reoffending rates upon release, improving public safety. Overcrowding and poor sanitation in prisons accelerates the spread of disease, threatening the health of inmates and the wider community. Improving prison health protects public health. Incarceration disrupts families and communities for generations, while prison alternatives and maintained family contact during incarceration leads to stronger social and community cohesion. Incarceration is not only expensive for governments but has long lasting economic costs for families and communities who lose economic potential. 

    While the Mandela Rules establish the minimum standards in countries where United Nations peace operations are present, chronic underfunding, overcrowding, and outdated infrastructure severely limit governments’ abilities to meet even the most basic standards of detention. If left unchecked, prisons become breeding grounds for communicable disease, violence, and radicalization with social, economic and political costs that are felt well beyond the prison walls. We, therefore, work together with national authorities and partners to implement and uphold the Mandela Rules in prisons in some of the world’s toughest conflict environments.

    How UN Peacekeeping helps countries put the Mandela Rules into practice

    UN Peacekeeping deploys Justice and Corrections experts to improve how prisons are run, support programs that help prisoners reintegrate into society, and train national prison staff to strengthen justice for prisoners and wider community members.

    We support host governments implement the Nelson Mandela Rules, building safer, fairer prisons that respect human rights, reduce the risk of violence and radicalization, and strengthen public trust in justice institutions. These are key foundations for building lasting peace, security, and stability in conflict and post-conflict settings.

    In prisons in South Sudan, climate shocks, regional conflict, stalled imports and overcrowding in prisons mean that prisoners do not have enough to eat. The peacekeeping mission UNMISS is working with the Food and Agriculture Association (FAO) to train inmates in agriculture and let them grow food on “prison farms” to supply the prisons. The results have been transformative: food insecurity has been reduced, and prisoners have gained vocational skills that give them hope for their futures. “This farm helps us produce food, gives us the physical exercise we need, but above all, gives us hope for rebuilding our lives once we finish our sentences,” says Jakor Kuron, an inmate.

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI Africa: United Nations (UN) Human Rights Committee publishes findings on Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Kazakhstan, Latvia, North Macedonia, Spain, and Viet Nam

    Source: APO


    .

    The UN Human Rights Committee today issued its findings on Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Kazakhstan, Latvia, North Macedonia, Spain and Viet Nam, following its review of these States parties during its 144th session.

    The findings highlight positive developments and outline key concerns and recommendations regarding each country’s implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). Key issues include:

    Guinea-Bissau

    The Committee noted with concern that despite constitutional guarantees, the judiciary remains vulnerable to political interference and pressure from criminal networks. It urged the State party to strengthen the independence and functioning of the judiciary by, among others, providing increased resources to the judicial system. The Committee also raised concerns about restrictions of peaceful assembly, intimidation of human rights defenders, and interference with trade unions, urging the authorities to respect and protect civic space.

    Haiti

    The Committee expressed concern about the impact of ongoing large-scale gang violence on the Haitian population and the inability of the police to stop it. It called on the State party to take steps to fully comply with its obligations to protect the right to life, including by implementing a public policy to dismantle the gangs and “self-defence brigades”, and to redouble efforts to prevent and eliminate corruption in state institutions, one of the root causes of insecurity and human rights violations.

    Kazakhstan

    The Committee expressed concern that counter-terrorism efforts may be unduly restricting civic space and about reports of the use of force and acts of torture by law enforcement officials against members of civil society. It urged the State party to bring its counter-terrorism efforts in line with its international human rights law obligations and ensure that all allegations of excessive use of force are properly investigated and that victims are provided with remedies.

    Latvia

    The Committee raised concerns about border protection measures restricting asylum access, which it said expose refugees to the risk of non-refoulement and ill-treatment. It called on the authorities to ensure all individuals in need of international protection are assessed fairly and efficiently and to investigate allegations of pushbacks and ill-treatment of refugees at border points.

    North Macedonia

    The Committee was concerned that despite progress achieved in some areas, including the adoption of a strategy for the inclusion of Roma 2022-2030, discrimination and marginalization against the Roma community remained significant, with its members experiencing high levels of poverty and exclusion, and subjected to ethnic profiling. It called on the authorities to embrace poverty reduction efforts and improve advocacy and awareness to address anti-Roma discrimination.

    Spain

    The Committee welcomed progress made in areas of memory, truth and reparation for past human rights violations, including the adoption of the 2022 Democratic Memory Law and the establishment of a Prosecutor for Human Rights and Democratic Memory, but expressed regrets that the 1977 Amnesty Law remains active and that proceedings initiated in 2010 for violations committed during the Spanish Civil War and the Franco Dictatorship have not resulted in any effective actions. It also expressed concern about violent incidents of pushbacks of refugees and the alleged excessive use of force by border agents in Ceuta in 2014 and Melilla in 2022, resulting in serious injuries and deaths. It called on the authorities to implement fair asylum procedures that respect the principle of non-refoulement and to investigate the incidents of excessive use of force in Ceuta and Melilla.

    Viet Nam

    The Committee welcomed the recent removal of the death penalty for eight crimes in Viet Nam. However, it remained concerned that the death penalty remains for ten crimes, including non-violent crimes. The Committee called on the State party to refrain from carrying out executions by maintaining a de facto moratorium. The Committee also raised concerns about reports of torture and ill treatment of detainees. The full Concluding Observations are available on the session page.

    Distributed by APO Group on behalf of United Nations: Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).

    MIL OSI Africa –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Statement of condemnation by the North Atlantic Council concerning Russian malicious cyber activities

    Source: NATO

    1. We strongly condemn Russia’s malicious cyber activities, which constitute a threat to Allied security. We stand in solidarity and recognise that Estonia, France, the United Kingdom and the United States have recently attributed malicious cyber activity targeting several NATO Allies and Ukraine to Russia’s military intelligence service (GRU).  We recall that in 2024, Germany and the Czech Republic individually attributed activity to APT 28, which is sponsored by the GRU. We also note with concern that the same threat actor targeted other national governmental entities, critical infrastructure operators and other entities across the Alliance, including in Romania. These attributions and the continuous targeting of our critical infrastructure, with the harmful impacts caused across several sectors, illustrate the extent to which cyber and wider hybrid threats have become important tools in Russia’s ongoing campaign to destabilise NATO Allies and in Russia’s brutal and unprovoked war of aggression against Ukraine.

    2. We call on Russia to stop its destabilising cyber and hybrid activities. These activities demonstrate Russia’s disregard for the United Nations framework for responsible state behaviour in cyberspace, which Russia claims to uphold. Russia’s actions will not deter Allies’ support to Ukraine, including cyber assistance through the Tallinn Mechanism and IT capability coalition. We will continue to use the lessons learned from the war against Ukraine in countering Russian malicious cyber activity.

    3. NATO stands for a free, open, peaceful and secure cyberspace. We call on all States, including Russia, to uphold their international obligations, also when acting in cyberspace, and to act consistently with the framework for responsible state behaviour in cyberspace as affirmed by all members of the United Nations.

    4. We remain united in our determination to counter, constrain, and contest Russian malicious cyber activities and are investing in our defences; including through the establishment of the NATO Integrated Cyber Defence Centre and upholding our Cyber Defence Pledge commitments as well as through the commitments made in the Hague Summit Declaration.

    5. We are determined to employ the full range of capabilities in order to deter, defend against and counter the full spectrum of cyber threats.  We will respond to these at a time and in a manner of our choosing, in accordance with international law, and in coordination with our international partners including the EU.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Statement of condemnation by the North Atlantic Council concerning Russian malicious cyber activities

    Source: NATO

    1. We strongly condemn Russia’s malicious cyber activities, which constitute a threat to Allied security. We stand in solidarity and recognise that Estonia, France, the United Kingdom and the United States have recently attributed malicious cyber activity targeting several NATO Allies and Ukraine to Russia’s military intelligence service (GRU).  We recall that in 2024, Germany and the Czech Republic individually attributed activity to APT 28, which is sponsored by the GRU. We also note with concern that the same threat actor targeted other national governmental entities, critical infrastructure operators and other entities across the Alliance, including in Romania. These attributions and the continuous targeting of our critical infrastructure, with the harmful impacts caused across several sectors, illustrate the extent to which cyber and wider hybrid threats have become important tools in Russia’s ongoing campaign to destabilise NATO Allies and in Russia’s brutal and unprovoked war of aggression against Ukraine.

    2. We call on Russia to stop its destabilising cyber and hybrid activities. These activities demonstrate Russia’s disregard for the United Nations framework for responsible state behaviour in cyberspace, which Russia claims to uphold. Russia’s actions will not deter Allies’ support to Ukraine, including cyber assistance through the Tallinn Mechanism and IT capability coalition. We will continue to use the lessons learned from the war against Ukraine in countering Russian malicious cyber activity.

    3. NATO stands for a free, open, peaceful and secure cyberspace. We call on all States, including Russia, to uphold their international obligations, also when acting in cyberspace, and to act consistently with the framework for responsible state behaviour in cyberspace as affirmed by all members of the United Nations.

    4. We remain united in our determination to counter, constrain, and contest Russian malicious cyber activities and are investing in our defences; including through the establishment of the NATO Integrated Cyber Defence Centre and upholding our Cyber Defence Pledge commitments as well as through the commitments made in the Hague Summit Declaration.

    5. We are determined to employ the full range of capabilities in order to deter, defend against and counter the full spectrum of cyber threats.  We will respond to these at a time and in a manner of our choosing, in accordance with international law, and in coordination with our international partners including the EU.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Boost for travelers and businesses as Germany opens up eGates

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    Press release

    Boost for travelers and businesses as Germany opens up eGates

    UK and Germany agree to phased opening of German eGates for UK travellers

    • Germany agrees to phased opening of e-gates for the over 3 million Brits visiting each year
    • Follows UK-EU Summit in May and agreement that there were no legal barriers to allow UK citizens access to e-gates in more EU Member States after the introduction of the EU’s Entry/Exit System 

    Millions of UK travellers to Germany will be able to use e-gates in the future thanks to a new agreement made between Prime Minister Keir Starmer and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz today (Thursday 17 July). Part of a landmark bilateral treaty between the two countries.

    Germany will roll out the first phase of e-gates access for UK travellers by the end of August, starting with frequent travellers such as Brits with family in Germany or who travel regularly for business. Access for all UK nationals will be possible once Germany has completed  technical updates to its entry systems as it introduces the new EU’s Entry/Exit System. 

    3.2 million Brits visited Germany in 2023, with numbers growing steadily since the Covid pandemic. Opening up e-gates in Germany, and across the EU, will support UK trade and tourism and boost growth through the Plan for Change. 

    The agreement follows the successful UK-EU Summit in May, where the UK and EU made clear that there were no legal barriers to even more EU countries allowing UK citizens to use eGates at airports. EU Relations Minister Nick Thomas Symonds also visited Berlin in June to discuss e-gates, among other issues, with German ministers. 

    Since then, the UK has secured e-gates access for UK citizens traveling to Bulgaria and now into Germany. Other countries and airports have also opened up access, including Portugal (Faro airport) and  the Czech Republic (Prague airport) and Estonia has confirmed they will open up access at (Tallinn airport) in 2026. 

    EU Relations Minister, Nick Thomas-Symonds said: 

    eGates can make the slog of travelling through an airport that bit easier, which is why I have been working with the EU and member states to get more airports opened up to Brits abroad. 

    With £30 billion of services trade between the UK and the EU, this agreement isn’t just good for holidaymakers, it’s good for British businesses too. Making traveling easier between Europe’s biggest economies, to get deals done and boost growth.

    The UK and Germany have a trading relationship worth almost £150 billion a year. Germany is the UK’s second largest trading partner behind the USA, where the UK agreed a new trade deal last month. 

    The UK exports almost £30 billion worth of services to Germany each year, a growing market for British service providers. Services trade, like financial services, IT and consultancy are heavily reliant on face to face meetings and this e-gates agreement will save British firms valuable time. 

    While many EU countries now allow UK citizens to use e-gates, the government is continuing to work with others to do so.

    ENDS

    Updates to this page

    Published 18 July 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: OLAF played key role in Ukraine’s uncovering of massive underground pesticide production

    Source: European Anti-Fraud Offfice

    Press release 20/2025 
    PDF version

    A far-reaching investigation coordinated by the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) has played a central part in uncovering a sophisticated criminal network in Ukraine which engaged in mass production and counterfeiting of agrochemical products. These were falsely labelled under some of the leading agrochemical brands in Europe and the USA. As a result, Ukrainian authorities conducted 89 searches across the country that led to the seizure of hundreds of tons of illicit products worth over 2.3 million EUR. 

    Ukrainian authorities recently dismantled a large-scale criminal network producing and selling illicit pesticides on an industrial scale. Police raids uncovered several underground workshops and resulted in the confiscation of more than 175 tons of counterfeit agrochemicals as well as raw materials for their production. These were ordered from China and contained potent and poisonous substances. 

    In addition, a separate production of packaging for these products was discovered, together with fake labels, plastic packaging, holographic security elements of various trademarks and seals of business entities. Part of the seized products are believed to have been intended for European market, posing a significant threat to food security, environmental safety and legitimate agrochemical companies. You can read more about the operation in the press release of the Ukrainian State Customs Service here and the National Police of Ukraine here.

    OLAF’s role in the operation focused on strategic gathering, analysis and sharing of intelligence as well as cross-border coordination that led to the setting up of a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) between Romania, Ukraine and OLAF under the umbrella of EUROJUST. The investigation started in 2023 with a 2024 to the seizure of additional 1000 litres of counterfeit crop protection products in Romania and in the end helped to identify and later dismantle the source: an illegal large-scale manufacturing operation in Ukraine. 

    National Police of Ukraine, Department for Combating Smuggling and Violations of Customs Rules of the State Customs Service of Ukraine, Office of the Prosecutor General in Ukraine as well as Financial and economic Police Bihor county in Romania and Public Prosecution office Oradea in Romania provided critical support during the operation. 

    Ville Itälä, Director-General of OLAF, said: “This is a textbook example of how operational actions unfold across borders. What started like isolated seizures in Bulgaria and Romania turned out to be the surface of a much deeper operation in Ukraine. Thanks to the methodical investigation and strong cooperation with our partners, we were able to trace the supply chain all the way to the source. This way, we help to protect not only European markets but also legitimate businesses, farmers and the environment.”

    OLAF remains committed to tackling cross-border crime and protecting the European Union from the dangers posed by counterfeit products. 

    OLAF mission, mandate and competences:
    OLAF’s mission is to detect, investigate and stop fraud with EU funds.    

    OLAF fulfils its mission by:
    •    carrying out independent investigations into fraud and corruption involving EU funds, so as to ensure that all EU taxpayers’ money reaches projects that can create jobs and growth in Europe;
    •    contributing to strengthening citizens’ trust in the EU Institutions by investigating serious misconduct by EU staff and members of the EU Institutions;
    •    developing a sound EU anti-fraud policy.

    In its independent investigative function, OLAF can investigate matters relating to fraud, corruption and other offences affecting the EU financial interests concerning:
    •    all EU expenditure: the main spending categories are Structural Funds, agricultural policy and rural development funds, direct expenditure and external aid;
    •    some areas of EU revenue, mainly customs duties;
    •    suspicions of serious misconduct by EU staff and members of the EU institutions.

    Once OLAF has completed its investigation, it is for the competent EU and national authorities to examine and decide on the follow-up of OLAF’s recommendations. All persons concerned are presumed to be innocent until proven guilty in a competent national or EU court of law.

    For further details:

    Pierluigi CATERINO
    Spokesperson
    European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF)
    Phone: +32(0)2 29-52335  
    Email: olaf-media ec [dot] europa [dot] eu (olaf-media[at]ec[dot]europa[dot]eu)
    https://anti-fraud.ec.europa.eu
    LinkedIn: European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF)
    X: x.com/EUAntiFraud
    Bluesky: euantifraud.bsky.social

    If you’re a journalist and you wish to receive our press releases in your inbox, please leave us your contact data.
     

    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: Day of International Criminal Justice (17.07.25)

    Source: Republic of France in English
    The Republic of France has issued the following statement:

    On this Day of International Criminal Justice, which marks the anniversary of the adoption of the treaty that established the International Criminal Court, France reaffirms its staunch commitment to the worldwide fight against impunity.

    France reiterates its commitment to promoting and protecting international law, of which the ICC – the only permanent, universal international court – is a linchpin. It has pledged to promote this Court’s impendence, impartiality, effectiveness and universality.

    We commend the work carried out by the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals, which has made it possible to prosecute and judge the perpetrators of genocide, crimes against humanity, and serious violations of international humanitarian law in Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia. We recognize the vital contribution of hybrid courts and tribunals – among them the Kosovo Specialist Chambers, the Special Criminal Court in the Central African Republic and their predecessors – to the fight against impunity. These international courts, which work alongside national courts, help meet our shared goal of obtaining justice for the victims of the most serious crimes, preventing those crimes and supporting the reconciliation process.

    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • Sujeet Kalkal strikes gold at Budapest Wrestling Ranking Series

    Source: Government of India

    Source: Government of India (4)

    Indian wrestler Sujeet Kalkal on Thursday clinched the gold medal in the 65kg men’s freestyle category at the Polyak Imre & Varga Janos Memorial 2025 wrestling tournament in Budapest, Hungary.

    In the final of the 65kg men’s freestyle category, Sujeet delivered a clinical performance to defeat four-time European medallist Ali Rahimzade of Azerbaijan 5-1. His triumph marked India’s first gold medal in wrestling at any of the Ranking Series events this year. Earlier, Indian grapplers had returned empty-handed from the tournaments in Amman and Mongolia, according to Olympics.com.

    In the first period of the final, Sujeet conceded an activity point, but he raised the tempo in the second period to complete two takedowns. He secured another activity point en route to a commanding victory in the gold medal bout.

    Sujeet’s journey to the final was equally impressive. He began with a dominant 11-0 win over Paris 2024 Olympic bronze medallist Islam Dudaev of Albania in the round of 16. He then overwhelmed European silver medallist Khamzat Arsamerzouev of France in the quarter-finals, before stamping his authority with a 6-1 win over Vazgen Tevanyan of Armenia in the semi-finals.

    India added another medal in the men’s 57kg category, where Rahul clinched bronze with a 4-0 victory over Germany’s Niklas Stechele. Earlier, he had defeated Kim Sung-gwon of the Republic of Korea 5-3 in the quarter-finals, before narrowly losing a hard-fought semi-final 7-6 to the USA’s Luke Joseph Lilledahl.

    Meanwhile, India’s Udit and Vicky suffered defeats in the repechage rounds of the 61kg and 97kg divisions, respectively. The Polyak Imre & Varga Janos Memorial in Budapest is the fourth and final wrestling Ranking Series tournament of the year.

    Ranking points earned at this event will help wrestlers secure better seedings for the World Wrestling Championships, scheduled to be held in Zagreb, Croatia, in September later this year.

    India fielded wrestlers in the men’s and women’s freestyle, as well as Greco-Roman, categories at the ongoing Budapest meet, which will conclude on Sunday.

    (ANI)

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Sixth China-Croatia Joint Police Patrol Mission Launched in Zagreb

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

    Source: People’s Republic of China in Russian – People’s Republic of China in Russian –

    An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.

    Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News

    ZAGREB, July 18 (Xinhua) — The sixth joint police patrol mission between China and Croatia started here on Thursday. Eight Chinese police officers will work for a month in popular tourist destinations from China: Zagreb, Dubrovnik, Zadar and Plitvice Lakes National Park.

    Speaking at the launch ceremony, Chinese Ambassador to Croatia Qi Qianjin noted that the joint police patrol mission has become a symbol of Chinese-Croatian cooperation and friendship. Beijing is ready to work with Zagreb to unlock the potential for cooperation in other areas, he added.

    Croatian Police Headquarters spokesman Ante Maric said police officers from the two countries had successfully cooperated on joint patrols, which had increased the safety of tourists in the Balkan country.

    China first joined the project in 2018. Since then, 46 Chinese police officers have taken part in the joint patrols. –0–

    Please note: This information is raw content obtained directly from the source of the information. It is an accurate report of what the source claims and does not necessarily reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

    .

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI China: Europe urged to diversify trade markets over US tariff coercion, supply chains disruption

    Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News

    As Washington presses ahead with additional tariffs on products from the European Union (EU) and beyond, European officials and experts are urging the diversification of trade markets to mitigate the damage that such coercive financial statecraft is inflicting on global supply chains.

    TARIFF GAME SETTING OFF CHAIN REACTION

    U.S. President Donald Trump announced Saturday that his administration would impose 30 percent tariffs on EU and Mexican exports, arguing that bilateral trade had long been unbalanced and lacked reciprocity.

    Trucks wait to enter the Container Terminal Tollerort in Hamburg, Germany, May 28, 2025. (Xinhua/Zhang Fan)

    The Irish Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald described the tariff threat as “volatile” and “not helpful at all.” “That poses a challenge for Ireland, for Europe, for the world,” she told Xinhua at a press conference in London.

    Countries across Europe have been warning about the impact of the seemingly unrelenting tariff assaults on their economies.

    The Bank of Slovenia estimated that U.S. tariffs could indirectly disrupt the broader European value chain and impact about 15,000 jobs in Slovenia, a significant number in a country of just 2.1 million people.

    The Bank of England also said in its latest Financial Stability Report that the global economy faces rising downside risks, citing U.S. tariffs, and despite a new trade agreement between Britain and the United States in May, a further escalation in trade disputes globally could amplify financial stress and drag on economic growth in Britain.

    Companies of all sizes, from those exporting to the U.S. to manufacturers heavily reliant on global supply chains, are feeling the strain that the tariffs are placing on their operations.

    Neb Chupin, founder of Croatia’s Hermes International, a successful fig jam producer in the U.S. market, said, “With 10 percent tariffs, we are losing about 20,000 U.S. dollars a week. What would happen with 30 or even 50 percent tariffs? I cannot even sleep at night as the situation is very unstable.”

    With 40 percent of exports going to the U.S., Finland’s pharmaceutical industry could also be severely affected by potential U.S. tariffs. Johanna Sipola, deputy CEO of Keskuskauppakamari, or the Finnish Chamber of Commerce, called the tariffs “unrealistic” and warned that the greater risk is the uncertainty they create.

    “If the tariffs were implemented, the repercussions for international pharmaceutical production would be significant. The industry’s delivery chains are unusually global, and even minor disruptions can trigger substantial changes in medicine prices and demand,” Sipola said.

    Beyond the immediate effects, the high-stakes tariff game is setting off a chain reaction across global supply chains and geopolitical dynamics.

    Gavran Igor, an economic analyst from Bosnia and Herzegovina, said that the longer-term impact of the tariffs could prove even more damaging for Balkan manufacturers that are integrated into EU-based industries, particularly automotive supply chains.

    Czech Republic’s Finance Minister Zbynek Stanjura said that exports to the United States account for less than 3 percent of the country’s total exports. However, the country would also be indirectly affected through its European partners who purchase Czech goods and components.

    STRENGTHENING COOPERATION WITH MULTI-PARTNERS URGED

    Inevitably, even countries with modest trade ties to the world’s largest economy can still feel the ripple effects of Washington’s unpredictability. In response, experts recommend that European nations broaden their trade partnerships, especially with China, Southeast Asia and other regions.

    “Europe must, in the long term, become more independent from the American market. A joint free trade zone with the ASEAN countries and the rapid ratification of the agreement with Mercosur are urgently needed,” Dirk Jandura, president of the Federation of German Wholesale, Foreign Trade and Services, said in a statement after Trump’s new tariff announcement.

    Mario Boselli, chairman of the Italy China Council Foundation, said that the shifting dynamics might prompt Europe to reconsider its external economic strategy. In his view, strengthening cooperation with China is a “highly strategic choice.”

    “If economies, like the EU, China, the United Kingdom, Brazil and India, keep global trade open, the U.S. tariffs’ impact on global supply chains will be lower. That’s the opportunity,” said Carlo Altomonte, associate professor of the Department of Social and Political Sciences of Bocconi University in Milan.

    Martin Geissler, Partner at the management consultancy Advyce & Company, echoed the suggestions by sharing Germany’s auto industry as an example. “German automakers have often not yet recognized the growth prospects that exist in Africa and many emerging countries,” Geissler said, contrasting this with China’s strategic engagement with multi-partners.

    Bernardo Mendia, Secretary General of the Portugal-China Chamber of Commerce and Industry, is leading a Portuguese delegation to the ongoing China International Supply Chain Expo in Beijing.

    A key factor driving Portugal’s participation this year, in his words, is the rise of protectionism, logistical disruptions and geopolitical shifts. In the face of these challenges, China offers a distinctive platform to develop innovative solutions, business models, and collaborative partnerships, he said.

    Looking ahead, experts believe that Washington’s trade policies could ultimately backfire on the U.S. economy itself.

    “The U.S. needs many of our industrial products, which cannot be easily replaced in the short term. This allows German manufacturers of these goods to largely pass on the tariffs in their prices to the detriment of the U.S. economy,” said Juergen Matthes, head of International Economic Policy, Financial and Real Estate Markets Research Unit at the German Economic Institute. 

    MIL OSI China News –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: Human Rights Committee Closes One Hundred and Forty-Fourth Session

    Source: United Nations – Geneva

    The Human Rights Committee this afternoon closed its one hundred and forty-fourth session in Geneva after adopting its concluding observations on the reports of Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Kazakhstan, Latvia, North Macedonia, Spain and Viet Nam, which were reviewed during the session.

    Changrok Soh, Committee Chairperson, said the Committee had come to the end of a productive session and commended the Committee members for their commitment and professionalism.  The Committee had held constructive dialogues with Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Kazakhstan, Latvia, North Macedonia, Spain and Viet Nam.   The concluding observations would be issued on the Committee’s webpage later today. 

    Mr. Soh said also during the session, the Committee adopted nine lists of issues prior to reporting related to Argentina, Australia, Bahamas, Denmark, Ghana, Liechtenstein, Morocco, Sweden and Switzerland.

    On individual communications, the Committee considered 22 drafts, including one draft decision prepared in accordance with the simplified format adopted by the Committee at its one hundred and fortieth session. The drafts related to 51 communications: 26 were decided on the merits, 12 communications were declared inadmissible, and 13 communications were discontinued.  Regarding the communications decided on the merits, the Committee found violations in 25 of them.

    The Committee also adopted the follow up report on concluding observations of Armenia and Germany. 

    Mr. Soh said the Committee’s one hundred and forty-fifth session was scheduled to take place in March 2026, instead of October 2025 as originally planned, due to the financial crisis.  The Committee greatly regretted the cancellation of the October session, which was unprecedented in the Committee’s 50-year history.  As a result, the Committee had convened an emergency meeting with States parties at this session and he expressed appreciation for the 60 States that had attended and were committed to finding solutions which enabled the Committee to fulfil its mandate.   

    At its next session from 2 to 19 March 2026, the Committee is scheduled to review the periodic reports of Andorra, Canada, Chad, Republic of Moldova and Slovakia, and adopt lists of issues prior to reporting on Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cabo Verde, Czechia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Hungary, Mexico and Senegal, as well as the list of issues on Rwanda.

    In closing, Mr. Soh expressed appreciation to members of the bureau as well as the members of the Secretariat, the Petitions Section, United Nations entities, civil society and all those who made the session possible. 

    Before the meeting closed, several Committee Members took the floor, discussing the unique and challenging situation which the Committee had found itself in, and the impact that the financial crisis had on the work of the Committee.  Despite the constraints, the current session had still been productive, and the Committee would continue to strive to ensure the human rights of people all around the world.  Experts thanked all those responsible for the success of the current session.  It was hoped Member States could come together to solve the current challenges, and that all sessions could take place next year as planned. 

    The Committee’s next session is scheduled to be held from 2 to 19 March 2026, during which it will review the reports of Andorra, Canada, Chad, Republic of Moldova and Slovakia.

    ___________

    Produced by the United Nations Information Service in Geneva for use of the media; 
    not an official record. English and French versions of our releases are different as they are the product of two separate coverage teams that work independently.

     

    CCPR25.019E

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: EIB Group backs more than €15 billion in new investment

    Source: European Investment Bank

    EIB

    • EIB and EIF Boards approve €15.5 billion for transport, housing, education, energy and business investment
    • EIB strengthening support for water resilience

    The European Investment Bank Group approved a total of €15.5 billion in new financing to back business growth and corporate innovation, improve transport and energy connectivity, invest in housing and strengthen water resilience.

    The decisions were made at the July board meetings of the EIB and the European Investment Fund this week. The EIB Board endorsed €14.5 billion in fresh financing and the EIF Board authorised €1 billion in new funding to support the green transition, back venture capital and private equity investment and strengthen private credit and infrastructure funds.

    “These investments are about building the future – from clean energy, safe water and smarter transport to better housing, education and innovation,” said EIB Group President Nadia Calviño. “As the EU’s financing arm, the EIB Group is delivering on Europe’s priorities.”

    EIB Group Water Resilience Programme welcomed

    The EIB Board welcomed plans to strengthen targeted financing to address water resilience worldwide.

    The EIB Group is the world’s largest multilateral financier for water investment. The new EIB Group Water Resilience Programme has been developed in coordination with the European Commission’s Water Resilience Strategy and is expected to mobilise €40 billion of global water investment over the next three years. It will increase access to clean and safe water, enhance the water resilience of communities and strengthen the competitiveness of the EU water sector.

    New projects to update water and wastewater networks in Greece and the Netherlands were also approved.

    Improving transport

    The EIB agreed to back new rail investment in Estonia, Germany and Italy, to improve road connections in Poland, Romania and Moldova and to enhance airport energy efficiency in France, Germany and Spain.

    Enhancing energy networks and energy efficiency

    New energy projects approved will strengthen electricity grids in France, Germany and South America, improve industrial energy efficiency in Portugal and accelerate biofuel production in Italy.

    Investing in affordable and energy efficient housing

    The Board approved three housing projects, enabling streamlined financing for the construction of energy-efficient homes, the energy-efficiency renovation of existing buildings and the installation of solar panels in Germany and backing the construction and refurbishment of affordable housing across Portugal.

    Backing business growth and innovation

    New financing approved by the EIB will support companies in Croatia, Italy, Poland and Spain, innovation in the Western Balkans and the reforestation of degraded forests and wetlands across Africa as well as private-sector investment by North African and Middle Eastern businesses. This includes support as part of the third pillar of the European Commission’s Multiannual Comprehensive Programme for Palestine.

    Financing for critical raw material recycling in Germany, low-carbon fertiliser production in South America, innovative waste-treatment plants across Spain and pharmaceutical innovation across Europe was also endorsed.

    The EIF transactions agreed this week include €278 million in new debt operations and €725 million in venture capital, private equity and private credit transactions. They will support private-sector clean energy, decarbonisation and biodiversity preservation investment. This includes EIF backing for funds that enable biotech companies to grow, support sustainable business investments and bolster early-stage venture capital.

    Strengthening European security and defence

    In March this year, the EIB Group agreed to expand its eligibility criteria for security and defence investment.

    The EIB and EIF Boards approved a revised list of excluded activities, broadening eligibilities and clarifying technical details to support increased financing for selected security and defence projects. These adjustments follow a thorough market assessment that identified funding needs within the EU industry while safeguarding the Group’s financing capacity.

    Background information  

    The European Investment Bank (ElB) is the long-term lending institution of the European Union, owned by its Member States. Built around eight core priorities, we finance investments that contribute to EU policy objectives by bolstering climate action and the environment, digitalisation and technological innovation, security and defence, cohesion, agriculture and bioeconomy, social infrastructure, the capital markets union, and a stronger Europe in a more peaceful and prosperous world. 

    The EIB Group, which also includes the European Investment Fund (EIF), signed nearly €89 billion in new financing for over 900 high-impact projects in 2024, boosting Europe’s competitiveness and security.   

    All projects financed by the EIB Group are in line with the Paris Climate Agreement, as pledged in our Climate Bank Roadmap. Almost 60% of the EIB Group’s annual financing supports projects directly contributing to climate change mitigation, adaptation, and a healthier environment.   

    Fostering market integration and mobilising investment, the Group supported a record of over €100 billion in new investment for Europe’s energy security in 2024 and mobilised €110 billion in growth capital for startups, scale-ups and European pioneers.Approximately half of the EIB’s financing within the European Union is directed towards cohesion regions, where per capita income is lower than the EU average. 

    High-quality, up-to-date photos of our headquarters for media use are available here.

    A1 MOTORWAY EU COHESION CO-FINANCING
    Better road connections across Romania
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    VALOGREENE SPAIN CIRCULAR ECONOMY PLANTS
    Backing innovative waste treatment across Spain
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    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-OSI Analysis: Will Donald Trump get Vladimir Putin (before Maga gets Trump)?

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Jonathan Este, Senior International Affairs Editor, Associate Editor

    This article was first published in The Conversation UK’s World Affairs Briefing email newsletter. Sign up to receive weekly analysis of the latest developments in international relations, direct to your inbox.

    You know when the Kremlin is worried about something – it starts talking about nuclear weapons. And so it was, just two days after Donald Trump revealed he had decided to lift his administration’s pause on the supply of US-made weapons to Ukraine, that Vladimir Putin’s spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, raised Russia’s nuclear doctrine. In response to a handy question from a friendly reporter as to whether Russia’s nuclear doctrine was still active, Peskov said: “Russia’s nuclear doctrine remains in effect, and thus, all its provisions continue to apply.”

    By saying “all its provisions”, he was emphasising the changes made in December last year which significantly lowered the bar for Russia to use its nuclear deterrent. It states that Russia “reserves the right to employ nuclear weapons” in response to nuclear weapons or “other types of weapons of mass destruction” against itself or its allies.

    Whether Putin and his team consider the sorts of weapons the US is prepared to allow Ukraine to use against Russia as weapons of mass destruction is not clear as yet. The US president specifically said that a fresh supply of Patriot systems was already en route to Ukraine from Germany. But he also hinted that other more offensive weapons could also be in the mix. And in a July 4 phone call he is reported to have asked the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, whether he could hit Moscow or St Petersburg, to which Zelensky replied: “Absolutely. We can if you give us the weapons.”

    Trump is reported to have gone on to say that it was important to “make [Russians] feel the pain”.

    At the beginning of the week, the US president was also keen for Russia to feel the economic pain of indirect sanctions, with 100% tariffs promised against any country buying Russia’s oil. Could this be a turning point?

    Sign up to receive our weekly World Affairs Briefing newsletter from The Conversation UK. Every Thursday we’ll bring you expert analysis of the big stories in international relations.

    Interesting question, says David Dunn. Dunn, professor of international relations at the University of Birmingham, says Trump’s decision – if he follows through with it – pretty much brings the US back in line with its policy under the Biden administration. Particularly now that Trump appears to have ruled out, for the time being, allowing Ukraine to use long-range offensive missiles against targets in Moscow.

    As Dunn points out, there’s no sense that Trump has changed his overall tack on what he is looking for from Putin: a ceasefire, rather than, as Biden repeatedly insisted, a settlement that respects Ukrainian sovereignty and restores the land occupied illegally by Russian troops.

    Meanwhile the economic pain he promised to inflict on Russia has been scheduled to begin in 50 days. This – as many commentators have been quick to point out – has irresistible echoes of his off-again, on-again tariff regime. So will these sanctions actually happen?



    Read more:
    What Trump’s decision to send more weapons to Ukraine will mean for the war

    The Russian stock market certainly wasn’t that worried. Shortly after trump made his announcement, the Moscow stock exchange increased by 2.7% and the rouble strengthened. Oil markets also appear to have relaxed, suggesting traders see no imminent risks. Maybe this is another case of “Taco” (Trump always chickens out)?

    Patrick O’Shea, an international relations and global governance specialist at the University of Glasgow, believes that the markets’ reaction is more than just indifference to what Trump was threatening. It was relief.

    “Trump’s threat isn’t just non-credible, the positive market reaction in Russia suggests it is a gift for Moscow,” O’Shea writes. “The 50-day ultimatum is seen not as a deadline but as a reprieve, meaning nearly two months of guaranteed inaction from the US.”

    What has not been widely reported in the UK is that a bipartisan bill making its way through the US congress would have been far more punitive that anything Trump is threatening. Now this has been paused pending Trump’s initiative in 50 days’ time.



    Read more:
    Why Russia is not taking Trump’s threats seriously

    Back in Europe, meanwhile, Ukraine’s allies got together in Rome last weekend to discuss what will be needed to rebuild the war-torn country and how to raise the necessary funds. Stefan Wolff was watching proceedings and believes that while countries in the “coalition of the willing” are ready to open their coffers to help Ukraine get back on its feet, the funds so far pledged will not touch the sides.

    Ukraine’s allies at the conference have pledged more than €10 billion (£8.7 billion). But, Wolff – an expert in international relations at the University of Birmingham who has contributed regular analysis of the war in Ukraine – points out that this sum looks minuscule alongside the World Bank’s latest assessment that Ukraine will need at least US$524 billion (£388 billion) over the next decade to fund its recovery.

    There have been some fairly upbeat forecasts about Ukraine’s potential for growth. The IMF forecasts growth for Ukraine of between 2% and 3% for 2025, which is likely to grow to over 4% in 2026 and 2027. But it cautions that this will not happen without considerable overseas support. And an end to the war. Neither is certain anytime soon.



    Read more:
    Over €10 billion has now been pledged for Ukraine’s recovery. It’s nowhere near enough

    Maga moves – but will Trump take responsiblity?

    To Washington, where the US president is having what would probably count as the worst week of his second administration so far. Large sections of his faithful Maga base are in almost open revolt at his seeming reluctance to release what have become known as the “Epstein files”. You may remember he littered his election campaign last year with dark hints about the revelations the files must surely contain about the possible involvement of the rich and powerful in child-sex exploitation. But this week he essentially said it was old news, which was “pretty boring”, adding that “I think, really, only pretty bad people, including fake news, want to keep something like that going.”

    This is not only at odds with what he spent much of 2024 saying. It also flies in the face of what his own attorney general, Pam Bondi, said in February when she said Epstein’s client list was “sitting on [her] desk right now to review”. Now of course, the justice department says there is no list. This is not what much of his base wants to hear.

    Rob Dover, an intelligence specialist at the University of Hull who has researched conspiracy theories and the people who obsess about them, says this is a dangerous moment for the Trump presidency. He points to Maga unrest over Trump’s decision to bomb Iran and to resume military aid to Ukraine, both of which appear to contradict his pledge to keep the US out of foreign conflicts. Trump’s “big beautiful bill”, which has cut medicaid and other benefits to the poorest people in the US, will also inflict hurt on many is his base. Even his recent musing that he agrees with his health secretary’s questionable assertion that Coca-Cola should be made with sugar cane not corn syrup to “make America healthy again” is sure to anger corn farmers in the Midwest, another core Trump constituency.

    “Maga is not a uniform group in belief or action. But if Trump loses either the loyalty of some or they refuse to flex their beliefs as they have done before, it will be politically dangerous for him,” Dover concludes.



    Read more:
    Trump’s changing stance on Epstein files is testing the loyalty of his Maga base

    Trouble brewing in Bosnia

    I had the great good fortune to visit Sarajevo in December last year where I spent a few days exploring, taking a walking tour of the old town and a wider tour of the whole city which took us across the notional border with the Republika Srpska, one of the two main constituent parts of the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

    Sarajevo: a beautiful but troubled city.
    Julian Nyča via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-NC-SA

    The country was created by the Dayton accord, bringing an end to the ethnic conflict in the mid-1990s that saw whole populations displaced as ethnic Serbs and Croats sought to create new pure mini-states by expelling mainly Muslim Bosniaks.

    When visiting, I felt a pervading sense that the two parts of the new country sit uncomfortably next to each other – and in recent months the friction has intensified considerably. Birte Julia Gippert of the University of Liverpool, who has researched extensively the conflict in the Balkans and the attempts to bring peace to the region, explains how the situation has become so tense.



    Read more:
    Bosnia and Herzegovina in crisis as Bosnian-Serb president rallies for secession

    Why is Israel bombing Syria?

    Conflict in Syria escalated again this week, with Israeli warplanes launching airstrikes against government buildings in Damascus this week. A Netanyahu government minister, Amichai Chikli, referred to Syria’s leader, Ahmed al-Shara, as “a terrorist, a barbaric murderer who should be eliminated without delay”.

    Mixed up in all this is sectarian fighting in southern Syria was has been going on sporadically since al-Shara took power at the end of last year. But, as Ali Mamouri of Deakin University explains, Israel wants to see the emergence of a federal Syria, which the new regime has ruled out. It also want to retain influence in the region and secure its northern border with Syria.

    While a ceasefire is in place for now, Mamouri sees the situation as extremely fragile with further clashes “not only possible but highly probable”.

    World Affairs Briefing from The Conversation UK is available as a weekly email newsletter. Click here to get updates directly in your inbox.

    – ref. Will Donald Trump get Vladimir Putin (before Maga gets Trump)? – https://theconversation.com/will-donald-trump-get-vladimir-putin-before-maga-gets-trump-261416

    MIL OSI Analysis –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Breaking: Slovenia Declares Two Israeli Ministers Personae Non Grata

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

    Source: People’s Republic of China in Russian – People’s Republic of China in Russian –

    An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.

    Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News

    LJUBLJANA, July 17 (Xinhua) — The Slovenian government on Thursday declared Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich personae non gratae, claiming that the two far-right ministers are inciting violence and gross violations of Palestinian rights with their “genocidal” statements. –0–

    Please note: This information is raw content obtained directly from the source of the information. It is an accurate report of what the source claims and does not necessarily reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

    .

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Slovenia Declares Two Israeli Ministers Personae Non Grata

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

    Source: People’s Republic of China in Russian – People’s Republic of China in Russian –

    An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.

    Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News

    LJUBLJANA, July 17 (Xinhua) — The Slovenian government on Thursday declared Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich personae non gratae, claiming that the two far-right ministers are inciting violence and gross violations of Palestinian rights with their “genocidal” statements.

    Slovenian Foreign Minister Tanja Fajon noted that Slovenia was the first EU member state to take such measures against two Israeli ministers.

    The decision came after EU foreign ministers failed to reach a consensus on joint action against Israel during a meeting in Brussels on July 15.

    Slovenia, which officially recognized the State of Palestine in June 2024, criticizes Israel’s intense military operations in the Gaza Strip. Ljubljana calls on the Jewish state to immediately stop the offensive and allow rapid and unimpeded delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza. –0–

    Please note: This information is raw content obtained directly from the source of the information. It is an accurate report of what the source claims and does not necessarily reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

    .

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: RELEASE: Senate Approves $9 Billion in DOGE Cut Savings for Taxpayers

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator MarkWayne Mullin (R-Oklahoma)

    Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) released the following statement on this morning’s passage of S.Amdt.2853 to H.R.4, Rescissions Act of 2025. The package targets $9 billion in taxpayer-funded public broadcasting and wasteful foreign aid:

    “This is the first step in the right direction to claw back wasteful spending and programs identified by DOGE. Oklahomans sent me to Washington to fight for them and ensure their hard-earned tax dollars are being used responsibly,” said Senator Mullin. “We have a lot of work left to do and we’re just getting started. President Trump and Senate Republicans will continue to work tirelessly to deliver for the American people.”

    Below are just 10 of the cuts made by President Trump’s 2025 Rescissions Act:

    1. $1.1 Billion for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting
    2. $500,000 for electric buses in Rwanda
    3. $6 million for “Net Zero Cities” in Mexico
    4. $8,000 for promoting vegan food in Zambia
    5. $3.3 million for civic engagement in Zimbabwe
    6. $3 million for Iraqi Sesame Street
    7. $1 million for Voter ID in Haiti
    8. $18 million to improve gender diversity in the Mexican street lighting industry
    9. $21 million on wind farms in Ukraine
    10. $882,000 to fund social media mentorship in Serbia and Belarus 

    NOTE: This first recissions package targeted one tenth of one percent of the federal budget. For additional information on S.Amdt.2853 to H.R.4, click here.

    Senator Mullin provided timely updates throughout the rescissions process in a series of social media posts, including here and here. If you missed Senator Mullin’s behind-the-scenes tours of the U.S. Capitol which he recorded last night between votes on the floor, follow @SenMullin on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, and Instagram.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Submissions: Bosnia and Herzegovina in crisis as Bosnian-Serb president rallies for secession

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Birte Julia Gippert, Reader in International Relations, University of Liverpool

    The country of Bosnia and Herzegovina is embroiled in a crisis that may affect its political future and the stability of the western Balkans. Recent events in the bitterly divided country read a little like a spy novel. But the tensions that threaten three decades of tenuous peace since the region was torn apart by ethnic strife in the 1990s are only too real.

    On February 26, 300 armed Hungarian police officers in civilian clothes crossed into Republika Srpska without approval from the Sarajevo state government. Republika Srpska is one of the two territorial entities that make up Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Hungarian police were there, ostensibly, to train local police.

    But they were reportedly sent to be ready to extract Republika Srpska president, Milorad Dodik, who had the same day been convicted by a Bosnian court for “separatist actions”. These included suspending rulings of the Bosnian constitutional court and refusing to publish decisions by the Bosnian high representative, which prevents them from becoming law in contravention of Bosnia’s constitution.

    He was sentenced to 12 months in prison and handed a six-year ban from all political activities. Within days of the verdict, Dodik reacted by banning all Bosnian state prosecutorial, police and court institutions from Republika Srpska, in what the Bosnian constitutional court ruled was a move to “effectively abolish state authority over part of its territory”.

    In March, Bosnia’s state court issued an arrest warrant against Dodik for ignoring a court summons over his alleged secessionist activity. In April, the Bosnian state investigation and protection agency, Sipa, attempted to arrest him in East Sarajevo, which is part of Republika Srpska.

    An armed stand-off followed between Sipa officers and local police. Eventually the Sipa officers withdrew.

    So it came as a surprise for many when Dodik and his lawyer attended a scheduled hearing for his case on July 4. The court duly lifted its arrest warrant pending further proceedings with a requirement that he report in on a periodical basis.

    Two days later, despite only being on conditional release, Dodik restated his claim for the unification of Republika Srpska with Serbia, saying: “Bosnia and Herzegovina is not a state of Serbs but only a temporary refuge.”

    The burden of history

    The state of Bosnia and Herzegovina emerged from the horrors of the Yugoslav wars in the 1990s. The country’s political form was part of the 1995 Dayton peace agreement, which was both a peace deal and a state-building blueprint.

    To accommodate, rather than solve, the tensions between the three main ethnic groups – Bosniak Muslims, Serbs and Croats – the state was divided into two entities: the Serb-majority Republika Srpska and the Bosniak-Croat Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

    Both parts of the country hold considerable autonomous powers, but are bridged by the weak federal political institutions. Like many power-sharing deals, Dayton ended the fighting but failed to build an integrated state.

    The two entities guard their autonomy fiercely. Attempts by the European Union to push for constitutional changes to pave the way to closer relations with the Bosnian state, for example by reforming the country’s police force, have been rebuffed by nationalist politicians.

    The Republika Srpska has been vocal in defence of its autonomous rights. And the most prominent voice among them has been Dodik, who consistently portrays Republika Srpska as a bulwark for Serbs against a hostile Bosnian-majority state imposing its will.

    Serbs only account for about 30% of the total population of Bosnia, and clearly chafe at the power-sharing arrangement. Ever since the Dayton accords brought a halt to the fighting, Serb nationalist politicians have toyed with the idea of a “Greater Serbia”.

    This encompasses Serbs living in Serbia, Republika Srpska and Serbia’s breakaway province in Kosovo. Dodik’s statement from July 6 has stirred up these sentiments once more, almost to the day on the anniversary of the first-ever pan-Serbian assembly held in Belgrade on June 8 2024 and co-hosted by Dodik and and the Serbian president, Aleksandar Vučić.

    At a crossroads

    Bosnia is at a crossroads. Internally divided in whether populations see their future in their past, retaining a semi-autocratic, ethno-nationalist government, or whether they see their future as a democratic, accountable and multiethnic state. The former, of course, would look to – and remain within the sphere of influence of – Russia. The latter prefer to look westward for their future.

    Bosnia, like its neighbours, is an EU candidate country. It began accession negotiations in March 2024, but many of the reforms required to meet EU accession criteria clash with Bosnia’s constitution.

    Among other things, this restricts who can join the tripartite federal presidency and the House of Peoples, the upper-chamber of the federal parliament, excluding Jews, Roma and other minorities. This would have to change for Bosnia to join.

    But the Bosnian constitution is anchored in the Dayton peace agreement, so nationalist politicians threaten that constitutional reform will endanger Bosnia’s peace and integrity.

    Embracing constitutional reforms to fulfil EU entry requirements is risky for nationalist politicians as it undercuts their ethnic powerbase. However, turning fully away from the EU, and possibly towards Russia, carries a hefty price-tag in foregone direct financial support and economic integration. So far, Dodik and Vučić have managed to somewhat balance these seemingly contradictory courses of action. However, they are facing increasing headwinds.

    Both the ongoing Serbian protests and recent polls from Bosnia showing that 70% of Bosnians (but only 50% of Bosnian Serbs) want to join the EU, question whether this course remains viable. With increased popular calls for democracy, accountability and fair elections, the recent actions by Dodik and his allies may be a reaction to these demands, rather than a separate agenda.

    An old elite desperately clinging to power? Given the political fragility of Bosnia, reform appears inevitable. But the choice is a contested one.

    One way the country breaks into its constituent parts along ethnic lines. The other prospect is that Bosnia embraces reform and progresses to become a democratic multi-ethnic state with a European future. Either way may spell turbulent times ahead.

    Birte Julia Gippert does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Bosnia and Herzegovina in crisis as Bosnian-Serb president rallies for secession – https://theconversation.com/bosnia-and-herzegovina-in-crisis-as-bosnian-serb-president-rallies-for-secession-260618

    MIL OSI –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Report by the Acting Head of the OSCE Mission to Serbia: UK response, July 2025

    Source: United Kingdom – Government Statements

    Speech

    Report by the Acting Head of the OSCE Mission to Serbia: UK response, July 2025

    Ambassador Holland welcomes the OSCE Mission’s engagement with the Government of Serbia during the reporting period, and its continued focus on democratic governance, rule of law, media freedom and minority rights.

    Thank you, Mr Chair.

    I would like to welcome the Acting Head of the OSCE Mission to Serbia to the Permanent Council for the first time. Welcome, Carolina, and thank you for this comprehensive Report on the Mission’s activities and achievements.

    Your Report clearly sets out the political context for the Mission’s work over the last 12 months. The UK welcomes your engagement with the Government of Serbia throughout this period, and the Mission’s continued focus on democratic governance, rule of law, media freedom and minority rights.

    We are closely following ongoing protests in Serbia, which have been largely peaceful and well-policed. We commend the police for their professionalism but note with concern some recent reports of excessive force. As the Foreign Secretary made clear in his visit in April, it’s important that all action is proportionate, legal, and upholds fundamental rights.

    The UK welcomes the engagement of the OSCE Mission in support of media reforms and journalist safety. We share the concerns set out in your report about the delays in media law reforms and the concerning number of attacks against journalists. We thank the Mission for its proactive role in the Permanent Working Group for the Safety of Journalists.

    We regret that Serbia was not able to re-elect a new Council for its Electronic Media Regulator (REM) in line with the 2023 Law on Electronic Media. We are grateful for the ongoing work of the Mission, and personal involvement of the OSCE’s RFOM in ensuring the current selection process is inclusive, and hope that a new, more effective, Council can be formed swifty.

    The UK also particularly appreciates the Mission’s continued commitment to mainstreaming a gender equality perspective across all areas of Mission activity. We also thank the mission for its work on improving the representation of minority communities in public institutions, especially the Police, where the Mission’s work has resulted in key improvements to the selection process.

    The UK urges both Kosovo and Serbia to engage constructively in the EU-facilitated Dialogue and to deliver on their existing commitments. We also underline the importance of ensuring justice and accountability for all acts of violence. We continue to call on Serbia to cooperate fully with efforts to hold to account those responsible for the 2023 Banjska attacks.

    Mr Chair, we regret that it is again necessary to underline the negative impact the continued non-agreement of the Unified Budget is having on the work of OSCE field missions, including through cancelled programmes and staff attrition. We again urge all participating States to engage constructively with budget proposals and ensure field operations have the resources they need to effectively deliver their mandates.

    Acting Head of Mission, I would like to thank you once again for your leadership of the OSCE Mission to Serbia during the last 7 months. I wish you and your team success in your work over the coming year.

    Updates to this page

    Published 17 July 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: Smart factories and a cleaner future

    Source: European Investment Bank

    Learnica is part of LTH Castings Group, a Slovenian company that is one of the leading European suppliers to the automotive industry, with clients such as Mercedes-Benz, Bosch, BMW and Continental. Learnica and other companies in the Western Balkans are preparing for new EU fees on carbon emissions, known as the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, which will start in 2026.

    The mechanism is a new tool that puts a carbon price on goods imported into the European Union. The EU goal is to be be carbon neutral by 2050. North Macedonia is not part of the European Union, but its products are used in EU goods and will count toward this new carbon fee. EU firms must track and report emissions that are created by their products inside and outside the European Union. As of January 2026, EU manufacturers will need to purchase certificates to cover these emissions.

    “Achieving carbon neutrality is one of our core strategic goals,” Jovčevska says. “We have embedded this objective into every investment and improvement made in our production processes over the past ten years.”

    Learnica is located in Ohrid, a city known for its rich cultural heritage. The town sits on the edge of Lake Ohrid, one of Europe’s deepest and oldest lakes, which is home to a unique aquatic ecosystem that includes many species highly sensitive to pollution and climate change.

    “We wanted to reduce the negative impact that an industry such as ours can have on the environment, especially given the importance of Ohrid to Macedonians,” Jovčeska says.

    To limit its environmental impact, Learnica uses “green” aluminium made from recycled materials, which takes 95% less energy to produce than aluminium made from primary raw materials. The company has also introduced several other green initiatives, such as producing heat from melting furnaces, installing solar panels to generate electricity, and developing a water-cooling system that purifies and recycles water used in the manufacturing process.

    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-OSI: Beam Global and Platinum Group Leadership Attend Formal Signing Ceremony in Abu Dhabi to Create Beam Middle East LLC

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    SAN DIEGO, July 17, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Beam Global, (Nasdaq: BEEM), a leading provider of innovative and sustainable infrastructure solutions for the electrification of transportation and energy security, today announced that management from Beam Global, Beam Europe and the Platinum Group LLC, performed the official signing ceremony creating Beam Middle East in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE).

    As previously reported, Beam Global and the Platinum Group will form a new entity, Beam Middle East LLC, which will sell and manufacture Beam Global’s patented sustainable infrastructure solutions for transportation electrification, energy storage, energy security, and smart city development across the Middle East and African regions. Beam Middle East will be headquartered in Omniah Tower in Masdar City, a pioneering sustainable urban community and world-class business and technology hub, where Platinum Group has recently signed a strategic agreement. Masdar City is located in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the UAE, strategically positioned at the center of the country’s drive toward a net-zero future by 2050.

    The official signing ceremony took place today, July 17, in Abu Dhabi. Desmond Wheatley, CEO of Beam Global, signed the agreement on behalf of Beam Global, and Dr. Hanai Atatreh, Group Director, signed on behalf of Platinum Group, in the presence of Dr. Ali Nasser Sultan Al Yahbouni Al Daheri, CEO of Platinum Group. Also in attendance were members of Beam Global’s management and board of directors, Platinum Group’s board of directors, members of the press, and regional dignitaries.

    “This special occasion marks the formal commencement of our joint venture with the Platinum Group in this very promising region,” said Desmond Wheatley, CEO of Beam Global. “The high quality of the surroundings and attendees bodes well for our future here. We have the right products at the right time in the right place and our new company, formed with the Platinum Group, could not be better positioned. This is a proud day for Beam Global, and I am delighted that we are partnered with such esteemed personages as those in the Platinum Group.”

    “The Platinum Group seeks out the highest quality, most timely and relevant companies in each of the industries we target. Beam Global’s unique and patented products are ideally suited to provide value to governments and businesses, as the Gulf region and beyond transitions to clean and sustainable technologies,” Dr. Ali Nasser Sultan Al Yahbouni Al Daheri, CEO of Platinum Group. “We are looking forward to ensuring that our new joint venture with Beam Global, forming Beam Middle East, is a highly successful enterprise with wins in the Middle East and increasingly in Africa. With abundant sunshine and fast-growing adoption of electric vehicles (EVs), renewables, and energy storage, the region is perfect for Beam Global’s solutions. Energy security and smart cities solutions like those offered by Beam Middle East are at the forefront of government planning. Our timing is right, and our partnership is formed on mutual benefit from growth and success. We are delighted to have Beam Global as part of our growing family of businesses.”

    Photographs and other content related to the signing ceremony will be released by the company shortly.

    About Platinum Group LLC
    Platinum Group UAE is a diversified, multi-billion-dollar conglomerate operating in energy, real estate, finance and investing, healthcare, information technology, sports and entertainment, food services and legal services in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Chaired by His Royal Highness Sheikh Mohammed Sultan Bin Khalifa Al-Nahyan, son of the former ruler of Abu Dhabi, the Group is recognized for its well-established and trusted relationships across government and industry. Platinum Group UAE is headquartered in Abu Dhabi, with offices in Dubai and Sharjah. For more information visit, PlatinumGroupUAE.com.

    About Beam Global
    Beam Global is a clean technology innovator which develops and manufactures sustainable infrastructure products and technologies. We operate at the nexus of clean energy and transportation with a focus on sustainable energy infrastructure, rapidly deployed and scalable EV charging solutions, safe energy storage and vital energy security. With operations in the U.S., Europe and the Middle East, Beam Global develops, patents, designs, engineers and manufactures unique and advanced clean technology solutions that power transportation, provide secure sources of electricity, save time and money and protect the environment. Beam Global is headquartered in San Diego, CA with facilities in Broadview, IL and Belgrade and Kraljevo, Serbia. Beam Global is listed on Nasdaq under the symbol BEEM. For more information visit, BeamForAll.com, LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram and X.

    Forward-Looking Statements
    This Beam Global Press Release may contain forward-looking statements. All statements in this Press Release other than statements of historical facts are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are generally accompanied by terms or phrases such as “estimate,” “project,” “predict,” “believe,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “target,” “plan,” “intend,” “seek,” “goal,” “will,” “should,” “may,” or other words and similar expressions that convey the uncertainty of future events or results. These statements relate to future events or future results of operations. These statements are only predictions and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may cause Beam Global’s actual results to be materially different from these forward-looking statements. Except to the extent required by law, Beam Global expressly disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements.

    Media Contact
    Lisa Potok
    +1 858-327-9123
    Press@BeamForAll.com

    Investor Relations
    Luke Higgins
    +1 858-261-7646
    IR@BeamForAll.com

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-Evening Report: 12 countries agree to confront Israel collectively over Gaza after Bogotá summit

    ANALYSIS: By Mick Hall

    Collective measures to confront Israel’s genocide of the Palestinian people have been agreed by 12 nations after an emergency summit of the Hague Group in Bogotá, Colombia.

    A joint statement today announced the six measures, which it said were geared to holding Israel to account for its crimes in Palestine and would operate within the states’ domestic legal and legislative frameworks.

    Nearly two dozen other nations in attendance at the summit are now pondering whether to sign up to the measures before a September deadline set by the Hague Group.

    New Zealand and Australia stayed away from the summit.

    The measures include preventing the provision or transfer of arms, munitions, military fuel and dual-use items to Israel and preventing the transit, docking or servicing of vessels if there is a risk of vessels carrying such items. No vessel under the flag of the countries would be allowed to carry this equipment.

    The countries would also “commence an urgent review of all public contracts, in order to prevent public institutions and public funds, where applicable, from supporting Israel’s illegal occupation of the Palestinian Territory which may entrench its unlawful presence in the territory, to ensure that our nationals, and companies and entities under our jurisdiction, as well as our authorities, do not act in any way that would entail recognition or provide aid or assistance in maintaining the situation created by Israel’s illegal presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory”.

    The countries will prosecute “the most serious crimes under international law through robust, impartial and independent investigations and prosecutions at national or international levels, in compliance with our obligation to ensure justice for all victims and the prevention of future crimes”.

    They agreed to support universal jurisdiction mandates, “as and where applicable in our legal constitutional frameworks and judiciaries, to ensure justice for all victims and the prevention of future crimes in the Occupied Palestine Territory”.

    This will mean IDF soldiers and others accused of war crimes in Palestine would face arrest and could go through domestic judicial processes in these countries, or referrals to the ICC.

    The statement said the measures constituted a collective commitment to defend the foundational principles of international law.

    It also called on the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) to commission an immediate investigation of the health and nutritional needs of the population of Gaza, devise a plan to meet those needs on a continuing and sustained basis, and report on these matters before the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly in September.

    Following repeated total blockades of Gaza since October 7, 2023, Gazans have been dying of starvation as they continue to be bombed and repeatedly displaced and their means of life destroyed.

    The official death toll stands at nearly 59,000, mostly women and children, although some estimates put that number at over 200,000.

    The joint statement recognised Israel as a threat to regional peace and the system of international law and called on all United Nations member states to enforce their obligations under the UN charter.

    It condemned “unilateral attacks and threats against United Nations mandate holders, as well as key institutions of the human rights architecture and international justice” and committed to build “on the legacy of global solidarity movements that have dismantled apartheid and other oppressive systems, setting a model for future co-ordinated responses to international law violations”.

    Countries face wrath of US
     Ministers, high-ranking officials and envoys from 30 nations attended the two-day event, from July 15-16, called to come up with the measures. It is now hoped some of those attendees will sign up to the statement by September.

    For countries like Ireland, which sent a delegation, signing up would have profound implications. The Irish government has been heavily criticised by its own citizens for continuing to allow Shannon Airport as a transit point for military equipment from the United States to be sent to Israel.

    It would also face the prospect of severe reprisals by the US, as would others thinking of adding their names to the collective statement. The US is now expected to consult with nations that attended and warn them of the consequences of signing up.

    The summit had been billed by the UN Rapporteur for Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Francesca Albanese, as “the most significant political development of the last 20 months”.

    Albanese had told attendees that “for too long, international law has been treated as optional — applied selectively to those perceived as weak, ignored by those acting as the powerful”.

    “This double standard has eroded the very foundations of the legal order. That era must end,” she said.

    Co-chaired by Colombia and South Africa, the Hague group was established by nine nations in late January at The Hague in the Netherlands to hold Israel to account for its crimes and push for Palestinian self-determination.

    Colombia last year ended diplomatic relations with Israel, while South Africa in late December 2023 filed an application at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) accusing Israel of genocide, which was joined by nearly two dozen countries.

    The ICJ has determined a plausible genocide is taking place and issued orders for Israel to protect Palestinians and take measures to stop genocide taking place, a call ignored by the Zionist state.

    Representatives from the countries arrived in Bogota this week in defiance of the United States, which last week sanctioned Albanese for attempts to have US and Israeli political officials and business leaders prosecuted by the ICC over Gaza.

    Secretary of State Marco Rubio called it an illegitimate “campaign of political and economic warfare”.

    It followed the sanctioning of four ICC judges after arrest warrants were issued in November last year for Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant, for crimes against humanity and war crimes.

    Ahead of the Bogota meeting, the US State Department accused The Hague Group of multilateral attempts to “weaponise international law as a tool to advance radical anti-Western agendas” and warned the US would “aggressively defend” its interests.

    Signs of division in the West
     Most of those attending came from nations in the Global South, but not all.

    Founding Hague Group members Belize, Bolivia, Colombia, Cuba, Honduras, Malaysia, Namibia, Senegal and South Africa attended the Summit. Joining them were Algeria, Bangladesh, Botswana, Brazil, Chile, China, Djibouti, Indonesia, Iraq, Republic of Ireland, Lebanon, Libya, Mexico, Nicaragua, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Qatar, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Uruguay, and Venezuela.

    However, in a sign of increasing division in the West, NATO members Spain, Portugal, Norway, Slovenia and Turkey also attended.

    Inside the summit, former US State Department official Annelle Sheline, who resigned in March over Gaza, defended the right of those attending “to uphold their obligations under the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide”.

    “This is not the weaponisation of international law. This is the application of international law,” she told delegates.

    The US and Israel deny accusations that genocide is taking place in Gaza, while Western media have collectively refused to adjudicate the claims or frame stories around Israel’s ethnic cleansing of the strip, despite ample evidence by the UN and genocide experts.

    Since 7 October 2023, US allies have offered diplomatic cover for Israel by repeating it had “a right to defend itself” and was engaged in a legitimate defensive “war against Hamas”.

    Israel now plans to corral starving Gazans into a concentration camp in the south of the strip, with many analysts expecting the IDF to exterminate anyone found outside its boundaries, while preparing to push those inside across the border into Egypt.

    Asia Pacific and EU allies shun Bogota summit
     Addressing attendees at the summit yesterday, Albanese criticised the EU for its neo-colonialism and support for Israel, criticisms that can be extended to US allies in the Asia Pacific region.

    Independent journalist Abby Martin reported Albanese as saying: “Europe and its institutions are guided more by colonial mindset than principle, acting as vessels to US Empire even as it drags us from war to war, misery to misery.

    “The Hague Group is a new moral centre in world politics. Millions are hoping for leadership that can birth a new global order, rooted in justice, humanity and collective liberation. It’s not just about Palestine. This is about all of us.”

    The Australian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade was asked why Foreign Minister Penny Wong did not take up an invite to attend the Hague Group meeting. In a statement to Mick Hall in Context, a spokesperson said she had been unable to attend, but did not explain why.

    She said Australia was a “resolute defender of international law” and added: “Australia has consistently been part of international calls that all parties must abide by international humanitarian law. Not enough has been done to protect civilians and aid workers.

    “We have called on Israel to respond substantively to the ICJ’s advisory opinion on the legal consequences arising from Israel’s policies and practices in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

    “We have also called on Israel to comply with the binding orders of the ICJ, including to enable the unhindered provision of basic services and humanitarian assistance at scale.”

    When asked why New Zealand’s Foreign Minister Winston Peters had failed to take up the invitation or send any of his officials, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) spokesperson simply refused to comment.

    She said MFAT media advisors would only engage with “recognised news media outlets”.

    Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and New Zealand’s Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, as well as a number of his ministers, have been referred to the ICC by domestic legal teams, accused of complicity in the genocide.

    Evidence against Albanese was accepted into the ICC’s wider investigation of crimes in Gaza in October last year, while Luxon’s referral earlier this month is being assessed by the Chief Prosecutor’s Office.

    Delegates told humanity at stake
     Delegates heard several impassioned addresses from speakers on what was at stake during the two-day event in Bogota.

    Palestinian-American trauma surgeon, Dr Thaer Ahmad, told the gathering that Palestinians seeking food were being met with bullets, describing aid distribution facilities set up by the US contractor-run Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) as “slaughterhouses”. More than 800 starving Gazans have been killed at the GHF aid points so far.

    “People know they could die but cannot sit idly by and watch their families starve,” he said.

    “The bullets fired by GHF mercenaries are just one part of the weaponisation of aid, where Palestinians are ghettoised into areas where somebody in military fatigues decides if you are worthy of food or not.”

    Palestinian diplomat Riyad Mansour had urged the summit attendees to take decisive action to not only save the Palestinian people, but redeem humanity.

    “Instead of outrage at the crimes we know are taking place, we find those who defend, normalise, and even celebrate them,” he said.

    “The core values we believed humanity agreed were universal are shattered, blown to pieces like the tens of thousands of starved, murdered and injured civilians in Palestine.

    “The mind and heart cannot fathom or process the immense pain and horror that has taken hold of the lives of an entire people. We must not fail — not just for Palestine’s sake — but for humanity’s sake.”

    At the beginning of the summit, Colombian Deputy Foreign Minister Mauricio Jaramillo Jassir told summit delegates the Palestinian genocide threatened the entire international system.

    Colombian President Gustavo Petro wrote in The Guardian last week: “We can either stand firm in defence of the legal principles that seek to prevent war and conflict, or watch helplessly as the international system collapses under the weight of unchecked power politics.”

    Meanwhile, EU foreign ministers, as well as Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar and Syrian counterpart, Asaad Hassan al-Shaibani, met in Brussels at the same time as the Bogota summit, to discuss Middle East co-operation, but also possible options for action against Israel.

    At the EU–Southern Neighbourhood Ministerial Meeting, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas put forward potential actions after Israel was found to have breached the EU economic cooperation deal with the bloc on human rights grounds. As expected, no sanctions, restricted trade or suspension of the co-operation deal were agreed.

    The EU has been one of Israel’s most strident backers in its campaign against Gaza, with EU members Germany and France in particular supplying weapons, as well as political support.

    The UK government has continued to supply arms and operate spy planes over Gaza over the past 21 months, launched from bases in Cyprus, while its military has issued D-Notices to censor media reports that its special forces have been operating inside the occupied territories.

    Mick Hall is an independent Irish-New Zealand journalist, formerly of RNZ and AAP, based in New Zealand since 2009. He writes primarily on politics, corporate power and international affairs. This article is republished from his substack Mick Hall in Context with permission.

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: 12 countries agree to confront Israel collectively over Gaza after Bogotá summit

    ANALYSIS: By Mick Hall

    Collective measures to confront Israel’s genocide of the Palestinian people have been agreed by 12 nations after an emergency summit of the Hague Group in Bogotá, Colombia.

    A joint statement today announced the six measures, which it said were geared to holding Israel to account for its crimes in Palestine and would operate within the states’ domestic legal and legislative frameworks.

    Nearly two dozen other nations in attendance at the summit are now pondering whether to sign up to the measures before a September deadline set by the Hague Group.

    New Zealand and Australia stayed away from the summit.

    The measures include preventing the provision or transfer of arms, munitions, military fuel and dual-use items to Israel and preventing the transit, docking or servicing of vessels if there is a risk of vessels carrying such items. No vessel under the flag of the countries would be allowed to carry this equipment.

    The countries would also “commence an urgent review of all public contracts, in order to prevent public institutions and public funds, where applicable, from supporting Israel’s illegal occupation of the Palestinian Territory which may entrench its unlawful presence in the territory, to ensure that our nationals, and companies and entities under our jurisdiction, as well as our authorities, do not act in any way that would entail recognition or provide aid or assistance in maintaining the situation created by Israel’s illegal presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory”.

    The countries will prosecute “the most serious crimes under international law through robust, impartial and independent investigations and prosecutions at national or international levels, in compliance with our obligation to ensure justice for all victims and the prevention of future crimes”.

    They agreed to support universal jurisdiction mandates, “as and where applicable in our legal constitutional frameworks and judiciaries, to ensure justice for all victims and the prevention of future crimes in the Occupied Palestine Territory”.

    This will mean IDF soldiers and others accused of war crimes in Palestine would face arrest and could go through domestic judicial processes in these countries, or referrals to the ICC.

    The statement said the measures constituted a collective commitment to defend the foundational principles of international law.

    It also called on the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) to commission an immediate investigation of the health and nutritional needs of the population of Gaza, devise a plan to meet those needs on a continuing and sustained basis, and report on these matters before the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly in September.

    Following repeated total blockades of Gaza since October 7, 2023, Gazans have been dying of starvation as they continue to be bombed and repeatedly displaced and their means of life destroyed.

    The official death toll stands at nearly 59,000, mostly women and children, although some estimates put that number at over 200,000.

    The joint statement recognised Israel as a threat to regional peace and the system of international law and called on all United Nations member states to enforce their obligations under the UN charter.

    It condemned “unilateral attacks and threats against United Nations mandate holders, as well as key institutions of the human rights architecture and international justice” and committed to build “on the legacy of global solidarity movements that have dismantled apartheid and other oppressive systems, setting a model for future co-ordinated responses to international law violations”.

    Countries face wrath of US
     Ministers, high-ranking officials and envoys from 30 nations attended the two-day event, from July 15-16, called to come up with the measures. It is now hoped some of those attendees will sign up to the statement by September.

    For countries like Ireland, which sent a delegation, signing up would have profound implications. The Irish government has been heavily criticised by its own citizens for continuing to allow Shannon Airport as a transit point for military equipment from the United States to be sent to Israel.

    It would also face the prospect of severe reprisals by the US, as would others thinking of adding their names to the collective statement. The US is now expected to consult with nations that attended and warn them of the consequences of signing up.

    The summit had been billed by the UN Rapporteur for Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Francesca Albanese, as “the most significant political development of the last 20 months”.

    Albanese had told attendees that “for too long, international law has been treated as optional — applied selectively to those perceived as weak, ignored by those acting as the powerful”.

    “This double standard has eroded the very foundations of the legal order. That era must end,” she said.

    Co-chaired by Colombia and South Africa, the Hague group was established by nine nations in late January at The Hague in the Netherlands to hold Israel to account for its crimes and push for Palestinian self-determination.

    Colombia last year ended diplomatic relations with Israel, while South Africa in late December 2023 filed an application at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) accusing Israel of genocide, which was joined by nearly two dozen countries.

    The ICJ has determined a plausible genocide is taking place and issued orders for Israel to protect Palestinians and take measures to stop genocide taking place, a call ignored by the Zionist state.

    Representatives from the countries arrived in Bogota this week in defiance of the United States, which last week sanctioned Albanese for attempts to have US and Israeli political officials and business leaders prosecuted by the ICC over Gaza.

    Secretary of State Marco Rubio called it an illegitimate “campaign of political and economic warfare”.

    It followed the sanctioning of four ICC judges after arrest warrants were issued in November last year for Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant, for crimes against humanity and war crimes.

    Ahead of the Bogota meeting, the US State Department accused The Hague Group of multilateral attempts to “weaponise international law as a tool to advance radical anti-Western agendas” and warned the US would “aggressively defend” its interests.

    Signs of division in the West
     Most of those attending came from nations in the Global South, but not all.

    Founding Hague Group members Belize, Bolivia, Colombia, Cuba, Honduras, Malaysia, Namibia, Senegal and South Africa attended the Summit. Joining them were Algeria, Bangladesh, Botswana, Brazil, Chile, China, Djibouti, Indonesia, Iraq, Republic of Ireland, Lebanon, Libya, Mexico, Nicaragua, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Qatar, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Uruguay, and Venezuela.

    However, in a sign of increasing division in the West, NATO members Spain, Portugal, Norway, Slovenia and Turkey also attended.

    Inside the summit, former US State Department official Annelle Sheline, who resigned in March over Gaza, defended the right of those attending “to uphold their obligations under the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide”.

    “This is not the weaponisation of international law. This is the application of international law,” she told delegates.

    The US and Israel deny accusations that genocide is taking place in Gaza, while Western media have collectively refused to adjudicate the claims or frame stories around Israel’s ethnic cleansing of the strip, despite ample evidence by the UN and genocide experts.

    Since 7 October 2023, US allies have offered diplomatic cover for Israel by repeating it had “a right to defend itself” and was engaged in a legitimate defensive “war against Hamas”.

    Israel now plans to corral starving Gazans into a concentration camp in the south of the strip, with many analysts expecting the IDF to exterminate anyone found outside its boundaries, while preparing to push those inside across the border into Egypt.

    Asia Pacific and EU allies shun Bogota summit
     Addressing attendees at the summit yesterday, Albanese criticised the EU for its neo-colonialism and support for Israel, criticisms that can be extended to US allies in the Asia Pacific region.

    Independent journalist Abby Martin reported Albanese as saying: “Europe and its institutions are guided more by colonial mindset than principle, acting as vessels to US Empire even as it drags us from war to war, misery to misery.

    “The Hague Group is a new moral centre in world politics. Millions are hoping for leadership that can birth a new global order, rooted in justice, humanity and collective liberation. It’s not just about Palestine. This is about all of us.”

    The Australian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade was asked why Foreign Minister Penny Wong did not take up an invite to attend the Hague Group meeting. In a statement to Mick Hall in Context, a spokesperson said she had been unable to attend, but did not explain why.

    She said Australia was a “resolute defender of international law” and added: “Australia has consistently been part of international calls that all parties must abide by international humanitarian law. Not enough has been done to protect civilians and aid workers.

    “We have called on Israel to respond substantively to the ICJ’s advisory opinion on the legal consequences arising from Israel’s policies and practices in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

    “We have also called on Israel to comply with the binding orders of the ICJ, including to enable the unhindered provision of basic services and humanitarian assistance at scale.”

    When asked why New Zealand’s Foreign Minister Winston Peters had failed to take up the invitation or send any of his officials, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) spokesperson simply refused to comment.

    She said MFAT media advisors would only engage with “recognised news media outlets”.

    Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and New Zealand’s Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, as well as a number of his ministers, have been referred to the ICC by domestic legal teams, accused of complicity in the genocide.

    Evidence against Albanese was accepted into the ICC’s wider investigation of crimes in Gaza in October last year, while Luxon’s referral earlier this month is being assessed by the Chief Prosecutor’s Office.

    Delegates told humanity at stake
     Delegates heard several impassioned addresses from speakers on what was at stake during the two-day event in Bogota.

    Palestinian-American trauma surgeon, Dr Thaer Ahmad, told the gathering that Palestinians seeking food were being met with bullets, describing aid distribution facilities set up by the US contractor-run Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) as “slaughterhouses”. More than 800 starving Gazans have been killed at the GHF aid points so far.

    “People know they could die but cannot sit idly by and watch their families starve,” he said.

    “The bullets fired by GHF mercenaries are just one part of the weaponisation of aid, where Palestinians are ghettoised into areas where somebody in military fatigues decides if you are worthy of food or not.”

    Palestinian diplomat Riyad Mansour had urged the summit attendees to take decisive action to not only save the Palestinian people, but redeem humanity.

    “Instead of outrage at the crimes we know are taking place, we find those who defend, normalise, and even celebrate them,” he said.

    “The core values we believed humanity agreed were universal are shattered, blown to pieces like the tens of thousands of starved, murdered and injured civilians in Palestine.

    “The mind and heart cannot fathom or process the immense pain and horror that has taken hold of the lives of an entire people. We must not fail — not just for Palestine’s sake — but for humanity’s sake.”

    At the beginning of the summit, Colombian Deputy Foreign Minister Mauricio Jaramillo Jassir told summit delegates the Palestinian genocide threatened the entire international system.

    Colombian President Gustavo Petro wrote in The Guardian last week: “We can either stand firm in defence of the legal principles that seek to prevent war and conflict, or watch helplessly as the international system collapses under the weight of unchecked power politics.”

    Meanwhile, EU foreign ministers, as well as Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar and Syrian counterpart, Asaad Hassan al-Shaibani, met in Brussels at the same time as the Bogota summit, to discuss Middle East co-operation, but also possible options for action against Israel.

    At the EU–Southern Neighbourhood Ministerial Meeting, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas put forward potential actions after Israel was found to have breached the EU economic cooperation deal with the bloc on human rights grounds. As expected, no sanctions, restricted trade or suspension of the co-operation deal were agreed.

    The EU has been one of Israel’s most strident backers in its campaign against Gaza, with EU members Germany and France in particular supplying weapons, as well as political support.

    The UK government has continued to supply arms and operate spy planes over Gaza over the past 21 months, launched from bases in Cyprus, while its military has issued D-Notices to censor media reports that its special forces have been operating inside the occupied territories.

    Mick Hall is an independent Irish-New Zealand journalist, formerly of RNZ and AAP, based in New Zealand since 2009. He writes primarily on politics, corporate power and international affairs. This article is republished from his substack Mick Hall in Context with permission.

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI New Zealand: Health – ProCare welcomes fast-tracked registration for overseas doctors

    Source: ProCare

    ProCare welcomes the Medical Council’s decision to recognise overseas-trained doctors from Chile, Croatia, and Luxembourg as part of the “Comparable Health System pathway”. Alongside the fast-track registration for GPs from the USA, Canada, and Singapore, this will deliver a much-needed boost to general practices across Aotearoa who are facing a significant GP shortage.

    The decision means ProCare will be better placed to support its primary care network to recruit offshore GPs; further helping to ease workforce pressure and improve access to care for communities.

    Bindi Norwell, Chief Executive at ProCare, says the organisation is ready to support practices to take full advantage of the change.

    “We know our practices are under pressure and this change gives us a practical way to bring in skilled clinicians faster,” says Norwell.

    Under the changes, GPs from the United States, Canada and Singapore will have their registration applications processed within two months, while specialists from countries such as the UK, Ireland and Australia will benefit from a fast-tracked 20-day assessment process. Japan and South Korea were added to the list in February 2025.

    “At ProCare, we are deeply committed to investing in the primary care workforce. We’ve long advocated for practical solutions that support our network and improve health outcomes for our communities. This announcement aligns with that vision.”

    Earlier this month, ProCare became an Immigration NZ Accredited Employer, allowing it to directly support practices with international recruitment and immigration processes.

    “We’re actively investing in solutions for primary care that make a difference,” says Norwell. “Our investment includes tailored support for general practice teams, leadership development, and tools to improve retention and resilience. We’re committed to building a strong, sustainable workforce that delivers better health outcomes for all New Zealanders.”

    ProCare will continue working closely with its network and partners to ensure overseas-trained doctors are welcomed, supported, and integrated into the communities where they’re needed most.

    Learn about ProCare’s Investment in Workforce: https://www.procare.co.nz/about-us/investment-in-workforce/

    About ProCare

    ProCare is a leading healthcare provider that aims to deliver the most progressive, pro-active and equitable health and wellbeing services in Aotearoa. We do this through our clinical support services, mental health and wellness services, virtual/tele health, mobile health, smoking cessation and by taking a population health and equity approach to our mahi. As New Zealand’s largest Primary Health Organisation, we represent a network of general practice teams and healthcare professionals who provide care to more than 830,000 people across Auckland and Northland. These practices serve the largest Pacific and South Asian populations enrolled in general practice and the largest Māori population in Tāmaki Makaurau. For more information go to www.procare.co.nz

    MIL OSI New Zealand News –

  • MIL-OSI China: China lose to France in Men’s Volleyball Nations League

    Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News

    China lost to France in four sets 22-25, 25-22, 25-23, 25-17 in the final week of the FIVB Men’s Volleyball Nations League preliminary phase in Gdansk, Poland on Wednesday.

    Opposite Theo Faure was the gamen’s top scorer with 20 points, while outside hitters Trevor Clevenot and Yacine Louati contributed 15 points each for France. Wen Zihua scored 13 points for China, including 11 kills, one block, and one ace. Middle blocker Rao Shuhan and outside hitter Wang Bin added seven points each.

    France, the Olympic champion, aimed to start the third and final week of the preliminary phase with a victory. However, China surprised the favorite in the opening set, as Andrea Giani’s team struggled to establish an advantage but then China shifted the pace.

    Two effective spikes by veteran Ji Daoshuai put China ahead 22-20. Shortly after, Wang Bin delivered an ace to extend China’s lead. France fought until the end but couldn’t turn the set in their favor. A key center attack by Li Yongzhen secured China’s set win.

    France opened the second set with several powerful serves from Louati, took an early 6-1 lead and controlled the set throughout, with Clevenot scoring six points in the latter part of the set. Wen Zihua’s effective block helped China close the gap to 22-24, but Faure’s attack sealed it a 25-22 set win for France.

    In the third set, Francois Huetz replaced Nicolas Le Goff and made a significant impact for France, earning seven points during his service to help France take a 12-9 lead. Despite nine service errors committed in this set, France ended it 25-23 with Faure’s powerful spike.

    Giani’s team demonstrated their quality in the fourth set, claiming a 25-17 set win and sealing the match victory.

    Also on the day, Cuba edged Bulgaria in a five-set thriller 23-25, 25-16, 23-25, 27-25, 15-13. Outside hitter Marlon Yant Herrera scored 23 points for Cuba, equaling Aleksandar Nikolov’s tally for Bulgaria.

    Later, host Poland defeated Iran in five sets 25-19, 23-25, 25-18, 21-25, 15-8. Outside hitter Kamil Semeniuk scored 21 points for Poland, while opposite Amin Esmaeilnezhad contributed 19 for Iran. 

    MIL OSI China News –

  • MIL-Evening Report: I created a Vivaldi-inspired sound artwork for the Venice Biennale. The star of the show is an endangered bush-cricket

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Miriama Young, Associate Professor Music Composition, Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, The University of Melbourne

    Marco Zorzanello

    It was late January when I got the call. I’m asked to bring my sound art to a collaborative ecology and design project, Song of the Cricket, for the Venice Biennale of Architecture. When such as invitation arrives, you have no choice but to jump in.

    I see an image of the site for the project: the Gaggiandre at the Arsenale – a medieval shipyard that serviced the Venetian military at its imperial peak.

    Once a resplendent hive of industry, it is even detailed by Dante Alighieri in The Divine Comedy:

    As in the arsenal of the Venetians,
    all winter long a stew of sticky pitch
    boils up to patch their sick and tattered ships
    that cannot sail (instead of voyaging,
    some build new keels, some tow and tar the ribs
    of hulls worn out by too much journeying;
    some hammer at the prow, some at the stern,
    and some make oars, and some braid ropes and cords;
    one mends the jib, another, the mainsail)

    The Gaggiandre is a cavernous, church-like space flanked by stone colonnades, wooden roof beams, and situated, in true Venetian style, on a bed of water. With long reverberation times, music in this space would need to be slowly unfolding, drawing the listener in and inviting them to meditate.

    It is a place of reflection, both metaphorically and physically. To a sound artist, creating for the Gaggiandre is a dream.

    Art and the Anthropocene

    The Song of the Cricket exhibit has been on display at the Biennale since May. Its purpose is to bridge ecological research with sound art to raise awareness for our fragile biodiversity, with a focus on the critically endangered Adriatic bush-cricket, Zeuneriana marmorata.

    Zeuneriana marmorata is a rare species found in wetlands in north-eastern Italy and Slovenia.
    Wikimedia, CC BY-SA

    What better place than Venice – a city slowly sinking – to reflect on where we stand in this moment of environmental collapse?

    The exhibit was created by a large team of collaborators. It features several mobile habitats populated with Zeuneriana. Some of these habitats sit on the Arsenale lawn, while other symbolic habitats float on the water as life rafts. Alongside the enclosures, my pre-composed “sound garden” plays through speakers onto the lawn.

    At the end of the Biennale, the team, led by landscape architect and ecologist Alex Felson, intends to use the life rafts to ceremonially transport incubated eggs to a new home on the mainland.

    The installation features mobile cricket habitats on the lawn, as well as symbolic life rafts on the water.
    Miriama Young

    Sounds of nature and Vivaldi

    On the lawn, the chirrup of live courting bush-crickets blends with pre-recorded sounds of their ancestors. These ancestral sounds might double as a lullaby for newly orphaned eggs, as adults only live a few months.

    The accompanying sound garden is richly diverse, created from an array of fauna sounds drawn from Northern Italian wetland environments, including the Eurasian reed warbler, the cuckoo and, my personal favourite, the green toad.

    My intention is for the soundscape to transport audiences to a different time and place: to a future where these species thrive in a healthy ecology.

    Excerpt from the Song of Crickets sound installation.
    Miriama Young and Monica Lim1.73 MB (download)

    There is a second element to the sound installation, created with support from sound technologist Monica Lim. Informed by the music of Antonio Vivaldi, this element serves to further activate the untapped airspace and enhance visitors’ experience of the site.

    Born in Venice in 1678, Vivaldi is a ubiquitous and avoidable cliché for locals. Yet his music was the perfect inspiration for this project, as it encodes a hidden ecological story.

    Vivaldi incorporated the literal sounds of nature into The Four Seasons (1723), with particular species’ songs annotated onto the score.

    The Song of the Cricket borrows elements from Vivaldi’s Summer: Allegro non Molto. In the short section I drew from, the cuckoo, turtledove and goldfinch are all musically described and credited by Vivaldi.

    And although they are not expressly mentioned, I imagine bush-crickets also pervade Vivaldi’s Summer movement, as we know they were once prolific in the Venice lagoon, and would have filled the summer air during his lifetime. You might hear them in the rapidly repeating (tremolo) string gestures.

    The cricket’s song serves as a indicator of an ecosystem’s health. But the sound of crickets in Venice today is largely missing.

    Our take on Vivaldi is slowed down 30 times, magnified and fragmented, voiced through synthesizers, and piped into the Gaggiandre through five speakers – creating an immersive experience that feels at once futuristic and Baroque.

    Mobile habitats awaiting the Zeuneriana marmorata eggs float on the water.
    Marco Zorzanello

    Bridging the past and an imagined future

    The decision to borrow from music of the Western historical canon (in this case Vivaldi) fits into a burgeoning movement that composer Valentin Silvestrov coined “eschatophony”.

    This is presumably a portmanteau of “eschatology”, the study of the end of the world, and “phony”, which in this case relates to sound (such as symphony). Here, we are left only to wrestle with and re-contextualise our musical past, to create “echoes of history”.

    The inclusion of sound is still a novelty at the architecture Biennale. Of the 300 exhibits this year, I can count on one hand the projects that incorporated sound. All of them were special.

    Sound creates a remarkable theatre, both through its immediacy, as well as its capacity to elevate a project beyond the prosaic, into the poetic.

    Venice is a city where history pervades at every turn. The Song of the Cricket invites listeners in, offering them space to reflect, and to imagine a future where ecosystems might once again thrive.

    This article is part of Making Art Work, our series on what inspires artists and the process of their work.

    Miriama Young does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. I created a Vivaldi-inspired sound artwork for the Venice Biennale. The star of the show is an endangered bush-cricket – https://theconversation.com/i-created-a-vivaldi-inspired-sound-artwork-for-the-venice-biennale-the-star-of-the-show-is-an-endangered-bush-cricket-259681

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: I created a Vivaldi-inspired sound artwork for the Venice Biennale. The star of the show is an endangered bush-cricket

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Miriama Young, Associate Professor Music Composition, Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, The University of Melbourne

    Marco Zorzanello

    It was late January when I got the call. I’m asked to bring my sound art to a collaborative ecology and design project, Song of the Cricket, for the Venice Biennale of Architecture. When such as invitation arrives, you have no choice but to jump in.

    I see an image of the site for the project: the Gaggiandre at the Arsenale – a medieval shipyard that serviced the Venetian military at its imperial peak.

    Once a resplendent hive of industry, it is even detailed by Dante Alighieri in The Divine Comedy:

    As in the arsenal of the Venetians,
    all winter long a stew of sticky pitch
    boils up to patch their sick and tattered ships
    that cannot sail (instead of voyaging,
    some build new keels, some tow and tar the ribs
    of hulls worn out by too much journeying;
    some hammer at the prow, some at the stern,
    and some make oars, and some braid ropes and cords;
    one mends the jib, another, the mainsail)

    The Gaggiandre is a cavernous, church-like space flanked by stone colonnades, wooden roof beams, and situated, in true Venetian style, on a bed of water. With long reverberation times, music in this space would need to be slowly unfolding, drawing the listener in and inviting them to meditate.

    It is a place of reflection, both metaphorically and physically. To a sound artist, creating for the Gaggiandre is a dream.

    Art and the Anthropocene

    The Song of the Cricket exhibit has been on display at the Biennale since May. Its purpose is to bridge ecological research with sound art to raise awareness for our fragile biodiversity, with a focus on the critically endangered Adriatic bush-cricket, Zeuneriana marmorata.

    Zeuneriana marmorata is a rare species found in wetlands in north-eastern Italy and Slovenia.
    Wikimedia, CC BY-SA

    What better place than Venice – a city slowly sinking – to reflect on where we stand in this moment of environmental collapse?

    The exhibit was created by a large team of collaborators. It features several mobile habitats populated with Zeuneriana. Some of these habitats sit on the Arsenale lawn, while other symbolic habitats float on the water as life rafts. Alongside the enclosures, my pre-composed “sound garden” plays through speakers onto the lawn.

    At the end of the Biennale, the team, led by landscape architect and ecologist Alex Felson, intends to use the life rafts to ceremonially transport incubated eggs to a new home on the mainland.

    The installation features mobile cricket habitats on the lawn, as well as symbolic life rafts on the water.
    Miriama Young

    Sounds of nature and Vivaldi

    On the lawn, the chirrup of live courting bush-crickets blends with pre-recorded sounds of their ancestors. These ancestral sounds might double as a lullaby for newly orphaned eggs, as adults only live a few months.

    The accompanying sound garden is richly diverse, created from an array of fauna sounds drawn from Northern Italian wetland environments, including the Eurasian reed warbler, the cuckoo and, my personal favourite, the green toad.

    My intention is for the soundscape to transport audiences to a different time and place: to a future where these species thrive in a healthy ecology.

    Excerpt from the Song of Crickets sound installation.
    Miriama Young and Monica Lim1.73 MB (download)

    There is a second element to the sound installation, created with support from sound technologist Monica Lim. Informed by the music of Antonio Vivaldi, this element serves to further activate the untapped airspace and enhance visitors’ experience of the site.

    Born in Venice in 1678, Vivaldi is a ubiquitous and avoidable cliché for locals. Yet his music was the perfect inspiration for this project, as it encodes a hidden ecological story.

    Vivaldi incorporated the literal sounds of nature into The Four Seasons (1723), with particular species’ songs annotated onto the score.

    The Song of the Cricket borrows elements from Vivaldi’s Summer: Allegro non Molto. In the short section I drew from, the cuckoo, turtledove and goldfinch are all musically described and credited by Vivaldi.

    And although they are not expressly mentioned, I imagine bush-crickets also pervade Vivaldi’s Summer movement, as we know they were once prolific in the Venice lagoon, and would have filled the summer air during his lifetime. You might hear them in the rapidly repeating (tremolo) string gestures.

    The cricket’s song serves as a indicator of an ecosystem’s health. But the sound of crickets in Venice today is largely missing.

    Our take on Vivaldi is slowed down 30 times, magnified and fragmented, voiced through synthesizers, and piped into the Gaggiandre through five speakers – creating an immersive experience that feels at once futuristic and Baroque.

    Mobile habitats awaiting the Zeuneriana marmorata eggs float on the water.
    Marco Zorzanello

    Bridging the past and an imagined future

    The decision to borrow from music of the Western historical canon (in this case Vivaldi) fits into a burgeoning movement that composer Valentin Silvestrov coined “eschatophony”.

    This is presumably a portmanteau of “eschatology”, the study of the end of the world, and “phony”, which in this case relates to sound (such as symphony). Here, we are left only to wrestle with and re-contextualise our musical past, to create “echoes of history”.

    The inclusion of sound is still a novelty at the architecture Biennale. Of the 300 exhibits this year, I can count on one hand the projects that incorporated sound. All of them were special.

    Sound creates a remarkable theatre, both through its immediacy, as well as its capacity to elevate a project beyond the prosaic, into the poetic.

    Venice is a city where history pervades at every turn. The Song of the Cricket invites listeners in, offering them space to reflect, and to imagine a future where ecosystems might once again thrive.

    This article is part of Making Art Work, our series on what inspires artists and the process of their work.

    Miriama Young does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. I created a Vivaldi-inspired sound artwork for the Venice Biennale. The star of the show is an endangered bush-cricket – https://theconversation.com/i-created-a-vivaldi-inspired-sound-artwork-for-the-venice-biennale-the-star-of-the-show-is-an-endangered-bush-cricket-259681

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: Killing of Civilians in Gaza Waiting in Line for Humanitarian Aid Must End, Relief Chief Tells Security Council, Urging Return to UN-Led Delivery Mechanism

    Source: United Nations General Assembly and Security Council

    As civilians lining up for humanitarian aid in Gaza are being killed, speakers in the Security Council today urged Israel to lift restrictions on aid operations in the Strip, called for a return to United Nations-led delivery mechanisms, and stressed the urgent need for both the release of hostages and a ceasefire.

    “Gaza’s soaring humanitarian needs must be met without drawing people into a firing line,” said Tom Fletcher, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator.  He recalled General Assembly resolution 46/182, adopted in 1991, which laid the groundwork for modern international humanitarian assistance by establishing a framework and guiding principles — humanity, impartiality, neutrality, and independence — for the UN’s role in coordinating humanitarian efforts during emergencies. 

    Israel, as the occupying Power, is obligated to ensure that people have food and medical supplies, he said, adding:  “But that is not happening.  Instead, civilians are exposed to death and injury, forcible displacement, stripped of dignity.”  He went on to urge Council members to consider whether Israel’s rules of engagement incorporate all feasible precautions to avoid and minimize civilian harm, in all circumstances.  This means verifying targets, giving effective advance warnings, carefully choosing tactics and weapons, and canceling or suspending an attack if it would cause disproportionate civilian harm, he said.

    Number of Aid Trucks Currently Allowed into Gaza ‘Drop in the Ocean’ 

    Between 19 May and 14 July, only 1,633 trucks — or 62 per cent of the roughly 2,600 submitted to the Israeli authorities and 74 per cent of those approved for entry — reached the Kerem Shalom and Zikim crossings.  “To be clear, this is a drop in the ocean of needs, compared to the average of 630 truckloads, that entered daily” during an earlier ceasefire, he said. The ceasefire proved what’s possible.  It’s time to return to those levels without delay.

    Turning to recent remarks by Israel’s Defence Minister about moving Palestinians into a “humanitarian city”, he said the proposal to forcibly displace Palestinians to a designated zone near Rafah is “not humanitarian”, underscoring the need to protect civilians wherever they are, release all hostages held by Hamas, allow humanitarian aid at scale and ensure the safety of humanitarian workers.  “You owe that to Israeli and Palestinian civilians, to the last hopes of a sustainable peace, and to the UN Charter,” he said, calling for a ceasefire.

    Today’s meeting was called by Denmark, France, Greece, Slovenia and the United Kingdom, following abhorrent reports of human suffering in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including killings at aid distribution sites operated by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation — a non-UN mechanism established with support from Israel and the United States.  Between 27 May and 7 July, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) recorded the killings of 798 Palestinian civilians — including children — desperate to find food, at or near distribution sites and humanitarian convoys.

    International Community Failing Gaza’s Children

    “Among the survivors was Donia, a mother seeking a lifeline for her family after months of desperation and hunger,” said Catherine Russell, Executive Director of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).  Donia’s 1-year-old son, Mohammed, was killed in the attack after speaking his first words just hours earlier.  The mother was lying critically injured in a hospital bed, clutching her son’s tiny shoe. “No parent should experience such a horrific tragedy,” she said.

    “The simple truth is that we are failing Gaza’s children,” she said, noting that child malnutrition in Gaza has surged 180 per cent since February, with nearly 6,000 cases in June.  Most households lack safe water, fueling disease outbreaks — waterborne illnesses now make up 44 per cent of medical consultations.  Hospitals are overwhelmed, short on medicine and fuel, and emergency care is collapsing.  At least 12,500 patients, including many children, need urgent medical evacuation, but few are being accepted abroad.  “History will judge this failure harshly,” she warned, adding:  “And the children will judge it too.” 

    She implored that UNICEF and its humanitarian partners be allowed to do their jobs.  “We have proven that essentials like medicine, vaccines, water, food, and nutrition for babies can reach those in need, wherever they are, when we have appropriate access,” she said, calling for an urgent return to the functioning UN-led aid pipeline with safe and sustained humanitarian access through all available crossings.

    […]

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Archiving for Justice, Truth, and Memory: Unpacking the Baggage of What Went Before

    Source: US State of Connecticut

    Justice, truth, and memory lie at the heart of what it means for a society to rebuild after suffering from genocide and mass atrocity.  Justice that holds perpetrators accountable and attempts to repair the harm that was done to victims and their communities.  Truth that establishes the facts of what occurred.  Memory that is a faithful reflection of that truth.  These are the tools we use to stabilize, heal, and rehabilitate a post-atrocity society.  All require the courage to deal with, rather than ignore, a past legacy of massive human rights abuses.

    Achieving justice, truth, and memory does not happen quickly or come easily.  To deal with the past is to open a wound that may be more comfortably, at least in the short term, left ignored.  Long term, however, to let the wound fester is to invite the recurrence of another, perhaps even more grievous, conflict-laden future.

    This is precisely why UConn’s internationally recognized International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) Digital Archives are such a rich and important resource.  Established by the United Nations in 1993, the ICTY was the first international war crimes court of its kind since Nuremberg, and it focused extensively on investigating the atrocities committed during the Yugoslav Wars of 1992-95.  The ICTY Digital Archives – the result of an ongoing collaboration between Dodd Human Rights Impact Programs, the UConn Libraries, the Connecticut Digital Archive, and individual scholars, witnesses, and others involved in the tribunal – seek to make the work of the tribunal accessible to researchers, educators, students, and others.

    Under the leadership of Predrag Dojčinović, who formerly worked for the Office of the Prosecutor at the ICTY, and Aida Gradaščević, a graduate of UConn’s master’s program in human rights, a team of UConn student researchers have helped curate ten unique and diverse collections related to documents, translations, photographs, expert reports, records, and other materials from the ICTY.

    For Dojčinović, the ICTY Digital Archive “stands as a powerful and enduring monument to justice, truth, and remembrance, a meticulously curated legacy uniting victims’ voices, expert insights, and judicial records into an unassailable historical testament. By opening this profound repository to the world, we affirm that justice transcends the courtroom: it lives in public memory, breathes through open dialogue, and endures in our shared commitment to truth, accountability, and reconciliation.”

    Srebrenica Memorial Cemetery, July 11, 2007, James Waller

    The newest addition to UConn’s ICTY Digital Archives, the Srebrenica Genocide Archives Collection, is particularly timely as July 2025 marks 30 years since the genocide in Srebrenica occurred.  Standing as the gravest crime committed on European soil since the Second World War, over 8,000 Bosniak (Bosnian Muslims) men and boys, despite the presence of United Nations peacekeepers, were systematically murdered by Bosnian Serb forces in July 1995.  The bodies of the victims – three generations of males, including some as young as 10 years of age – were then dumped into mass graves or thrown into the Drina River.  To conceal the extent of the massacre, Bosnian Serbs later scattered the remains of many of the victims in secondary or tertiary mass graves.  To date, the remains of nearly 1,000 of the Srebrenica victims have yet to be found.

    Alongside official court materials, the Srebrenica Genocide Archives Collection includes a wider range of sources: scholarly articles, books, films, podcasts, images, and other media that continue to tell the story of Srebrenica and trace its enduring impact three decades later.  The collection is designed to evolve over time, growing through continued research and contributions to ensure that the memory of Srebrenica remains active, accessible, and instructive for generations to come.  This collection is particularly crucial as denial of the Srebrenica genocide, along with glorification of convicted war criminals, remains painfully prevalent in Serb political and social discourse throughout the region.

    In reflecting on the events he survived in the former Yugoslavia, the late poet Goran Simic captured the importance of projects like the ICTY Digital Archives: “Dealing with the past will not be easy, but it is essential.  Dealing with our own past by bringing closure and offering justice for all, perpetrators and victims, is the only right way.  This path will not remove crimes from history.  It will not repair souls that have been torn apart.  But it will offer them the option to move on, and future generations will be able to live without the baggage of what went before.”

    James Waller, Professor of Literatures, Cultures, and Languages & Dodd Chair in Human Rights Practice at the Gladstein Family Human Rights Institute, UConn

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Archiving for Justice, Truth, and Memory: Unpacking the Baggage of What Went Before

    Source: US State of Connecticut

    Justice, truth, and memory lie at the heart of what it means for a society to rebuild after suffering from genocide and mass atrocity.  Justice that holds perpetrators accountable and attempts to repair the harm that was done to victims and their communities.  Truth that establishes the facts of what occurred.  Memory that is a faithful reflection of that truth.  These are the tools we use to stabilize, heal, and rehabilitate a post-atrocity society.  All require the courage to deal with, rather than ignore, a past legacy of massive human rights abuses.

    Achieving justice, truth, and memory does not happen quickly or come easily.  To deal with the past is to open a wound that may be more comfortably, at least in the short term, left ignored.  Long term, however, to let the wound fester is to invite the recurrence of another, perhaps even more grievous, conflict-laden future.

    This is precisely why UConn’s internationally recognized International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) Digital Archives are such a rich and important resource.  Established by the United Nations in 1993, the ICTY was the first international war crimes court of its kind since Nuremberg, and it focused extensively on investigating the atrocities committed during the Yugoslav Wars of 1992-95.  The ICTY Digital Archives – the result of an ongoing collaboration between Dodd Human Rights Impact Programs, the UConn Libraries, the Connecticut Digital Archive, and individual scholars, witnesses, and others involved in the tribunal – seek to make the work of the tribunal accessible to researchers, educators, students, and others.

    Under the leadership of Predrag Dojčinović, who formerly worked for the Office of the Prosecutor at the ICTY, and Aida Gradaščević, a graduate of UConn’s master’s program in human rights, a team of UConn student researchers have helped curate ten unique and diverse collections related to documents, translations, photographs, expert reports, records, and other materials from the ICTY.

    For Dojčinović, the ICTY Digital Archive “stands as a powerful and enduring monument to justice, truth, and remembrance, a meticulously curated legacy uniting victims’ voices, expert insights, and judicial records into an unassailable historical testament. By opening this profound repository to the world, we affirm that justice transcends the courtroom: it lives in public memory, breathes through open dialogue, and endures in our shared commitment to truth, accountability, and reconciliation.”

    Srebrenica Memorial Cemetery, July 11, 2007, James Waller

    The newest addition to UConn’s ICTY Digital Archives, the Srebrenica Genocide Archives Collection, is particularly timely as July 2025 marks 30 years since the genocide in Srebrenica occurred.  Standing as the gravest crime committed on European soil since the Second World War, over 8,000 Bosniak (Bosnian Muslims) men and boys, despite the presence of United Nations peacekeepers, were systematically murdered by Bosnian Serb forces in July 1995.  The bodies of the victims – three generations of males, including some as young as 10 years of age – were then dumped into mass graves or thrown into the Drina River.  To conceal the extent of the massacre, Bosnian Serbs later scattered the remains of many of the victims in secondary or tertiary mass graves.  To date, the remains of nearly 1,000 of the Srebrenica victims have yet to be found.

    Alongside official court materials, the Srebrenica Genocide Archives Collection includes a wider range of sources: scholarly articles, books, films, podcasts, images, and other media that continue to tell the story of Srebrenica and trace its enduring impact three decades later.  The collection is designed to evolve over time, growing through continued research and contributions to ensure that the memory of Srebrenica remains active, accessible, and instructive for generations to come.  This collection is particularly crucial as denial of the Srebrenica genocide, along with glorification of convicted war criminals, remains painfully prevalent in Serb political and social discourse throughout the region.

    In reflecting on the events he survived in the former Yugoslavia, the late poet Goran Simic captured the importance of projects like the ICTY Digital Archives: “Dealing with the past will not be easy, but it is essential.  Dealing with our own past by bringing closure and offering justice for all, perpetrators and victims, is the only right way.  This path will not remove crimes from history.  It will not repair souls that have been torn apart.  But it will offer them the option to move on, and future generations will be able to live without the baggage of what went before.”

    James Waller, Professor of Literatures, Cultures, and Languages & Dodd Chair in Human Rights Practice at the Gladstein Family Human Rights Institute, UConn

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: With each day that passes, the suffering increases. We urge the parties to secure an immediate ceasefire: UK statement at the UN Security Council

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments 3

    Speech

    With each day that passes, the suffering increases. We urge the parties to secure an immediate ceasefire: UK statement at the UN Security Council

    Statement by Ambassador Barbara Woodward, UK Permanent Representative to the UN, at the UN Security Council meeting on Gaza.

    The United Kingdom, together with Denmark, France, Greece and Slovenia, called for this meeting out of deep concern for the Israeli government’s inhumane approach to the crisis in Gaza. 

    This week marks 650 days since the horrific Hamas attacks of October 7th. 

    With each day that passes, the hostages suffer yet more agony, in appalling conditions and deprived from contact with their loved ones. 

    And with each day that passes, the people of Gaza suffer death, desperation and displacement.

    This conflict has gone on for far too long. 

    There is a deal to be done. 

    We urge the parties to engage in the spirit of compromise to secure an immediate ceasefire, the release of the hostages and a pathway towards lasting peace.

    I will make three points.

    First, it is imperative that Israel lift its restrictions on aid entering Gaza. 

    Without fuel, water systems and hospitals in Gaza are on the verge of collapse. 

    Without medical supplies, treatable illnesses are costing lives. 

    And without food, Palestinians are dying from malnutrition or forced desperately to scramble for supplies.

    The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has acknowledged that the UN has the unique capacity to meet the immense humanitarian need. 

    So we call on Israel to allow the UN to save lives immediately and without obstruction. 

    The United Kingdom welcomes the agreement between the EU and Israel, but we need to see words turned into action.

    Second, we strongly oppose the expansion of Israel’s military operations. 

    We urge Israel immediately to implement and enforce robust measures to protect civilians. 

    In the past four months, more than 1,000 children have been killed.

    Palestinians have also been fired upon by the IDF while desperately seeking food, with 800 people killed at aid sites. 

    This is abhorrent.

    Third, the United Kingdom is appalled by the Israeli Defence Minister’s comments on forced displacement of Palestinians to Rafah. 

    This would contravene the fundamental principles upon which the UN was founded. 

    Palestinian territory must not be reduced, and civilians must be able to return home.

    President, the path forward lies in diplomacy and compromise to deliver lasting peace for Israelis and Palestinians alike.

    We commend the leadership of France and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in co-chairing the upcoming conference on a Two-State Solution, which offers us a crucial opportunity to advance this goal.

    Updates to this page

    Published 16 July 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –