NewzIntel.com

Category: Middle East

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: UN Palestinian Rights Committee Bureau Welcomes Gaza Ceasefire, Demands Full Implementation, Move towards Solution of Conflict

    Source: United Nations General Assembly and Security Council

    Also Condemns Israel’s UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) Ban Perpetuating Palestinian Suffering

    The following statement was issued today by the Bureau of the General Assembly’s Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People:

    The Bureau of the UN Palestinian Rights Committee welcomes the Gaza ceasefire as a crucial step in halting the Israeli military operations on the Palestinian civilian population since October 2023 and stemming the vast human suffering and loss of life.  As hundreds of thousands return to devastated homes, urgent and sustained humanitarian aid is essential to all civilians in need in Gaza.  The Bureau underscores the irreplaceable role of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in delivering life-saving assistance and stabilizing the ceasefire.

    The Committee Bureau strongly condemns Israel’s adoption of legislation banning UNRWA and stripping it of its privileges and immunities, obstructing its operations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, in direct violation of the General Assembly mandate and resolution ES-10/25 recently adopted by the General Assembly by an overwhelming majority.  The Bureau calls on Israel, the occupying Power, to immediately suspend and reverse the implementation of this legislation that curtails UNRWA’s vital operations and will negatively impact delivery of essential services and assistance, including education and healthcare, to the Palestine refugees.

    Coming immediately after the Gaza ceasefire deal, Israel’s ban on UNRWA is a blatant move that will exacerbate Palestinian suffering — not with air strikes and bombs, but with deprivation, hunger and disease.  As affirmed by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) Advisory Opinion of July 2024, Israel, due to its status as an occupying Power, has no sovereignty in any part of the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, where the UNRWA headquarters is located.  The UNRWA ban is as unlawful as the Israeli occupation itself, which must end, as determined by the ICJ and consecutive General Assembly resolution ES-10/24 of September 2024.  This unprecedented attack on an UN-mandated agency deepens the suffering of millions of Palestine refugees, for whom UNRWA is a lifeline for survival.  The Agency’s operations are essential in all fields of operation, including to alleviating the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, restoring basic services and sustaining the ceasefire, and cannot be replaced.

    Israel’s actions violate the United Nations Charter, the Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations, its obligations as the occupying Power under the fourth Geneva Convention and multiple General Assembly and Security Council resolutions. Such ongoing Israeli policies and measures will cripple humanitarian efforts, hinder Gaza’s recovery and destabilize the ceasefire, jeopardizing regional stability.  Israel must immediately cease all attacks on UNRWA and its humanitarian operations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and cease all violations of international law and the human rights of the Palestinian people.

    The Committee Bureau urgently appeals to the General Assembly, the Security Council, and all Member States to categorically reject Israel’s unlawful legislation, demand its immediate repeal and insist that Israel uphold UNRWA’s mandate.  The Bureau urges prompt ICJ action, as requested by the General Assembly on 19 December 2024, to urgently deliver an Advisory Opinion on the obligations of Israel in relation to the presence and activities of the United Nations, other international organizations and third States to uphold the rule of law and obligations thereunder and to avert further Palestinian suffering.  The Committee Bureau reaffirms its support for the ceasefire agreement and calls for its full respect and implementation, leading to a lasting cessation of hostilities and a just, enduring peace, based on international law and the relevant UN resolutions, and achieving the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people and the two-State solution on the basis of the pre-1967 lines.

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI New Zealand: Activist News – Government ministers and Human Rights Commission give green light to Destiny Church assaults against Palestine solidarity protest this weekend – PSNA

    Source: Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa (PSNA)

    The Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa is alarmed Winston Peters and the Human Rights Commissioner have given the green light to Destiny Church assaults against Palestinian support protests this weekend.

     

    PSNA has been contacted by police to say that Brian Tamaki’s Destiny Church has just issued direct threats to ‘shut down’ PSNA if the government and police won’t do it for them.

     

    Tamaki has done this several times over the past 16 months but PSNA Chair John Minto says the orchestrated claims of antisemitism against PSNA this past week have encouraged Brian Tamaki to now believe he could get away with unleashing violence against peaceful protests against the ongoing Israeli genocide in Gaza and the Occupied West Bank.

     

     

    “We are most concerned about our supporters in smaller centres.  We have about 30 local protests in support of Palestinian rights over the next two days.  It just takes two or three Destiny Church adherents to get it into their heads that they are doing God’s work and turn up to beat up our people.

     

    Minto says he can understand why Tamaki thinks he is licenced to carry out his threats.

     

    “Our government still has not uttered one word condemning Israeli genocide.  But when we say we want to tell Israeli soldiers who are on holiday here that they are not welcome in Aotearoa, then the Human Rights Commissioner distorts this into the threats of violence and the Foreign Minister falls into line behind him.”

     

    “We did not advocate violence. We are not encouraging nor are we promoting violence – even against Israelis guilty of participating in genocide having a happy holiday here.”

     

    “In particular we are concerned that the Human Rights Commissioner Stephen Rainbow is leading the claims against Palestinian human rights supporters.”

     

    “Rainbow was a prominent champion of Israeli apartheid before the was appointed Human Rights Commissioner.”

     

    “Only a year ago he was writing such articles for the Israel Institute NZ, entitled “With every chant, Israel’s case grows stronger” condemning “kaffiyeh wearing antics of Labour and Green MP’s of late.”

     

    “Rainbow has not parked his Zionist apartheid politics at the door of the Human Rights Commission.  He is misusing his high status semi-judicial position to openly promote on behalf of Israel – as a state committing genocide – by misrepresenting PSNA.’

     

    “No wonder Brian Tamaki and his Destiny Church think the government will turn a blind eye to Destiny Church escalating into physical attacks.”

     

    Minto says Palestinian New Zealanders will be feeling our government and institutions are sanctioning violence against them.

     

    “Many Palestinians in this country have lost immediate family in the massive Israeli onslaught on Gaza over the past 16 months.  They are well aware the New Zealand Foreign Minister has been absolutely silent about any blame on Israel.  Yet he is instantly quick to condemn local human rights groups which these Palestinians belong to.”

     

    “To send a message of reassurance to Palestinian New Zealanders and hopefully restrain Tamaki, Paul Goldsmith, as Rainbow’s minister, must at the very least immediately suspend Rainbow as Human Rights Commissioner.”

     

    John Minto

    National Chair

    Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa

    MIL OSI New Zealand News –

  • MIL-OSI Security: U.S. Attorney’s Office Collects More than $4M in Civil and Criminal Actions Plus Nearly $2M in Forfeited Assets in Fiscal Year 2024

    Source: Office of United States Attorneys

    TULSA, Okla. – U.S. Attorney Clint Johnson announced today that the Northern District of Oklahoma (NDOK) collected $4,029,804.93 in criminal and civil actions in Fiscal Year 2024. Of this amount, $2,572,450.48 was collected in criminal actions, and $1,457,354.45 was collected in civil actions. Additionally, the NDOK worked with partner agencies and divisions to collect $1,726,442 in asset forfeiture actions in FY 2024.

    “The Asset Recovery Unit and Asset Forfeiture teams consist of federal prosecutors, investigators, and professional support staff. In 2024, they collected more than $4 million on behalf of victims and collected nearly $2 million in assets, said U.S. Attorney, Clint Johnson. “Both teams diligently work to recover court ordered restitution to victims and process court ordered forfeiture. This funding not only impacts the Crime Victims Fund, but also goes towards law enforcement programs.”   

    Examples of Asset Recovery…
    In March 2024, the Northern District recovered $106,994.94 in U.S. v. Shane Hannaford, 21-CR-111. A veteran of the U.S. Marines, Hannaford devised a fraudulent investment scheme, defrauding fellow veterans he had served with in Iraq. Hannaford pled guilty to Bank Fraud, and the Court ordered him to pay $806,607.14 in restitution to his victims. The Northern District captured a significant payment towards restitution by intercepting proceeds from Hannaford’s sale of his home.

    In September 2024, the Northern District recovered $287,521.53 in U.S. v. Keven Ellis Partin, 19-CR-121. Partin pled guilty to Offering or Paying Healthcare Kickbacks. The Court ordered him to pay $338,805 in restitution to Department of Labor, TRICARE, Department of Veteran Affairs, and Medicare. Through liens and other enforcement tools, the Northern District recovered full restitution for these federal agencies.

    In May 2024, the Northern District of Oklahoma recovered $62,000 in U.S. v. Leslie Ellen Mansfield, 23-CR-170. Mansfield, an attorney, oversaw special needs trust accounts for intellectually challenged adults. Mansfield pled guilty to Bank Fraud, and the Court ordered her to pay $137,240.95 in restitution. The Northern District recovered full restitution for the living victims.

    Examples of Asset Forfeiture…
    In March 2024, the Northern District recovered $35,000 in U.S. v. Jesus Salazar-Lares, et al., 22-CR-339. In Aug. 2024, Salazar-Lares and others, traveled from Chicago to Tulsa and delivered more than 10 pounds of methamphetamine.  Salazar-Lares pled guilty to distribution of methamphetamine. The court authorized the seizure of $35,000 in cash.

    In April 2024, the Northern District recovered $84,788.42 in U.S. v. Melvin Brown, 22-CR-419. From July 2020 through May 2021, Brown conspired with others to distribute cocaine. Romero pled guilty to drug conspiracy. The court authorized the seizure of Romero’s bank account that had approximately $84,788.42.

    In June 2024, the Northern District recovered $620,000 in U.S. v. Jose Romero, et al., 22-CR-339. From Oct. 2019 through Oct. 2022, Romero conducted financial transactions with funds received through drug trafficking. Romero pled guilty to 18 counts of money laundering. The court authorized the forfeiture of $20,297 in cash, 18 vehicles, one firearm, approximately $50,076.31 from seized bank accounts, and four real estate properties.

    The U.S. Attorneys’ Offices, along with the department’s litigating divisions, are responsible for enforcing and collecting civil and criminal debts owed to the U.S. and criminal debts owed to federal crime victims. The law requires defendants to pay restitution to victims of certain federal crimes who have suffered a physical injury or financial loss. While restitution is paid to the victim, criminal fines and felony assessments are paid to the department’s Crime Victims Fund, which distributes the funds collected to federal and state victim compensation and victim assistance programs.

    Forfeited assets deposited into the Department of Justice Assets Forfeiture Fund are used to restore funds to crime victims and for a variety of law enforcement purposes. 

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Former University Professor Charged with Attempted Coercion and Enticement of a Minor

    Source: Office of United States Attorneys

    COLUMBIA, S.C. — Mohammad Ebrahim Torki Harchegani, 38, has been charged with attempted enticement of a minor for sexual activity.

    During a contested bond hearing, an FBI special agent testified that on Dec. 3-4, 2024, multiple agencies participated in an online chat operation targeting child sex offenders where an officer posed as a 14-year-old female. Torki, a legal permanent resident of the United States and Iranian citizenship, engaged in sexually explicit conversations with the alleged 14-year-old girl. Toriki ultimately traveled to the residence where he believed the girl was home alone to engage in sexual activities with her. He was arrested thereafter.

    Testimony was also presented that Torki was previously a professor at the University of South Carolina. Upon his arrest, his employment was suspended and his contract with the university was not renewed.

    The FBI Columbia Field Office, the South Carolina Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, and the Richland County Sheriff’s Department participated in the online chat operation and investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Elle E. Klein and Winston Holliday are prosecuting the case.

    This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the U.S. Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals, who sexually exploit children, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit http://www.justice.gov/psc.

    Torki was ordered detained at the hearing. He faces a maximum penalty of life in prison.

    All charges in the indictment are merely accusations and defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

    ###

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: Committee on the Rights of the Child Closes Ninety-Eighth Session after Adopting Concluding Observations on Reports of Ecuador, Eritrea, the Gambia, Honduras, Peru, Saint Kitts and Nevis, and Slovakia

    Source: United Nations – Geneva

    The Committee on the Rights of the Child this afternoon concluded its ninety-eighth session after adopting concluding observations on the periodic reports under the Convention on the Rights of the Child of Ecuador, Eritrea, the Gambia, Honduras, Peru, Saint Kitts and Nevis, and Slovakia.  The concluding observations will be made available on the session’s webpage on Thursday, 6 February.

    In closing remarks, Ann Marie Skelton, Committee Chairperson, said that the Committee had worked steadily to hold States to account where they were failing to uphold children’s rights.  The Committee had observed staggering levels of violence against children, including sexual violence, in several of the States reviewed.  Further, the Committee had also seen a normative pushback against gender equality, happening against a backdrop of high rates of teenage pregnancy, which the Committee also noted in many of the countries reviewed this session.

    Over the three weeks in which the session was held, Ms. Skelton noted, many children around the world had continued their daily struggle to survive.  Over this period, the war in Sudan had raged on, with children bearing the brunt of it.  At least 23 children were reported to have died in January.  Tensions had also increased in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and there had been a surge in children who were separated from or not accompanied by their parents.

    Ms. Skelton thanked the Committee’s many partners for their cooperation during the session, including United Nations agencies, non-governmental organizations, national human rights institutions, children, Committee members, members of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Secretariat and other persons who had contributed to the session.

    Francisco Vera-Francisco, a young child rights advocate from Colombia, also addressed the Committee, saying that this was a crucial moment for children’s rights across the world.  In Colombia, the internal conflict continued to impact children’s wellbeing and rights, he said.  Several thousands of children had been displaced near the border with Venezuela. The same situation was seen around the world, with children’s rights violated in Sudan, Yemen and Gaza, where many thousands of children were killed.  The violence needed to stop now.  He concluded by calling on the Committee to continue fighting for children.

    During the meeting, five Committee Experts whose mandates are coming to an end – Mikiko Otani (Japan), Luis Ernesto Pedernera Reyna (Uruguay), Velina Todorova (Bulgaria), Ratou Jean Zara (Chad), and the Chair, Ann Marie Skelton (South Africa) – made statements of thanks and reflection on their tenure.

    The Committee adopted the report of its ninety-eighth session.

    Summaries of the public meetings of the Committee can be found here, and webcasts of the public meetings can be found here.  Documents related to the Committee’s ninety-eighth session can be found here.

    The Committee will hold its ninety-ninth session from 5 to 23 May 2025, when it is scheduled to review the periodic reports under the Convention of Brazil, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iraq, Norway, Pakistan, Qatar and Romania, as well as the reports of Brazil and Pakistan under the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography.

    Statements

    ANN MARIE SKELTON, Committee Chairperson, said that the Committee had worked steadily to hold States to account where they were failing to uphold children’s rights.  The Committee had observed staggering levels of violence against children, including sexual violence, in several of the States reviewed.  There appeared to be widespread impunity regarding violence in the home and in communities and religious institutions.  In some States, children were in the grip of chaos caused by gang violence and organised crime.

    Over the last few years, Ms. Skelton said, the Committee had also seen a normative pushback against gender equality, which threatened to prevent adolescent girls from accessing reproductive health rights and services.  This was happening against a backdrop of high rates of teenage pregnancy, which the Committee also noted in many of the countries reviewed this session.

    Poverty stalked children’s lives in most of the States reviewed this session, and massive inequality left so many children behind.  Some States were also ambivalent about seeing children as independent rights holders.  Children were often not consulted and their views not considered in decisions that affected their lives.

    Over the last three weeks in which the session was held, Ms. Skelton noted, many children around the world had continued their daily struggle to survive. Over this period, the war in Sudan had raged on, with children bearing the brunt of it.  At least 23 children were reported to have died in January.  Tensions had also increased in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and there had been a surge in children who were separated from or not accompanied by their parents.

    On a more positive note, Ms. Skelton said, during the past three weeks, a ceasefire had been announced in Gaza.  Some detained teenagers had been released, and hostages were being released, which hopefully would include the two remaining child hostages.

    Ms. Skelton announced that one of the Committee’s decisions in a case concerning Finland had been voted as the top United Nations treaty body case of 2024 by the Hertie School Centre for Fundamental Rights.  The case concerned three Sami indigenous girls who challenged the permission for a mining exploration permit that threatened their way of life.  The Committee was happy to know that its decisions were attracting attention and having an impact on the lives of children.

    FRANCISCO VERA–FRANCISCO, child rights advocate from Colombia, said that this was a crucial moment for children’s rights across the world. In Colombia, the internal conflict continued to impact children’s wellbeing and rights, he said.  Several thousands of children had been displaced near the border with Venezuela. The same situation was seen around the world, with children’s rights violated in Sudan, Yemen and Gaza, where many thousands of children were killed.  The violence needed to stop now.

    War was the most regrettable act that human beings could engage in, Mr. Vera-Francisco said.  In war, young soldiers killed each other for the sake of old men.  He said that, for him, children were the present, and killing children amounted to killing the present.  Countries needed to not lose hope and continue fighting for children’s rights.

    Countries declared a war on children when they made environmental issues worse, he said. More than seven trillion United States dollars had been dedicated to subsidising fossil fuels last year. Almost 30 per cent of global finances had been used to finance military activities.  In the latest Conference of the Parties, developed countries decided to dedicate only 300 billion United States dollars to climate financing, even though developing States had asked for 1.2 trillion dollars.

    All children had the right to live in a peaceful world, Mr. Vera-Francisco stressed.  Countries needed to continue fighting for peace, children’s rights and their well-being. States made many inspiring statements, but these needed to be backed up with actions.  Countries needed to make peace with nature and life.  Mr. Vera-Francisco concluded by calling on the Committee to continue fighting for children.

    ANN MARIE SKELTON, Committee Chairperson, reported that, as of 22 May, there were 196 States parties to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, with the United States having not ratified; 173 States parties to the Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict; 178 States parties to the Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography; and only 52 States parties to the Optional Protocol on the communications procedure.  There had been no new ratifications/accessions since the beginning of this session.

    Ms. Skelton said that during the session, the Committee had conducted 90 hours of meetings.  In addition to reviewing the reports of seven States parties, the Committee adopted decisions on eight individual communications received under the Optional Protocol on a communications procedure, concerning the child justice system, separation of children from parents subject to criminal sentences, and access to health services for children with disabilities being returned to their country of origin.  The Committee found no violation of the Convention in two cases against Switzerland, and declared the communications inadmissible in a case against Belgium and a case against Ecuador.  The Committee also discontinued the consideration of four cases after they had become moot.  Finally, the Committee adopted its report on follow up to individual communications, deciding to close the follow up dialogue in nine additional cases.

    During the session, the Committee also discussed inquiries under article 13 of the Optional Protocol.  It was currently dealing with four inquiries.  It had published the report of its second inquiry against Paraguay on the killing of two 11-year-old girls by security forces, which concluded that there had been a grave violation of the right to life.  The Committee had also adopted its latest inquiry report, which it would send to the State party concerned for their observations.

    Further, during the session, the Committee had received briefings from the United Nations Working Group on Discrimination against Women and Girls, the United Nations Children’s Fund and Child Rights Connect.  Ms. Skelton thanked the Committee’s many partners for their cooperation during the session, including United Nations agencies, non-governmental organizations, national human rights institutions and children. 

    She announced that the Committee had continued its work on the next general comment, concerning children’s rights to access to justice and effective remedies.  A first round of consultations on the general comment had gathered more than 300 submissions from different parts of the world, including children’s groups.  Ms. Skelton called on interested parties to look out for the second draft of the general comment and provide feedback.

    Also, during the session, the Committee held its sixteenth informal meeting with States at the Palais des Nations.  Sixty States participated and seven took the floor for observations and questions.

    In closing, Ms. Skelton expressed thanks to Committee members, members of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Secretariat and other persons who had contributed to the session.

    Ms. Skelton then invited the outgoing Committee Experts to make statements.

    MIKIKO OTANI, Committee Expert, said that during her time as Chair of the Committee, the Committee issued 37 public statements on country-specific issues concerning children.  She had also worked to mainstream child rights in the wider United Nations system and had contributed to the Secretary-General’s guidance note on child rights mainstreaming. She had advocated for child participation in major conferences and had invited children to speak in the public openings of the Committee’s sessions.  The diversity of the Committee had tremendously deepened her knowledge of children’s rights.  She expressed hope that the Committee would continue to use its voice to advocate for child rights in every possible way.

    LUIS ERNESTO PEDERNERA REYNA, Committee Vice-Chair, said that over the last eight years, the Committee had launched four general comments, adopted more than 100 decisions on individual communications, reached out to other treaty bodies and special procedures mandate holders, and increased its workload without budget increases.  There had also been attacks against the Convention in the name of family values on behalf of conservative and religious groups.  The Committee’s work was more necessary than ever, and it was vital to ensure that there was no backsliding.  Mr. Pedernera Reyna said that he had learned much from fellow Committee Experts.  He expressed thanks to the governments that understood the Committee’s mandate and opened their doors to the Committee, to civil society, which had made the Committee’s work easier, and to the children and adolescents who had shared their stories with the Committee. 

    VELINA TODOROVA, Committee Expert, thanked the States parties that elected her to the Committee.  She said she was grateful to the Committee and its secretariat, non-governmental organization partners, and children.  Her eight years on the Committee had been a time of progress for children but also frustration with the slow process of implementation of the Convention, coupled with an increase in hate and polarisation in societies and a lack of protection for human rights.  She expressed hope that the Committee would continue to work to protect children’s rights.

    RATOU JEAN ZARA, Committee Expert, said that the work that the Committee had accomplished over her time on it had been very important.  She had learned much each day and shared each member’s common aim of upholding children’s rights.  She had warm memories of her time on the Committee that she would incorporate into her daily work in Chad.  She wished the Committee all the best in its important work in upholding children’s rights.

    ANN MARIE SKELTON, Committee Chairperson, said that chairing an 18-member group had been challenging at times.  Listening to different voices from different countries made the Committee able to engage with States around the world while holding true to the Convention.  Members came and went, but the Committee remained.

    Ms. Skelton expressed concern about backsliding in children’s rights.  The Committee needed to be tough in this regard. It had a collective heart that needed to be big enough to think about all the children in the world.  The Committee had kept its finger on the pulse, reviewing the situation of children in situations of war around the world, including those in Ukraine, Sudan and Israel.  It was important that even States parties in conflict had interacted with the Committee.

    Children needed to grow up in an environment of happiness, love, understanding and peace, Ms. Skelton said.  She said she was proud of the jurisprudence that the Committee had built up over her time on it.

    BRAGI GUDBRANDSSON, Committee Vice Chair, on behalf of the remaining Committee members, expressed admiration for the outgoing members’ wonderful contributions to protecting children’s rights.  They had held States parties to account, and contributed to the Committee’s jurisprudence and general comments.  Further, they had been leaders in developing and promoting children’s rights globally. Their departure from the Committee represented a great loss.  They had set high standards that the remaining Experts needed to work to meet. He called on them to continue sharing their wisdom with the Committee after they left.

    FRANCISCO VERA–FRANCISCO, child rights advocate from Colombia, also expressed thanks to the outgoing Experts on behalf of all children.  It was the responsibility of all to fight for children’s rights.  Everyone needed to stay focused to fight violence and hate, and keep fighting for children’s rights.

    __________

    CRC-25-010E

    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.

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI Video: 5 FACTS: What is UNDOF?

    Source: United Nations (Video News)

    Established in 1974 after the 1973 Arab-Israeli War, UNDOF is one of the UN’s longest-running peacekeeping forces. Discover how UNDOF maintains peace along the tense Israel-Syria border.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6x7CEKSTBs

    MIL OSI Video –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: Security Council Extends Mandate of United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus, Unanimously Adopting Resolution 2771 (2025)

    Source: United Nations General Assembly and Security Council

    The Security Council today decided to renew the long-standing United Nations peacekeeping presence in Cyprus for another year, underscoring the need to avoid any unilateral actions that could undermine the prospects for a peaceful settlement.

    Unanimously adopting resolution 2771 (2025) (to be issued as document S/RES/2771 (2025)), the 15-member organ decided to extend the mandate of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) — which was first deployed in 1964 — until 31 January 2026.  It affirmed its intention to continue to monitor the situation in Cyprus closely, review the resolution’s implementation after six months and consider any adjustments or other action as needed.

    Reiterating that disputes in the Eastern Mediterranean should be resolved peacefully in accordance with international law, the text urged the leaders of the two Cypriot communities and all involved parties to refrain from any actions and rhetoric that might damage the settlement process and raise tensions on the island.

    Accordingly, the Council condemned the continued violations of the military status quo along the ceasefire lines, the reported encroachment by both sides into the United Nations Buffer Zone and the ongoing reported military violations, calling on the sides and all involved parties to respect UNFICYP’s mandated authority in and around the Buffer Zone and refrain from unilateral actions that contravene it.  Additionally, the Council strongly urged full respect for UNFICYP’s freedom of movement throughout Cyprus and the cessation of all restrictions on the mission’s movement and access.

    Urging the sides to renew their efforts to achieve an enduring, comprehensive and just settlement based on a bicommunal, bizonal federation with political equality, the text welcomed the agreement between the Greek Cypriot leader, Nikos Christodoulides, and the Turkish Cypriot leader, Ersin Tatar, to explore the possibility of opening new crossing points.

    Relatedly, the text welcomed the Secretary-General’s plans to convene an informal broader meeting with the two sides and the guarantor powers — Greece and Türkiye — to discuss the way forward, encouraging further rounds of informal talks to freely negotiate a mutually acceptable settlement under United Nations auspices.

    The Council requested the Secretary-General to submit two reports — by 4 July 2025 and 5 January 2026 respectively — on his Good Offices, in particular on progress towards reaching a consensus starting point for meaningful results-oriented negotiations leading to a settlement, as well as on the implementation of this resolution.  It also encouraged the leaders of the two communities to provide relevant written updates every six months.

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: Activities of Secretary-General in Lebanon, 16-19 January

    Source: United Nations General Assembly and Security Council

    United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres arrived in Beirut, Lebanon, on 16 January.  Upon arrival he was met by the caretaker Foreign Minister of Lebanon, Abdallah Bou Habib.

    On Friday, the Secretary-General flew by helicopter from Beirut to Naqoura to visit UNIFIL — the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon — to express his gratitude for the courage and determination of the UN peacekeepers who have been working in very challenging circumstances.

    During his time on the ground, the Secretary-General visited a number of UNIFIL positions, including one that had been under Israeli attack in 2024.

    In remarks to the assembled leadership of the UN mission, the Secretary-General told them that they are not just on the Blue Line of Lebanon, they are on the front line of peace, and that the UNIFIL mission is the most challenging environment for peacekeepers anywhere.  He added that their contributions have been crucial in supporting the restoration of stability in southern Lebanon and along the Blue Line.

    The continued occupation by the Israel Defense Forces inside the UNIFIL area operations and the conduct of military operations in Lebanese territory are violations of resolution 1701 (2006) and pose continued risk to your safety and security, Guterres told the peacekeepers.  He also noted that blue helmets had uncovered over a 100 weapons caches belonging to Hizbullah or other armed groups since 27 November 2024.

    The Secretary-General also said that strong support for, and closer coordination with, the Lebanese Armed Forces will be fundamental in supporting an enduring cessation of hostilities and realizing the ultimate goal of resolution 1701 (2006).  (See Press Release SG/SM/22525.)

    The Secretary-General returned to Beirut later in the afternoon where he met with France President Emmanuel Macron of France who was also on a visit to Beirut.

    In the evening, upon his return to Beirut, the Secretary-General, along with the UN Special Coordinator in Lebanon, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, and the UNIFIL Force Commander, General Aroldo Lázaro, attended a working dinner hosted by the caretaker Prime Minister of Lebanon, Najib Mikati.

    On Saturday, the Secretary-General spent the day in Beirut where he met with President Joseph Aoun, Prime Minister Designate Nawaf Salam and the Speaker of the Parliament, Nabih Berri.

    The Secretary-General held a press conference late on Saturday afternoon.

    He returned to New York on Sunday, 19 January.

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: Activities of Secretary-General in Switzerland, 20-24 January

    Source: United Nations General Assembly and Security Council

    On Monday, 20 January, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres departed New York for Switzerland. He arrived in Davos on Tuesday morning to attend the annual World Economic Forum.

    On Tuesday evening, the Secretary-General participated in a leadership dialogue on digital and emerging technologies where he promoted the recently adopted Global Digital Compact as a tool that provides a new framework to help ensure that technology benefits all of humanity — guided by strong guardrails that minimize risks, while amplifying the benefits.  He called on the private sector, the philanthropic community and Member States to work together, with their relative strengths, to ensure that artificial intelligence (AI) serves its highest purpose:  advancing human progress, equality and dignity for all countries and all people.

    The Secretary-General finished the day by delivering remarks at a dinner organized by the Global Investors for Sustainable Development.

    Early on Wednesday morning, the Secretary-General delivered an address to the World Economic Forum.  He outlined how climate change and ungoverned AI are two profound threats that demand much more attention and intelligent collaboration than they are receiving as they threaten to upend life as we know it.

    He also used very pointed language at the parts of the private sector that are actively backtracking on climate goals.  You are short-sighted and on the wrong side of history, Guterres said.

    “To the corporate leaders who remain committed to climate action,” the Secretary-General went on to say, “your leadership is needed now, more than ever.  Do not back down.  Stay on the right side of history.”

    Regarding artificial intelligence, the Secretary-General underscored how, through the Global Digital Compact, the United Nations is working with Governments, industry, and civil society to ensure that AI becomes a tool of opportunity, inclusion and progress for all people.

    In remarks at a discussion afterwards with Børge Brende, President and CEO of the World Economic Forum, the Secretary-General said that we have witnessed in recent days in Gaza an example of robust diplomacy that should be recognized.  (See Press Release SG/SM/22528.)

    The Secretary-General also participated in the annual off-the-record “IGWELL” lunch organized by the World Economic Forum, and he also continued with a number of bilateral meetings, including Félix-Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Prime Minister of the Kurdish Autonomous Province of Iraq, Masoud Barzani, and also the President of the Inter-American Development Bank, Ilan Goldfajn.

    The Secretary-General also participated in the annual off-the-record IGWELL lunch organized by the World Economic Forum.

    On Thursday and Friday, Mr. Guterres attended the annual retreat with his Special and Personal Representatives and Envoys before leaving Switzerland.

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Senator Coons decries President Trump’s freeze on almost all foreign assistance in speech on Senate floor

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Delaware Christopher Coons

    WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.), a member of the Senate Appropriations and Foreign Relations Committees, condemned President Donald Trump’s executive order (EO) to pause almost all U.S. foreign assistance in a speech on the Senate floor yesterday, calling it unconstitutional and harmful to U.S. security and values.

    Last week, following the Trump EO, the State Department issued a “stop-work” order that halted all current foreign assistance and paused new projects, with narrow exceptions. This abrupt action created widespread confusion, further complicated by the White House budget office’s decision to send and then rescind a separate memo that had ordered a freeze on all federal grant spending. The actions have left essential aid programs and global partnerships in a state of uncertainty, weakening the United States’ standing around the world.

    In his remarks, Senator Coons emphasized that foreign assistance is not charity, but an investment that strengthens our security and economy. The Trump EO by contrast, harms our allies and friends, and benefits adversaries like China. It has halted payments to contractors rebuilding Ukraine’s electrical infrastructure in the wake of Russian attacks and frozen support that is critical to ensuring Taiwan’s defense. This pause has halted vital pandemic surveillance work that keeps us safe from lethal diseases and rapidly emerging pandemics, at a time when we are seeing new outbreaks of highly transmissible diseases like Ebola in Uganda and Marburg in Tanzania. The pause has impacted critical global health funding, including PEPFAR, which provides HIV treatment for more than 20 million people living with HIV globally. U.S. institutions that monitor global elections like the National Democratic Institute and International Republic Institute are also frozen in the run-up to elections in nations like Moldova and Romania that are expected to be targets of Russian interference. This reckless step harms U.S. credibility and economic stability and creates long-term consequences that weaken our allies and empower our adversaries.

    Senator Coons also underscored that while foreign assistance accounts for less than 1 percent of the federal budget, its strategic significance is crucial.

    A video and partial transcript of Senator Coons’ comments are available below.

    WATCH HERE.

    Senator Coons: Mr. President, I’m speaking today in strong opposition to President Trump’s illegal executive order of last Friday night that pauses all of our foreign assistance and development assistance. Let’s be clear: our development assistance, our foreign aid, isn’t about charity. It’s about security, and it’s about values. We have alliances and partnerships around the world that are undergirded by our soft power – by our partnerships and investment in helping make our world safer, more stable, and more secure. What happened last Friday night, at the end of the workday and there was no one there to answer urgent questions – was a freeze on all foreign assistance, with a very narrow exception for food aid, and it has caused chaos in the global community that delivers aid and assistance around the world. 

    For days, there were questions unanswered. What did this mean in Ukraine, in Lebanon, where there are wars and ceasefires, where critical grant funding and work by contractors helps put the lights back on after Russian attacks on the electrical infrastructure in Ukraine, where ceasefire implementation in Lebanon was ongoing. In parts of the world where we were continuing to bring home to the United States those who served alongside us in Afghanistan, Afghan SIVs waiting for processing, abandoned in Qatar and here in the United States. 

    A halt on drug supplies that helped keep 20 million people living with HIV through the program PEPFAR, long supported by presidents and Congresses of both parties. A freeze on activity to counter fentanyl and narcotics trafficking, to push back on Chinese and Russian disinformation, and to promote democracy. With urgent upcoming elections, the International Republican Institute and the National Democratic Institute are frozen in their activities and forced to lay off or furlough their workforce. Let me thank Secretary Rubio for responding to urgent calls to broaden the aperture for humanitarian waivers for this freeze, but let me also say that with dozens and dozens of the most senior people at USAID put on furlough, implementing this got harder, and with thousands of contractors who work for USAID in countries around the world dismissed or laid off, the consequences will be severe. 

    I’ll just give you one example. I suspect everyone listening has heard of the disease Ebola. I suspect not everyone has heard of the disease Marburg. They are related. They’re highly transmissive and deadly viruses. There is a new outbreak of Ebola in the capital of Uganda. There’s an ongoing outbreak of Marburg in the neighboring country of Tanzania. This freeze pauses the pandemic surveillance work, the urgent public health work, the assistance we provide that makes sure that we are safe from a rapidly emerging and lethal global pandemic that we put in place after the last pandemic. 

    When we halt foreign assistance, it has consequences. It’s just one percent of our total budget. Most Americans think it’s a big percent of our spending, but it’s one percent, actually, less than one percent of the total federal budget. And there’s a winner here, and it’s not the American taxpayer. Freezing programs like this causes chaos and often costs more to restart them after a review. The winner is China. Our biggest global competitor and adversary is delighted that we’ve handed them an opportunity to say to communities and countries around the world that we are not a reliable partner – that despite contracts and promises, commitments, and programs, they now have months to crow about how we have abandoned our partnerships with county after country around the world. China is delighted when we layoff, or furlough, or cut the resources that help fuel the work of our diplomats and our development professionals. And China has seen its opportunity to expand its influence through programs like the Belt and Road Initiative. They’ve spent a trillion dollars on projects across the Global South in the last decade, and our ability to counter Chinese influence, to make strategic investments, has been put gravely at risk by putting on hold the workforce and the contracts that help deliver them. 

    The administration may be claiming that this pause is temporary, but its effects will not be. The lasting impacts on small businesses, on contractors, on NGOs and loss of expertise, loss of their workforce, loss of their credibility I think will be lasting, dangerous, and harmful.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Global: How should Keir Starmer handle Donald Trump – and how’s it going so far?

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Martin Farr, Senior Lecturer in Contemporary British History, Newcastle University

    The pairing of British prime minister Keir Starmer and US president Donald Trump connotes many imponderables. The only certainty happens to be the most significant: they will be in office together for four years.

    It is rare for a prime minister and a president to have the luxury of knowing – barring extreme unpredictabilities, such as death or incapacity – they have a full term in harness. And personal chemistry matters.

    Trump emphasises (rather too much for the liking of America’s allies) the deal, the handshake, the gaze; the bond that only the lonely, only those who lead, can have. Starmer emphasises level-headedness (although his government has not been particulary conspicuous in evincing it).

    Opposites may well attract, but the precedents for coterminous presidents and prime ministers are not encouraging. John Major and Bill Clinton, elected seven months apart, spent 1992 to 1997 together. But in the very definition of what not to do before an election, London had made its preference for the result of the election in America known – and the other guy won. The Conservative and the Democrat were no more than coolly cordial thereafter.

    On his re-election in 2001, Tony Blair knew he had George W. Bush for at least four years – it turned out to be eight – but the consequences for him were disastrous once the two decided to partake in a war on “terror”.

    In 1964, Harold Wilson and Lyndon Johnson were elected almost simultaneously, and spent 1964 to 1968 together. Though they were Labour and Democrat, and therefore from sister parties, it was not a harmonious pairing. Wilson’s meddling in, but lack of support for, Johnson’s war in Vietnam was a source of unbridled irritation in the White House.

    Trump and May

    The last time Trump became president, Theresa May was prime minister and she travelled with undisguised haste to the White House. There she achieved a highly untypical diplomatic coup in getting Trump to commit publicly to Nato (that bars should be so low was a general feature of the presidency).

    Their subsequent relationship was, however, toxic. No prime minister has been less likely to gaze, to bond (despite pictures of them holding hands), and the president held her as having mangled Brexit, a bid for freedom with which he was keen to associate himself.

    Before the US election, Starmer displayed a unfamiliar deftness of touch, and banked some credit. His immediate phone call to candidate Trump following an attempt on his life in July was both bold and smart. There followed the fabled Trump Tower two-hour chicken dinner.

    It was more typical for Starmer that when it emerged, in a most unfortunate echo of 1992, Labour activists – and Starmer’s own pollster – were working on the Kamala Harris campaign, Trump’s people cried foreign interference and threatened legal action.

    And the two in Starmer’s team who will have the most exposure to the new administration have both been publicly rude about Trump. David Lammy, now foreign secretary, called him “deluded, dishonest, xenophobic [and] narcissistic” in 2019.

    Peter Mandelson, nominated but not yet confirmed as the UK ambassador to the US, has made comments about Trump being a “bully” and a “danger to the world”. To appease opposition in DC on his appointment, Mandelson has since turned on a sixpence (or perhaps a dime).

    This is, at root, about Trump. No other president would have attracted such comments from frontline politicians. But from TV studio to TV studio, Lammy and Mandelson will have those quotes hung about their necks as if they were modern-day ancient mariners. Starmer’s innate caution in public utterance, in this area at least, has inured him.

    Indeed, the repercussions of his unusual boldness in picking Mandelson over a career diplomat may discourage Starmer from ever thinking imaginatively again.

    Most members of the Trump administration would be naturally hostile to a Labour government even without its leading figures insulting their boss or campaigning for his opponent. Certainly, the grounds for disagreement are great: the threat of tariffs, demanded increases in defence spending, the sovereignty of the Chagos Islands, co-operation with China and support for Ukraine.

    Thus Morgan McSweeney – architect of Labour’s 2024 victory, planner of its re-election and Starmer’s chief of staff – flew out to meet Susie Wiles, his equivalent in the White House. (It did not, a person privy to such information told me, go well. Voices were raised.)

    Elon Musk, this moment’s most prominent presidential acolyte inveighed on X, “Starmer must go”, adding for good measure, “He is a national embarrassment.” It is indeed embarrassing – for Starmer – but he will be consoled with the well-founded suspicion that the life-expectancy of Musk and Trump’s tech bromance will be much less than four years.

    Cause for self-reflection

    The return of Trump, emboldened and more powerful than before, has effectively forced the posing of the age-old question: over which expanse of sea should Britain gaze – the Channel or the Atlantic? Churchill thought it should – and that only Britain could – do both.

    Hence, perhaps, Trump’s own public statement about the possible destination of his first international trip: “It could be UK. Traditionally, it’s been UK.”

    It hasn’t. Only Jimmy Carter, in 1977, and Joe Biden, in 2021, visited the UK first – and then because of summits. More than a few presidents (most recently Ford and Johnson) didn’t visit at all.

    But even what might have been a supportive comment was laced with arsenic: “Last time, I went to Saudi Arabia because they agreed to buy 450 billion dollars’ worth of United States merchandise … And if that offer were right, I’d do that again.” Which at least may free the British government to be as unsentimentally transactional.

    Trump and Starmer achieved big victories, albeit when painted in the most flattering terms. Starmer’s came on a historically low combination of vote share and voter turnout, Trump’s with fewer votes than Biden. But Trump will like that Starmer won a large majority. When May managed to lose hers in 2017, what little respect Trump had for her went with it.

    Starmer would much rather have had four years with Biden, and even more with Harris, another public prosecutor of the left. But he has to deal with the transatlantic relationship as it is, rather than as he would wish it to be, and this one is most unlikely to be special.

    Starmer is, moreover, a realist. Which is why he’ll also know that the second Trump presidency will be much more consequential than the first. Caution may have limited effect.

    Martin Farr 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. How should Keir Starmer handle Donald Trump – and how’s it going so far? – https://theconversation.com/how-should-keir-starmer-handle-donald-trump-and-hows-it-going-so-far-248697

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Africa: Emphasis on leadership, sustainability, youth engagement and digitalisation as International Olympic Committee (IOC) presidential candidates present plans for global sports

    Source: Africa Press Organisation – English (2) – Report:

    LAUSANNE, Switzerland, January 31, 2025/APO Group/ —

    The seven candidates running to become the next President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) are hoping that with their 15-minute presentations at the Olympic House on Thursday, 30 January, they have been able to convince the IOC membership of their capabilities to lead the biggest sports organisation in the world. 

    Although they were unable to read the room during the in-camera meeting, especially as their audience was barred from asking questions, the candidates appeared satisfied with their campaign pitches. 

    BEHIND CLOSED DOORS There will be no other opportunities for presentations before the election scheduled for 20 March in Greece. Speaking to the media after giving their presentations behind closed doors, some of the candidates believe the current election process requires a review. 

    Prince Feisal Al Hussein of Jordan, who was the first to appear before the press, said: “If I’m President, I think I would have more flexibility in the rules… We are part of a global sports community and the world has the right to know who is running and what they stand for.” 

    Below are excerpts from the candidates’ interaction with the media at the Château de Vidy, the historical building next to Olympic House, where the presentations took place. 

    HRH PRINCE FEISAL AL HUSSEIN  

    PRESENTATION: It was an honor to deliver my speech to my fellow IOC members, where I laid out my vision for the future blueprint of the Olympic Movement centered on consensus leadership. My speech was structured around three strategic imperatives that are in my manifesto; inspiring imagination, ensuring integrity and developing inclusion. 

    EXPERIENCE DEALING WITH HEADS OF STATE, AN ADVANTAGE?: Absolutely, yes. I think I’ve learned from the experience of not just learning how to deal with people, but by consensus. At the end of the day, all leaders are human beings, and the ability to find a common ground upon which you can build an understanding is a key benefit from the experience that I’ve had just being who I am. 

    DEALING WITH THE IOC’S BIGGEST CHALLENGE: One of the things we have to face and we have to deal with literally focuses on the issue of integrity. When you see the global community, the youth in particular have lost their trust in global institutions, and the IOC is a global institution, so we need to regain both the trust and the sense of relevance with the youth of this world. They are our future movement. And I think this is one of the key areas I would focus on as IOC president. 

    CONFIDENCE IN WADA DESPITE WITHDRAWAL OF US FUNDING: It’s not for me to comment on the policies of the United States. We (the IOC) are an institution that helped establish WADA and I think it has been doing a terrific job in dealing with the issue of doping. We’ve seen such a large reduction of doping incidents in the Olympic Games, and I think this means that they have been effective, and we will continue to support that. 

    DEALING WITH BOXING AHEAD OF LA28: I would love to see boxing back on the programme. It is one of the oldest Olympic sports, and I just hope that we can find a global Federation that can take on that responsibility of organising boxing in LA. 

    RUSSIA’S RETURN TO THE OLYMPIC MOVEMENT: There’s nothing I’d like more than to be able to have the whole world at the Olympic Games, I think that’s what our objective is. But I also recognise that there are certain limitations and concerns. Right now, to my understanding, the exclusion of Russian athletes is based on a violation of the Olympic Charter. As President of the IOC, my role and responsibility is to uphold the Olympic Charter. And as long as nobody is in violation, then there is no reason for sanctions. And I would very much like to find a mechanism where we can reintroduce Russia. The world is stronger when we are all together. And I think that is what the Olympic Games does.  

    MR DAVID LAPPARTIENT  

    PRESENTATION: I hope that I have convinced my colleagues that I can be a real leader for the IOC. 

    RUSSIA’S RETURN TO THE OLYMPIC MOVEMENT: Russia shouldn’t be indefinitely suspended by the IOC. This is a country of sport, so our objective would be to have them come back into the fold. However, there are reasons why the IOC suspended the NOC of Russia… So it is obvious then that these subjects should be dealt with before decisions can be taken.  

    THE OLYMPIC GAMES IN AFRICA: The IOC is on the five continents. Sport is universal, and African athletes are exceptional, but Africa has until today, never hosted the Olympic Games, they of course, are going to have the Youth Olympic Games. I suggest that the Olympics should take place in Africa, not fixing a specific date. But the idea is, nonetheless, that during this coming mandate or two mandates, we would like Africa to host the Olympic Games, because Africa deserves the Olympic Games.  

    BIGGEST CHALLENGE: One of the challenges will be the instability of the world. It’s becoming more and more difficult, and sure we’ll have some crises to face in the future. This is why we need to source strong leadership. Climate change is also an issue. We also saw what happened in the winter time in Los Angeles, and it’s also the result of climate change. Another key challenge will be digitalization. The world is completely changing, disrupting. But what I also tried to explain this morning is how we can turn all these challenges into opportunities. We have opportunities to bring the world together. This is what we want. This is our vision. This is the ideal of the Olympic movement. We can also properly address the issue of climate change. This is what Paris has done. We also have the potential Olympic Esports Games, that’s also a way to interact with the younger generation. We can also reach a wider audience with digitalization.  

    MR JOHAN ELIASCH 

    TRACK RECORD: In a world of division and disruption, we need hope more than ever before. I’m standing because I believe that I have a proven track record and experience to deliver. I have successfully run large international corporations, led important commercial and political negotiations across business, sport, media and entertainment, foreign affairs, technology, and a lot of areas. I’ve been very active in climate action, preserving millions of acres of rainforest. In the last four years, I’ve led the transformation of the International Ski and Snowboard Federation. We oversee more than half of the medal events in the Olympic Winter Games. So I think that’s a perfect and perfect trip for the presidency. I know what it takes to lead and drive change. This is not a popularity contest. 

    RUSSIA’S RETURN TO THE OLYMPIC MOVEMENT: The individual, neutral athletes programme works very well. And I think it’s very important, because no athlete can choose where they were born. And the athletes must never be weaponized for political purposes. So I believe in this programme, and that we should make sure that also for Milano-Cortina, this is something that all the winter federations will adopt. 

    WHAT NEEDS TO CHANGE: Of course, we have to put the athletes front and centre. And we need to make sure that they have the best experience before, during, and after the Games. We have a very fast-changing landscape when it comes to digital, and we have to stay ahead of the curve here. We have a responsibility and a very strong voice when it comes to sustainability and this is an area which is very close to my heart, so this will certainly be at the forefront of my agenda. We also need to make sure that we uphold the magic of the Olympic Games. There is a lot of competition from other events and other sports and we need to make sure that we’re the best. 

    ENGAGING SPONSORS: Well, sponsorship is much more than just sticking your name to something. It’s about partnership. And this area is also changing very fast. Activations, people expect more here. We need to make sure that we deliver, that these partnerships are value-added for our sponsors. We have an incredible brand. But in today’s day and age, we also have to make sure that these partnerships are as attractive as possible. 

    BALANCING FUTURE OLYMPICS IN AFRICA, INDIA OR THE MIDDLE EAST WITH SUSTAINABILITY COMMITMENTS: Here, for instance, the proposed rotation scheme of the Winter Olympics is very important. We have infrastructure in place to deliver the events. We need to make sure that we find solutions with the IFs to make sure that the capacity of investment is kept up. So we don’t have to retrace what already exists in places where it’s not going to go. Now, with the Middle East, with Africa, with India, it is essential that we are very strong and committed to no carbon impact on anything that we do. 

    MR JUAN ANTONIO SAMARANCH  

    THE IOC: I understand our organization as two different parts. On one hand, we are an extraordinarily big, large and efficient NGO – we distribute most of the money we generate in our business through the International Federation, National Olympic Committees and the organizing committees to the base of the world’s sports pyramid. So this is an NGO. Second, we need a powerful business machine to generate the necessary revenues to feed the NGO. So I have thrown my hat in the ring because I have significant experience on both sides. I’ve more than 25 years of experience in critical roles throughout the Olympic movement, and I’ve more than 25 years of experience in critical roles with my own company in the finance industry. 

    EMPOWERING IOC MEMBERS We must empower the members and ensure governance led by members and not by a selected few. 

    CHANGES In the 12 years of President Bach, we had to deal with so many complications and so many threats and managed to get the organization to move and evolve at a rapid pace. But that rapid pace of change that we implemented is no way near what is coming. I think we have a very important base, a very solid base, from the past, but the recipes of yesterday will not make it in the future. 

    LEGACY OF HIS FATHER, HELP OR HINDRANCE: My father left office 25 years ago and, as his son, I appreciate his legacy very much. His example is always with me, but the recipes of today have nothing to do with a presidency that ended years ago. Bear in mind, he joined the Olympic Movement more than 60 years ago. 

    PRESENTATION: I felt very good in the room, because I have something interesting to say, something I am passionate about. And I was so happy to have the opportunity to share that with my fellow members. So, it’s for them to decide. But my presentation is clear. I have a very clear programme. My manifesto is very much action-based and it leaves very little room for future surprises. 

    BIDDING PROCESS FOR OLYMPIC GAMES HOSTS: I think that we need to produce not a more traditional, but a better, new model that is more aligned to the current times, that would include a final decision in a significant participation of all IOC members. 

    MEDIA: I told my fellow IOC members this, ‘let’s refocus our relationship with the media. They are not our enemies. They are our allies.’ You (the media) shape the opinion of the world on the Olympic Games. This I intend, if I become IOC President, to maintain and you can hold me accountable for that if I am there. 

    MRS KIRSTY COVENTRY 

    THE OLYMPIC DREAM: My journey started as a nine-year-old girl watching the 92 Barcelona Olympic Games and just setting myself a dream and then finally realizing that dream in Athens getting to stand on the podium and win my first Olympic medal. In Athens, I won three medals and finally in my last event got to win the gold even though Zimbabwe was in a difficult situation. But when I got home to Zimbabwe, it was a time of three or four days of peace, so I really got to see the power of sport. 

    TODAY’S NINE-YEAR-OLD: The nine-year-olds in today’s world are not watching a television screen, they’re holding a phone and that phone is going to be their starting point to connect with us through online streaming platforms, and it’s going to be our chance to engage with them and ensure that we’re inspiring them, and to take it even further, we’re going to be developing and promoting applications that are going to allow them to train anywhere and everywhere in the world. And this is the world that we live in today, and let’s embrace it and walk that road together. 

    SUPPORTING AFRICAN ATHLETES: We need to find more ways of directly impacting and getting revenue to athletes before they become Olympians. That is generally the toughest thing most athletes find. From my own journey it was easy to get sponsorship once I’d won a medal. But getting to that medal was tough. 

    BACKING FROM BACH?: I have known President Bach since I came into the IOC, and I think being a fellow athlete, we share a lot of commonalities, a lot of common ideas and philosophies. But in this race, he’s the President. He has a vote, but he doesn’t vote, he chooses not to vote, and I do very firmly believe that he is being very fair to all candidates.  

    BEING A MOTHER OF A SIX-MONTH OLD AND A CAREER WOMAN: First and foremost, I want to be the best candidate to win, not just because of my gender or from where I come from. And I believe I’ve got a lot of expertise to bring to this role, to leading the organisation. 

    IT TAKES A VILLAGE TO RAISE A CHILD: When I was stepping into my ministerial role seven years ago, I was pregnant with my first baby girl and had to quickly learn how to navigate and be a woman with a career as well as a mom and a wife and everything else. And it can be done. I’m very lucky to come from Africa because culturally we know and we firmly believe that it takes a village to raise a child. 

    PROTECTING WOMEN ATHLETES: As a female athlete, you want to be able to walk onto a level playing field always. It’s our job as the IOC to ensure that we are going to create that environment, and that we are going to not just create a level playing field, but we’re going to create an environment that allows for every athlete to feel safe. Along the road. We’re going to learn lessons, and we’re going to get stronger and we’re going to make better rules and regulations.  

    LORD SEBASTIAN COE 

    PRESENTATION: I enjoyed this morning’s process. I hope I was able to communicate my love for the movement. It’s something that I genuinely feel I’ve been training for for the best part of my life, or at least since the age of 11, when my father bought me my first pair of running shoes. I hope I was able to convey that, but I’m also hoping that I was able to convey the core pillars of my manifesto, my commitments and my pledges. 

    SUSTAINING IOC REVENUE: The world has changed and we do have to change with it – I’ve been in the sports marketing world for 30 years. Primarily we do need to adopt an audience first approach, which is in essence, to give them what they want, when they want it, and where they want it. Above all, for National Olympic Committees of all shapes and sizes, of some of the smaller International Federations, to enjoy that with a barrier-free physical and digital experience. 

    BIGGEST CHALLENGE FOR THE IOC: The biggest challenge faced by the International Olympic Committee is no different, and it is not unique from any National Olympic Committee, any sporting organization, any club, private or public. It is how do you continue to excite and engage with young people, and how do you utilize, optimize fully the use of cutting edge technology? And we talk a lot about technology, we actually run the risk of sounding a little bit analog, because I don’t think there’s anyone in this room that hasn’t recognized that the organizations they work in, they deliver services in, have gone through that digital transformation. But I do think that engaging, exciting and challenging tomorrow’s generation is going to be critical, because it’s that cohort that is ultimately going to be your future sponsors, your future thought leaders, your future governments, your future politicians. And we need to create amongst that group of people a lifelong bond for sport. So even if they don’t remain in sport as coaches, administrators, communicators, we at least have the opportunity for them to assume leadership roles wherever they are, and really fundamentally understand the nature of sport, and it is only that way that we will raise sport to the top of government agendas. Engaging with young people is the key to unlocking so many of the other interdependencies. 

    ELECTION RULES: I’ve been in politics for a long time. I’ve found it a fairly unproductive process to pick a fight with the returning officer in the process. The rules are the same for everybody. I do think we need to review them, and I’m sure that whoever succeeds in March will want to look at that amongst other things too. 

    MR MORINARI WATANABE 

    OLYMPIC GAMES IN FIVE CONTINENTS: I propose to stage the Olympic Games in five cities on five continents at the same time. It would allow the IOC to offer the best possible conditions for each sport, to reduce the financial burden on host cities, to offer greater potential for broadcast and commercial opportunities, sustainability with reduction of travel, and alleviate other hosting problems like governmental restrictions and war.  

    POTENTIAL OF SPORT: Paris 2024 was a historic success, thanks to all the athletes, thanks to the leadership of President Thomas Bach and thanks to the excellent work of the Paris Organizing Committee. However, I believe that we should not be satisfied and that we must build on the success of these Games. Because, in contrast to the spectacular Olympic Games, the situation of the NOCs is far from strong. As FIG President, I have visited 162 countries. I have seen with my own eyes the situation of our sport in each country. As a result I saw the reality. Economically, these countries are not wealthy. In many countries, their relations with the government are not good. The presence of sport in each country is not high enough. I used to be a gymnast myself. That’s why I believe sport has even greater potential. To unleash that potential I propose that the Games be held on all five continents at the same time. 

    WORLD SPORTS ORGANISATION: I also envision upgrading the IOC into a World Sports Organization, like the World Health Organization. If the IOC continues and expands its activities, it would remain independent of politics and uphold the barriers of democracy, transparency, and gender equality. As a World Sports Organization we must contribute to society. We must make a new business for sports. My vision is not focused on only the Olympic Games. We must see a wider view for sports. Sports can contribute to society. I believe the 21st century industrial revolution will be driven by sports and healthcare. So, which organization is best placed to lead this transformation globally? It is the IOC. 

    BICAMERALISM: I am proposing a two-chamber system; a House and a Senate because many IOC members have very good ideas, even non-IOC members. We must take these ideas and listen to these opinions to develop sports. We have to be open. There are many professionals, athletes, royalty, politicians, lawyers, bankers, and many others. If we work together, we can do anything. Let’s open the door to a new era. 

    MIL OSI Africa –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Four week firearms amnesty to take lethal convertible guns off the streets

    Source: United Kingdom London Metropolitan Police

    A firearms amnesty will get underway on Monday after new evidence emerged about the potentially lethal risk posed by a particular type of blank firing gun.

    The guns, known as ‘top-venting blank firers’ (TVBFs), are manufactured in Turkey. In their original form they pose little risk, but in recent years an increasing number have been converted and have been used in serious violence.

    Since 2021, more than 800 have been recovered in criminal circumstances across the UK.

    A converted TVBF was used in the fatal shooting of 20-year-old Sebastiaan James-Kraan in Ealing in June 2024.

    Three people charged in connection with Sebastiaan’s murder will stand trial in April.

    While no gun was ever recovered, forensic analysis indicates that a TVBF was also used in the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Tyler McDermott in Tottenham in April 2023.

    In June, four people were found guilty of Tyler’s murder.

    TVBFs can be handed in at police stations across London from Monday, 3 February until Friday, 28 February.

    This is part of a national amnesty taking place across the country over the same period.

    Detective Superintendent Tim Mustoe, from the Met’s Specialist Crime Command, said: “We are increasingly concerned about the risk posed by these weapons if they fall into the hands of criminals and those intent on causing serious violence on the streets of London.

    “We’ve already seen their lethal potential in at least two cases here in London. We know they’ve also been used in many other non-fatal incidents too.

    “The majority of top venting blank firers in circulation were bought lawfully by people with no ill intent. However we now know what can happen if they’re converted to do harm which is why it’s important that we recover as many as we can.

    “I would urge anyone who has one of these weapons at home to do the responsible thing and hand it in at a police station. They will not face police action for possession of the gun at the point of surrender if they do so during the amnesty, but if they choose not to do so now and are found to have one of these guns at a later date, then the consequences will be quite different.”

    TVBFs are legal to buy in the UK without a licence, unless they are readily convertible.

    Tests by the National Crime Agency and police forces show models produced by four Turkish manufacturers – Retay, Ekol, Ceonic and Blow – are readily convertible and are therefore illegal.

    Anyone found to be in possession of one, after the amnesty period, could face up to 10 years’ imprisonment.

    During the Amnesty period, those handing in a Turkish manufactured TVBF will not face prosecution for the illegal possession and will not have to give their details.

    However, the weapons will be examined to determine if they’ve previously been used in serious violence or other criminality.

    Assistant Chief Constable Tim Metcalfe, the National Police Chiefs’ Council Lead for the Criminal Use of Firearms, said: “The top-venting blank firers are used by criminals and can be converted into lethal firearms.

    “During the last two years, policing and the NCA have identified and disrupted several workshops used to convert these pistols into lethal weapons.

    “In the same period, large numbers of converted weapons were recovered across multiple locations, alongside thousands of rounds of blank calibre and modified ammunition.

    “One investigation recovered more than 400 converted weapons from a single crime group. There is a strong demand for them evidenced by the numbers imported and subsequent recovery from criminals.

    “Stopping the sale of these top-venting blank firers from being converted will go a significant way to help protect the public.”

    While TVBFs can be handed in at any police station during the amnesty, the Met is asking people to aim to go to one of these stations:

    • Edmonton
    • Chingford
    • Colindale
    • Wembley
    • Islington
    • Stoke Newington
    • Bethnal Green
    • Ilford
    • Lewisham
    • Bexleyheath
    • Croydon
    • Bromley
    • Kingston
    • Brixton
    • Acton
    • Charing Cross
    • Hammersmith

    Anyone intending to hand in a TVBF as part of the amnesty is encouraged to check the opening times of the relevant station on the Met Police website. To receive advice on how best to transport the weapon responsibly from home to the police station, phone 101 before travelling.

    If you know of people involved in illegal firearms activity, you should call the police on 101 or report the information to the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

    Every call to Crimestoppers is anonymous and potentially vital to preventing or solving serious crimes. Removing an illegally held firearm from circulation may just save someone’s life.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Guatemalan National Sentenced for Conspiracy and Illegal Reentry

    Source: Office of United States Attorneys

    PROVIDENCE –  A twice-deported Guatemalan national, described in court documents as being “the most consistent member” of an organized group of individuals that repeatedly stole high-end construction equipment, building supplies, and clothing from national retailer’s stores has been sentenced to 30 months in federal prison, after which he will be deported, having been convicted on charges of conspiracy to commit interstate transportation of stolen property and illegal re-entry into the United States, announced United States Attorney Zachary A. Cunha.

    As described in court proceedings, Marvin Estuardo Morales De Paz, 30, of Cranston, was one of as many as a dozen members of a Rhode Island-based conspiracy of individuals who traveled to home improvement and clothing stores in at least five states to commit thefts, then transported the stolen merchandise to Rhode Island to sell. Morales was present for nearly every theft and set prices for, and directed sales of, the stolen items.

    According to information presented to the court, the ring was involved in at least 35 documented thefts in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. It is estimated that members of the conspiracy stole more than $280,000 worth of merchandise. Tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of stolen goods was recovered from Morales’s residence when he was arrested on April 11, 2024.

    Morales was sentenced today by U.S. District Court Senior Judge William E. Smith to 30 months of incarceration to be followed by one year of supervised release. Morales will be turned over to ICE and faces deportation upon completion of his term of incarceration.

    The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney John P. McAdams.

    The matter was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations agents in Providence, with the assistance of HSI agents in Boston, and Allentown, Pennsylvania, and the Providence, Coventry, Warwick, Smithfield, and Johnston, RI Police Departments; Boston, Norwood, Bellingham, Marlboro, Seekonk, Avon, Auburn, MA Police Departments; Montville and Fairfield, CT Police Departments; and the Parkesburg, Downingtown, Lebanon, Wyomissing, and Reading, PA, Police Departments; Nashua, NH Police Department; and Marlboro, NJ Police Department.

    ###

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Economics: ICC announces new editorial board for Dispute Resolution Bulletin

    Source: International Chamber of Commerce

    Headline: ICC announces new editorial board for Dispute Resolution Bulletin

    The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) has appointed new co-editors-in-chief and editorial board members of the ICC Dispute Resolution Bulletin. The Bulletin is ICC’s flagship, triannual journal focused on arbitration and other methods of dispute resolution. Editorial board members are highly-regarded dispute resolution practitioners from around the world, with diverse backgrounds. With their involvement, the Bulletin will remain one of the most essential go-to resources on dispute prevention and resolution.

    Since the first edition in 1990, the Bulletin has been at the forefront of providing up-to-date developments in international arbitration and commentaries on ICC dispute resolution and arbitral awards. The Bulletin offers legal updates, expert insights and studies, best practices and analysis of ICC awards. It also reports on ICC events and trainings, and features book reviews for dispute resolution practitioners.

    Claudia Salomon, President of the ICC International Court of Arbitration, said:

    “In line with the ICC Court pledge to drive thought leadership, the new co-editors in chief and editorial board members will ensure that the Bulletin continues to generate innovative ideas, and build capacity, offering readers a greater understanding of the arbitration and ADR process.”

    Alexander G. Fessas, Director of ICC Dispute Resolution Services and Secretary General of the ICC Court, said:

    “As the leading institution in dispute resolution, ICC plays a critical role in promoting access to justice and the rule of law. The Bulletin serves as a vital platform for analysis and debate, fostering the safeguard of the legitimacy of arbitration and ADR, and maximising the potential of all in the legal and business communities. We are confident that, with the new editorial board, the Bulletin’s relevance and reach will continue to grow exponentially.”

    The Bulletin’s gender-balanced editorial board comprises 20 members based in Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and the United States.

    The Bulletin is led by two co-editors-in-chief: Rafael Rincón, a partner at Rincón Castro Abogados in Colombia, and Sara Nadeau Seguin, a partner at Teynier Pic in France. Both were members of the board during the previous mandate. They succeed Julien Fouret and Yasmine Lahlou, who were appointed as members of the ICC Court in July 2024.

    The 2025-2027 ICC Bulletin editorial board members are:

    • Sara Nadeau Seguin, Co-Editor in Chief, Partner, Teynier Pic, France
    • Rafael Rincón, Co-Editor in Chief, Partner, Rincón Castro Abogados, Colombia
    • Aysha Abdulla Mutaywea, Partner, MENA Chambers, Bahrain
    • Marie-Isabelle Delleur, Counsel, Clifford Chance, Brazil
    • *Farouk El-Hosseny, Senior Associate, Three Crowns, United Kingdom
    • *Ahmed Habib, Senior Associate, DWF, Qatar
    • *Imad Khan, Partner, Winston & Strawn, United States of America (Houston)
    • Monserrat Manzano, Partner, Von Wobeser, Mexico
    • Alexandre Mazuranic, Partner, BMG Avocats, Switzerland
    • *Damien Nyer, Partner, White & Case, United States of America (New York)
    • *Olena Perepelynska, Partner and Head of International Arbitration, Integrites, Ukraine
    • *Sulabh Rewari, Partner, Keystone, India
    • *Michele Sabatini, Partner, Arblit, Italy
    • Mikaël Schinazi, Associate, Jones Day, France
    • Anna Secomb, Arbitrator, Singapore
    • *Leyou Tameru, Founder, I-Arb Africa, Ethiopia
    • Mireille Taok, International Arbitrator, Lawyer, and University Lecturer, United Arab Emirates
    • Monty Taylor, Barrister, Tenth Floor Chambers, Australia
    • Sylvia Tee, Partner, Ashurst, China
    • *Angeline Welsh, Barrister, Essex Chambers, United Kingdom

    * Member during the previous mandate, which is renewable once.

    The Bulletin is published three times a year with the next edition due in March 2025. The latest edition of the ICC Dispute Resolution Bulletin is freely available for download in the ICC Dispute Resolution Library.

    MIL OSI Economics –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: Gazans depend on us for ‘sheer survival’ insists UNRWA

    Source: United Nations 4

    Peace and Security

    The largest UN agency in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, UNRWA, said on Friday that its staff are still providing aid to the people of Gaza and the West Bank including East Jerusalem who depend on them “for their sheer survival”, a day after the Israeli parliament ban on its activities entered into force.

    The development came as more than 462,000 people are estimated to have crossed from south Gaza to the north since the opening of the Salah ad Din and Al Rashid roads on Monday.

    The UN and humanitarian partners are assisting those on the move by providing water, high-energy biscuits and medical care along these two routes.

    Once back in the north, UN aid workers have reported seeing Gazans using shovels to remove rubble and setting up makeshift shelters or tents where their homes used to be.

    Impending catastrophe

    Any disruption to UNRWA’s work will have “catastrophic consequences on the lives and futures of Palestine refugees”, insisted Juliette Touma, Director of Communications for the UN Relief and Works Agency, pointing to the agency’s massive reach into the communities where it has provided free healthcare and education for decades.

    Last October, the Israeli parliament – the Knesset – passed two laws that called for ending UNRWA’s operations in its territory and prohibiting Israeli authorities from having any contact with the agency.

    Soundcloud

    That developed followed Israeli accusations that UNRWA workers were involved in the 7 October attacks that sparked the war in Gaza. Nine staff were sacked after an internal UN investigation for possible involvement.

    Under the Knesset ban, UNRWA was ordered to vacate all premises in occupied East Jerusalem and cease operations in them by 30 January.

    “Our teams continue to serve, even though they themselves in Gaza as an example, they themselves are impacted, they themselves have been forced to flee their homes,” Ms. Touma explained.

    “They continue to serve and we are committed as UNRWA to stay and deliver across the Occupied Palestinian Territory. That includes the Gaza Strip, it includes the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem.”

    She noted that no official communication has been received from the Israeli authorities on how the Knesset ban will be implemented across the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

    No alternative

    “In the absence of any durable solution, Palestine refugees will continue to depend on UNRWA for basic services including health and education; and in Gaza, in the aftermath of the devastation caused by the war, for their sheer survival,” Ms. Touma maintained.

    She noted that UNRWA’s health centres continued to receive patients in East Jerusalem in the West Bank on Thursday, while schools were expecting to reopen on Sunday after a scheduled break.

    “Our teams…will continue to provide learning for children. We have around 50,000 boys and girls across the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, who go to UNRWA’s schools,” Ms. Touma said.

    Aid boost continues

    As the UN-wide effort to flood Gaza with aid continues, the World Food Programme (WFP) announced plans to set up more aid distribution points this week in the north, where all of its bakeries are now running once again.

    The UN agency reported that together with UNRWA it has resumed “fully-fledged” food parcel distribution and reached 350,000 people since the ceasefire took effect on 19 January.

    Some 20,000 hot meals are also being distributed daily in Beit Lahia, in the far north, said Antoine Renard, WFP’s Country Director in Palestine, who underscored the need for non-food supplies – so-called dual use items – to be allowed into the war-shattered enclave also.

    Medical emergency

    Echoing that message, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) said that only 18 of Gaza’s 36 hospitals are even partly functional, with just one-third – 57 of the 142 primary healthcare centres and 11 field hospitals – also partly functional.

    “The ceasefire is good news for our scale up of aid,” said  Dr Rik Peeperkorn, WHO representative in OPT. “As we know, the influx in the north has increased health needs. So 450,000 people have crossed into northern Gaza [and] there’s only there 10 partially functional hospitals in Gaza City and one minimally functional hospital in north Gaza.”

    Amid reports that 2,500 children at risk of imminent death in Gaza need immediate medical evacuation, Dr Peeperkorn said that between 12,000 and 14,000 people need specialized care outside the enclave.

    “So, what we have been asking for all the time…is first and foremost a restoration of the referrals, the traditional referral pathway to West Bank and East Jerusalem. The East Jerusalem hospitals and the West Bank hospitals are ready to receive Gazan and Palestinian critical patients,” he said.

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI: UFarm.Digital Secures $500,000 Early Seed Funding to Expand Digital Asset Management Solutions Limassol, Cyprus Jan 31, 2025 (Elite)

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    Limassol, Cyprus, Jan. 31, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — UFarm.Digital, a decentralized finance asset management platform, has secured $500,000 in its early seed funding round. This milestone will support the company’s efforts to expand its platform capabilities, strengthen its market presence, and accelerate strategic development initiatives.

    The funding will enable UFarm.Digital to implement key enhancements, including new features designed to improve user experience and bolster security measures. Planned developments include cross-chain integrations, the addition of new DeFi protocols, and an advanced asset management solution tailored for hedge funds. A portion of the funds will also be allocated to marketing efforts and community engagement to increase the platform’s visibility and reach

    As part of its ongoing development, UFarm.Digital has made significant progress by launching its platform on the Arbitrum network. This strategic move enables the platform to leverage Arbitrum’s scalability and low transaction costs, providing users with faster, more efficient operations. At launch, UFarm.Digital offers a range of investment pools designed to cater to varying risk appetites and strategies, delivering flexibility to both institutional and private investors.

    The platform offers non-custodial security, allowing investors to maintain full control over their funds and significantly reducing risks associated with traditional asset management. It emphasizes seamless integration with DeFi protocols, simplifying asset management while maintaining high security standards. Users have access to top-tier asset managers, who are vetted through a comprehensive, independent rating system that ensures transparency and reliability. The fee management process is secure and straightforward, making it easier to handle success and management fees charged by asset managers. The platform’s smart contracts have undergone rigorous audits by Decurity, with further audits by Hexens planned to uphold ongoing security.

    “Our platform is designed to empower investors by combining robust security measures with a seamless user experience,” said Olga Tiagunova, CEO of UFarm.Digital. “These investments allow us to accelerate the implementation of new features and solutions in our product, enhancing the capabilities of our asset managers while reinforcing the security of our platform.”

    These planned features include a privacy-focused private layer, cross-chain support, and enhanced security infrastructure capable of detecting suspicious activities within the protocol to strengthen asset protection and further enhance overall security. Additionally, zero-knowledge proof (ZKP) technology for KYC verification is part of the company’s roadmap, aimed at maintaining regulatory compliance while safeguarding user privacy.

    As UFarm.Digital welcomes its first institutional clients, the team is dedicated to expanding its services and continuing to innovate. Future developments include enhanced reporting tools and the rollout of a bug bounty program to further ensure platform integrity. The company’s user-first approach and focus on transparency position it as a trusted partner for investors navigating the decentralized finance landscape.

    About UFarm.Digital

    UFarm.Digital is a decentralized finance platform dedicated to simplifying digital asset management for institutional and private investors. The platform provides robust features such as private and public investment pools, customizable fees, secure cross-chain integration, and specialized solutions for hedge funds. In addition, it offers enhanced tools for data-driven performance tracking, operational transparency, and support for future interoperability across multiple blockchain networks. By fostering innovation and maintaining a user-centric focus, UFarm.Digital aims to reshape the digital asset management landscape and become a trusted partner for investors worldwide.

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI Global: How Trump’s suggestion to ‘clean out’ Gaza sent shockwaves through the Middle East

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Sam Phelps, Commissioning Editor, International Affairs

    This article was first published as World Affairs Briefing from The Conversation UK. Click here to receive this newsletter every Thursday, direct to your inbox.

    Hundreds of thousands of civilians returned to the northern Gaza Strip this week after checkpoints were reopened in line with the ceasefire agreement. Many will have found their homes destroyed after months of heavy fighting and bombardment – something the new US president, Donald Trump, has pointed out.

    In an exchange with reporters last weekend, Trump said: “I’m looking at the whole Gaza Strip right now and it’s a mess, it’s a real mess.” He then went on to suggest Palestinians there should be “evacuated” to Egypt and Jordan where “they could maybe live in peace for a change”. “You’re talking about a million and a half people … we just clean out that whole thing,” he continued.

    Trump is seemingly no stranger to airing whatever thoughts come into his head. At his inauguration he claimed – without providing evidence – that “China is operating the Panama canal”. And he has since called Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine “ridiculous”. But even by these standards, his suggestion to evict Gazans from their land is brash to say the least.

    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.

    As Karin Aggestam of Lund University reports, Trump’s proposal has been met with disbelief across the Middle East. It has been widely criticised throughout the region as a potential “second Nakba” – referring to the displacement of Palestinians after Israel’s unilateral declaration of statehood in 1948.



    Read more:
    Donald Trump’s suggestion of ‘clearing out’ Gaza adds another risk to an already fragile ceasefire

    The proposal has also been rejected outright by Egypt and Jordan. Egypt’s ministry of foreign affairs released a statement on Sunday objecting to any forced displacement of Palestinians. And Jordan’s minister of foreign affairs, Ayman Safadi, said his country was committed to “ensuring that Palestinians remain on their land”. The Arab League regional bloc has accused Trump of advocating ethnic cleansing.

    Aggestam says it’s not yet certain if moving Palestinians out of Gaza will become an official US policy position, or whether it is yet another example of Trump speaking his mind. But, in her view, Trump’s latest pronouncement will further complicate the already fragile ceasefire.

    The idea of relocating Palestinians to other countries has thrilled Israel’s extreme ultra-nationalist parties. The Israeli finance minister and leader of the Religious Zionist party, Bezalel Smotrich, and the former national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, have both previously encouraged the return of Israeli settlers to the Gaza Strip.

    Ben Gvir, who recently resigned from his ministerial position in protest at the Gaza ceasefire, asserted in October that “encouraging emigration” of Palestinian residents of Gaza would be the “most ethical” solution to the conflict.

    According to Leonie Fleischmann of City, University of London, the pair share an anti-Arab ideology and a messianic belief in the Jewish people’s right to what they call “Greater Israel”. This refers to a Jewish state that would also include the West Bank, which they referred to as “Judea and Samaria”, as well as Gaza and part of Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Saudi Arabia.

    As Fleischmann explains, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip were the sites of many key events in biblical times and were the home of a number of Israelite kingdoms. In the Bible, God even promises this land to the descendants of Abraham – the Jewish people. This, Fleischmann writes, is the reason behind Smotrich and Ben Gvir’s belief that the Jewish people have the God-given right to settle the whole of Greater Israel.



    Read more:
    The growing influence of Israel’s ultranationalist settler movement

    This is not a position held by the majority of Israelis. But Israel’s ultra-nationalists wield considerable political power, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government dependent on their support to remain in power. Indeed, days after Trump suggested clearing out Gaza, Smotrich spoke of turning it into an actionable policy.

    Speaking with reporters on Monday, he said: “There is nothing to be excited about the weak opposition of Egypt and Jordan to the plan. We saw yesterday how Trump [imposed his will on] Colombia to deport immigrants despite its opposition. When he wants it, it happens.”

    The events Smotrich was referring to in Colombia were certainly extraordinary. Outraged at the repatriation of Colombian migrants in military planes, Colombian president Gustavo Petro refused to allow the flights to land.

    Trump immediately vowed tariffs on Colombian goods and sanctions on government officials, which drew a furious social media response out of Petro and the start of a (very brief) trade war. But within a few hours, Petro had backed down and Colombia announced it would start receiving migrants, including on US military aircraft.

    The White House hailed the agreement as a victory for Trump’s hardline immigration strategy. However, according to Amalendu Misra of Lancaster University, Trump’s punishing tariff threats and foul rhetoric toward illegal immigrants may only damage the power and position of the US in the region.

    His willingness to wage a trade war with countries in Latin America could encourage others to speed up their search for alternative trade partners. And, worse still, he may even push them towards closer relations with governments and ideologies that are inimical to US interests, writes Misra.



    Read more:
    Trump’s method for repatriating migrants risks undermining US interests in Latin America

    Choppy waters ahead

    Back in the Middle East, the ceasefire in Gaza has offered the region a break from war. This has included a pledge by Houthi militants in Yemen not to attack commercial ships travelling through the Red Sea.

    These attacks have halved the number of ships passing through the Suez Canal, a crucial route for goods moving between Asia and Europe, with many diverting around the southern tip of Africa.

    This route adds thousands of miles to the journey, so supply chains have had to deal with higher shipping costs, product delivery delays and increased carbon emissions. In the view of Gokcay Balci, a logistics expert at Leeds University, this disruption is likely to continue.

    The situation in the Red Sea remains unpredictable, he writes. The leader of the Houthis, Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, said on Monday that the group was “ready to return to escalation again alongside our brothers, the fighters in Palestine”, and warned: “We have our finger on the trigger.” Shipping companies have, unsurprisingly, announced that they will continue to prioritise alternative routes.

    The Houthis seem unconvinced that the ceasefire in Gaza will hold. But, at least for now, it is providing civilians with some much-needed respite after more than a year of relentless violence.



    Read more:
    Red Sea crisis: supply chain issues set to continue despite Gaza ceasefire

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

    – ref. How Trump’s suggestion to ‘clean out’ Gaza sent shockwaves through the Middle East – https://theconversation.com/how-trumps-suggestion-to-clean-out-gaza-sent-shockwaves-through-the-middle-east-248461

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-Evening Report: As Donald Trump plays God in Gaza, Israel acts like spoiled brat

    The Gaza ceasefire deal proves that Israeli politics can only survive if it’s engaged in perpetual war.

    US President Donald Trump has unsettled Arab leaders with his obscene suggestion that Egypt and Jordan absorb Palestinians from Gaza.

    Both Egypt and Jordan have stated that this is a non-starter and will not happen.

    Israeli extremists have welcomed Trump’s comments with the hope that the forced expulsion of Palestinians would pave the way for Jewish settlements in Gaza.

    But the truth is that Israeli leaders likely feel deceived by Trump more than anything else. Benjamin Netanyahu and most of Israeli society were once clamouring for Donald Trump.

    All that has changed since President Trump sent his top Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff to Israel in which Witkoff reportedly lambasted Benjamin Netanyahu and forced him to accept a ceasefire agreement.

    Since then, Israeli leaders and Israeli society, are seemingly taken aback by Trump’s more restrained approach toward the Middle East and desire for a ceasefire.

    While the current ceasefire in place is a precarious endeavour at best, Israeli reactions to the cessation of hostilities highlight a profound point: not only did Netanyahu misread Trump’s intentions, but the entire Israeli political system itself seemingly only thrives during conflict in which the US provides it with unfettered military and diplomatic support.

    Geostrategic calculus
    Firstly, Israel believed that Trump’s second term would likely be a continuation of his first — where the US based its geostrategic calculus in the Middle East around Israel’s interests. This gave Israeli leaders the impression that Trump would give them the green light to attack Iran, resettle and starve Gaza, and formally annex the West Bank.

    However, Benjamin Netanyahu and his extremist ilk failed to take into consideration that Trump likely views blanket Israeli interests as liabilities to both the United States and Trump’s vision for the Middle East.

    Trump blessing an Israel-Iran showdown seems to be off the table. Trump himself stated this and is backing up his words by appointing Washington-based analyst Mike DiMino as a top Department of Defence advisor.

    DiMino, a former fellow at the non-interventionist think tank Defense Priorities, is against war with Iran and has been highly critical of US involvement in the Middle East. Steve Witkoff will also be leading negotiations with Iran.

    The appointment of DiMino and Witkoff has enraged the Washington neoconservative establishment and is a signal to Tel Aviv that Trump will not capitulate to Israel’s hawkish ambitions.

    The Trump effect
     As it pertains to his vision for the Middle East, Trump has been adamant about expanding the Abraham Accords, deepening US military ties with Saudi Arabia, and possibly pioneering Saudi-Israeli “normalisation”.

    The Saudi government has condemned Israel’s actions in Gaza, calling it a genocide and also made it clear that they will not normalise relations with Israel without the creation of a Palestinian state.

    While there is an explicit pro-Israel angle to all these components, none of Trump’s objectives for the Middle East would be feasible if the genocide in Gaza continued or if the US allowed Israel to formally annex the occupied West Bank, something Trump stopped during his first term.

    It is unlikely that a Palestinian state will arise under Trump’s administration; however, Trump has been in contact with Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas.

    Trump’s Middle East Adviser Massad Boulos has also facilitated talks between Abbas and Trump. Steve Witkoff has also met with PA official Hussein al-Sheikh in Saudi Arabia to discuss where the PA fits into a post-October 7 Gaza and a possible pathway to a Palestinian state.

    Witkoff’s willingness to meet with PA, along with the quiet yet growing relationship between Trump and Abbas, was likely something Netanyahu did not anticipate and may have also factored into Netanyahu’s acquiescence in Gaza.

    Of equal importance, the Gaza ceasefire deal proves that Israeli politics can only survive if it’s engaged in perpetual war.

    Brutal occupation
    This is evidenced by its brutal occupation of the Palestinians, destroying Gaza, and attacking its neighbours in Syria and Lebanon. Now that Israel is forced to stop its genocide in Gaza, at least for the time being, fissures within the Israeli government are already growing.

    Jewish extremist Itamar Ben Gvir resigned from Netanyahu’s coalition due to the ceasefire after serving as Israel’s national security minister. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich also threatened to leave if a ceasefire was enacted.

    Such dynamics within the Israeli government and its necessity for conflict are only possible because the US allows it to happen.

    In providing Israel with unfettered military and diplomatic support, the US allows Israel to torment the Palestinian people. Now that Israel cannot punish Gaza, it has shifted their focus to the West Bank.

    Since the ceasefire’s implementation, the Israeli army has engaged in deadly raids in the Jenin refugee camp which had displaced over 2000 Palestinians. The Israeli army has also imposed a complete siege on the West Bank, shutting down checkpoints to severely restrict the movement of Palestinians.

    All of Israel’s genocidal practices are a direct result of the impunity granted to them by the Biden administration; who willingly refused to impose any consequences for Israel’s blatant violation of US law.

    Joe Biden could have enforced either the Leahy Law or Section 620 I of the Foreign Assistance Act at any time, which would ban weapons from flowing to Israel due to their impediment of humanitarian aid into Gaza and use of US weapons to facilitate grave human rights abuses in Gaza.

    Instead, he chose to undermine US laws to ensure that Israel had everything it facilitate their mass slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza.

    The United States has always held all the cards when it comes to Israel’s hawkish political composition. Israel was simply the executioner of the US’s devastating policies towards Gaza and the broader Palestinian national movement.

    Abdelhalim Abdelrahman is a freelance Palestinian journalist. His work has appeared in The New Arab, The Hill, MSN, and La Razon. Tis article was first published by The New Arab and is republished under Creative Commons.

    Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: ASIA/SYRIA – Syrian Catholic Archbishop of Homs: The new era is full of mysteries

    Source: Agenzia Fides – MIL OSI

    Friday, 31 January 2025

    by Gianni ValenteHoms (Agenzia Fides) – “A new era has begun for Syria. And it is a difficult time again,” said Archbishop Jacques Mourad. The monk of the Deir Mar Musa community, spiritual son of Father Paolo Dall’Oglio, was held hostage for months by jihadists of the Islamic State in 2015. Perhaps this experience made his Christian vision even clearer. And today, as Syrian Catholic Archbishop of Homs, what he sees and hears about the new suffering in Syria does not correspond to the dominant narrative in the media, especially in the West, which reports on a “regime change”, a successful and peaceful regime change with new Islamist leaders seeking international recognition after more than 50 years of the Assad clan ruling the country.The dominant media coverage, for example, fails to mention the widespread violence and fear that once again overshadows the days of a large part of the Syrian population. A violence that – as Jacques Mourad admits – “seems to be a trap that all those who come to power here fall into”.In recent weeks – the Syrian Catholic Archbishop of Homs told Fides – people have disappeared, prisons are filling up “and we do not know who is still alive and who is dead”. Those accused of having colluded with the collapsed regime are being tortured in public. And he also reports “several cases of young Christians being threatened and tortured in the streets in front of everyone, in order to instill fear and force them to renounce their faith and become Muslims”. Crimes that are taking place far from Damascus.Things are not going well and Father Mourad feels that “nobody can do anything” to get out of this new period of fear and revenge. “I try to encourage people, to console them, to ask for patience and to look for solutions,” said Archbishop Jacques Mourad. “During the Christmas period, I visited our 12 parishes and also went to the villages to encourage them, to keep hope together. There were beautiful meetings with different groups. But when the violence increases, our words and our calls for patience will no longer convince them.”Meanwhile, Cardinal Claudio Gugerotti, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Oriental Churches, visited Syria in recent days as the Pope’s envoy to testify to the closeness of the Successor of Peter to the Christian communities who are experiencing this moment of the tormented Syrian affair with an additional burden of worries, compared to those suffered by other Syrians.”The previous regime,” explains Archbishop Mourad, “presented itself as the defender of Christians. They always said: if we leave, the fanatics will return. Now many priests are pessimistic about the future. My answer is always the same: the situation is definitely incomparable to that of the past, when there were unimaginable crimes. But since the new violence, there are also those who say: ‘You saw that what Bashar al Assad said is true.’ The result is that many Christians now, more than ever, see no other way than to emigrate. To leave Syria. And it is difficult for us to say that we must not lose hope. We try, but people do not believe what we say. What they experience and what they see are too different.”In the churches, since the fall of the Assad regime, in many ways everything seems to continue as before: services, processions, prayers and works of charity. The new rulers have not issued any compulsory regulations that in any way affect the everyday life of the church. The recognized leader Ahmad Sharaa, also known as Abu Muhammad Dscholani, leader of the armed jihadist group “Hayat Tahrir al Sham”, who declared himself “interim president” of Syria on January 29, met with Father Ibrahim Faltas and the Franciscans at the end of 2024 and found words of praise for Pope Francis, stressing that the Christians who emigrated during and after the civil war should return to Syria. The violence suffered by the young Christians took the form of attacks on individuals. “But,” says Jacques Mourad, “when the confiscation of weapons began, the Christian and Alawite soldiers were disarmed. Nobody took the weapons away from the Sunnis.” “And the reality,” he adds, “is that there is no government. There are different armed groups. Some are fanatics, others are not. And each has its own power and imposes its own rule in the areas it controls. And they have many weapons, having also acquired those of the old regime”. Like other bishops, Archbishop Mourad met with representatives of the new forces. He heard reassuring words, but then things did not change.Jacques Mourad says he does not know how things can go on. In the meantime, he himself is moving on.”We continue our life as parishes and as a diocese, day after day,” he says. Since April last year, the Archbishop has been responsible for catechism in all of Syria. Even then, the situation was serious: no work, society and Christian communities still torn apart by the consequences of the war. “I thought the most important thing was to start again with the children. You can only start again with children and young people after the war has somehow wiped out everything. And together with them you have to start again with the essential, original things,” the Archbishop continued.The regional church committees were re-established to work together on the training of catechists, because “many who had experience had left. Now there are young people who are enthusiastic, but who still need to make a spiritual journey and a catechetical and biblical formation”. The dioceses, the Jesuits and the Bible Society have joined forces “to set out together. We thank the Lord because so many young people show such desire, such courage and such generosity”. The same goes for the liturgies and the resumption of pilgrimages to Mar Musa and to all the other monasteries, “to revive the memory, in this situation of poverty and suffering, which is still very serious. And to see if something is reborn, like a new sprout”. (Agenzia Fides, 31/1/2025)
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  • MIL-OSI United Nations: Income-generating activities serving local communities of Lopé and Ivindo

    Source: United Nations

    In the framework of the project “Creating a Sustainable Heritage Ecosystem for Socio-Economic Development in Africa”, UNESCO supports local communities around two World Heritage sites in Gabon to develop a sustainable project that highlights heritage and ecotourism.

    Between 11 and 15 December 2024, UNESCO conducted a consultation mission with local communities living in and around Gabon’s two World Heritage properties: the Ecosystem and Relict Cultural Landscape of Lopé-Okanda and Ivindo National Park. This initiative is part of UNESCO’s project titled “Creating a Sustainable Heritage Ecosystem for Socio-Economic Development in Africa,” funded by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The project aims to integrate heritage preservation into sustainable development strategies, focusing on entrepreneurship, ecotourism, and digital technology. 

    As part of its commitment to sustainable socio-economic development, UNESCO has launched several pilot projects to promote entrepreneurship centred on ecotourism and the interpretation of World Heritage. These initiatives primarily target young people and women, addressing themes such as new information and communication technologies (ICT), the heritage economy, income-generating activities (IGAs), and innovation. The two World Heritage sites, known for their Outstanding Universal Value, are central to consultations aimed at developing tailored solutions to meet the needs of local communities.

    Consultations in Libreville : a multisectoral dialogue

    Multi-sectoral consultation in Libreville with key stakeholders in the development of the project © UNESCO /Jean Eude Ngouadono

    Ahead of the community consultations at the two World Heritage sites, a consultative meeting was organised by the Ministry of Culture in Libreville on 10 December 2024 with UNESCO. This event also brought together public and private institutions, including the National Museum, École 241 (a digital and leadership training centre), the National Agency for National Parks (ANPN), Espace PME (a Ministry of Commerce body supporting small and medium enterprises), the Gabon Digital Incubation Society (SING), and representatives from the culture, tourism, crafts, and social economy sectors.

    These discussions explored concrete opportunities around new technologies and the heritage economy, laying the groundwork for effective collaboration.

    A shared goal: leveraging heritage for inclusive development

    Moment de consultation auprès des habitants du Parc national de la Lopé. © UNESCO Libreville / Jean Eude NGOUADONO

    During this consultation mission, the UNESCO delegation, accompanied by the ANPN team, visited several villages surrounding, notably consultations took place in the villages of Ebyeng, Ntiété, and within Lopé-Okanda National Park. The visit highlighted challenges faced by local communities, including abandoned villages and damaged infrastructure. These once-thriving areas reflect the significant difficulties encountered by local populations in the face of recurring issues. The visit underscored the urgency of finding sustainable solutions to address these challenges. These observations will guide the development of projects that consider the complex realities on the ground. Discussions focused on community projects related to sustainable tourism, agriculture, fishing, and craft as means of favoring sustainable livelihoods and socio-economic development.

    Building a sustainable future with local communities, youth, and women as change-makers

    UNESCO places local communities, especially young people and women, at the centre of sustainable solutions. These actors play a key role in heritage preservation and the development of innovative economic initiatives essential for their empowerment and the prosperity of their regions.

    This mission represents a critical stage in designing a project that combines heritage preservation, sustainable development, and social inclusion. It illustrates UNESCO and its partners’ firm commitment to valuing Gabon’s rich natural and cultural heritage while addressing the aspirations and needs of local communities

    The projects will include income-generating activities and aim to strengthen local capacities. The goal is to make heritage a driver of inclusive and sustainable development, where local communities are not just beneficiaries but also initiators and agents of change.

    In this perspective, UNESCO will develop an implementation schedule and roll out a series of activities throughout 2025.

    With the support of

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: Answer to a written question – Protection of borrowers’ personal data and the need for non-performing loan management companies to comply with Directive 2021/2167 – E-002566/2024(ASW)

    Source: European Parliament

    Directive (EU) 2021/2167 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 November 2021 on credit servicers and credit purchasers[1] (‘the NPLD’), amending Directives 2008/48/EC[2] and 2014/17/EU[3], had to be transposed by 29 December 2023 by Member States. It introduces requirements protective of the borrower in the context of debt purchasing and debt servicing in the EU.

    Regarding the protection of borrowers’ personal data, Article 10(1)(c) of the NPLD states that, in their relationships with borrowers, credit purchasers and credit servicers respect and protect the personal information and privacy of borrowers.

    The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)[4] lays down the rules to ensure the protection of personal data. Without prejudice to the competences of the Commission as guardian of the Treaties, the enforcement of the GDPR in individual cases lies with the competent national authorities and courts.

    In this context, Cyprus received a letter of formal notice in January 2024, and a reasoned opinion in July 2024, requiring the communication to the Commission of transposition measures of the NPLD.

    The Cypriot authorities have notified in November complete transposition of the NPLD. the status of this procedure can be followed under the following website (with the following infringement procedure reference INFR(2024)0018)[5], which is currently being assessed by the Commission to ensure its completeness and conformity. These do not apply to NPL transferred prior to 30 December 2023[6].

    For credit agreements transferred after this date to companies operating without a license, the NPLD requires Member States to provide national supervisory authorities with the power to act.

    • [1]  OJ L 438, 8.12.2021, p. 1-37.
    • [2]  OJ L 133, 22.5.2008, p. 66-92.
    • [3]  OJ L 60, 28.2.2014, p. 34-85.
    • [4] Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (General Data Protection Regulation), OJ L 119, 4.5.2016, p. 1-88.
    • [5] https://ec.europa.eu/atwork/applying-eu-law/infringements-proceedings/infringement_decisions/?lang_code=en
    • [6] Article 2(5)(d) of the NPLD.
    Last updated: 31 January 2025

    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: UK fire engines chosen to modernise Iraq fleet

    Source: United Kingdom – Government Statements

    Iraq’s Ministry of Interior to purchase over 60 British-made vehicles.

    • Exports minister announces that key UK export deal will help Iraq fight fires.

    • UK will provide vital support to Iraq through the provision of fire engines, with biggest overhaul of Iraqi fleet this century being financed by a UK Export Finance loan.

    • Independent businesses in Yorkshire and Ayrshire are to supply these vehicles for use across Iraq.

    Two British businesses are delivering one of Iraq’s biggest-ever investments into its emergency services thanks to a c. $31 million loan from UK Export Finance (UKEF), the government’s export credit agency.

    The loan allows Iraq’s Ministry of Interior to purchase 62 British-made fire-fighting vehicles each capable of carrying up to 6,500 litres of water and 500 litres of foam.

    Promoting investment into local businesses and employers, the partnership supports this government’s Plan for Change to boost economic growth across all regions.

    Ayrshire-headquartered Emergency One and Batley-based Angloco have been selected to supply vehicles for Iraq’s Civil Defence Directorate.

    Emergency One, the UK’s leading manufacturer of fire and rescue vehicles, supplies over 90% of the UK’s fire and rescue services and continues to grow its international presence. Angloco, a well-established SME, exports to over 70 countries worldwide. Both companies bring significant expertise and innovation to this contract, further strengthening their impact in the Gulf region.

    Frequent outbreak of fires in Iraq, particularly during the summer months, can cause devastating effect to businesses, communities, and key infrastructure.

    By helping buyers to purchase UK exports more easily, UKEF loans secure large contracts with favourable payment terms for British businesses – including small businesses likely to need payment upfront before they can deliver a contract. 

    J.P. Morgan acted as both Sole Mandated Lead Arranger and agent bank for the loan.

    Gareth Thomas, UK Minister for Exports, said:

    We have a Plan for Change to help grow our economy and support workers right across the country, and that’s precisely what these deals are about.

    Shining a spotlight on cutting edge tech and highly skilled jobs, this announcement shows the UK’s exporting potential and manufacturing strength.

    His Excellency Abdul Amir Al-Shammari, Iraq Minister of Interior, said:

    The Government of Iraq is contracting with British companies through the UKEF Loan to import specialized firefighting vehicles for the Directorate of Civil Defence.

    This will contribute significantly to the strengthening of the Directorate’s capabilities through the use of high-quality vehicles. This demonstrates the continuous support received by the Directorate by the UK and will improve our ability to tackle fire incidents.

    John Meakin, Global Head of Export Finance at J.P. Morgan, said:

    J.P. Morgan is delighted to support the finance of firefighting equipment from the UK to the Republic of Iraq.

    This is the latest UKEF deal giving businesses the support they need to deliver contracts and drive change at home in the UK and overseas in Iraq. In 2023, a UKEF guarantee helped British firms to secure over £100 million in export contracts to support the installation of 350km in drainage infrastructure around Hillah city.

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    Updates to this page

    Published 31 January 2025

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  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: UK partnership with Tunisia to target root causes of irregular migration

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments 3

    Foreign Secretary announces new funding for programmes in Tunisia to smash the gangs and secure UK borders.

    • UK boosts support for projects in North Africa to tackle drivers of small boats arrivals in Europe and UK.
    • During visit to Tunisia Foreign Secretary announces new multi-million-pound funding for programmes to educate and upskill would-be migrants to become more employable in their home country, and support reintegration for migrants who wish to return.
    • Part of UK Government’s latest efforts to protect UK borders and bring down migration as part of its Plan for Change.

    Efforts to tackle the root causes of migration upstream are being bolstered as the Foreign Secretary announces new funding for programmes in Tunisia to strengthen work with international partners, smash the people smuggling gangs, secure the UK’s borders and support those vulnerable to exploitation by criminals.

    The Foreign Secretary will travel to Tunisia to unveil a new package of up to £5 million to boost UK funded programmes in the region to upskill migrants in-country, making it less likely that they will make dangerous small boats journeys to Europe, including to the UK, and undermine the country’s border security.

    The UK has also announced up to £1 million of funding to the International Organisation for Migration’s Assisted Voluntary Returns & Reintegration (AVRR) Programme, to support transiting migrants who have no legal right to be in Tunisia and to return and reintegrate them to their home country.  

    While in Tunisia, the Foreign Secretary will be accompanied by the recently-appointed Border Security Commander, Martin Hewitt for meetings with their Tunisian counterparts to discuss ways of strengthening cooperation on both countries’ fight against people smuggling and irregular migration. They will meet members of the Tunisian National Guard who are using UK-supplied drones and night vision technology to intercept small boats carrying irregular migrants under cover of darkness. 

    Foreign Secretary David Lammy said: 

    Through working with countries like Tunisia, we are addressing the root causes of irregular migration and delivering on our Plan for Change. 

    By improving people’s living standards in their home country, they are less likely to make a perilous journey to the UK, enrich criminal gangs in the process and exploit our immigration system.

    The support I am announcing today, alongside UK technology such as drones and night vision goggles, will save lives, bring down migration levels, and help us bear down on those responsible for smuggling migrants into the UK.

    Border Security Commander Martin Hewitt said: 

    International partners like Tunisia play a vital role in the UK’s efforts to combat irregular migration, organised immigration crime and the harm both cause to communities at home and abroad. 

    We are committed to doing whatever it takes to tackle this problem at source and will continue to work hand in hand with countries upstream to deter and prevent migrants from making these dangerous journeys in the first place – saving lives and delivering on the government’s promise to secure the UK’s borders.

    This visit also follows the introduction of the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill to Parliament, which will help to further strengthen our relationships with international partners and empower teams on the ground to go further and act faster when dismantling organised criminality.

    Today’s announcement shows the UK’s strategy to disrupt people smuggling networks, slash migration levels and double down on recent partnerships with European and regional partners to bear down on groups responsible for the evil trade in human lives. This includes a new UK-Iraq border security agreement, as well a new anti-smuggling action plan signed by other G7 nations.  

    The visit also follows the introduction of the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill to Parliament (January 30). Inspired by powers used to combat terrorism, the Bill will be a turning point for law enforcement, allowing them to take earlier and more effective action against organised immigration crime.

    In January, the UK launched the world’s first standalone sanctions package designed to target people smugglers, clamp down on illegal migration and deliver the foundations for security at home. This follows also the UK successfully removing the highest number of irregular migrants since 2018 last year building on the Government’s commitment to return those who have no legal right to be in the UK.

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    Contact the FCDO Communication Team via email (monitored 24 hours a day) in the first instance, and we will respond as soon as possible.

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    Published 31 January 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: E3 Foreign Ministers’ statement on the implementation of legislation against United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA)

    Source: United Kingdom – Government Statements

    Statement from the Foreign Ministers of the UK, France and Germany on the implementation of legislation against United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East.

    Joint statement on behalf of the Foreign Ministers of the UK, France and Germany:

    We, the Foreign Ministers of the United Kingdom, France and Germany reiterate our grave concern regarding the Government of Israel’s implementation of legislation forbidding any contact between Israeli state entities, officials and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA); and prohibiting any UNRWA presence within Israel and East Jerusalem.

    We ask the Government of Israel to abide by its international obligations and live up to its responsibility to ensure full, rapid, safe and unhindered humanitarian assistance and the provision of basic services to the civilian population. We urge the Government of Israel to work with international partners, including the UN, to ensure continuity of operations. No other entity or UN Agency currently has the capacity or infrastructure to replace UNRWA’s mandate and experience.

    We reiterate our support for UNRWA’s UN-mandate to provide essential services and humanitarian assistance to Palestine refugees in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.  UNRWA is the primary service provider to Palestinian refugees in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and is an integral part of the response to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

    We condemn in the strongest possible terms the brutal and unjustified terror attacks by Hamas on Israel on October 7, 2023. We call on UNRWA to continue on its path of reform demonstrating its commitment to the principle of neutrality, in line with the independent review of April 2024, led by Ms. Catherine Colonna. All alleged involvement of UNRWA staff in appalling acts in support of 7 October and subsequent events must be thoroughly investigated.

    We reiterate our full endorsement and support for the ceasefire agreement reached between Israel and Hamas. It is vital that we now see the release of all remaining hostages. We welcome the notable increase of humanitarian assistance reaching Gaza since the beginning of the ceasefire and call on all parties to ensure its continuity. We are grateful for the extensive efforts of the US, Egypt and Qatar in mediating the agreement and urge all parties to engage constructively in negotiating the subsequent phases of the deal to help ensure its full implementation and a permanent end to hostilities. 

    We will play our full part in the coming days and weeks to seize the opportunity of this ceasefire and to ensure it leads to a credible pathway towards a two-state solution in which Israelis and Palestinians can live side by side in peace.

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    Published 31 January 2025

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  • MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: President Lai’s response to Pope Francis’s 2025 World Day of Peace message  

    Source: Republic of China Taiwan

    Details
    2025-01-17
    President Lai meets former US Vice President Mike Pence
    On the afternoon of January 17, President Lai Ching-te met with former Vice President of the United States Mike Pence. In remarks, President Lai thanked former Vice President Pence for his contributions to the deepening of Taiwan-US relations, noting that he actively helped to strengthen Taiwan-US cooperation and facilitate the normalization of military sales to Taiwan, and did his utmost to deepen the Taiwan-US economic partnership. The president indicated that former Vice President Pence also spoke up for Taiwan on numerous occasions at international venues, backing Taiwan’s international participation. President Lai expressed hope for a stronger Taiwan-US partnership to maintain peace and stability throughout the world, and that the two sides can advance bilateral exchanges in such areas as the economy, trade, and industry. A translation of President Lai’s remarks follows: I am delighted to welcome former Vice President Pence and Mrs. Karen Pence to the Presidential Office. Former Vice President Pence is not only an outstanding political leader in the US, but also a staunch supporter of Taiwan on the international stage. On behalf of the people of Taiwan, I would like to take this opportunity to extend our deepest gratitude to former Vice President Pence for his contributions to the deepening of Taiwan-US relations. Thanks to former Vice President Pence’s strong backing, ties between Taiwan and the US rose to unprecedented heights during President Donald Trump’s first administration. Former Vice President Pence actively helped to strengthen Taiwan-US security cooperation and facilitate the normalization of military sales to Taiwan, helping Taiwan reinforce its self-defense capabilities. He also did his utmost to deepen the Taiwan-US economic partnership. Former Vice President Pence also paid close attention to the military threats and diplomatic isolation faced by Taiwan. He spoke up for Taiwan on numerous occasions at international venues, taking concrete action to back Taiwan’s international participation. We were truly grateful for this. As we speak, China’s political and military intimidation against Taiwan persist. China and other authoritarian regimes, such as Russia, North Korea, and Iran, are continuing to converge and present serious challenges to democracies around the globe. At this moment, free and democratic nations must come together to bolster cooperation. I believe that a stronger Taiwan-US partnership can be an even more powerful force in maintaining peace and stability throughout the world. Former Vice President Pence has previously supported the signing of a trade agreement between Taiwan and the US. Taiwan looks forward to continuing to work with the new US administration and Congress to advance bilateral exchanges in such areas as the economy, trade, and industry. This is the first time that former Vice President Pence and Mrs. Pence are visiting Taiwan, and their visit is significantly meaningful for Taiwan-US exchanges. On behalf of the people of Taiwan, I want to extend a warm welcome. Moving forward, I hope we will jointly realize even more fruitful achievements through Taiwan-US cooperation. Former Vice President Pence then delivered remarks, thanking President Lai for his hospitality on his and his wife’s first visit to Taiwan, saying that it is an honor to be here to reaffirm the bonds of friendship between the people of America and the people of Taiwan, which are strong and longstanding. The former vice president indicated that the American people admire the people of Taiwan and all that has been accomplished in a few short decades for Taiwan to rise to one of the world’s preeminent economic powers and free societies. He said that he is grateful for President Lai’s courageous and bold leadership of Taiwan, and grateful to be able to express the support of the overwhelming majority of the American people for this alliance. Former Vice President Pence indicated that the values shared by Taiwan and the US, including freedom, the rule of law, and respect for human rights, bind us together in a partnership that transcends geographic boundaries and cultures. He then assured President Lai that China’s increasingly aggressive posture in the Taiwan Strait and across the Indo-Pacific, for the values and interests that both sides share, is deeply concerning to the American people. Former Vice President Pence stated that America is a Pacific nation, and is committed to the status quo, adding that they recognize it is China that wants to change the status quo that America, Taiwan, and other allies in the region want to preserve, which has created an environment of extraordinary growth and prosperity. The former vice president concluded by once again thanking President Lai and his team for their gracious hospitality and conveying best wishes to him and the people of Taiwan. Former Vice President Pence then assured President Lai that just as Taiwan will never surrender its freedom, he will continue to be a voice for a strong US-Taiwan relationship in the defense and the benefit of Taiwan, the US, and the free world. Later that day, Vice President Bi-khim Hsiao hosted a banquet for former Vice President Pence and his delegation at Taipei Guest House to thank him for his longstanding friendship and staunch support for Taiwan-US ties.  

    Details
    2025-01-17
    President Lai meets delegation to 60th Inaugural Ceremonies of US president and vice president
    On the morning of January 16, President Lai Ching-te met with Taiwan’s delegation to the 60th Inaugural Ceremonies of the President and Vice President of the United States. In remarks, President Lai stated that democratic Taiwan stands united, working hard to deepen Taiwan-US ties together. He then entrusted the delegation with three missions: to convey best wishes from the people of Taiwan, convey our firm commitment to democracy, and help Taiwan-US relations reach a new milestone. A translation of President Lai’s remarks follows: The 60th Inaugural Ceremonies of the President and Vice President of the US will be held on January 20. I want to thank Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), president of the Legislative Yuan, for accepting my invitation to lead our nation’s representative delegation to the event. I also thank Legislative Yuan Members Ko Chih-en (柯志恩), Wang Ting-yu (王定宇), Ko Ju-chun (葛如鈞), Lee Yen-hsiu (李彥秀), Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷), Kuo Yu-ching (郭昱晴), and Chen Gau-tzu (陳昭姿) for joining this visit to the US to attend the inauguration of President Donald Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance. We have gathered together today despite differences in party affiliation because in democratic Taiwan, while parties may compete domestically, when it comes to engagement externally, they stand united and share responsibility, working hard to deepen Taiwan-US ties and strive for the best interests of the nation. We share the value of defending freedom and democracy, and we share the goal of advancing peace and prosperity. Today, we engage with the world together as those from the same country – the Republic of China (Taiwan). In this complex and volatile new international landscape, and as the nation faces difficulties and challenges, I want to stress that in Formosa, there is no hostility that cannot be let go, and no hardship that cannot be overcome. Unity is the most important, and I hope that Taiwan can stand united, because there is true strength in unity. Democratic Taiwan must stand united in engaging with the world and initiate exchanges with confidence. On that ground, I am entrusting this delegation with three key missions. First, convey best wishes from the people of Taiwan. Just last year, Taiwan and the US celebrated the 45th anniversary of the passage of the Taiwan Relations Act. And on May 20, the US sent a senior bipartisan delegation to congratulate me and Vice President Bi-khim Hsiao on our inauguration. As the leader of this cross-party delegation, Speaker Han must clearly convey the well-wishes of the people of Taiwan, congratulate President Trump and Vice President Vance on their inauguration, and wish success to the new administration and prosperity to the US. Second, clearly convey the firm commitment of the people of Taiwan to democracy. The theme of these inaugural ceremonies is “Our Enduring Democracy: A Constitutional Promise.” Taiwan and the US share the universal value of democracy and are staunch allies. I hope that the delegation can faithfully convey the firm commitment to democracy that the people of Taiwan have, which will not change even in the face of authoritarian threats. Taiwan is willing to stand side by side with the US and other members of the democratic community to defend the sustainable development of global democracy and prevent the expansion of authoritarianism. Third, help Taiwan-US relations reach a new milestone. In recent years, Taiwan-US relations have continued to grow, with the first agreement under the Taiwan-US Initiative on 21st Century Trade having formally taken effect last month. This morning, the House of Representatives also passed the US-Taiwan Expedited Double-Tax Relief Act. I hope that the delegation can help Taiwan-US relations reach a new milestone through these exchanges so that our relations continue to grow, our cooperation expands even more, and so that we can achieve even greater success after the new administration takes office. Four years ago, Taiwan’s representative to the US inaugural ceremonies was Vice President Hsiao, who was then our representative to the US. Everyone has a lot to learn from her. I have specially invited everyone here to converse so that you can draw from Vice President Hsiao’s experience and ensure an even smoother visit. Washington, DC was also hit by a rare blizzard recently, and the weather has been very cold, so make sure to stay warm. I am sending everyone off with hand warmers and thermoses so that you can bring some warmth from Taiwan with you on your journey. And I ask that Speaker Han exercise his wisdom to help generate some warmth between the ruling and opposition parties through cooperation, which they can then bring back to Taiwan. Let us unite to give our all for diplomacy so that we can unite to give our all for Taiwan. I wish the delegation a smooth and safe trip, and hope your missions can be carried out successfully. Speaker Han then delivered remarks, stating that it was an honor to be invited by President Lai to organize a delegation to represent our nation at the 60th Inaugural Ceremonies of the President and Vice President of the US in Washington, DC, and express the Republic of China’s sincere and cordial best wishes. The Legislative Yuan’s president has assumed this important task numerous times in the past, he said, not only to represent the government of the Republic of China, but also to take on the mission of conveying the voices of 23 million people. He went on to say that he is honored to take up the baton, lead eight legislators to the US to attend this celebration that will attract global attention, and express sincere best wishes to newly elected President Trump, Vice President Vance, and the new administration’s team. As enjoined by President Lai, he hopes the delegation’s trip will help open a new chapter in Taiwan-US exchanges. Speaker Han stated that the US is the most free and democratic country in the world. He noted that in 1776 in the US Declaration of Independence, founding father Thomas Jefferson propounded the concept of “unalienable rights,” and emphasized that the people have a right to freedom and the pursuit of happiness, democratic ideas that have long been rooted in the people’s hearts. Today, he said, democracy is also embedded in the DNA of Taiwan’s 23 million people, and this hard-won democratic achievement is a result of the concerted efforts of our pioneering predecessors, thinkers, and activists over the past 100 years. Speaker Han stated that during this visit, the Legislative Yuan delegation hopes to convey the voice of Taiwan as a democratic country. Taiwan’s security, he said, is like the four legs of a table: The first leg is defending the Republic of China, the second is defending freedom and democracy, the third is maintaining Taiwan-US relations, and the fourth is maintaining cross-strait peace. The delegation will travel to the US amidst severe cold weather to show that we value our relationship with the US, and our citizens have great hopes and expectations. Speaker Han stated that this will be a cross-party delegation of eight legislators, all of whom have a strong sense of mission. He hopes that all democratic nations will acknowledge Taiwan’s importance, and pay attention to Taiwan’s 23 million people. The delegation, he said, will do its utmost to convey the goodwill and warmth that the people of Taiwan give to each and every one of our good friends.

    Details
    2025-01-17
    President Lai confers decoration on former Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis
    On the morning of January 14, President Lai Ching-te conferred the Order of Brilliant Star with Special Grand Cordon upon former Minister of Foreign Affairs Gabrielius Landsbergis of the Republic of Lithuania in recognition of his remarkable contributions to deepening Taiwan-Lithuania relations. In remarks, President Lai thanked former Minister Landsbergis for standing firmly with Taiwan and remaining a staunch defender of democratic values, yielding fruitful cooperative results. The president expressed hope that the two countries will engage in even more cooperation and exchanges in such areas as the economy, trade, technology, and culture, and continue to advocate for the values of freedom and democracy so that together we can contribute even more to our nations’ development and to peace and prosperity throughout the world. A translation of President Lai’s remarks follows: Today, by conferring the Order of Brilliant Star with Special Grand Cordon upon former Minister Landsbergis, we recognize his outstanding contributions during his time as foreign minister of Lithuania. On behalf of the people of Taiwan, I thank him for the key role he has played in deepening Taiwan-Lithuania relations. During the COVID-19 pandemic, thanks to the efforts of former Minister Landsbergis, Lithuania was the first European nation to donate vaccines to Taiwan. On that occasion, he stated that “freedom-loving people should look out for each other.” His statement was very moving and left a deep impression on many Taiwanese people. We will never forget it. Former Minister Landsbergis has continued to express the spirit of those words through his concrete actions. With his staunch support, Taiwan and Lithuania have mutually established representative offices. Moreover, our representative office in Lithuania was the first in Europe to incorporate “Taiwan” in its name. As for bilateral cooperation, Taiwan and Lithuania have seen fruitful results in such fields as semiconductors, laser technology, finance, and medicine. Be it overcoming the challenges posed by the pandemic or resisting expanding authoritarianism, former Minister Landsbergis has stood firmly with Taiwan and remained a staunch defender of democratic values. We greatly admire and appreciate his spirit. Today, authoritarian regimes continue to converge, posing threats and challenges to democracies around the world. Taiwan, Lithuania, and other democratic countries must come closer together, drawing on the strength of unity, so as to jointly safeguard freedom and democracy and uphold the rules-based international order. Looking ahead, we hope that Taiwan and Lithuania will engage in even more cooperation and exchanges in such areas as the economy, trade, technology, and culture. Let us continue to advocate for the values of freedom and democracy. Together, we can contribute even more to our nations’ development and to peace and prosperity throughout the world. In closing, I once again thank you, former Minister Landsbergis, for your support and for all that you have done for Taiwan. We welcome you and your wife to visit often. I wish you both a smooth and successful visit in Taiwan, and hope you leave with lasting memories.    Former Minister Landsbergis then delivered remarks, saying that it is a great honor to receive the decoration today. He noted that only partially can he accept the honor, as there have been many people who worked together with him in the ministry and in the whole country who support the people of Taiwan and see the benefit of supporting democracy in Taiwan. He often says that in Lithuania they remember well the fight for their freedom, and just today, he mentioned, he was shown the permanent exhibition in the Presidential Office, where he saw similar pictures of Taiwanese people fighting for democracy. He emphasized that not even one generation has passed since these events took place here in Taipei or similar events took place in Vilnius. Former Minister Landsbergis said that decision-makers in the Lithuanian government are either people who were themselves fighting for freedom, or, as in his case, those who were sitting on the shoulders of parents who were fighting for freedom. So for them, he underlined, freedom, democracy, liberty, and sovereignty are very real concepts that they cherish, not just things read about in a history book. He said that this is the main connector between Lithuania and Taiwan, a feeling of freedom and support for each other. Former Minister Landsbergis stated that in the face of authoritarians who do not wish us prosperity, who do not wish us freedom and future achievements, what he expects from the future is that the friendship, collaboration, and mutual support between Lithuania and Taiwan will inspire others to join in. This, he said, will make other countries not be afraid to support freedom and democracy, and will allow our group of friends to continue to grow. Lithuanian history, the former minister said, is difficult, and a big part of it was fighting for their freedom. He explained that during the 19th century when Lithuania was part of Russia’s empire, they had several revolutions and uprisings with the aim of becoming free, and that they were fighting for that freedom alongside Poland and Belarus. He then applied a phrase that they used in the revolution of 1864 – “for your freedom and ours,” meaning that they will continue to fight for their freedom while helping Taiwan fight for ours. Also in attendance at the ceremony were former Minister Landsbergis’ wife Dr. Austėja Landsbergienė and Lithuanian Representative to Taiwan Paulius Lukauskas.

    Details
    2025-01-17
    Presidential Office thanks White House for its statement on enduring US commitment to Indo-Pacific region
    On January 10 (US EST), the US White House released a statement on the United States’ Enduring Commitment to the Indo-Pacific Region, in which it reaffirms its position of using a range of methods to help Taiwan maintain a sufficient self-defense capability so as to maintain peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region and across the Taiwan Strait. Presidential Office Spokesperson Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) on January 11 expressed sincere gratitude to the US government for taking concrete actions to fulfill its security commitments to Taiwan, advancing the close Taiwan-US security partnership, and supporting Taiwan in its efforts to enhance its self-defense capabilities and resilience. Spokesperson Kuo stated that the deepening Taiwan-US security partnership is a critical cornerstone for peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region. She noted that Taiwan, as a force for good and regional stability, will continue to work alongside like-minded countries to strengthen defense resilience as we jointly defend the values of freedom and democracy and ensure the peace, stability, and prosperity of the Indo-Pacific region.

    Details
    2025-01-17
    President Lai meets Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute delegation
    On the morning of January 9, President Lai Ching-te met with a delegation from the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute (RRPFI). In remarks, President Lai thanked RRPFI President David Trulio and members of RRPFI for remaining undaunted by China’s threats and sanctions, and lending great support to Taiwan. He emphasized that facing the continued expansion of authoritarianism, Taiwan will actively implement the Four Pillars of Peace action plan to preserve regional peace and stability, safeguard the values of democracy and freedom, and advance worldwide prosperity and development. President Lai expressed hope that they can continue to collaborate to promote the development of Taiwan-United States relations and put RRPFI’s principles into practice. A translation of President Lai’s remarks follows: First, let me warmly welcome President Trulio, who is leading this delegation from RRPFI to Taiwan. And on behalf of all the people of Taiwan, I want to extend our heartfelt condolences in wake of the ongoing fires in California. I hope that they can be put out swiftly so that harm is reduced, and I hope that those who are injured are able to receive timely help. President Reagan was a staunch friend of Taiwan. The Six Assurances he put forward in 1982 and the Taiwan Relations Act passed by Congress in 1979 form the bedrock of Taiwan-US relations. The incorporation of the Six Assurances into the Asia Reassurance Initiative Act of 2018 further established bipartisan, bicameral, and cross-agency US support for Taiwan. With authoritarianism continuing to expand, President Reagan’s conviction of peace through strength is proving to be especially crucial as democracies unite to protect freedom, democracy, peace, and the rules-based international order. RRPFI honors President Reagan’s legacy by championing such principles as individual liberty, economic opportunity, global democracy, and national pride. Many of you have served previous US administrations as part of national security teams, and many of you are longstanding friends of Taiwan. I sincerely hope that we can continue to collaborate to promote the development of Taiwan-US relations and put RRPFI’s principles into practice. I also want to extend particular gratitude to President Trulio and RRPFI for lending great support to Taiwan. Undaunted by China’s threats and sanctions, you warmly welcomed former President Tsai Ing-wen to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library during her stopover in California in April 2023 and arranged a delegation to visit Taiwan in October of the same year. As for the continued expansion of authoritarianism, Taiwan will meet it head on, and uphold President Reagan’s spirit of peace through strength. We will actively implement the Four Pillars of Peace action plan by strengthening national defense, building economic security, and demonstrating stable and principled cross-strait leadership, as well as promoting values-based diplomacy. Bolstering Taiwan’s cooperation with the US and other democracies will preserve regional peace and stability, safeguard the values of democracy and freedom, and advance worldwide prosperity and development. President Trulio then delivered remarks, first thanking President Lai for his warm welcome and saying that he and the delegation are deeply honored to be with him in Taiwan, along with so many top leaders in his administration. President Trulio added that they are proud to advance President Reagan’s legacy and timeless principles, and our collective shared values. President Trulio indicated that President Reagan visited Taiwan twice before he became president. Acknowledging what President Lai stated, he noted that it was President Reagan’s administration that developed what became known as the Six Assurances, a framework that to this day serves as the foundation of relations between the US and Taiwan. More broadly, President Trulio said, President Reagan knew that America’s strength and the strength of its allies and friends are key to global peace, prosperity, and security. He said President Reagan also knew that societies that provide economic opportunity and democracy offer a better life for their citizens. In fact, he stated, President Reagan said that freedom is not the sole prerogative of a lucky few, but the inalienable and universal right of all human beings. President Trulio went on to say that Taiwan’s open society and thriving democracy make the commitment to freedom here plain for all to see. President Trulio noted that RRPFI had the honor of visiting Taipei in October 2023, when the delegation met then-President Tsai. He said that their return visit to Taipei at the start of 2025 comes at a crucial time, and that part of what makes that timing so significant is that there will be a new administration inaugurated in Washington in about 10 days. Over the course of their visits to Taiwan, President Trulio said, it has been plain to see that Taiwan stands strong as a vibrant democracy, with political parties sharing a commitment to democratic principles. He said it is also plain to see that Taiwan’s advanced economy and global technological leadership present positive opportunities for the US. He added that it is also plain to see that the security situation across the Taiwan Strait demands a continued commitment to peace through strength, including through robust partnership with Taiwan and sustained US deterrence. President Trulio stated that he looks forward to addressing the opportunities and challenges facing Taiwan and the US, and is confident that together, we will further well into the future our shared commitment to freedom and democracy, economic opportunity, and security and stability. The delegation also included RRPFI Washington Director Roger Zakheim, Director of the Alexander Hamilton Center for Classical and Civic Education at the University of Florida William Inboden, Palantir Technologies Senior Counselor Jamie Fly, former Deputy White House Staff Secretary Catherine Bellah, Anduril Industries Policy Director Dustin Walker, Hudson Institute Adjunct Fellow Alexander Benard, RRPFI Policy Director Rachel Hoff, and RRPFI Digital Strategy and Communications Director James Rogers.

    Details
    2025-01-01
    President Lai delivers 2025 New Year’s Address
    On the morning of January 1, President Lai Ching-te delivered his 2025 New Year’s Address, titled “Bolstering National Strength through Democracy to Enter a New Global Landscape,” in the Reception Hall of the Presidential Office. President Lai stated that today’s Taiwan is receiving international recognition for its performance in many areas, among them democracy, technology, and economy. In this new year, he said, Taiwan must be united, and we must continue on the right course. The president expressed hope that everyone in the central and local governments, regardless of party, can work hard together, allowing Taiwan sure footing as it strides forward toward ever greater achievements.  President Lai emphasized that in 2025, we must keep firm on the path of democracy, continue to bolster our national strength, make Taiwan more economically resilient, enhance the resilience of supply chains for global democracies, and continue working toward a Balanced Taiwan and generational justice, ensuring that the fruits of our economic growth can be enjoyed by all our people. The president said that Taiwan will keep going strong, and we will keep walking tall as we enter the new global landscape. A translation of President Lai’s address follows: Today is the first day of 2025. With a new year comes new beginnings. I wish that Taiwan enjoys peace, prosperity, and success, and that our people lead happy lives. Taiwan truly finished 2024 strong. Though there were many challenges, there were also many triumphs. We withstood earthquakes and typhoons, and stood firm in the face of constant challenges posed by authoritarianism. We also shared glory as Taiwan won the Premier12 baseball championship, and now Taiwanese people around the world are all familiar with the gesture for Team Taiwan. At the Paris Olympics, Wang Chi-lin (王齊麟) and Lee Yang (李洋) clinched another gold in men’s doubles badminton. Lin Yu-ting (林郁婷) took home Taiwan’s first Olympic gold in boxing. At the International Junior Science Olympiad, every student in our delegation of six won a gold medal. And Yang Shuang-zi’s (楊双子) novel Taiwan Travelogue, translated into English by King Lin (金翎), became a United States National Book Award winner and a tour de force of Taiwan literature on the international level. Our heroes of Taiwan are defined by neither age nor discipline. They have taken home top prizes at international competitions and set new records. They tell Taiwan’s story through their outstanding performances, letting the world see the spirit and culture of Taiwan, and filling all our citizens with pride. My fellow citizens, we have stood together through thick and thin; we have shared our ups and downs. We have wept together, and we have laughed together. We are all one family, all members of Team Taiwan. I want to thank each of our citizens for their dedication, fueling Taiwan’s progress and bringing our nation glory. You have given Taiwan even greater strength to stand out on the global stage. In this new year, we must continue bringing Taiwan’s stories to the world, and make Taiwan’s successes a force for global progress. In 2025, the world will be entering a new landscape. Last year, over 70 countries held elections, and the will of the people has changed with the times. As many countries turn new pages politically, and in the midst of rapid international developments, Taiwan must continue marching forward with steady strides. First, we must keep firm on the path of democracy. Taiwan made it through a dark age of authoritarianism and has since become a glorious beacon of democracy in Asia. This was achieved through the sacrifices of our democratic forebears and the joint efforts of all our citizens. Democracy’s value to Taiwan lies not just in our free way of life, or in the force driving the diverse and vigorous growth of our society. Democracy is the brand that has earned us international trust in terms of diplomacy. No matter the threat or challenge Taiwan may face, democracy is Taiwan’s only path forward. We will not turn back. Domestic competition among political parties is a part of democracy. But domestic political disputes must be resolved democratically, within the constitutional system. This is the only way democracy can continue to grow. The Executive Yuan has the right to request a reconsideration of the controversial bills passed in the Legislative Yuan, giving it room for reexamination. Constitutional institutions can also lodge a petition for a constitutional interpretation, and through Constitutional Court adjudication, ensure a separation of powers, safeguard constitutional order, and gradually consolidate the constitutional system. The people also have the right of election, recall, initiative, and referendum, and can bring together even greater democratic power to show the true meaning of sovereignty in the hands of the people. In this new year, the changing international landscape will present democratic nations around the world with many grave challenges. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and conflict between Israel and Hamas rage on, and we are seeing the continued convergence of authoritarian regimes including China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran, threatening the rules-based international order and severely affecting peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region and the world at large. Peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait are essential components for global security and prosperity. Taiwan needs to prepare for danger in times of peace. We must continue increasing our national defense budget, bolster our national defense capabilities, and show our determination to protect our country. Everyone has a responsibility to safeguard Taiwan’s democracy and security. We must gather together every bit of strength we have to enhance whole-of-society defense resilience, and build capabilities to respond to major disasters and deter threats or encroachment. We must also strengthen communication with society to combat information and cognitive warfare, so that the populace rejects threats and enticements and jointly guards against malicious infiltration by external forces. Here at home, we must consolidate democracy with democracy. Internationally, we must make friends worldwide through democracy. This is how we will ensure security and peace. The more secure Taiwan, the more secure the world. The more resilient Taiwan, the sounder the defense of global democracy. The global democratic community should work even closer together to support the democratic umbrella as we seek ways to resolve the war in Ukraine and conflict between Israel and Hamas. Together, we must uphold stability in the Taiwan Strait and security in the Indo-Pacific, and achieve our goal of global peace. Second, we must continue to bolster our national strength, make Taiwan more economically resilient, and enhance the resilience of supply chains for global democracies. In the first half of 2024, growth in the Taiwan Stock Index was the highest in the world. Our economic growth rate for the year as a whole is expected to reach 4.2 percent, leading among the Four Asian Tigers. Domestic investment is soaring, having exceeded NT$5 trillion, and inflation is gradually stabilizing. Export orders from January to November totaled US$536.6 billion, up 3.7 percent from the same period in 2023. And compared over the same period, exports saw a 9.9 percent increase, reaching US$431.5 billion. Recent surveys also show that in 2024, the average increase in salaries at companies was higher than that in 2023. Additionally, over 90 percent of companies plan to raise salaries this year, which is an eight-year high. All signs indicate that Taiwan’s economic climate continues to recover, and that our economy is growing steadily. Our overall economic performance is impressive; still, we must continue to pay attention to the impact on Taiwan’s industries from the changing geopolitical landscape, uncertainties in the global economic environment, and dumping by the “red supply chain.”  For a nation, all sectors and professions are equally important; only when all our industries are strong can Taiwan be strong as a nation. Our micro-, small-, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) are the lifeblood of Taiwan, and the development of our various industrial parks has given Taiwan the impetus for our prosperity. We must carry the spirit of “Made in Taiwan” forward, bringing it to ever greater heights. Thus, beyond just developing our high-tech industry, our Executive Yuan has already proposed a solution that will help traditional industries and MSMEs comprehensively adopt technology applications, engage in the digital and net-zero twin transition, and develop channels, all for better operational structures and higher productivity. Taiwan must continue enhancing its economic resilience. In recent years, Taiwan has significantly increased its investments in the US, Japan, Europe, and the New Southbound countries, and such investment has already surpassed investment in China. This indicates that our efforts in diversifying markets and reducing reliance on any single market are working. Moving forward, we must keep providing assistance so that Taiwan industries can expand their global presence and market internationally from a solid base here in Taiwan. At the same time, Taiwan must use democracy to promote economic growth with the rest of the world. We must leverage our strengths in the semiconductor and AI industries. We must link with democratic countries so that we can together enhance the resilience of supply chains for global democracies. And through international cooperation across many sectors, such as UAVs, low-orbit communications satellites, robots, military, security and surveillance, or biopharmaceuticals, renewable energy technology, new agriculture, and the circular economy, we must keep abreast of the latest cutting-edge technology and promote diverse development. This approach will help Taiwan remain a leader in advancing global democratic supply chains, ensuring their security and stability. Third, we must continue working toward a Balanced Taiwan and generational justice, ensuring that the fruits of our economic growth can be enjoyed by all our people. Democracy means the people have the final say. Our nation belongs to all 23 million of us, without regard for ethnic group, generation, political party, or whether we live in urban or rural areas. In this new year, we must continue to pursue policies that promote the well-being of the nation and the people. But to that end, the central government needs adequate financial resources to ensure that it can enact each of these measures. Therefore, I hope that the ruling and opposition parties can each soberly reconsider the amendments to the Act Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures and find a path forward that ensures the lasting peace and stability of our country. For nine consecutive years, the minimum wage has continued to rise. Effective today, the minimum monthly salary is being raised from NT$27,470 to NT$28,590, and the hourly salary from NT$183 to NT$190. We hope by raising the pay for military personnel, civil servants, and educators for two consecutive years, coupled with benefits through wage increases and tax reductions, that private businesses will also raise wages, allowing all our people to enjoy the fruits of our economic growth. I know that everyone wants to pay lower taxes and rent. This year, we will continue to promote tax reductions. For example, unmarried individuals with an annual income of NT$446,000 or less can be exempt from paying income tax. Dual-income families with an annual income of NT$892,000 or less and dual-income families with two children aged six or younger with an annual income of NT$1,461,000 or less are also exempt from paying income tax. Additionally, the number of rent-subsidized housing units will also be increased, from 500,000 to 750,000 units, helping lighten the load for everyone. This year, the age eligibility for claiming Culture Points has been lowered from 16 to 13 years, so that now young people aged between 13 and 22 can receive government support for experiencing more in the arts. Also, our Taiwan Global Pathfinders Initiative is about to take effect, which will help more young people in Taiwan realize their dreams by taking part in education and exchange activities in many places around the world. We are also in the process of establishing a sports ministry to help young athletes achieve their dreams on the field, court, and beyond. The ministry will also be active in developing various sports industries and bringing sports and athletics more into the lives of the people, making our people healthier as a result. This year, as Taiwan becomes a “super-aged society,” we will launch our Long-term Care 3.0 Plan to provide better all-around care for our seniors. And we will expand the scope of cancer screening eligibility and services, all aimed at creating a Healthy Taiwan. In addition, Taiwan will officially begin collecting fees for its carbon fee system today. This brings us closer in line with global practices and helps us along the path to our goal of net-zero emissions by 2050. We will also continue on the path to achieving a Balanced Taiwan. Last month, the Executive Yuan launched the Trillion NT Dollar Investment National Development Plan and its six major regional flagship projects. Both of these initiatives will continue to expand the investment in our public infrastructure and the development of local specialty industries, narrowing urban-rural and wealth gaps so that all our people can live and work in peace and happiness. My fellow citizens, today’s Taiwan is receiving international recognition for its performance in many areas, among them democracy, technology, and economy. This tells us that national development is moving in the right direction. In this new year, Taiwan must be united, and we must continue on the right course. We hope that everyone in the central and local governments, regardless of party, can work hard together to ensure that national policies are successfully implemented, with the people’s well-being as our top priority. This will allow Taiwan sure footing as it strides forward toward ever greater achievements. In this new year, we have many more brilliant stories of Taiwan to share with the world, inspiring all Taiwanese, both here and around the world, to cheer time and again for the glory of Taiwan. Taiwan will keep going strong. And we will keep walking tall as we enter the new global landscape. Thank you.

    MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: 2025 Presidential Elections in Belarus: joint statement to the OSCE

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    The UK and other members of the Informal Group of Friends of Democratic Belarus deliver a joint statement on elections in Belarus and the deteriorating human rights situation.

    I am delivering this statement on behalf of the following participating States, who are members of the Informal Group of Friends of Democratic Belarus:  Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Czechia, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Iceland,  Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Montenegro, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Ukraine, the United Kingdom and my own country, Germany.  

    The following participating States are also joining this statement: Albania, Andorra, Austria, Bosnia, Liechtenstein, Malta, San Marino, Switzerland and North Macedonia.    

    At Copenhagen in 1990, all OSCE participating States declared that “the will of the people, freely and fairly expressed through periodic and genuine elections, is the basis of the authority and legitimacy of all government”.  

    The presidential elections in Belarus on 26 January fell far short of this shared standard. Instead of reflecting multi-party democracy, accountability of government to the electorate or the free and fair expression of citizens’ will, this election outcome was pre-determined by the Belarusian government. The poll was carried out in a climate of fear and repression where opposition was silenced. Moreover, Belarusians were denied access to information from independent, pluralistic media.  

    Repression intensified in the pre-election period. While some political prisoners have been released, Belarus continues to detain many more. Over 1,250 people remain incarcerated. Many political prisoners face isolation, mistreatment and lack of medical treatment. The UN Committee against Torture reported that torture in these prisons is systemic, habitual, widespread and deliberate with a pattern of impunity for perpetrators. Last year, four political prisoners died behind bars.   

    The arrest and persecution of journalists and media professionals has also reached an all-time high; the Belarusian Association of Journalists notes that 42 media workers were imprisoned in the run up to election day.  

    We deplore Belarus’ involvement and complicity in Russia’s unprovoked, unjustifiable and illegal war of aggression against Ukraine and condemn the serious, ongoing human rights violations committed by the Belarusian authorities. We reiterate our call for the Belarusian authorities to release all political prisoners, immediately and unconditionally, and to ensure their rehabilitation. 

    No election can be considered as free and fair or meeting international standards when it is held in a climate of ongoing repression, marked by continuous pressure on civil society, arbitrary detentions and widespread human rights violations, as well as restrictions of any genuine political participation and a lack of credible opposition candidates.   

    We recall that ODIHR made efforts in recent months to engage with the Belarusian authorities on election observation, in line with Belarus’ commitment at Copenhagen in 1990.     

    The Belarusian authorities’ late invitation – delivered only ten days before the presidential elections – prevented ODIHR’s access to key stages of the election process, making meaningful observation impossible. It stands as further proof that this electoral process lacked transparency and credibility.     

    Sadly, this approach to OSCE commitments is wholly consistent with earlier decisions by Belarus. As well as preventing meaningful observation of these elections, Belarus failed to invite OSCE observation of the February 2024 parliamentary elections. Nor has Belarus made progress on the recommendations of either the 2020 or 2023 Moscow Mechanism reports, or responded meaningfully to the questions raised in the 2024 Vienna Mechanism.  

    Indeed, since the fraudulent presidential election of 2020, Belarusian authorities have engaged in a brutal crackdown on opposition figures, human rights defenders, civil society representatives, journalists, and other citizens who dare voice any opposition or dissent. Human rights defenders report over 70,000 cases of repression since 2020. These range from interrogations, detentions or searches to legislative amendments, labelling and prosecuting some human rights defenders as so-called “extremists” and closing NGOs as well as forced exile and confiscation of property.   

    In the face of this utter disregard of OSCE principles and commitments by the Belarusian authorities, we underscore the right of Belarusians to determine their own future in a genuinely free and fair manner, and to be able to do so without fear, oppression and external interference. In this Council and beyond, we will continue to support the Belarusian people’s hope for a free, democratic and independent Belarus.

    Updates to this page

    Published 31 January 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Rosneft Discovers New Archaeological Monuments

    Translartion. Region: Russians Fedetion –

    Source: Rosneft – Rosneft – An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.

    During 2024, archaeological teams from the Company’s scientific institute in Samara discovered 13 new archaeological sites in the Samara and Orenburg regions and carried out measures to ensure their preservation.

    Rosneft cares about the preservation of historical and cultural heritage and, in accordance with Russian legislation, conducts archaeological surveys at the pre-project stage during any construction work.

    In total, in 2024, the institute’s specialists surveyed 294 land plots allocated for economic development by the companies Samaraneftegaz and Orenburgneft (production assets of Rosneft).

    In the areas where the work was carried out, 36 cultural heritage sites were discovered, including 13 archaeological sites that had not previously been recorded in historical sources and documents. Among them were four single burial mounds and eight burial mounds, as well as one settlement belonging to the Srubna culture*. In the course of determining the boundaries of cultural heritage sites, archaeologists extracted more than 200 finds – fragments of ornamented ceramic dishes and bones of domestic animals.

    In addition, the institute’s archaeologists clarified the boundaries of previously identified cultural heritage sites – burial mound VIII near the village of Pogromnoye in the Orenburg Region, as well as the burial mound Nesmeyanovka I in the Samara Region. During the survey of the latter, eight previously unaccounted burial mounds were found; the complex currently includes 27 burial mounds.

    * The Srubnaya cultural and historical community is an archaeological culture of the Late Bronze Age (18th-13th centuries BC). Geographically, it was widespread in the steppe and forest-steppe belts of Eastern Europe between the Dnieper and the Urals. In the Volga region and the Urals, the culture is widely represented by archaeological sites: settlements and burial mounds. Ethnicity: Indo-Iranians. The main activities of the representatives of the Srubnaya culture are cattle breeding and agriculture.

    Reference:

    Archaeological teams have been working at the Rosneft Samara Research Institute since 2019. Over five years, specialists have surveyed over 1,600 land plots for planned facilities, determined the boundaries and registered 193 archaeological sites (settlements, single burial mounds, burial mounds) with the state, and another 173 cultural heritage sites have undergone preservation monitoring and inspection.

    Department of Information and Advertising of PJSC NK Rosneft January 31, 2025

    Please note: This information is raw content directly from the source of the information. It is exactly what the source states and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Trump says he wants to take Greenland. International law says otherwise

    Source: The Conversation – Global Perspectives – By Donald Rothwell, Professor of International Law, Australian National University

    One of United States President Donald Trump’s more startling claims since taking office for his second term – and there have been many – is his insistence that the US will take control of Greenland.

    Both prior to taking office and since, Trump has spoken about a desire for the US to acquire Greenland, an autonomous territory that is part of Denmark. This revives a proposal he floated in 2019, and is now being advanced with serious intent.

    Trump’s interest in Greenland is framed around US security. The island is strategically located in the GIUK (Greenland-Iceland-United Kingdom) Gap. The gap gained prominence during the Cold War as an area where Soviet nuclear submarines could operate in the Atlantic Ocean proximate to the US and its NATO partners. Denmark’s limited naval capacity meant these Soviet submarine incursions were uncontested.

    Washington has always appreciated the strategic significance of Greenland. It was used during the second world war as a US military staging point due to its relative safety from the European theatre of war and its capacity as a stopover for aircraft to refuel.

    Later, during the Cold War, the Thule US Airbase was constructed on its northwest coast, later becoming the Pituffik Space Base.

    Trump is particularly concerned about Russian and Chinese ships operating offshore near Greenland in the Arctic Ocean, and with ensuring US access to rare earth minerals on the island.

    All of these are legitimate US security and strategic interests. It is often forgotten that the US is an Arctic nation by virtue of Alaska, and Greenland is adjacent to North America.

    However, Greenland is not terra nullius ripe for American colonisation. It is recognised as Danish territory. Any dispute over a Danish claim to the island was resolved by an international court in 1933, and since that time Denmark has overseen Greenlandic affairs without challenge. Any suggestion Denmark’s sovereignty over Greenland is contested has no foundation.

    While Denmark has been a colonial power, there has been an active process underway to grant the 57,000 Greenlanders increased autonomy from Copenhagen. Home rule has been granted, a legislature has been created, and a road map exists for self-determination that may eventually see the emergence of an independent Greenland.

    Seeking to honour the responsibility Copenhagen feels for ushering Greenlanders through this process, Denmark has made clear that Greenland is not for sale.

    The most breathtaking aspect of Trump’s Greenland territorial ambitions has been the refusal to rule out the US using economic or military means to acquire it.

    This ignores the fact that Greenland is part of Denmark (a NATO member) and that indigenous Greenlanders possess a right of self-determination. Moreover, any use of US military force to take Greenland would be in violation of both the 1949 North Atlantic Treaty on which NATO is founded and the 1945 United Nations Charter.

    Respect for territorial integrity was one of foundations on which the UN Charter was built. The intention of the UN’s founders during the San Francisco Conference was to ensure military force could not be used to acquire territory through an act of aggression resulting in the annexation of territory.

    Article 2 of the charter reflects this core principle. Its violation has repeatedly been seen as an egregious breach of international law. Iraq’s 1990 invasion and annexation of Kuwait and Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine are examples of the international community uniting to condemn blatant uses of military force for territorial gain.

    Other than Denmark, its Scandinavian neighbours and some NATO members, Trump’s Greenland territorial ambitions have been met with diplomatic silence. What is taking place behind closed doors and in the foreign ministries of US allies and partners can only be imagined.

    For Australia, this raises fundamental issues regarding the US alliance. Would Australia be prepared to stand beside the US if it used its economic and military might to acquire Greenland?

    Australia has a bipartisan position of both supporting the American alliance and the “rules-based” international order on which the UN is based. AUKUS is founded on these assumptions. Any US economic or military aggression over Greenland may force Australia into making a choice between America or the rule of law.

    Donald Rothwell receives funding from the Australian Research Council.

    – ref. Trump says he wants to take Greenland. International law says otherwise – https://theconversation.com/trump-says-he-wants-to-take-greenland-international-law-says-otherwise-248682

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Trump says he wants to take Greenland. International law says otherwise

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Donald Rothwell, Professor of International Law, Australian National University

    One of United States President Donald Trump’s more startling claims since taking office for his second term – and there have been many – is his insistence that the US will take control of Greenland.

    Both prior to taking office and since, Trump has spoken about a desire for the US to acquire Greenland, an autonomous territory that is part of Denmark. This revives a proposal he floated in 2019, and is now being advanced with serious intent.

    Trump’s interest in Greenland is framed around US security. The island is strategically located in the GIUK (Greenland-Iceland-United Kingdom) Gap. The gap gained prominence during the Cold War as an area where Soviet nuclear submarines could operate in the Atlantic Ocean proximate to the US and its NATO partners. Denmark’s limited naval capacity meant these Soviet submarine incursions were uncontested.

    Washington has always appreciated the strategic significance of Greenland. It was used during the second world war as a US military staging point due to its relative safety from the European theatre of war and its capacity as a stopover for aircraft to refuel.

    Later, during the Cold War, the Thule US Airbase was constructed on its northwest coast, later becoming the Pituffik Space Base.

    Trump is particularly concerned about Russian and Chinese ships operating offshore near Greenland in the Arctic Ocean, and with ensuring US access to rare earth minerals on the island.

    All of these are legitimate US security and strategic interests. It is often forgotten that the US is an Arctic nation by virtue of Alaska, and Greenland is adjacent to North America.

    However, Greenland is not terra nullius ripe for American colonisation. It is recognised as Danish territory. Any dispute over a Danish claim to the island was resolved by an international court in 1933, and since that time Denmark has overseen Greenlandic affairs without challenge. Any suggestion Denmark’s sovereignty over Greenland is contested has no foundation.

    While Denmark has been a colonial power, there has been an active process underway to grant the 57,000 Greenlanders increased autonomy from Copenhagen. Home rule has been granted, a legislature has been created, and a road map exists for self-determination that may eventually see the emergence of an independent Greenland.

    Seeking to honour the responsibility Copenhagen feels for ushering Greenlanders through this process, Denmark has made clear that Greenland is not for sale.

    The most breathtaking aspect of Trump’s Greenland territorial ambitions has been the refusal to rule out the US using economic or military means to acquire it.

    This ignores the fact that Greenland is part of Denmark (a NATO member) and that indigenous Greenlanders possess a right of self-determination. Moreover, any use of US military force to take Greenland would be in violation of both the 1949 North Atlantic Treaty on which NATO is founded and the 1945 United Nations Charter.

    Respect for territorial integrity was one of foundations on which the UN Charter was built. The intention of the UN’s founders during the San Francisco Conference was to ensure military force could not be used to acquire territory through an act of aggression resulting in the annexation of territory.

    Article 2 of the charter reflects this core principle. Its violation has repeatedly been seen as an egregious breach of international law. Iraq’s 1990 invasion and annexation of Kuwait and Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine are examples of the international community uniting to condemn blatant uses of military force for territorial gain.

    Other than Denmark, its Scandinavian neighbours and some NATO members, Trump’s Greenland territorial ambitions have been met with diplomatic silence. What is taking place behind closed doors and in the foreign ministries of US allies and partners can only be imagined.

    For Australia, this raises fundamental issues regarding the US alliance. Would Australia be prepared to stand beside the US if it used its economic and military might to acquire Greenland?

    Australia has a bipartisan position of both supporting the American alliance and the “rules-based” international order on which the UN is based. AUKUS is founded on these assumptions. Any US economic or military aggression over Greenland may force Australia into making a choice between America or the rule of law.

    The Conversation

    Donald Rothwell receives funding from the Australian Research Council.

    – ref. Trump says he wants to take Greenland. International law says otherwise – https://theconversation.com/trump-says-he-wants-to-take-greenland-international-law-says-otherwise-248682

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –