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Category: Middle East

  • PM Modi receives Ghana’s highest civilian award, now honoured by 24 countries

    Source: Government of India

    Source: Government of India (4)

    Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is on a five-nation tour, was on Wednesday conferred with Ghana’s highest civilian award — the Officer of the Order of the Star of Ghana.

    The honour was bestowed during his landmark visit to the West African nation, the first by an Indian Prime Minister in over three decades.

    With this, PM Modi has now received the highest civilian honours from 24 countries, the most by any Indian leader. These prestigious accolades include Russia’s Order of St. Andrew, the UAE’s Zayed Medal, France’s Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour, the Maldives’ Rule of Nishan Izzuddin, as well as similar recognitions from Nigeria, Cyprus, Fiji, and others.

    Accepting the award, PM Modi dedicated it to the 1.4 billion citizens of India, particularly its youth, rich cultural traditions, and diversity. He also highlighted the deep-rooted ties between India and Ghana, built on a shared foundation of democratic values and mutual respect.

    July 3, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Africa: Qatar Participates in 8th Plenary, Closing Sessions of Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development

    Source: Government of Qatar

    Seville, July 2, 2025

    The State of Qatar has participated in the Eighth Plenary and Closing Sessions of the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development, held in Seville, Spain.

    HE Minister of State for International Cooperation Maryam bint Ali bin Nasser Al Misnad, represented the State of Qatar in both sessions.

    The conference concluded with the adoption of a comprehensive document affirming that financing for development should not remain synonymous with traditional aid, but rather should transform into a sustainable investment approach that leads to the creation of opportunities and economic growth in developing countries.

    The document noted that reforming the global financial system is an urgent necessity, including enhancing the representation of developing countries in international financial institutions, improving borrowing conditions to align with development capabilities, and imposing fair taxes on wealth and environmentally polluting activities.

    The document noted that reducing inequality between and within countries can only be achieved through transparent and equitable financing that takes into account the needs of vulnerable and marginalized groups.

    In this context, it emphasized that the global debt crisis must not impede development.

    Therefore, the document supported innovative mechanisms, including debt-for-development or climate investment swaps, automatic debt service suspension in emergencies and disasters, and the establishment of a global debt registry to enhance transparency and accountability.

    It is worth noting that the Doha 2023 Declaration established the framework for the principles of economic justice and support for least developed countries, while the Seville Declaration is expected to operationalize these principles through a multilateral implementation platform based on innovative financing tools and new development alliances.

    The Doha 2023 Declaration affirmed the recognition of accumulated challenges and acknowledged that least developed countries are suffering from accumulated crises, including the repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, rising debt, lack of financing and investment, and fragile supply chains.

    The Doha Declaration also included a comprehensive vision for development through 2031, encompassing a program of six priority tracks: investing in human capital (health, education, and social protection), accelerating digital transformation, addressing climate change and enhancing resilience, supporting integration into the global economy, strengthening governance and institutions, and mobilizing resources and concessional financing.

    The Doha 2023 Declaration also called for enhancing access to concessional financing and grants, debt relief or cancellation, increasing the share of least developed countries in global trade, and accelerating the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

    The Seville Declaration represents a pivotal link in a series of global initiatives and establishes a new phase of investment- and equity-based development financing, in preparation for the in-depth review of the international community’s commitments to least developed countries, which will be held in Doha next November.

    MIL OSI Africa –

    July 3, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Submissions: Moon mining is getting closer to reality: Why we need global rules for extracting space resources

    Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Martina Elia Vitoloni, DCL Candidate Air and Space Law, McGill University

    Mountains on the moon as seen by NASA Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. (NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University)

    In science-fiction stories, companies often mine the moon or asteroids. While this may seem far-fetched, this idea is edging closer to becoming reality.

    Celestial bodies like the moon contain valuable resources, such as lunar regolith — also known as moon dust — and helium-3. These resources could serve a range of applications, including making rocket propellant and generating energy to sustaining long missions, bringing benefits in space and on Earth.

    The first objective on this journey is being able to collect lunar regolith. One company taking up this challenge is ispace, a Japanese space exploration company ispace that signed a contract with NASA in 2020 for the collection and transfer of ownership of lunar regolith.

    The company recently attempted to land its RESILIENCE lunar lander, but the mission was ultimately unsuccessful. Still, this endeavour marked a significant move toward the commercialization of space resources.

    These circumstances give rise to a fundamental question: what are the legal rules governing the exploitation of space resources? The answer is both simple and complex, as there is a mix of international agreements and evolving regulations to consider.

    What does the international legal system say?

    The cornerstone legal instrument for space activity is the Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies, more commonly referred to as the Outer Space Treaty.

    While space law is often considered a novel legal field, the Outer Space Treaty dates back to 1967, making it more than half a century old.



    Read more:
    Space exploration should aim for peace, collaboration and co-operation, not war and competition

    Space activities have exponentially evolved since the treaty’s adoption. In the 60 years following the launch of Sputnik 1 — the first satellite placed in orbit — less than 500 space objects were launched annually. But since 2018, this number has risen into the thousands, with nearly 3,000 launched in 2024.

    Because of this, the treaty is often judged as inadequate to address the current complexities of space activities, particularly resource exploitation.

    A longstanding debate centres on whether Article II of the treaty, which prohibits the appropriation of outer space — including the moon and other celestial bodies — also prohibits space mining.

    The prevailing position is that Article II solely bans the appropriation of territory, not the extraction of resources themselves.

    We are now at a crucial moment in the development of space law. Arguing over whether extraction is legal serves no purpose. Instead, the focus must shift to ensuring resource extraction is carried out in accordance with principles that ensure the safe and responsible use of outer space.

    International and national space laws

    A significant development in the governance of space resources has been the adoption Artemis Accords, which — as of June 2025 — has 55 signatory nations. The accords reflect a growing international consensus concerning the exploitation of space resources.

    Notably, Section 10 of the accords indicates that the exploitation of space resources does not constitute appropriation, and therefore doesn’t violate the Outer Space Treaty.

    Considering the typically slow pace of multilateral negotiations, a handful of nations introduced national legislation. These laws govern the legality of space resource exploitation, allowing private companies to request licenses to conduct this type of activity.

    To date, six nations have enacted this type of legislation: the United States in 2015, Luxembourg in 2017, the United Arab Emirates in 2019, Japan in 2021, Brazil in 2024 and most recently, Italy, which passed its law on June 11, 2025.

    Among these, Luxembourg’s legal framework is the most complete. It provides a series of requirements to provide authorization for the exploitation of space resources. In fact, ispace’s licence to collect lunar regolith was obtained under this regime.

    This first high-resolution image taken on the first day of the Artemis I mission by a camera on the tip of one of Orion’s solar arrays. The spacecraft was 57,000 miles from Earth when the image was captured.
    (NASA)

    The rest of the regulations usually tend to limit themselves to proclaiming the legality of this activity without entering into too much detail and deferring the specifics of implementation to future regulations.

    While these initiatives served to put space resources at the forefront of international forums, they also risk regulatory fragmentation, as different countries adopt varying standards and approaches.

    What does the future hold?

    Recognizing the need for a co-ordinated global approach, the United Nations Committee on Peaceful Uses of Outer Space created a Working Group on Legal Aspects of Space Resource Activities. Its mandate is to develop a set of general principles to guide the development of the activity.

    In May 2025, the chair of the working group, Steven Freeland, presented a draft of recommended principles based on input from member states.

    These principles reaffirm the freedom of use and exploration of outer space for peaceful purposes, while introducing rules pertaining to the safety of the activities and their sustainability, as well as the protection of the environment, both of Earth and outer space.

    The development of a legal framework for space resources is still in its early stages. The working group is expected to submit its final report by 2027, but the non-binding nature of the principles raises concerns about their enforcement and application.

    As humanity moves closer to extracting and using space resources, the need for a cohesive and responsible governance system has never been greater.

    Martina Elia Vitoloni 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. Moon mining is getting closer to reality: Why we need global rules for extracting space resources – https://theconversation.com/moon-mining-is-getting-closer-to-reality-why-we-need-global-rules-for-extracting-space-resources-259343

    MIL OSI –

    July 3, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Submissions: Ghana and India: Narendra Modi’s visit rekindles historical ties

    Source: The Conversation – Africa (2) – By Pius Siakwah, Senior Research Fellow, Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana

    Narendra Modi’s trip to Ghana in July 2025, part of a five-nation visit, is the first by an Indian prime minister in over 30 years. The two countries’ relationship goes back more than half a century to when India helped the newly independent Ghana set up its intelligence agencies. Ghana is also home to several large Indian-owned manufacturing and trading companies. International relations scholar Pius Siakwah unpacks the context of the visit.

    What is the background to Ghana and India’s relationship?

    It can be traced to links between Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana’s first president, and his Indian counterpart, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, in 1957. It is not surprising that the Indian High Commission is located near the seat of the Ghana government, Jubilee House.

    Nkrumah and Nehru were co-founders of the Non-Aligned Movement, a group of states not formally aligned with major power blocs during the cold war. Its principles focused on respect for sovereignty, neutrality, non-interference, and peaceful dispute resolution. It was also a strong voice against the neo-colonial ambitions of some of the large powers.

    The movement emerged in the wave of decolonisation after the second world war. It held its first conference in 1961 under the leadership of Josip Bros Tito (Yugoslavia), Gamal Abdel Nasser (Egypt) and Sukarno (Indonesia) as well as Nehru and Nkrumah.

    The relationship between Ghana and India seemingly went into decline after the overthrow of Nkrumah in 1966, coinciding with the decline of Indian presence in global geopolitics.

    In 2002, President John Kufuor re-energised India-Ghana relations. This led to the Indian government’s financial support in the construction of Ghana’s seat of government in 2008.

    Though the concept of the Non-Aligned Movement has faded this century, its principles have crystallised into south-south cooperation. This is the exchange of knowledge, skills, resources and technologies among regions in the developing world.

    South-south cooperation has fuelled India-Ghana relations. Modi’s diplomatic efforts since 2014 have sought to relaunch India’s presence in Africa.

    In recent times, India has engaged Africa through the India–Africa Forum Summit. The first summit was held in 2008 in New Delhi with 14 countries from Africa. The largest one was held in 2015, while the fourth was postponed in 2020 due to COVID-19. The summit has led to 50,000 scholarships, a focus on renewable energy through the International Solar Alliance and an expansion of the Pan-African e-Network to bridge healthcare and educational gaps. Development projects are financed through India’s EXIM Bank.

    India is now one of Ghana’s major trading partners, importing primary products like minerals, while exporting manufactured products such as pharmaceuticals, transport and agricultural machinery. The Ghana-India Trade Advisory Chamber was established in 2018 for socio-economic exchange.

    Modi’s visit supports the strengthening of economic and defence ties.

    The bilateral trade between India and Ghana moved from US$1 billion in 2011-12 to US$4.5 billion in 2018-19. It then dipped to US$2.2 billion in 2020-21 due to COVID. By 2023, bilateral trade amounted to around US$3.3 billion, making India the third-largest export and import partner behind China and Switzerland.

    Indian companies have invested in over 700 projects in Ghana. These include B5 Plus, a leading iron and steel manufacturer, and Melcom, Ghana’s largest supermarket chain.

    India is also one of the leading sources of foreign direct investment to Ghana. Indian companies had invested over US$2 billion in Ghana by 2021, according to the Ghana Investment Promotion Center.

    What are the key areas of interest?

    The key areas of collaboration are economic, particularly:

    • energy

    • infrastructure (for example, construction of the Tema to Mpakadan railway line)

    • defence

    • technology

    • pharmaceuticals

    • agriculture (agro-processing, mechanisation and irrigation systems)

    • industrial (light manufacturing).

    What’s the bigger picture?

    Modi’s visit is part of a broader visit to strengthen bilateral ties and a follow-up to the Brics Summit, July 2025 in Brazil. Thus, whereas South Africa is often seen as the gateway to Africa, Ghana is becoming the opening to west Africa.

    Modi’s visit can be viewed in several ways.

    First, India as a neo-colonialist. Some commentators see India’s presence as just a continuation of exploitative relations. This manifests in financial and agricultural exploitation and land grabbing.

    Second, India as smart influencer. This is where the country adopts a low profile but benefits from soft power, linguistic, cultural and historical advantages, and good relationships at various societal and governmental levels.

    Third, India as a perennial underdog. India has less funds, underdeveloped communications, limited diplomatic capacity, little soft power advantage, and an underwhelming media presence compared to China. China is able to project its power in Africa through project financing and loans, visible diplomatic presence with visits and media coverage in Ghana. Some of the coverage of Chinese activities in Ghana is negative – illegal mining (galamsey) is an example. India benefits from limited negative media presence but its contributions in areas of pharmaceuticals and infrastructure don’t get attention.

    Modi will want his visit to build on ideas of south-south cooperation, soft power and smart operating. He’ll want to refute notions that India is a perennial underdog or a neo-colonialist in a new scramble for Africa.

    In 2025, Ghana has to navigate a complex geopolitical space.

    Pius Siakwah 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. Ghana and India: Narendra Modi’s visit rekindles historical ties – https://theconversation.com/ghana-and-india-narendra-modis-visit-rekindles-historical-ties-260281

    MIL OSI –

    July 3, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Submissions: The US and Israel’s attack may have left Iran stronger

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Bamo Nouri, Honorary Research Fellow, City St George’s, University of London

    Israel’s attack on Iran last month and the US bombing of the country’s nuclear facilities, the first-ever direct US attacks on Iranian soil, were meant to cripple Tehran’s strategic capabilities and reset the regional balance.

    The strikes came after 18 months during which Israel had effectively dismantled Hamas in Gaza, dealt a devastating blow to Hezbollah in Lebanon, weakened the Houthis in Yemen, and seen the collapse of the Assad regime in Syria – a longstanding and key Iranian ally.

    From a military standpoint, these were remarkable achievements. But they failed to deliver the strategic outcome Israeli and US leaders had long hoped for: the collapse of Iran’s influence and the weakening of its regime.

    Instead, the confrontation exposed a deeper miscalculation. Iran’s power isn’t built on impulse or vulnerable proxies alone. It is decentralised, ideologically entrenched and designed to endure. While battered, the Islamic Republic did not fall. And now, it may be more determined – and more dangerous – than before.

    Get your news from actual experts, straight to your inbox. Sign up to our daily newsletter to receive all The Conversation UK’s latest coverage of news and research, from politics and business to the arts and sciences.

    Israel’s attack – dubbed “operation rising lion” – began with attacks on Iranian radar systems, followed by precision airstrikes on Iranian enrichment facilities and senior military officers and scientists. Israel spent roughly US$1.45 (£1.06 billion) billion in the first two days and in the first week of strikes on Iran, costs hit US$5 billion, with daily spending at US$725 million: US$593 million on offensive operations and US$132 million on defence and mobilization.

    Iran’s response was swift. More than 1,000 drones and 550 ballistic missiles, including precision-guided and hypersonic variants. Israeli defences were breached. Civilian infrastructure was hit, ports closed, and the economy stalled

    The day after the US strikes, the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, spoke with Donald Trump about a ceasefire. He and his generals were reportedly keen to bring the conflict to a speedy end. Reports suggest that Netanyahu wanted to avoid a lengthy war of attrition that Israel could not sustain, and was already looking for an exit strategy.

    Crucially, the Iranian regime remained intact. Rather than inciting revolt, the war rallied nationalist sentiment. Opposition movements remain fractured and lack a common platform or domestic legitimacy. Hopes of a popular uprising that might topple the regime expressed by both Trump and Netanyahu were misplaced.

    In the aftermath, Iranian authorities launched a sweeping crackdown on suspected dissenters and what it referred to as “spies”. Former activists, reformists and loosely affiliated protest organisers were arrested or interrogated. What was meant to fracture the regime instead reinforced its grip on power.

    Most notably, Iran’s parliament voted to suspend cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), ending inspections and giving Tehran the freedom to expand its nuclear programme – both civilian and potentially military – without oversight.

    Perhaps the clearest misreading came from Israel and the US treating Syria as a template. The 2024 fall of Bashar al-Assad was hailed as a turning point. His successor, Ahmed al-Sharaa – a little-known opposition figure, former al-Qaeda insurgent and IS affiliate – was rebranded as a pragmatic reformer, who Trump praised as “attractive” and “tough”.

    For western and Israeli strategists, Syria offered both a way to weaken Iran and a blueprint of how eventual regime change could play out: collapse the regime, install cooperative leadership in a swift reordering process. But this analogy was dangerously flawed. Iran’s stronger institutions, military depth, resistance-driven identity and existence made it a fundamentally different and more resilient state.

    Tactical wins, strategic ambiguity

    While Iran’s regional network has taken significant hits over the past year –Hamas dismantled, Hezbollah degraded, the Houthis depleted, and the Assad regime toppled – Tehran recalibrated. It deepened military cooperation with Russia and China, secured covert arms shipments, and accelerated its nuclear ambitions.

    Both Israel and Iran, however, came away with new intelligence. Israel learned that its missile defences and economic resilience were not built for prolonged, multi-front warfare. Iran, meanwhile, gained valuable insight into how far its arsenal – drones, missiles and regional proxies – could reach, and where its limits lie.

    Most of Iran’s drones and missiles were intercepted — up to 99% in the cases of drones — exposing critical weaknesses in accuracy, penetration, and survivability against modern air defenses. Yet the few that did break through caused significant damage in Tel Aviv, striking residential areas and critical infrastructure.

    This war was not only a clash of weapons but a real-time stress test of each side’s strategic depth. Iran may now adjust its doctrine accordingly – prioritising survivability, mobility and precision in anticipation of future conflicts.

    Israel’s vulnerabilities

    Internally, Israel entered the war politically fractured and socially strained. Netanyahu’s far-right coalition was already under fire for attempting to weaken judicial independence. The war has temporarily united the country, but the economic and human toll have reignited deeper concerns.

    Israel’s geographic and demographic constraints have become clear. Its high-tech economy, tightly integrated with global markets, could not weather prolonged instability. And critically, the damage inflicted by the US bombing was more limited than hoped for. While Washington joined in the initial strikes, it resisted deeper involvement, partly to avoid broader regional escalation and largely because of the lack of domestic appetite for war and high potential for energy inflation, if Iran was to close the Strait of Hormuz.

    What happens now?

    The war of 2025 did not produce peace. It produced recalibration. Israel emerges militarily capable but politically shaken and economically strained. Iran, though damaged, stands more unified, with fewer international constraints on its nuclear ambitions. Its crackdown on dissent, withdrawal from IAEA oversight, and deepening ties to rival powers suggest a regime preparing not for collapse, but for survival, perhaps even confrontation.

    The broader lesson is sobering. Regime change cannot be engineered through precision strikes. Tactical brilliance does not guarantee strategic victory. And the assumption that Iran could unravel like Syria was not strategy, it was hubris.

    Both sides now better understand each other’s strengths and limits, a clarity that could deter future war – or make the next one more dangerous. In a region shaped by trauma and shifting power, mistaking resistance for weakness or pause for peace remains the gravest miscalculation.

    Bamo Nouri 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. The US and Israel’s attack may have left Iran stronger – https://theconversation.com/the-us-and-israels-attack-may-have-left-iran-stronger-260314

    MIL OSI –

    July 3, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Submissions: Trump wins again as ‘big beautiful bill’ passes the Senate. What are the lessons for the Democrats?

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Dafydd Townley, Teaching Fellow in US politics and international security, University of Portsmouth

    Donald Trump is continuing his run of political wins after his keynote legislation, nicknamed the ‘big beautiful bill’, squeaked through the Senate.

    While the bill, which includes major cuts in tax and government spending, must now go back to the House of Representatives for another vote, passing the upper house is highly significant. Trump lost the support of just three Republican senators, and with the help of a tie-breaking vote from Vice-President J.D. Vance managed to push the bill forward.

    Democrats, the minority in both the House and Senate, have been unable to do anything but sit by and watch as Trump claims victory after victory. These include progress in his attempt to end birthright citizenship, the claimed destruction of significant Iranian nuclear sites (yet to be independently verified) and the convincing of Nato member states to increase defence spending to 5% of their GDP. Trump may even be getting closer to a peace deal between Israel and Hamas.

    And now the Democrats have failed in their desperate attempts to stop this bill. In the Senate, it was felt that there could be enough Republican senators concerned about cuts to Medicaid (the US system that provides essential healthcare to those on low incomes), the closure or reduction of services at rural hospitals, and the increase in national debt to potentially hinder the bill’s progress. However, Democrats were unable to do anything apart from delaying the voting process, and the bill is progressing with some changes but not enough to be severely weakened.

    It had seemed likely that the Democrats could work with the Maga-focused Freedom Caucus group of representatives, whose members include Marjorie Taylor Greene, in the early stages in the House to stop its initial passage. But Speaker Mike Johnson managed to calm most of their fears about the rise in the deficit to get the bill through the House.

    The lack of effective opposition from the Democrats reflects their congressional standing. The Republicans control the Senate 53-47, and they also have a majority of 220-212 in the House, with three vacancies.

    While Democrat numbers in Congress is the primary issue in opposing this bill, their future congressional power will rely on strong leadership within the party and, more importantly, a clear set of policies with appeal that can attract more support at the ballot boxes. Failure to address this will probably allow Republicans to dominate Congress and shape American domestic and foreign policy any way they wish for longer.

    Trump’s agenda has now passed the Senate.

    What could Democrats do differently?

    While Democrat Hakeem Jeffries has been a diligent minority leader in the House, he has attempted to operate as an obstacle to Republican policies with little success, rather than reaching across the political divide to create a consensus with dissenting Republicans.

    Outside of Congress, California governor Gavin Newsom, widely touted as a potential candidate for the next presidential election, has offered some resistance to the Trump administration, particularly over Trump’s assumption of national command over the state-controlled National Guard to deal with protests in California against the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. However, Newsom’s reputation is still relatively regional, although it is on the rise.

    Zohran Mamdani has won the Democratic nomination for New York mayor.

    There will be jostling over the next couple of years for the Democratic presidential nomination, and this will have an impact on the platform that the party runs on. Party members and those voting for the next presidential nominee will need to decide whether to continue with the mainly centrist position that the party has adopted since the 1990s or adopt something more left-wing.

    A more radical candidate, such as New York representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, might offer a substantially different proposal that could seem attractive to Democratic voters and those Trump supporters who may feel dissatisfied with the current Republican administration.

    However, democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani, recently selected as the Democratic nominee for the New York mayoral election, has already been vilified by some in the Republican party.

    Concerns about such a supposedly “radical” candidate may concern many voters in red states in middle America. However, getting elected is one thing but implementing progressive, left-leaning policies is another thing entirely. They also need to deliver solutions to major issues, such as crime, at all levels, to show their abilities to solve problems.

    It is not just the policies that matter for the Democrats, but who they want to represent. Last year’s election suggested that the Democrats had been ousted as the representatives of the working class. Some significant labour unions, a foundation of Democratic support for the majority of the 20th century, failed to endorse Kamala Harris.

    Mamdani’s success in New York stemmed from the mobilisation of a grassroots campaign that used social media effectively. It targeted young working-class voters disenchanted with the Democratic party. He also resonated with voters in areas that had seen an increase in Republican voters in the 2024 election.

    All this may offer some lessons to the Democrats. They need to reassess their policies, their image and their tactics, and show Americans that they can solve the problems that the public sees as most important, including the high cost of living. While they can expect to gain seats in the House in next year’s midterms, they need to look for a leader and policies that will capture the public’s hearts.

    Dafydd Townley 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. Trump wins again as ‘big beautiful bill’ passes the Senate. What are the lessons for the Democrats? – https://theconversation.com/trump-wins-again-as-big-beautiful-bill-passes-the-senate-what-are-the-lessons-for-the-democrats-260038

    MIL OSI –

    July 3, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Submissions: Comics and graphic novels can empower refugees to tell their stories on their own terms

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Dominic Davies, Reader in English, City St George’s, University of London

    There are more refugees in the world today than at any other point in history. The United Nations estimates that there are now more than 120 million people forcibly displaced from their homes. That is one in every 69 people on Earth. Some 73% of this population is hosted in lower or middle-income countries.

    From the legacies of European colonialism to global inequality, drone warfare and climate instability, politicians have failed to address the causes driving this mass displacement. Instead, far-right parties exploit the crisis by inflaming cultures of hatred and hostility towards migrants, particularly in high-income western countries.

    This is exacerbated by visual media, which makes refugees an easy target by denying them the means of telling their own stories on their own terms. Pictures of migrants on boats or climbing over border walls are everywhere in tabloid newspapers and on social media. But these images are rarely accompanied by any detailed account of the brutal experiences that force people into these situations.

    In our new book, Graphic Refuge: Visuality and Mobility in Refugee Comics, we show how a growing genre of “refugee comics” is challenging this visual culture through a range of storytelling strategies and innovations in illustration. Comprised of multiple images arranged into sequences and interspersed with speech bubbles and caption boxes, refugee comics disrupt a media landscape that tends to reduce migrants to either threats or victims.

    Looking for something good? Cut through the noise with a carefully curated selection of the latest releases, live events and exhibitions, straight to your inbox every fortnight, on Fridays. Sign up here.

    Many different kinds of visual storytelling live under the umbrella of refugee comics. They include short strips and stories, such as A Perilous Journey (2016) with testimonies from people fleeing the civil war in Syria, and Cabramatta (2019), about growing up as a Vietnamese migrant in a Sydney suburb. They also include codex-bound graphic novels, such as The Best We Could Do by Thi Bui (2017), and interactive web-comics such as Exodus by Jasper Rietman (2018).

    They include documentaries made by journalists about the specific experiences of individual refugees. They also include fiction by artists who combine elements of several refugee testimonies into representative stories. Additionally, there are both fictional and non-fictional artworks made by migrants and refugees themselves.

    Refugee comics address different forced mass displacements over the 20th and 21st centuries. These include the 1948 Nakba in Palestine, the 1970s flight of refugees from Vietnam and the 2010s displacement of people from Syria and other countries across sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East.

    These refugee comics challenge anti-migrant images in at least three ways. First, they often integrate the direct testimonies of refugees. This is enhanced by the combination of words and pictures that comprise the comics page, which allows refugees to frame the way we see and respond to images of displaced people.

    For example, in The Unwanted by Joe Sacco (2012), familiar images of migrants crossing the Mediterranean on small boats are narrated by a refugee called Jon. Jon’s testimony turns our attention to the fears and desires that drive people to attempt dangerous sea crossings.

    A second way comics challenge anti-migrant images is by allowing refugees to tell their stories without disclosing their identities. Because comics are drawn by hand and use abstract icons rather than photographs, refugees can tell their stories while also avoiding any unwanted scrutiny while also maintaining personal privacy. This reintroduces refugee agency into a visual culture that often seeks to reduce migrants to voiceless victims or security threats.

    For example, in Escaping Wars and Waves: Encounters with Syrian Refugees (2018) German comics journalist Olivier Kugler dedicates two pages to a man he calls “The Afghan” because he didn’t want his name or identity revealed. Kugler presents this man’s testimony of failed attempts to get to the UK, but he never draws his face or refers to him by name.

    The third way comics challenge anti-migrant images is by shifting our attention from refugees themselves to the hostile environments and border infrastructures that they are forced to travel through and inhabit. Refugee researchers describe this different way of seeing as a “places and spaces, not faces” approach.

    For instance, in Undocumented: The Architecture of Migrant Detention (2017), Tings Chak walks her readers through migrant detention centres from the perspective of those who are being processed and detained.

    Drawing displacement

    This emphasis on place and space is built into the structure of our own book, Graphic Refuge. We begin by focusing on graphic stories about ocean crossings, particularly on the Mediterranean sea. We then turn to comics concerned with the experience of refugee camps, and we also ask how interactive online comics bring viewers into virtual refugee spaces in a variety of ways.

    It is the obliteration of homes that forces people to become refugees in the first place. Later in the book, we explore how illustrated stories document the destruction of cityscapes across Syria and also in Gaza. Finally, we turn to graphic autobiographies by second-generation refugees, those who have grown up in places such as the US or Australia, but who must still negotiate the trauma of their parents’ displacement.

    Where most previous studies of refugee comics have focused on trauma and empathy, in Graphic Refuge we take a different approach. We set out to show how refugee comics represent migrant agency and desire, and how we are all implicated in the histories and systems that have created the very idea of the modern refugee.

    As critical refugee scholar Vinh Nguyen writes in our book’s foreword, while it is difficult to truly know what refugee lives are like, those of us who enjoy the privileges of citizenship can at least read these comics to better understand “what we – we who can sleep under warm covers at night – are capable of”.

    This article features references to books that have been included for editorial reasons, and may contain links to bookshop.org. If you click on one of the links and go on to buy something from bookshop.org The Conversation UK may earn a commission.

    The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Comics and graphic novels can empower refugees to tell their stories on their own terms – https://theconversation.com/comics-and-graphic-novels-can-empower-refugees-to-tell-their-stories-on-their-own-terms-258943

    MIL OSI –

    July 3, 2025

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: Gaza: Evidence points to Israel’s continued use of starvation to inflict genocide against Palestinians  

    Source: Amnesty International –

    Evidence gathered by Amnesty International demonstrates how over a month since the introduction of its militarized aid distribution system, Israel has continued to use starvation of civilians as a weapon of war against Palestinians in the occupied Gaza Strip and to deliberately impose conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical destruction as part of its ongoing genocide. 

    Heartbreaking testimonies gathered from medical staff, parents of children hospitalized for malnutrition and displaced Palestinians struggling to survive paint a horrifying picture of acute levels of starvation and desperation in Gaza. Their accounts provide further evidence of the catastrophic suffering caused by Israel’s ongoing restrictions on life-saving aid and its deadly militarized aid scheme coupled with mass forced displacement, relentless bombardment and destruction of life-sustaining infrastructure. 

    “While the eyes of the world were diverted to the recent hostilities between Israel and Iran, Israel’s genocide has continued unabated in Gaza, including through the infliction of conditions of life that have created a deadly mix of hunger and disease pushing the population past breaking point,” said Agnès Callamard, Secretary General of Amnesty International.  

    In the month following Israel’s imposition of a militarized “‘aid” scheme run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), hundreds of Palestinians have been killed and thousands injured either near militarized distribution sites or en route to humanitarian aid convoys.  

    This devastating daily loss of life as desperate Palestinians try to collect aid is the consequence of their deliberate targeting by Israeli forces and the foreseeable consequence of irresponsible and lethal methods of distribution.

    Agnès Callamard, Secretary General of Amnesty International.

    “This devastating daily loss of life as desperate Palestinians try to collect aid is the consequence of their deliberate targeting by Israeli forces and the foreseeable consequence of irresponsible and lethal methods of distribution,” said Agnès Callamard. 

    By continuing to prevent UN and other key humanitarian organizations from distributing certain essential items, like food parcels, fuel and shelter, within Gaza and by maintaining a deadly, dehumanizing and ineffective militarized ‘aid’ scheme, Israeli authorities have turned aid-seeking into a booby trap for desperate starved Palestinians. They have also deliberately fueled chaos and compounded suffering instead of alleviating it. The aid delivered is also way below the humanitarian needs of a population that has been experiencing almost daily bombings for the last 20 months.  

    Israel has continued to restrict the entry of aid and impose its suffocating cruel blockade and even a full siege lasting nearly eighty days.

    Agnès Callamard.

    “As the occupying power, Israel has a legal obligation to ensure Palestinians in Gaza have access to food, medicine and other supplies essential for their survival. Instead, it has brazenly defied binding orders issued by the International Court of Justice in January, March and May 2024, to allow the unimpeded flow of aid to Gaza. Israel has continued to restrict the entry of aid and impose its suffocating cruel blockade and even a full siege lasting nearly eighty days,” said Agnès Callamard. 

    This must end now. Israel must lift all restrictions and allow unfettered, safe, and dignified access to humanitarian aid throughout Gaza immediately.” 

    Amnesty International interviewed 17 internally displaced people (10 women and seven men) as well as the parents of four children hospitalized for severe malnutrition, and four healthcare workers, across three hospitals in Gaza City and Khan Younis in May and June 2025.  

    Devastating impact on children 

    Even before the imposition of a total siege on 2 March 2025, slightly but insufficiently eased some 78 days later, Israel’s deliberate imposition of conditions of life calculated to destroy Palestinians had had a particularly devastating impact on young children and pregnant and breastfeeding women.  

    Since October 2023 at least 66 children have died as a direct result of malnutrition-related conditions. This figure does not include the many more children who have died as a result of preventable diseases exacerbated by malnutrition.  

    The victims include four-month-old baby, Jinan Iskafi, who tragically died on 3 May 2025 due to severe malnutrition. According to her medical report, which was reviewed by Amnesty International, Jinan was admitted to the Rantissi pediatric hospital due to severe dehydration and recurrent infections. She was diagnosed with Marasmus, a severe form of protein-energy malnutrition, chronic diarrhea, and a suspected case of immunodeficiency. The pediatrician treating her told Amnesty International that she required a specific lactose-free formula, which was not available due to the blockade.  

    Gaza’s decimated health sector, already overwhelmed with the volume of injuries, is struggling to deal with the influx of infants and children hospitalized for malnutrition. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), as of 15 June 2025, a total of 18,741, children were hospitalized for acute malnutrition since the beginning of the year.  

    The vast majority of children suffering from malnutrition, however, cannot reach any hospital due to access challenges posed by displacement orders and heavy bombardment and ongoing military operations. 

    Numbers barely scratch the surface of the suffering in Gaza 

     Accounts from healthcare workers and displaced individuals paint an even more harrowing picture.  

    Susan Maarouf, a nutritional expert at the Nutrition unit in the Patient Friend Benevolent Society hospital in Gaza City, supported by the organizations Medical Aid for Palestinians and MedGlobal, said that in June 2024 the hospital opened a dedicated department for children aged six months to and five years to manage cases of severe malnutrition.   

    “Back then, Gaza City and the North Gaza governorate were hit by malnutrition [as a result of the tight blockade]. But this year for us the situation began to drastically get worse again in April. Since then, out of approximately 200-250 children we have screened daily for malnutrition. Nearly 15% showed signs associated with severe or moderate malnutrition,” she said. 

    In the worst cases visible signs include pale skin, falling hair and nails, and alarming weight loss. She expressed the profound helplessness of offering nutritional advice amid severe shortages of food, with fruit, vegetables and eggs only available at exorbitant prices, if at all: “In an ideal world, I would recommend the parents to provide the child with nutritious food, rich with protein. I would advise that they maintain a hygienic environment for their children; I would stress the importance of clean water… In our situation… any recommendation you give … sometimes you feel like you are rubbing salt into these parents’ wounds.” 

    Dr. Maarouf described the relentless cycle of malnutrition stating that in some cases children were re-hospitalized after being discharged:  

    “We treated one little girl, aged six, for nutritional edema, she had severe protein deficiency when she came in early May; with the treatment we gave her she showed signs of improvement, including gaining weight, becoming livelier… unfortunately she was recently admitted again because her condition relapsed. Like most families in Gaza, her family is displaced; they live in a tent; they have to rely on the lentil or rice they get from the community kitchen. It’s a cycle. With no aid getting in, you feel like as a hospital you only patch up the wound but eventually it will burst again.” 

    Doctors have also warned that the lives of newborn babies are at risk amid acute shortages of baby formula milk, especially for children with lactose-intolerance or other allergies.  

    One doctor said: “There is a milk crisis in Gaza overall. Also, we notice that new mothers, because they themselves are not eating properly or because of the panic, trauma and anxiety, are unable to breastfeed. So, to secure baby formula at all is a struggle. But if your child has allergies, it’s almost impossible to find special formula in any of Gaza’s hospitals for infants the failure to secure special baby formula can be a death sentence.” 

    At Nasser hospital in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, Dr. Wafaa Abu Nimer confirmed the dire situation, reporting that by 30 June 2025, 9 children were still being treated for malnutrition-related complications at her facility alone. She described the scenes they have witnessed over the past two months as “really unprecedented” with severe cases of nutritional edema or marasmus, muscle wasting. She also said that some are additionally suffering from injuries due to explosions from which they have not recovered.  

    Dr. Abu Nimer said that since Israel’s new aid distribution scheme began there has been no signs of improvement in the situation with hundreds of children screened for malnutrition on a daily basis in their pediatric emergency room. Mass displacement orders issued to the Khan Younis governorate in May made Nasser hospital out of reach for thousands of displaced families.  

    Dr. Abu Nimer described to Amnesty how the impact on children extends beyond the physical. “One girl whose hair fell out almost completely as a result of nutritional edema, kept asking me ‘doctor, will my hair grow again? Am I [still] beautiful?’ Abu Nimer said. “Even if these children recover completely, the scars will always remain with them. Medically we know that malnutrition amongst infants and small children may have long-term cognitive and developmental effects, but I don’t think enough attention is being given to the mental health and psychological impact [of starvation and war] on children and parents.”  

    She also conveyed the exhaustion felt by medical staff: “We as doctors are also exhausted, we are malnourished ourselves, most of us are also displaced and live in tents, yet we do our best to offer medical care, provide nutrient supplements and as much support as we can. We try to save lives, we try to alleviate the suffering, but there is very little we can do after discharge.” 

    Weaponized aid  

    While Israeli authorities continue to impose their unlawful blockade on the entry of aid and commercial supplies into the occupied Gaza Strip, hundreds of aid trucks remain stuck outside Gaza, waiting for an Israeli permit to enter.  

    OCHA reported that as of 16 June 2025, 852 trucks for UN and international humanitarian organizations, the majority of which carry food supplies, remain stuck in Al-Arish in Egypt, yet to receive a permit from the Israeli authorities to enter Gaza. Moreover, the partial easing of the total siege on 19 May did not include easing restrictions on certain critical supplies, such as fuel and cooking gas, which have not been allowed into Gaza since 2 March. Without fuel, electricity cannot be produced to allow, for example, life-saving medical devices to function.   

    Only a trickle of the extremely limited aid allowed by Israel into Gaza reaches those in need. It is either distributed through the inhumane and deadly militarized scheme run by the GHF, or is offloaded by desperate starved civilians, and in some cases, organized gangs. This grim reality is compounded by Israel’s deliberate destruction of or denial of access to life-sustaining infrastructure, including some of Gaza’s most fertile agricultural land and food production sources, like greenhouses and poultry farms.   

    The World Food Programme and local organizations were for the first time permitted to distribute flour in Gaza City on 26 June 2025. The relatively smooth distribution that took place with thousands waiting their turn and no reported injuries is a damning indictment of Israel’s militarized GHF scheme.  All the evidence gathered, including testimonies which Amnesty International is receiving from victims and witnesses, suggest that the GHF was designed so as to placate international concerns while constituting another tool of Israel’s genocide.   

    “Not only has the international community failed to stop this genocide, but it has also allowed Israel to constantly reinvent new ways to destroy Palestinian lives in Gaza and trample on their human dignity,” said Agnès Callamard.  

    “States must cease their inertia and live up to their legal obligations. They must exercise all necessary pressure to ensure Israel lifts immediately and unconditionally its awful blockade and ends the genocide in Gaza. They must end any form of contribution to Israel’s unlawful conduct or risk complicity in atrocity crimes. This requires immediately suspending all military support to Israel, banning trade and investment that contribute to Israel’s genocide or other grave violations of international law.  

    “States should also adopt targeted sanctions, through international and regional mechanisms, against those Israeli officials most implicated in international crimes and cooperate with the International Criminal Court, including by implementing its arrest warrants.” 

    Background 

    According to figures obtained from the Palestinian Ministry of Health, the under-five mortality rate for 2024 in Gaza was recorded at 32.7 deaths per 1,000 live births, representing a sharp increase compared to the 13.6 rate reported in 2022. Maternal mortality has also more than doubled from an estimated 19 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2022 to 43 deaths per 100,000 in 2024. 

    MIL OSI NGO –

    July 3, 2025

  • UN expert urges states to cut Israel trade ties over ‘apocalyptic’ Gaza situation

    Source: Government of India

    Source: Government of India (4)

    A U.N. expert on Thursday called on states to impose an arms embargo and cut off trade and financial ties with Israel, which she alleged is waging a “genocidal campaign” in Gaza.

    In a speech to the U.N. Human Rights Council, U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories Francesca Albanese said: “The situation in the occupied Palestinian territory is apocalyptic.”

    “Israel is responsible for one of the cruellest genocides in modern history,” she added, in a speech that was met with a burst of applause from the Geneva council.

    Israel’s diplomatic mission in Geneva did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Albanese’s speech.

    Israel has rejected accusations of genocide in Gaza, citing its right to self-defence following the deadly October 7, 2023, Hamas attack. Its delegate was not present in the room in line with a new policy to disengage with the council which Israel says has an antisemitic bias.

    Albanese, one of dozens of independent U.N.-mandated experts to document abuses around the world, was presenting her latest report which named over 60 companies she said were involved in supporting Israeli settlements and military actions in Gaza.

    “What I expose is not a list, it is a system, and that is to be addressed,” she told the council.

    “We must reverse the tide,” she added, calling for states to impose a full arms embargo, suspend all trade agreements and ensure companies face legal consequences for their involvement in violations of international law.

    Israel’s diplomatic mission in Geneva earlier this week said Albanese’s latest report was “legally groundless, defamatory and a flagrant abuse of her office”.

    (Reuters)

    July 3, 2025

  • UN expert urges states to cut Israel trade ties over ‘apocalyptic’ Gaza situation

    Source: Government of India

    Source: Government of India (4)

    A U.N. expert on Thursday called on states to impose an arms embargo and cut off trade and financial ties with Israel, which she alleged is waging a “genocidal campaign” in Gaza.

    In a speech to the U.N. Human Rights Council, U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories Francesca Albanese said: “The situation in the occupied Palestinian territory is apocalyptic.”

    “Israel is responsible for one of the cruellest genocides in modern history,” she added, in a speech that was met with a burst of applause from the Geneva council.

    Israel’s diplomatic mission in Geneva did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Albanese’s speech.

    Israel has rejected accusations of genocide in Gaza, citing its right to self-defence following the deadly October 7, 2023, Hamas attack. Its delegate was not present in the room in line with a new policy to disengage with the council which Israel says has an antisemitic bias.

    Albanese, one of dozens of independent U.N.-mandated experts to document abuses around the world, was presenting her latest report which named over 60 companies she said were involved in supporting Israeli settlements and military actions in Gaza.

    “What I expose is not a list, it is a system, and that is to be addressed,” she told the council.

    “We must reverse the tide,” she added, calling for states to impose a full arms embargo, suspend all trade agreements and ensure companies face legal consequences for their involvement in violations of international law.

    Israel’s diplomatic mission in Geneva earlier this week said Albanese’s latest report was “legally groundless, defamatory and a flagrant abuse of her office”.

    (Reuters)

    July 3, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Analysis: Ghana and India: Narendra Modi’s visit rekindles historical ties

    Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Pius Siakwah, Senior Research Fellow, Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana

    Narendra Modi’s trip to Ghana in July 2025, part of a five-nation visit, is the first by an Indian prime minister in over 30 years. The two countries’ relationship goes back more than half a century to when India helped the newly independent Ghana set up its intelligence agencies. Ghana is also home to several large Indian-owned manufacturing and trading companies. International relations scholar Pius Siakwah unpacks the context of the visit.

    What is the background to Ghana and India’s relationship?

    It can be traced to links between Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana’s first president, and his Indian counterpart, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, in 1957. It is not surprising that the Indian High Commission is located near the seat of the Ghana government, Jubilee House.

    Nkrumah and Nehru were co-founders of the Non-Aligned Movement, a group of states not formally aligned with major power blocs during the cold war. Its principles focused on respect for sovereignty, neutrality, non-interference, and peaceful dispute resolution. It was also a strong voice against the neo-colonial ambitions of some of the large powers.

    The movement emerged in the wave of decolonisation after the second world war. It held its first conference in 1961 under the leadership of Josip Bros Tito (Yugoslavia), Gamal Abdel Nasser (Egypt) and Sukarno (Indonesia) as well as Nehru and Nkrumah.

    The relationship between Ghana and India seemingly went into decline after the overthrow of Nkrumah in 1966, coinciding with the decline of Indian presence in global geopolitics.

    In 2002, President John Kufuor re-energised India-Ghana relations. This led to the Indian government’s financial support in the construction of Ghana’s seat of government in 2008.

    Though the concept of the Non-Aligned Movement has faded this century, its principles have crystallised into south-south cooperation. This is the exchange of knowledge, skills, resources and technologies among regions in the developing world.

    South-south cooperation has fuelled India-Ghana relations. Modi’s diplomatic efforts since 2014 have sought to relaunch India’s presence in Africa.

    In recent times, India has engaged Africa through the India–Africa Forum Summit. The first summit was held in 2008 in New Delhi with 14 countries from Africa. The largest one was held in 2015, while the fourth was postponed in 2020 due to COVID-19. The summit has led to 50,000 scholarships, a focus on renewable energy through the International Solar Alliance and an expansion of the Pan-African e-Network to bridge healthcare and educational gaps. Development projects are financed through India’s EXIM Bank.

    India is now one of Ghana’s major trading partners, importing primary products like minerals, while exporting manufactured products such as pharmaceuticals, transport and agricultural machinery. The Ghana-India Trade Advisory Chamber was established in 2018 for socio-economic exchange.

    Modi’s visit supports the strengthening of economic and defence ties.

    The bilateral trade between India and Ghana moved from US$1 billion in 2011-12 to US$4.5 billion in 2018-19. It then dipped to US$2.2 billion in 2020-21 due to COVID. By 2023, bilateral trade amounted to around US$3.3 billion, making India the third-largest export and import partner behind China and Switzerland.

    Indian companies have invested in over 700 projects in Ghana. These include B5 Plus, a leading iron and steel manufacturer, and Melcom, Ghana’s largest supermarket chain.

    India is also one of the leading sources of foreign direct investment to Ghana. Indian companies had invested over US$2 billion in Ghana by 2021, according to the Ghana Investment Promotion Center.

    What are the key areas of interest?

    The key areas of collaboration are economic, particularly:

    • energy

    • infrastructure (for example, construction of the Tema to Mpakadan railway line)

    • defence

    • technology

    • pharmaceuticals

    • agriculture (agro-processing, mechanisation and irrigation systems)

    • industrial (light manufacturing).

    What’s the bigger picture?

    Modi’s visit is part of a broader visit to strengthen bilateral ties and a follow-up to the Brics Summit, July 2025 in Brazil. Thus, whereas South Africa is often seen as the gateway to Africa, Ghana is becoming the opening to west Africa.

    Modi’s visit can be viewed in several ways.

    First, India as a neo-colonialist. Some commentators see India’s presence as just a continuation of exploitative relations. This manifests in financial and agricultural exploitation and land grabbing.

    Second, India as smart influencer. This is where the country adopts a low profile but benefits from soft power, linguistic, cultural and historical advantages, and good relationships at various societal and governmental levels.

    Third, India as a perennial underdog. India has less funds, underdeveloped communications, limited diplomatic capacity, little soft power advantage, and an underwhelming media presence compared to China. China is able to project its power in Africa through project financing and loans, visible diplomatic presence with visits and media coverage in Ghana. Some of the coverage of Chinese activities in Ghana is negative – illegal mining (galamsey) is an example. India benefits from limited negative media presence but its contributions in areas of pharmaceuticals and infrastructure don’t get attention.

    Modi will want his visit to build on ideas of south-south cooperation, soft power and smart operating. He’ll want to refute notions that India is a perennial underdog or a neo-colonialist in a new scramble for Africa.

    In 2025, Ghana has to navigate a complex geopolitical space.

    Pius Siakwah 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. Ghana and India: Narendra Modi’s visit rekindles historical ties – https://theconversation.com/ghana-and-india-narendra-modis-visit-rekindles-historical-ties-260281

    MIL OSI Analysis –

    July 3, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Analysis: Comics and graphic novels can empower refugees to tell their stories on their own terms

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Dominic Davies, Reader in English, City St George’s, University of London

    There are more refugees in the world today than at any other point in history. The United Nations estimates that there are now more than 120 million people forcibly displaced from their homes. That is one in every 69 people on Earth. Some 73% of this population is hosted in lower or middle-income countries.

    From the legacies of European colonialism to global inequality, drone warfare and climate instability, politicians have failed to address the causes driving this mass displacement. Instead, far-right parties exploit the crisis by inflaming cultures of hatred and hostility towards migrants, particularly in high-income western countries.

    This is exacerbated by visual media, which makes refugees an easy target by denying them the means of telling their own stories on their own terms. Pictures of migrants on boats or climbing over border walls are everywhere in tabloid newspapers and on social media. But these images are rarely accompanied by any detailed account of the brutal experiences that force people into these situations.

    In our new book, Graphic Refuge: Visuality and Mobility in Refugee Comics, we show how a growing genre of “refugee comics” is challenging this visual culture through a range of storytelling strategies and innovations in illustration. Comprised of multiple images arranged into sequences and interspersed with speech bubbles and caption boxes, refugee comics disrupt a media landscape that tends to reduce migrants to either threats or victims.

    Looking for something good? Cut through the noise with a carefully curated selection of the latest releases, live events and exhibitions, straight to your inbox every fortnight, on Fridays. Sign up here.

    Many different kinds of visual storytelling live under the umbrella of refugee comics. They include short strips and stories, such as A Perilous Journey (2016) with testimonies from people fleeing the civil war in Syria, and Cabramatta (2019), about growing up as a Vietnamese migrant in a Sydney suburb. They also include codex-bound graphic novels, such as The Best We Could Do by Thi Bui (2017), and interactive web-comics such as Exodus by Jasper Rietman (2018).

    They include documentaries made by journalists about the specific experiences of individual refugees. They also include fiction by artists who combine elements of several refugee testimonies into representative stories. Additionally, there are both fictional and non-fictional artworks made by migrants and refugees themselves.

    Refugee comics address different forced mass displacements over the 20th and 21st centuries. These include the 1948 Nakba in Palestine, the 1970s flight of refugees from Vietnam and the 2010s displacement of people from Syria and other countries across sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East.

    These refugee comics challenge anti-migrant images in at least three ways. First, they often integrate the direct testimonies of refugees. This is enhanced by the combination of words and pictures that comprise the comics page, which allows refugees to frame the way we see and respond to images of displaced people.

    For example, in The Unwanted by Joe Sacco (2012), familiar images of migrants crossing the Mediterranean on small boats are narrated by a refugee called Jon. Jon’s testimony turns our attention to the fears and desires that drive people to attempt dangerous sea crossings.

    A second way comics challenge anti-migrant images is by allowing refugees to tell their stories without disclosing their identities. Because comics are drawn by hand and use abstract icons rather than photographs, refugees can tell their stories while also avoiding any unwanted scrutiny while also maintaining personal privacy. This reintroduces refugee agency into a visual culture that often seeks to reduce migrants to voiceless victims or security threats.

    For example, in Escaping Wars and Waves: Encounters with Syrian Refugees (2018) German comics journalist Olivier Kugler dedicates two pages to a man he calls “The Afghan” because he didn’t want his name or identity revealed. Kugler presents this man’s testimony of failed attempts to get to the UK, but he never draws his face or refers to him by name.

    The third way comics challenge anti-migrant images is by shifting our attention from refugees themselves to the hostile environments and border infrastructures that they are forced to travel through and inhabit. Refugee researchers describe this different way of seeing as a “places and spaces, not faces” approach.

    For instance, in Undocumented: The Architecture of Migrant Detention (2017), Tings Chak walks her readers through migrant detention centres from the perspective of those who are being processed and detained.

    Drawing displacement

    This emphasis on place and space is built into the structure of our own book, Graphic Refuge. We begin by focusing on graphic stories about ocean crossings, particularly on the Mediterranean sea. We then turn to comics concerned with the experience of refugee camps, and we also ask how interactive online comics bring viewers into virtual refugee spaces in a variety of ways.

    It is the obliteration of homes that forces people to become refugees in the first place. Later in the book, we explore how illustrated stories document the destruction of cityscapes across Syria and also in Gaza. Finally, we turn to graphic autobiographies by second-generation refugees, those who have grown up in places such as the US or Australia, but who must still negotiate the trauma of their parents’ displacement.

    Where most previous studies of refugee comics have focused on trauma and empathy, in Graphic Refuge we take a different approach. We set out to show how refugee comics represent migrant agency and desire, and how we are all implicated in the histories and systems that have created the very idea of the modern refugee.

    As critical refugee scholar Vinh Nguyen writes in our book’s foreword, while it is difficult to truly know what refugee lives are like, those of us who enjoy the privileges of citizenship can at least read these comics to better understand “what we – we who can sleep under warm covers at night – are capable of”.

    This article features references to books that have been included for editorial reasons, and may contain links to bookshop.org. If you click on one of the links and go on to buy something from bookshop.org The Conversation UK may earn a commission.

    The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Comics and graphic novels can empower refugees to tell their stories on their own terms – https://theconversation.com/comics-and-graphic-novels-can-empower-refugees-to-tell-their-stories-on-their-own-terms-258943

    MIL OSI Analysis –

    July 3, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Global: Moon mining is getting closer to reality: Why we need global rules for extracting space resources

    Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Martina Elia Vitoloni, DCL Candidate Air and Space Law, McGill University

    Mountains on the moon as seen by NASA Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. (NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University)

    In science-fiction stories, companies often mine the moon or asteroids. While this may seem far-fetched, this idea is edging closer to becoming reality.

    Celestial bodies like the moon contain valuable resources, such as lunar regolith — also known as moon dust — and helium-3. These resources could serve a range of applications, including making rocket propellant and generating energy to sustaining long missions, bringing benefits in space and on Earth.

    The first objective on this journey is being able to collect lunar regolith. One company taking up this challenge is ispace, a Japanese space exploration company ispace that signed a contract with NASA in 2020 for the collection and transfer of ownership of lunar regolith.

    The company recently attempted to land its RESILIENCE lunar lander, but the mission was ultimately unsuccessful. Still, this endeavour marked a significant move toward the commercialization of space resources.

    These circumstances give rise to a fundamental question: what are the legal rules governing the exploitation of space resources? The answer is both simple and complex, as there is a mix of international agreements and evolving regulations to consider.

    What does the international legal system say?

    The cornerstone legal instrument for space activity is the Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies, more commonly referred to as the Outer Space Treaty.

    While space law is often considered a novel legal field, the Outer Space Treaty dates back to 1967, making it more than half a century old.



    Read more:
    Space exploration should aim for peace, collaboration and co-operation, not war and competition

    Space activities have exponentially evolved since the treaty’s adoption. In the 60 years following the launch of Sputnik 1 — the first satellite placed in orbit — less than 500 space objects were launched annually. But since 2018, this number has risen into the thousands, with nearly 3,000 launched in 2024.

    Because of this, the treaty is often judged as inadequate to address the current complexities of space activities, particularly resource exploitation.

    A longstanding debate centres on whether Article II of the treaty, which prohibits the appropriation of outer space — including the moon and other celestial bodies — also prohibits space mining.

    The prevailing position is that Article II solely bans the appropriation of territory, not the extraction of resources themselves.

    We are now at a crucial moment in the development of space law. Arguing over whether extraction is legal serves no purpose. Instead, the focus must shift to ensuring resource extraction is carried out in accordance with principles that ensure the safe and responsible use of outer space.

    International and national space laws

    A significant development in the governance of space resources has been the adoption Artemis Accords, which — as of June 2025 — has 55 signatory nations. The accords reflect a growing international consensus concerning the exploitation of space resources.

    Notably, Section 10 of the accords indicates that the exploitation of space resources does not constitute appropriation, and therefore doesn’t violate the Outer Space Treaty.

    Considering the typically slow pace of multilateral negotiations, a handful of nations introduced national legislation. These laws govern the legality of space resource exploitation, allowing private companies to request licenses to conduct this type of activity.

    To date, six nations have enacted this type of legislation: the United States in 2015, Luxembourg in 2017, the United Arab Emirates in 2019, Japan in 2021, Brazil in 2024 and most recently, Italy, which passed its law on June 11, 2025.

    Among these, Luxembourg’s legal framework is the most complete. It provides a series of requirements to provide authorization for the exploitation of space resources. In fact, ispace’s licence to collect lunar regolith was obtained under this regime.

    This first high-resolution image taken on the first day of the Artemis I mission by a camera on the tip of one of Orion’s solar arrays. The spacecraft was 57,000 miles from Earth when the image was captured.
    (NASA)

    The rest of the regulations usually tend to limit themselves to proclaiming the legality of this activity without entering into too much detail and deferring the specifics of implementation to future regulations.

    While these initiatives served to put space resources at the forefront of international forums, they also risk regulatory fragmentation, as different countries adopt varying standards and approaches.

    What does the future hold?

    Recognizing the need for a co-ordinated global approach, the United Nations Committee on Peaceful Uses of Outer Space created a Working Group on Legal Aspects of Space Resource Activities. Its mandate is to develop a set of general principles to guide the development of the activity.

    In May 2025, the chair of the working group, Steven Freeland, presented a draft of recommended principles based on input from member states.

    These principles reaffirm the freedom of use and exploration of outer space for peaceful purposes, while introducing rules pertaining to the safety of the activities and their sustainability, as well as the protection of the environment, both of Earth and outer space.

    The development of a legal framework for space resources is still in its early stages. The working group is expected to submit its final report by 2027, but the non-binding nature of the principles raises concerns about their enforcement and application.

    As humanity moves closer to extracting and using space resources, the need for a cohesive and responsible governance system has never been greater.

    Martina Elia Vitoloni 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. Moon mining is getting closer to reality: Why we need global rules for extracting space resources – https://theconversation.com/moon-mining-is-getting-closer-to-reality-why-we-need-global-rules-for-extracting-space-resources-259343

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

    July 3, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Global: What damage did the US do to Iran’s nuclear program? Why it’s so hard to know

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Joshua Rovner, Associate Professor of International Relations, American University

    Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, describes the U.S. military attack on Iranian nuclear sites, which occurred on June 21, 2025, . AP Photo/Alex Brandon

    The U.S. Air Force dropped a dozen ground-penetrating bombs, each weighing 30,000 pounds (13,607 kilograms), in a raid on Iran’s nuclear site at Fordo on June 21, 2025. The attack was an attempt to reach the uranium enrichment facility buried deep inside a mountain. The target, President Donald Trump declared, was “completely and totally obliterated.”

    Others were less sure. On June 24, the administration canceled a classified intelligence briefing to members of Congress, leading to frustration among those with questions about White House claims. While Defense Intelligence Agency analysts apparently agree that the strikes did real damage, they dispute the idea that the attack permanently destroyed Iran’s enrichment capability. Reports emerged that their initial analysis found that the strikes had only set Iran back a few months.

    Such disagreements are unsurprising. Battle damage assessment – originally called bomb damage assessment – is notoriously difficult, and past wars have featured intense controversies among military and intelligence professionals. In World War II, poor weather and the limits of available technology conspired against accuracy.

    Battle damage assessment remained a thorny problem decades later, even after radical improvements in surveillance technology. In the first Gulf War in 1990, for example, military leaders argued with CIA officials over the effects of airstrikes against Iraq’s armored forces.

    I am a scholar of international relations who studies intelligence and strategy in international conflicts, and the author of “Fixing the Facts: National Security and the Politics of Intelligence.” I know from history that overcoming the challenges of battle damage assessment is especially hard when the target is a facility hidden under hundreds of feet of earth and rock, as is the case at Fordo.

    How the U.S. military’s ‘bunker buster’ bomb works.

    Tools of the trade

    The intelligence community has a number of tools and techniques that can help with challenges like assessing the damage at Fordo. Imagery intelligence such as satellite photography is the obvious starting point. Before-and-after comparisons might reveal collapsed tunnels or topographical changes, suggesting unseen subterranean damage.

    More exotic data collection techniques may be able to help infer the underground effects based on particle and electromagnetic emissions from the site. These platforms provide what is called measurement and signatures intelligence. Specialized sensors can measure nuclear radiation, seismographic information and other potentially revealing information from camouflaged facilities. When combined with traditional imagery, measurement and signatures intelligence can provide a more detailed model of the likely effects of the bombing.

    Other sources may prove useful as well. Reporting from human intelligence assets – spies or unwitting informers with firsthand or secondhand knowledge – may provide information on internal Iranian assessments. These may be particularly valuable because Iranian officials presumably know how much equipment was removed in advance, as well as the location of previously enriched uranium.

    The same is true for signals intelligence, which intercepts and interprets communications. Ideally, battle damage assessment will become more comprehensive and accurate as these sources of intelligence are integrated into a single assessment.

    Pervasive uncertainty

    But even in that case, it will still be difficult to estimate the broader effects on Iran’s nuclear program. Measuring the immediate physical effects on Fordo and other nuclear sites is a kind of puzzle, or a problem that can be solved with sufficient evidence. Estimating the long-term effects on Iranian policy is a mystery, or a problem that cannot be solved even with abundant information on hand. It’s impossible to know how Iran’s leaders will adapt over time to their changing circumstances. They themselves cannot know either; perceptions of the future are inherently uncertain.

    Regarding the puzzle over Fordo, Trump seems to believe that the sheer volume of explosives dropped on the site must have done the job. As White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt put it: “Everyone knows what happens when you drop 14 30,000-pound bombs perfectly on their targets: total obliteration.”

    But the fact that Fordo is buried in the side of a mountain is a reason to doubt this commonsense conclusion. In addition, Iran may have moved enriched uranium and specialized equipment from the site in advance, limiting the effects on its nuclear program.

    Trump’s instincts might be right. Or the skeptics might be right. Both make plausible claims. Analysts will need more intelligence from more sources to make a confident judgment about the effects on Fordo and on Iran’s broader nuclear efforts. Even then, it is likely that they will disagree on the effects, because this requires making predictions.

    News coverage of the attack on Fordo and White House claims of success.

    Politicized intelligence

    In a perfect world, policymakers and intelligence officials would wrestle with dueling assessments in good faith. Such a process would take place outside the political fray, giving both sides the opportunity to offer criticism without being accused of political mischief. In this idealized scenario, policymakers could use reasonable intelligence conclusions to inform their decision-making process. After all, there are a lot of decisions about Middle Eastern security left to be made.

    But we are not in a perfect world, and hopes for a good faith debate seem hopelessly naïve. Already the battle lines are being drawn. Congressional Democrats are suspicious that the administration is being disingenuous about Iran. The White House, for its part, is going on the offensive. “The leaking of this alleged assessment is a clear attempt to demean President Trump,” Leavitt declared in a written statement, “and discredit the brave fighter pilots who conducted a perfectly executed mission.”

    Relations between policymakers and their intelligence advisers are often contentious, and U.S. presidents have a long history of clashing with spy chiefs. But intelligence-policy relations today are in a particularly dismal state. Trump bears the most responsibility, given his repeated disparagement of intelligence officials. For example, he dismissed the congressional testimony on Iran from Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard: “I don’t care what she said.”

    The problem goes deeper than the president, however. Intelligence-policy relations in a democracy are difficult because of the persuasive power of secret information. Policymakers fear that intelligence officials who control secrets might use them to undermine the policymakers’ plans. Intelligence officials worry that the policymakers will bully them into giving politically convenient answers. Such fears led to intelligence-policy breakdowns over estimates of enemy strength in the Vietnam War and estimates of Soviet missile capabilities in the early years of detente.

    This mutual suspicion has become progressively worse since the end of the Cold War, as secret intelligence has become increasingly public. Intelligence leaders have become recognizable public figures, and intelligence judgments on current issues are often quickly declassified. The public now expects to have access to intelligence findings, and this has helped turn intelligence into a political football.

    What lies ahead

    What does all this mean for intelligence on Iran? Trump might ignore assessments he dislikes, given his history with intelligence. But the acrimonious public dispute over the Fordo strike may lead the White House to pressure intelligence leaders to toe the line, especially if critics demand a public accounting of secret intelligence.

    Such an outcome would benefit nobody. The public would not have a better sense of the questions surrounding Iran’s nuclear effort, the intelligence community would suffer a serious blow to its reputation, and the administration’s efforts to use intelligence in public might backfire, as was the case for the George W. Bush administration after the war in Iraq.

    As with military campaigns, episodes of politicizing intelligence have lasting and sometimes unforeseen consequences.

    Joshua Rovner is associate professor of international relations at American University, and nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.

    – ref. What damage did the US do to Iran’s nuclear program? Why it’s so hard to know – https://theconversation.com/what-damage-did-the-us-do-to-irans-nuclear-program-why-its-so-hard-to-know-260058

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

    July 3, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Submissions: What damage did the US do to Iran’s nuclear program? Why it’s so hard to know

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Joshua Rovner, Associate Professor of International Relations, American University

    Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, describes the U.S. military attack on Iranian nuclear sites, which occurred on June 21, 2025, . AP Photo/Alex Brandon

    The U.S. Air Force dropped a dozen ground-penetrating bombs, each weighing 30,000 pounds (13,607 kilograms), in a raid on Iran’s nuclear site at Fordo on June 21, 2025. The attack was an attempt to reach the uranium enrichment facility buried deep inside a mountain. The target, President Donald Trump declared, was “completely and totally obliterated.”

    Others were less sure. On June 24, the administration canceled a classified intelligence briefing to members of Congress, leading to frustration among those with questions about White House claims. While Defense Intelligence Agency analysts apparently agree that the strikes did real damage, they dispute the idea that the attack permanently destroyed Iran’s enrichment capability. Reports emerged that their initial analysis found that the strikes had only set Iran back a few months.

    Such disagreements are unsurprising. Battle damage assessment – originally called bomb damage assessment – is notoriously difficult, and past wars have featured intense controversies among military and intelligence professionals. In World War II, poor weather and the limits of available technology conspired against accuracy.

    Battle damage assessment remained a thorny problem decades later, even after radical improvements in surveillance technology. In the first Gulf War in 1990, for example, military leaders argued with CIA officials over the effects of airstrikes against Iraq’s armored forces.

    I am a scholar of international relations who studies intelligence and strategy in international conflicts, and the author of “Fixing the Facts: National Security and the Politics of Intelligence.” I know from history that overcoming the challenges of battle damage assessment is especially hard when the target is a facility hidden under hundreds of feet of earth and rock, as is the case at Fordo.

    How the U.S. military’s ‘bunker buster’ bomb works.

    Tools of the trade

    The intelligence community has a number of tools and techniques that can help with challenges like assessing the damage at Fordo. Imagery intelligence such as satellite photography is the obvious starting point. Before-and-after comparisons might reveal collapsed tunnels or topographical changes, suggesting unseen subterranean damage.

    More exotic data collection techniques may be able to help infer the underground effects based on particle and electromagnetic emissions from the site. These platforms provide what is called measurement and signatures intelligence. Specialized sensors can measure nuclear radiation, seismographic information and other potentially revealing information from camouflaged facilities. When combined with traditional imagery, measurement and signatures intelligence can provide a more detailed model of the likely effects of the bombing.

    Other sources may prove useful as well. Reporting from human intelligence assets – spies or unwitting informers with firsthand or secondhand knowledge – may provide information on internal Iranian assessments. These may be particularly valuable because Iranian officials presumably know how much equipment was removed in advance, as well as the location of previously enriched uranium.

    The same is true for signals intelligence, which intercepts and interprets communications. Ideally, battle damage assessment will become more comprehensive and accurate as these sources of intelligence are integrated into a single assessment.

    Pervasive uncertainty

    But even in that case, it will still be difficult to estimate the broader effects on Iran’s nuclear program. Measuring the immediate physical effects on Fordo and other nuclear sites is a kind of puzzle, or a problem that can be solved with sufficient evidence. Estimating the long-term effects on Iranian policy is a mystery, or a problem that cannot be solved even with abundant information on hand. It’s impossible to know how Iran’s leaders will adapt over time to their changing circumstances. They themselves cannot know either; perceptions of the future are inherently uncertain.

    Regarding the puzzle over Fordo, Trump seems to believe that the sheer volume of explosives dropped on the site must have done the job. As White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt put it: “Everyone knows what happens when you drop 14 30,000-pound bombs perfectly on their targets: total obliteration.”

    But the fact that Fordo is buried in the side of a mountain is a reason to doubt this commonsense conclusion. In addition, Iran may have moved enriched uranium and specialized equipment from the site in advance, limiting the effects on its nuclear program.

    Trump’s instincts might be right. Or the skeptics might be right. Both make plausible claims. Analysts will need more intelligence from more sources to make a confident judgment about the effects on Fordo and on Iran’s broader nuclear efforts. Even then, it is likely that they will disagree on the effects, because this requires making predictions.

    News coverage of the attack on Fordo and White House claims of success.

    Politicized intelligence

    In a perfect world, policymakers and intelligence officials would wrestle with dueling assessments in good faith. Such a process would take place outside the political fray, giving both sides the opportunity to offer criticism without being accused of political mischief. In this idealized scenario, policymakers could use reasonable intelligence conclusions to inform their decision-making process. After all, there are a lot of decisions about Middle Eastern security left to be made.

    But we are not in a perfect world, and hopes for a good faith debate seem hopelessly naïve. Already the battle lines are being drawn. Congressional Democrats are suspicious that the administration is being disingenuous about Iran. The White House, for its part, is going on the offensive. “The leaking of this alleged assessment is a clear attempt to demean President Trump,” Leavitt declared in a written statement, “and discredit the brave fighter pilots who conducted a perfectly executed mission.”

    Relations between policymakers and their intelligence advisers are often contentious, and U.S. presidents have a long history of clashing with spy chiefs. But intelligence-policy relations today are in a particularly dismal state. Trump bears the most responsibility, given his repeated disparagement of intelligence officials. For example, he dismissed the congressional testimony on Iran from Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard: “I don’t care what she said.”

    The problem goes deeper than the president, however. Intelligence-policy relations in a democracy are difficult because of the persuasive power of secret information. Policymakers fear that intelligence officials who control secrets might use them to undermine the policymakers’ plans. Intelligence officials worry that the policymakers will bully them into giving politically convenient answers. Such fears led to intelligence-policy breakdowns over estimates of enemy strength in the Vietnam War and estimates of Soviet missile capabilities in the early years of detente.

    This mutual suspicion has become progressively worse since the end of the Cold War, as secret intelligence has become increasingly public. Intelligence leaders have become recognizable public figures, and intelligence judgments on current issues are often quickly declassified. The public now expects to have access to intelligence findings, and this has helped turn intelligence into a political football.

    What lies ahead

    What does all this mean for intelligence on Iran? Trump might ignore assessments he dislikes, given his history with intelligence. But the acrimonious public dispute over the Fordo strike may lead the White House to pressure intelligence leaders to toe the line, especially if critics demand a public accounting of secret intelligence.

    Such an outcome would benefit nobody. The public would not have a better sense of the questions surrounding Iran’s nuclear effort, the intelligence community would suffer a serious blow to its reputation, and the administration’s efforts to use intelligence in public might backfire, as was the case for the George W. Bush administration after the war in Iraq.

    As with military campaigns, episodes of politicizing intelligence have lasting and sometimes unforeseen consequences.

    Joshua Rovner is associate professor of international relations at American University, and nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.

    – ref. What damage did the US do to Iran’s nuclear program? Why it’s so hard to know – https://theconversation.com/what-damage-did-the-us-do-to-irans-nuclear-program-why-its-so-hard-to-know-260058

    MIL OSI –

    July 3, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Africa: Benin’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Meets with Qatari Chargé d’Affaires

    Source: APO – Report:

    .

    His Excellency Mr. Olishegone Ajadi Bakary, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Benin, met with Mr. Safar bin Mohammed Al-Hajri, Chargé d’Affaires at the Embassy of the State of Qatar in Benin.

    During the meeting, they reviewed the cooperative relations between the two countries.

    – on behalf of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of The State of Qatar.

    MIL OSI Africa –

    July 3, 2025

  • Wildfire on Greek island of Crete scorches forest, forces evacuation of over 1,000

    Source: Government of India

    Source: Government of India (4)

    Hundreds of firefighters battled a blaze Thursday on Crete island, which burnt swathes of forest and olive groves and forced the evacuation of over 1,000 people, officials said, underscoring the region’s vulnerability to destructive wildfires.

    At least 230 firefighters, along with 46 engines and helicopters, were deployed to contain the conflagration, which broke out a day earlier near Ierapetra townon the southeastern coast of Greece’s largest island.

    Stoked by gale-force winds, the blaze reached houses and hotels, fire brigade and local officials said, with local media reporting damage to some homes but no injuries.

    Scores of residents and tourists were evacuated and moved to a temporary shelter at an indoor stadium in Ierapetra. Some left Crete by boats, authorities said.

    “Three settlements were evacuated and more than 1,000 left their homes. Some were taken to health centres with respiratory problems,” Crete’s deputy civil protection governor, George Tsapakos, told public broadcaster ERT.

    ERT footage showed a water bomber flying over an area thick with grey smoke.

    Alongside reinforcements from Athens on Thursday, firefighters fought to tame several resurgent blazes whipped up by winds, fire brigade spokesman Vassilis Vathrakogiannis said.

    “There are wind gusts in the area, some measuring 9 on the Beaufort scale, which are triggering rekindling and hindering firefighting efforts,” Vathrakogiannis said.

    July tended to be the most difficult month of the fire season due to high temperatures and strong winds, he said.

    Greece and other countries in the Mediterranean are in an area scientists have called “a wildfire hotspot” – with blazes common during hot and dry summers. These have become more destructive in recent years, authorities say, due to a fast-changing climate.

    Thousands havefled wildfires in Turkey and at least eight people have died as a result of a heatwavein Europe.

    (Reuters)

    July 3, 2025

  • MIL-OSI China: China, EU hold 13th round of high-level strategic dialogue

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

    At the 13th round of China-EU High-level Strategic Dialogue Wednesday, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas agreed to deepen mutual understanding and work together to get well-prepared for the upcoming leaders’ meeting for enhancing cooperation.

    Noting this year marks the 50th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic ties as well as the 80th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations (UN), Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, said the upcoming China-EU leaders’ meeting is drawing broad attention.

    Looking back on the extraordinary journey of China-EU relations over the past five decades, Wang said, their relationship should be characterized as that of partners rather than rivals, with cooperation as the defining feature and ballast.

    The two sides need to properly handle their differences through dialogue within this framework, he said.

    China and Europe have no fundamental conflicts of interest but rather share extensive common interests, Wang said. Both sides support multilateralism and open cooperation, uphold the central role of the UN and the democratization of international relations, and are committed to resolving disputes peacefully through dialogue.

    Facing growing uncertainty and instability in the international landscape, Wang emphasized that China and the EU, as two major forces and economies, should enhance exchanges, mutual understanding and mutual trust, and advance cooperation, in a joint effort to safeguard the post-war international order and provide the world with much-needed certainty.

    Wang said that China is ready to work with the EU to ensure that the upcoming China-EU leaders’ meeting yields positive outcomes, charting the course for the future growth of China-EU relations.

    On issues of peace and security, he said, China has the best track record among major countries in today’s world. China is not the United States, and its path should not be mirrored against America’s historical trajectory.

    The differences between China and the EU in history, culture and values should not warrant rivalry, nor their disagreements necessitate confrontation, Wang said, noting that While Europe currently faces various challenges, they have never come — and will never come — from China, whether in the past, present or future.

    Wang called on both sides to respect each other, draw on each other’s experiences and pursue common development so as to make new contributions to human progress.

    The Chinese foreign minister expressed hope that the EU will develop a more objective and rational understanding of China and adopt a more positive and practical policy toward China.

    In their comprehensive strategic partnership, it is most important for China and the EU to respect each other and accommodate each other’s core interests, Wang said.

    China has consistently supported European integration and the EU’s efforts to strengthen its strategic autonomy and play a constructive role in international affairs, he said, expressing hope that the EU will likewise respect China’s core interests through concrete actions.

    The Taiwan question concerns China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, Wang said, voicing hope that the European side will strictly adhere to the one-China principle in both word and deed.

    Kallas said that the EU and China are partners, sharing common responsibilities and having significant influence on major issues such as upholding the central role of the UN and safeguarding international law and international order.

    The EU remains committed to the one-China policy and stands ready to work with China to prepare for the upcoming leaders’ meeting, Kallas said, expressing the EU’s willingness to strengthen mutual understanding through dialogue, build a more constructive EU-China relationship, and pursue more balanced and equitable economic and trade cooperation.

    The two sides also exchanged views on the Ukraine crisis, the Palestine-Israel conflict and the Iranian nuclear issue.

    MIL OSI China News –

    July 3, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Russia: OPEC+ Decision on Production Growth Justified, Oil Reserves at Minimum Level – Rosneft CEO

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

    Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin called decision by OPEC+ to forcefully increase oil production justified and far-sighted.

    During his keynote speech at the Energy Panel of the XXVIII St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, Sechin noted that the announced increase in production since May this year is three times higher than the alliance’s original plan. In addition, the entire OPEC+ production increase could be pushed back a year ahead of plan.

    “The decision of OPEC leaders to boost production appears today a very forward-looking and, a justified one from the market standpoint, given the consumers’ interest in light of uncertainty pertaining to the scope of the Iran-Israel conflict,” the CEO said.

    At the same time, Sechin noted, “Despite the announced production growth, there can be no question of an oil excess in the market in the long run” as “world oil reserves are now at their lowest levels in five years”.

    “Low oil prices suit consumers in the US, where the inflation-adjusted price of gasoline has already returned to 2019 levels. It is no coincidence that this is happening against the backdrop of the White House’s intensified Middle East policy and the conclusion of a number of agreements with key countries in the region”, – said the CEO of Rosneft.

    Department of Information and Advertising
    Rosneft Oil Company
    June 21, 2025

    Please note; this information is the raw content received directly from the information source. This is exactly what the source claims and does not necessarily reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

    MIL OSI Russia News –

    July 3, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Rosneft CEO Explains EU Attempts to Lower Price Cap on Russian Oil

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

    The European Union seeks to increase the efficiency of oil purchases from Russia when it tries to push the reduction of the price cap on Russian oil, Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin said at the Energy Panel at the XXVIII St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.

    During his keynote speech, the Company’s CEO noted that the European Union continues to attempt forcing down the price cap on Russian oil to $45 per barrel.

    “I believe that the real purpose of this is the EU’s desire to increase the efficiency of its purchasing from Russia, not to reduce Russian budget revenues, as was publicly declared. Figures confirm this: according to Western experts, since the beginning of 2023, Europe has purchased more than 20 billion euros worth of Russian oil, thus becoming the fourth largest buyer,” Sechin said.

    However, he believes it is obvious that the U.S. will not agree to lower the price ceiling because it would negatively affect the profitability of U.S. oil exports.

    The CEO of Rosneft separately noted the situation in Saudi Arabia, saying that imports of Russian dark oil products after the start of sanctions restrictions allow the kingdom to effectively meet the feedstock needs of its energy industry without affecting oil exports. The volume of fuel oil and vacuum gasoil supplied to the country from Russia over the past 12 months is more than six times higher than four years ago.

    According to Sechin, Indian refiners are using a similar approach today. India, the second-largest buyer of Russian oil, has nearly doubled its exports of oil products to Europe over the past three years.

    “Many producing countries need an oil price much higher than current levels to balance their budgets. Thus, according to IMF calculations, in 2025 this price is more than $90 per barrel for Saudi Arabia’s budget,” Sechin summarized.

    Department of Information and Advertising
    Rosneft Oil Company
    June 21, 2025

    Please note; this information is the raw content received directly from the information source. This is exactly what the source claims and does not necessarily reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

    MIL OSI Russia News –

    July 3, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Sechin Names Russia, Venezuela, Iran as Key Players to Ensure Global Energy Security

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

    Russia, Venezuela and Iran are key players in the energy market and global energy security directly depends on their supply, Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin said at the Energy Panel at the XXVIII St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.

    “Russia, Venezuela and Iran are key players in the energy market, and global energy security directly depends on their supply. These countries account for one-third of the global liquid hydrocarbons reserves and 15% of the global production. Without their resource base, it is impossible to facilitate the transition to the new landscape of the global energy industry,” the CEO said. 

    At the same time, according to Sechin, Russia’s real contribution to the Global Economy is proportional to its share in the global resource balance. 

    “Our country’s share in global hydrocarbon exports is about 15%. However, the Russian resource base is not only hydrocarbons, but also metals. Russia’s share in gold mining is about 10%, and in the mining of such metals as high-grade nickel and palladium it reaches 20% and 40% respectively,” the CEO said.

    Rosneft CEO also noted that Russia has about 10% of the world’s reserves of rare-earth metals, without which it is impossible to develop modern technologies.

    Department of Information and Advertising
    Rosneft Oil Company
    June 21, 2025

    Please note; this information is the raw content received directly from the information source. This is exactly what the source claims and does not necessarily reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

    MIL OSI Russia News –

    July 3, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Rosneft Oil Company Holds Annual General Meeting of Shareholders

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

    Rosneft held its Annual General Meeting of Shareholders, where it has been decided to approve the payment of dividends for 2023 in the amount of 29.01 roubles per share. 

    July 9, 2024 was set as the dividend record date. The dividends will be paid to nominee shareholders and trustees not later than July 23, 2024, and to other shareholders registered in the shareholder register not later than August 13, 2024.

    The shareholders have elected a new Board of Directors consisting of 11 members:

    • Andrey I. Akimov – Chairman of the Management Board, Gazprombank (Joint-Stock Company);
    • Pedro A. Aquino, Jr. – CEO of OIL & PETROLEUM HOLDINGS INTERNATIONAL RESOURCES LIMITED, Independent Director (the Republic of the Philippines);
    • Faisal Alsuwaidi – Representative of Qatar Investments Authority (the State of Qatar);
    • Hamad Rashid Al-Mohannadi – Representative of Qatar Investments Authority (the State of Qatar);
    • Mohammed Bin Saleh Al-Sada – Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Doha University  for Science and Technology, member of the Board of Directors of Nesma Infrastructure & Technology, member of the Advisory Committee of the GCC Supreme Council, Independent Director (the State of Qatar);
    • Viktor G. Martynov – Rector of Gubkin Russian State University of Oil and Gas (National Research University), Independent Director;
    • Alexander D. Nekipelov –  Director of the Moscow School of Economics at the Lomonosov Moscow State University, Independent Director;
    • Alexander V. Novak – Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation;
    • Maxim S. Oreshkin – Deputy Head of the RF President Administration;
    • Govind Kottieth Satish – Managing Director of VALUE PROLIFIC CONSULTING SERVICES PRIVATE LIMITED, Independent Director (India);
    • Igor I. Sechin – Chief Executive Officer, Chairman of the Management Board of Rosneft Oil Company;

    The Meeting of Shareholders has also approved the Annual Report and Financial Statements, and decided to elect an Audit Commission consisting of five members.

    Information and Advertising Department
    Rosneft
    June 28, 2024

    These materials contain statements regarding future events and expectations that constitute forward-looking statements. Any statement in these materials that is not a statement of historical fact is a forward-looking statement that involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause actual results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements to differ. We assume no obligations to update the forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect actual results, changes in assumptions or changes in factors affecting these statements.

    Keywords: Corporate Governance 2024

    Please note; this information is the raw content received directly from the information source. This is exactly what the source claims and does not necessarily reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

    MIL OSI Russia News –

    July 3, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Russia: V.F. Stanis 100th anniversary medal: RUDN foreign alumni

    Source: Peoples’Friendship University of Russia –

    An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.

    The aaniversary medal to the 100th anniversary of V.F. Stanis is awarded to RUDN current and ex-employees and students for: significant contribution to the university development; long-standing commitment to maintaining ties with the university; fruitful cooperation of Russian and foreign organizations, scientists and public figures with the university.

    The aaniversary medal to the 100th anniversary of V.F. Stanis is awarded to RUDN current and ex-employees and students for:

    • significant contribution to the university development;
    • long-standing commitment to maintaining ties with the university;
    • fruitful cooperation of Russian and foreign organizations, scientists and public figures with the university.

    RUDN foreign alumni

    For their contribution to the promotion of RUDN abroad, for maintaining relations with the university and cooperation, 16 foreign graduates received the V.F. Stanis anniversary medal:

    1. Galina Abbas (Lebanon);
    2. Hamed Muhieddin Abou Zahr (Lebanon, Peru);
    3. Al-Twal Salam Fakhri (Jordan);
    4. Gupta Sudhir (India);
    5. Georges Aoun (Lebanon);
    6. Kalumbi Shangula (Namibia);
    7. Mizanur Rahman (Bangladesh);
    8. Mustafa Hammoud Al-Nawaise (Jordan);
    9. Navin Saxena (India);
    10. Najim Riad Yousef (Lebanon);
    11. Nilakshi Suryanarayan (India);
    12. Gagan Patwardhan (India);
    13. Rigoberto Santos Hilario (Dominican Republic);
    14. Ruben Dario Flores (Colombia);
    15. Auelbek Tokzhanov (Kazakhstan);
    16. Jose Hidalgo Salazar (Ecuador).

    Faculty of Economics and Law

    • Mizanur Rahman, graduate ‘81 — head of the Association of Alumni of Russian and Soviet Universities in Bangladesh.
    • Mustafa Hammoud Al-Nawaise, graduate ‘91 — international lawyer, former Secretary General of the Constitutional Court of Jordan.
    • Hamed Muhieddin Abou Zahr, graduate ‘92 — President of the Arab-Peruvian Chamber of Commerce, Vice-president of the Association of RUDN Alumni in Peru, Honorary Consul of Lebanon in Peru.

    Faculty of Science

    Graduate ‘78 of the Faculty of Science, majoring in Chemistry, Navin Saxena is the President of the international group of pharmaceutical companies: Rusan Pharma (India), Euro-Med (Russia), Pharmaker (Great Britain), Uzpharmaker (Uzbekistan), Pharmaker (Ukraine), Pharmaker (UAE) and owns the pharmaceutical companies Rusan Pharma and Pharmaker. In 2005, Rusan Pharma became a supplier of vital drugs under the Benefit-2005 program in the Russian Federation. It still remains one of the largest suppliers of drugs to the Russian Ministry of Health, the Russian Ministry of Defense and the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations, as well as to the services of the Russian Army. Navin Saxena is the author of a large number of publications in Russian and foreign scientific journals, has drugs copyright certificates and patents.

    Faculty of History and Philology

    • Ruben Dario Flores, graduate ‘83 — Director of the Leo Tolstoy Institute of Culture in Bogota, Colombia.
    • Nilakshi Suryanarayan, graduate ‘80 — Head of the Department of Slavonic and Finno-Ugrian Studies at the University of Delhi, professor, teacher of Russian language and literature.
    • Galina Abbas, graduate ‘92 — President of RUDN University Alumni Association in Lebanon.

    All of them actively promote Russian education and the Russian language in their countries. Thus, Nilakshi Suryanarayan is the author of a popular manual among Indian students of philology, “Russian Verbs with Prefixes: Meaning and Usage”. Galina Abbas was awarded the Pushkin Medal, and Ruben Dario Flores is a translator of works by Russian poets A.Pushkin, B.Pasternak and A.Tarkovsky.

    Faculty of Medicine

    In 1978, Najim Riad Youssef graduated from the Faculty of Medicine. Najim Riad Youssef is the CEO of RamTEK LLC and Vice-Chairman of the Lebanese-Russian Friendship Society, popularizing Russian higher education and science abroad, which made him the Ambassador of Russian Education and Science.

    Kalumbi Shangula graduated from the Faculty of Medicine in 1983. He is the Minister of Health and Social Services of Namibia. He is member of the Medical Association of Namibia, the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene in Great Britain, and the New York Academy of Sciences.

    Faculty of Engineering

    The largest number of graduates awarded the medal to the 100th anniversary of V.F. Stanis graduated from the Engineering faculty: Jose Hidalgo Salazar in 1973, Patwardhan Gagan in 1975, Al-Twal Salam Fakhri in 1983, Rigoberto Hilario Santos and Georges Aoun in 1984.

    They continue to maintain contact with RUDN, creating new opportunities for the future students. Jose Hidalgo Salazar, CEO of IGGEKO LLC, became a laureate of the Order of Friendship. Al-Twal Salam Fakhri, a senior specialist in the regional office of the UN Development Program, member of the Jordan-Russia Friendship Society was awarded the Order of Friendship by the decree of the President of the Russian Federation. Rigoberto Hilario Santos, CEO of the engineering and construction company CONSUDOM SRL, member of the Presidium of the Dominican College of Architects and Geodesic Engineers, former Director of the Department of the Ministry of Public Works and Communications of the Dominican Republic, became the Ambassador of Russian Education and Science. Patwardhan Gagan, Head of Union Exports LLC, received the Order of Friendship for promoting the Russian language in Western India. Professor Georges Aoun, Head of the department of basic disciplines at the engineering faculty of the Lebanese University, organized summer schools with the Agrarian and Technological Institute, Engineering Academy and the Institute of the Russian language, as well as a double degree program with the Philological faculty of RUDN, author of a number of publication on teaching Russian as a foreign language.

    Faculty of Agriculture

    Auelbek Tokzhanov, a 1982 graduate of the Faculty of Agriculture, is currently the CEO of Skymax Technologies Group of Companies, AK Karal Diatomit Industry. He heads the UDN-RUDN Alumni and Friends Association in Kazakhstan and is a member of the expert group in the Innovative Economy direction of the Nur Otan party. Aulbek Tokzhanov is a co-founder of the Literary Alliance Public Foundation, which supports the work of Olzhas Suleimenov and young talents.

    Gupta Sudhir is a 1983 graduate of the Faculty of Agriculture and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Amtel Corporation. To support students, he has established 80 personal scholarships of 3,000 rubles per month. Gupta Sudhir was also awarded the Order of Friendship.

    V.F. Stanis anniversary medals were also awarded to 28 Russian graduates, employees and partners of RUDN University.

    Please note; this information is raw content received directly from the information source. It is an accurate account of what the source claims, and does not necessarily reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

    MIL OSI Russia News –

    July 3, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Russian education abroad: RUDN University hosts conference “Ambassadors of Russian Education and Science”

    Source: Peoples’Friendship University of Russia –

    An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.

    Ambassadors of Russian education and science met at a conference in RUDN University to discuss how they can increase the visibility of Russian universities and research organizations in the world, and attract more international students in Russia.

    More than 70 people gathered at the conference:

    • 13 new Ambassadors of Russian Education and Science from Burkina Faso, Vietnam, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Kyrgyzstan, Mali, Mozambique, Mongolia, the Republic of Guinea, Sri Lanka and Ecuador.
    • representatives of Russian educational organizations from among the founders of the program “Ambassadors of Russian Education and Science”;
    • members of the Consortium Council;
    • representatives of international services of Russian higher education institutions;
    • heads of the main educational divisions of RUDN University.

    “Ambassadors of Russian Education and Science” is a RUDN University project that brings together graduates of Russian universities, government and public figures from Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America and the CIS. They voluntarily and gratuitously promote Russian education, brands of Russian educational and scientific organizations, and the Russian education and science system as a whole in their countries.

    Graduates of Russian and Soviet universities are guides of Russian education and science in their countries. Cooperation with them will increase the number of international students in Russia, strengthen the authority and reputation of Russian education and science, and strengthen cooperation between foreign countries and Russia. Promotion of the Russian language as one of the world’s languages will also be important.

    Vladimir Filippov

    President of RUDN University, Chairman of the Consortium Council

    Head of the Department of External Relations and International Projects of the Center for International Cooperation of the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation Elena Averkova spoke on key international humanitarian projects:

    • “Russian Teacher Abroad” united 28 countries and 245 schools in the Association of Russian Schools Abroad. Its participants are Russian teachers who teach in foreign schools in Russian.
    • International school “Interdom” named after E. D. Stasova has trained more than 5,000 foreign students. They return to their home countries taking prominent public and state posts there, and strengthening ties with Russia.

    Acting Director of the Department of International Cooperation of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation Nikolai Kudryavtsev stressed that Russia ranks 4th in the list of countries where current heads of foreign states and governments got their degrees. He added that currently in Russia there are 77 bilateral and 15 multilateral agreements in the field of mutual recognition of education, qualifications and academic degrees. Another 50 draft agreements are under development.

    Ambassador of Russian Education and Science, General Director of the International Coordinating Council of Graduates of Educational Institutions (INCORVUZ-XXI) Kochofa Aniset Gabriel noted important areas of work to promote Russian education and science:

    • mutual coordination of projects at the international level with the assistance of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation;
    • opening schools and centers for learning the Russian language with the support of Rossotrudnichestvo and Russian embassies in other countries.

    The participants of the meeting shared their vision of the development and promotion of Russian education and science abroad. They suggested speeding up the registration of study visas for foreign applicants coming to Russia. The Ambassadors of Russian Education and Science also believe that it is necessary to involve Rossotrudnichestvo and the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation to supply textbooks on the Russian language and literature to Russian schools and Russian language learning centers created on the initiative of foreign graduates of Soviet and Russian universities.

    Following the conference, participants outlined a work plan for 2025.

    Please note; this information is raw content received directly from the information source. It is an accurate account of what the source claims, and does not necessarily reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

    MIL OSI Russia News –

    July 3, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Achievements of RUDN University staff and alumni recognized with state and departmental awards

    Source: Peoples’Friendship University of Russia –

    An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.

    RUDN University staff and alumni received state and departmental awards at the State Kremlin Palace during a festive concert in honor of RUDN 65th anniversary.

    State awards

    The honorary title “Honored Scientist of the Russian Federation” for great contributions to science and many years of conscientious work was awarded to:

    • Aslan Abashidze, Head of the Department of International Law, RUDN Law Institute, Honored Lawyer of the Russian Federation, Doctor of Laws;
    • Vitaly Eremyan, Head of the Department of Constitutional Law and Constitutional Legal Proceedings, RUDN University Law Institute, Honored Lawyer of the Russian Federation, Doctor of Laws.

    For merits in science and education, training of highly qualified specialists, and many years of diligent work, the Medal of the Order “For Merit to the Fatherland” II Class was awarded to:

    • Vladimir Vorobyov, Head of the Department of the Russian Language and linguoculturology, Institute of the Russian Language, Doctor of Pedagogical sciences.
    • Natalya Sokolova, Director of the Institute of Foreign Languages, Head of the Department of Theory and practice of foreign languages, PhD of Philological Sciences.

    The honorary title “Honored Inventor of the Russian Federation” for many years of productive inventive activity was awarded to Alexander Stepanov, Head of the Department of Dentistry of the Institute of Medicine, Doctor of Medical Sciences.

    Departmental awards

    Andrey Kostin, First Vice-Rector — Vice-Rector for Research of RUDN University, Doctor of Medical Sciences, was awarded the Russian Federation Presidential Certificate of Honor for achievements in science and education, training of highly qualified specialists, and many years of conscientious work.

    By the order of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation, the honorary title “Honorary Worker of Education of the Russian Federation” for significant contributions to education and diligent work was conferred on:

    • Svetlana Balashova, Head of the Department of Economic and mathematical modeling, RUDN Faculty of Economics, PhD of Physical and Mathematical Sciences;
    • Elena Kryazheva-Kartseva, Head of the Department of Russian History, RUDN Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, PhD of Historical Sciences

    State awards to foreign alumni

    State awards were also presented to foreign alumni who made significant contributions to strengthening international ties and promoting Russian education and science abroad.

    The Order of Friendship was awarded to :

    1. Hamed Muhieddin Abou Zahr (Lebanon), President of the Arab-Peruvian Chamber of Commerce;
    2. Mustafa Hammoud Al-Nawaise (Jordan), Lawyer;
    3. Najim Riad Yusef (Lebanon/Russia), General Director, RamTEK LLC;
    4. Navin Satyapal Saxena (India), Director, pharmaceutical company “Rusan Pharma”.

    За достижения в области гуманитарных наук и литературы, вклад в изучение и сохранение культурного наследия России и сближений культур наций трое выпускников награждены Медалью Пушкина:

    For achievements in the field of the humanities and literature, contributions to the study and preservation of Russia’s cultural heritage, and bringing national cultures closer together, the Pushkin Medal was awarded to:

    1. Galina Abbas (Russia/Lebanon), President of RUDN University Alumni Association in Lebanon;
    2. Liu Xin (China), Chairman of the Board of Directors of MBDK International Group;
    3. Tony François Simon-Pierre Ngan (Cameroon), Chairman of Alumni Association of Russian (Soviet) Universities in Cameroon “Soyuzniki”

    RUDN University congratulates its staff and alumni on receiving these awards!

    Please note; this information is raw content received directly from the information source. It is an accurate account of what the source claims, and does not necessarily reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

    MIL OSI Russia News –

    July 3, 2025

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: UN Human Rights Council 59: UK Statement for Iraq’s UPR Outcomes Session

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    World news story

    UN Human Rights Council 59: UK Statement for Iraq’s UPR Outcomes Session

    UK Statement for Iraq’s Universal Periodic Review Outcomes Session. Delivered at the 59th session of the HRC in Geneva.

    Thank you, Mr President.

    We welcome the government of Iraq’s engagement with the UPR process, and their continued commitment to advancing justice and accountability for survivors of Daesh’s international crimes, following the closure of the United Nations Investigative Team to Promote Accountability for Crimes Committed by Daesh/ISIL (UNITAD) in September.

    We are pleased to support Iraq’s efforts in building the capacity of the judiciary to investigate and prosecute cases of sexual violence, modern slavery and human trafficking. And we continue to advocate for the full and survivor-centred implementation of the Yazidi Survivors’ Law.

    Mr President, the UK remains concerned by the shrinking civic and political space in Iraq which continues to restrict the freedoms of peaceful assembly and expression. We encourage the authorities to ensure that protestors, journalists, the media, and civil society are protected from interference and harassment, and that perpetrators of violence are held to account.

    Likewise, minorities should be protected to freely practice their religion or belief, without fear of persecution.

    The UK is closely assessing the implications of the amendment to Iraq’s Personal Status Law and will continue to stay engaged on this matter.

    Thank you.

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    Published 3 July 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

    July 3, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Egyptian and Ukrainian leaders discuss Russian-Ukrainian conflict and regional developments in the Middle East

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

    Source: People’s Republic of China in Russian –

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

    CAIRO, July 3 (Xinhua) — Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky held a telephone conversation on Wednesday to discuss the Russia-Ukraine conflict and regional developments in the Middle East, the Egyptian presidential office said in a statement.

    Speaking about the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, A.F. al-Sisi stressed the importance of achieving a diplomatic and political solution, emphasizing the need to “prioritize dialogue as a means of resolving the current crisis.”

    According to the statement, he reaffirmed Egypt’s “full support for all efforts aimed at achieving a peaceful settlement as soon as possible.”

    During the talks, the two leaders discussed the broader regional situation, especially the recent ceasefire agreement between Israel and Iran. The sides stressed “the need to maintain the ceasefire” and resume negotiations to achieve a peaceful settlement.

    The parties also discussed bilateral relations and ways to strengthen cooperation in the economic, trade and investment spheres.

    The phone call took place amid widespread calls for an end to the Russia-Ukraine conflict that began in February 2022. –0–

    MIL OSI Russia News –

    July 3, 2025

  • Ukraine voices concern as US halts some missile shipments

    Source: Government of India

    Source: Government of India (4)

    A decision by Washington to halt some shipments of critical weapons to Ukraine prompted warnings by Kyiv on Wednesday that the move would weaken its ability to defend against intensifying airstrikes and battlefield advances.

    Ukraine said it had called in the acting U.S. envoy to Kyiv to underline the importance of military aid from Washington continuing, and cautioned that any cut-off would embolden Russia in its war in Ukraine.

    The Pentagon’s decision – tied to concerns that U.S. military stockpiles are too low – began in recent days and includes 30 Patriot air defence missiles, which Ukraine relies on to destroy fast-moving ballistic missiles, four people familiar with the decision said on Wednesday.

    It also includes nearly 8,500 155mm artillery shells, more than 250 precision GMLRS (mobile rocket artillery) missiles and 142 Hellfire air-to-surface missiles, they said.

    “The Ukrainian side emphasised that any delay or procrastination in supporting Ukraine‘s defence capabilities will only encourage the aggressor to continue the war and terror, rather than seek peace,” Ukraine‘s foreign ministry said.

    The defence ministry said it had not been officially notified of any halt in U.S. shipments and was seeking clarity from its American counterparts.

    A Ukrainian source familiar with the situation said the decision was a “total shock.”

    Deputy White House press secretary Anna Kelly said the decision was made “to put America’s interests first” following a Department of Defense review of military support around the world.

    “The strength of the United States Armed Forces remains unquestioned — just ask Iran,” she said, referring to U.S. bombing of Iranian nuclear facilities last month.

    NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said the U.S. needed to take care of its stockpiles but told Fox News that “in the short term, Ukraine cannot do without all the support it can get” when it comes to ammunition and air defence systems.

    RUSSIAN AIRSTRIKES

    Dozens of people have been killed in recent airstrikes on Ukrainian cities and Russian forces, which control about a fifth of Ukraine, have been making gains in the east.

    Senator Jeanne Shaheen, the top Democrat on the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said the decision risks Ukrainian lives, undermines Washington’s credibility and will make it harder to end the war.

    “This sends a message to not just our allies, like Ukraine and our European allies, but it sends a message to our adversaries, to China, to North Korea, to Russia, that our allies can’t count on the United States,” she told WKBK radio in her home state New Hampshire.

    Since U.S. President Donald Trump took office in January, he has softened Washington’s position towards Russia, seeking a diplomatic solution to the war and raising doubts about future U.S. military support for Kyiv.

    Trump said last week he was considering selling more Patriot air defence missiles to Ukraine after meeting President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

    Fedir Venislavskyi, a member of the Ukrainian parliament’s national security and defence committee, said the decision to halt shipments was “very unpleasant for us“.

    In an email, the Pentagon said it was providing Trump with options to continue military aid to Ukraine in line with the goal of ending the war.

    Elbridge Colby, undersecretary of defence for policy, said it was “rigorously examining and adapting its approach…while also preserving U.S. forces’ readiness.”

    All weapons aid was briefly stopped in February, with a second, longer halt in March. Washington resumed sending the last of the aid approved under the previous administration, of Democratic President Joe Biden, but no new aid to Ukraine has been announced.

    The Kremlin welcomed the news of a halt, saying the conflict would end sooner if fewer arms reached Ukraine.

    Kyiv residents expressed alarm at the Pentagon’s decision.

    “If we end up in a situation where there’s no air defence left, I will move (out of Kyiv), because my safety is my first concern,” said Oksana Kurochkina, a 35-year-old lawyer.

    On the battlefield, a halt in precision munitions would limit the capacity of Ukrainian troops to strike Russian positions farther behind the front line, said Jack Watling, a military analyst at the Royal United Services Institute.

    “In short, this decision will cost Ukrainian lives and territory,” he said.

    (Reuters)

    July 3, 2025

  • MIL-Evening Report: The Rainbow Warrior saga: 1. French state terrorism and NZ’s end of innocence

    COMMENTARY: By Eugene Doyle

    Immediately after killing Fernando Pereira and blowing up Greenpeace’s flagship the Rainbow Warrior in Auckland harbour, several of the French agents went on a ski holiday in New Zealand’s South Island to celebrate.

    Such was the contempt the French had for the Kiwis and the abilities of our police to pursue them.  How wrong they were.

    To mark the 40th anniversary of the French terrorist attack Little Island Press has published a revised and updated edition of Eyes of Fire: The Last Voyage and Legacy of the Rainbow Warrior, first released in 1986.

    A new prologue by former prime minister Helen Clark and a preface by Greenpeace’s Bunny McDiarmid, along with an extensive postscript which bring us up to the present day, underline why the past is not dead; it’s with us right now.

    Written by David Robie, editor of Asia Pacific Report, who spent 11 weeks on the final voyage of the Warrior, the book is the most remarkable piece of history I have read this year and one of those rare books that has the power to expand your mind and make your blood boil at the same time. I thought I knew a fair bit about the momentous events surrounding the attack — until I read Eyes of Fire.

    Heroes of our age
     The book covers the history of Greenpeace action — from fighting the dumping of nuclear and other toxic waste in European waters, the Arctic and the Pacific, voyages to link besieged communities across the oceans, through to their epic struggles to halt whaling and save endangered marine colonies from predators.

    The Rainbow Warrior’s very last voyage before the bombing was to evacuate the entire population of Rongelap atoll (about 320 people) in the Marshall Islands who had been exposed to US nuclear radiation for decades.

    This article is the first of two in which I will explore themes that the book triggered for me.

    Neither secret nor intelligent – the French secret intelligence service

    Jean-Luc Kister was the DGSE (Direction-générale de la Sécurité extérieure) agent who placed the two bombs that ripped a massive hole in the hull of the Warrior on 10 July 1985. The ship quickly sank, trapping Greenpeace photographer Fernando Pereira inside.

    Former colonel Kister was a member of a large team of elite agents sent to New Zealand. One had also infiltrated Greenpeace months before, some travelled through the country prior to the attack, drinking, rooting New Zealand women and leaving a trail of breadcrumbs that led all the way to the Palais de l’Élysée where François Mitterrand, Socialist President of France, had personally given the order to bomb the famous peace vessel.

    Robie aptly calls the French mission “Blundergate”. The stupidity, howling incompetence and moronic lack of a sound strategic rationale behind the attack were only matched by the mendacity, the imperial hauteur and the racist contempt that lies at the heart of French policy in the Pacific to this very day.

    Thinking the Kiwi police would be no match for their élan, their savoir-faire and their panache, some of the killers hit the ski slopes to celebrate “Mission Accompli”. Others fled to Norfolk Island aboard a yacht, the Ouvéa.

    Tracked there by the New Zealand police it was only with the assistance of our friends and allies, the Australians, that the agents were able to escape. Within days they sank their yacht at sea during a rendezvous with a French nuclear submarine and were evenually able to return to France for medals and promotions.

    Two of the agents, however, were not so lucky. As everyone my age will recall, Dominique Prieur and Alain Mafart, were nabbed after a lightning fast operation by New Zealand police.

    With friends and allies like these, who needs enemies?
     We should recall that the French were our allies at the time. They decided, however, to stop the Rainbow Warrior from leading a flotilla of ships up to Moruroa Atoll in French Polynesia where yet another round of nuclear tests were scheduled. In other words: they bombed a peace ship to keep testing bombs.

    By 1995, France had detonated 193 nuclear bombs in the South Pacific.

    David Robie sees the bombing as “a desperate attempt by one of the last colonial powers in the Pacific to hang on to the vestiges of empire by blowing up a peace ship so it could continue despoiling Pacific islands for the sake of an independent nuclear force”.

    The US, UK and Australia cold-shouldered New Zealand through this period and uttered not a word of condemnation against the French. Within two years we were frog-marched out of the ANZUS alliance with Australia and the US because of our ground-breaking nuclear-free legislation.

    It was a blessing and the dawn of a period in which New Zealanders had an intense sense of national pride — a far cry from today when New Zealand politicians are being referred to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague for war crimes associated with the Gaza genocide.

    Eyes of Fire: The Last Voyage and Legacy of the Rainbow Warrior . . . publication next week. Image: ©  David Robie/Eyes Of Fire/Little Island Press

    The French State invented the term ‘terrorism’
     I studied French History at university in France and did a paper called “La France à la veille de révolution” (France on the eve of revolution). One of the chilling cultural memories is of the period from September 1793 to July 1794, which was known as La Terreur.

    At the time the French state literally coined the term “terrorisme” — with the blade of the guillotine dropping on neck after neck as the state tried to consolidate power through terror. But, as Robie points out, quoting law professor Roger S. Clark, we tend to use the term today to refer almost exclusively to non-state actors.

    With the US and Israel gunning down starving civilians in Gaza every day, with wave after wave of terror attacks being committed inside Iran and across the Middle East by Mossad, the CIA and MI6, we should amend this erroneous habit.

    The DGSE team who attached limpet mines to the Rainbow Warrior did so as psychopathic servants of the French State. Eyes of Fire: “At the time, Prime Minister David Lange described the Rainbow Warrior attack as ‘nothing more than a sordid act of international state-backed terrorism’.”

    Don’t get me wrong. I am not “anti-French”. I lived for years in France, had a French girlfriend, studied French history, language and literature. I even had friends in Wellington who worked at the French Embassy.

    Curiously when I lived next to Premier House, the official residence of the prime minister, my other next door neighbour was a French agent who specialised in surveillance. Our houses backed onto Premier House. Quelle coïncidence. To his mild consternation I’d greet him with “Salut, mon espion favori.” (Hello, my favourite spy).

    What I despise is French colonialism, French racism, and what the French call magouillage. I don’t know a good English word for it . . .  it is a mix of shenanigans, duplicity, artful deception to achieve unscrupulous outcomes that can’t be publicly avowed. In brief: what the French attempted in Auckland in 1985.

    Robie recounts in detail the lying, smokescreens and roadblocks that everyone from President Mitterrand through to junior officials put in the way of the New Zealand investigators. Mitterrand gave Prime Minister David Lange assurances that the culprits would be brought to justice. The French Embassy in Wellington claimed at the time: “In no way is France involved. The French government doesn’t deal with its opponents in such ways.”

    It took years for the bombshell to explode that none other than Mitterrand himself had ordered the terrorist attack on New Zealand and Greenpeace!

    Rainbow Warrior III . . . the current successor to the bombed ship. Photographed at Majuro, the capital of the Marshall Islands in April 2025. Image: © Bianca Vitale/Greenpeace

    We the people of the Pacific
     We, the people of the Pacific, owe a debt to Greenpeace and all those who were part of the Rainbow Warrior, including author David Robie. We must remember the crime and call it by its name: state terrorism.

    The French attempted to escape justice, deny involvement and then welched on the terms of the agreement negotiated with the help of the United Nations secretary-general.

    A great way to honour the sacrifice of those who stood up for justice, who stood for peace and a nuclear-free Pacific, and who honoured our own national identity would be to buy David Robie’s excellent book.

    I’ll give the last word to former Prime Minister Helen Clark:

    “This is the time for New Zealand to link with the many small and middle powers across regions who have a vision for a world characterised by solidarity and peace and which can rise to the occasion to combat the existential challenges it faces — including of nuclear weapons, climate change, and artificial intelligence. If our independent foreign policy is to mean anything in the mid-2020s, it must be based on concerted diplomacy for peace and sustainable development.”

    You cannot sink a rainbow.

    Eugene Doyle is a writer based in Wellington. He has written extensively on the Middle East, as well as peace and security issues in the Asia Pacific region. He contributes to Asia Pacific Report and Café Pacific, and hosts the public policy platform solidarity.co.nz

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

    July 3, 2025

  • MIL-Evening Report: The Rainbow Warrior saga: 1. French state terrorism and NZ’s end of innocence

    COMMENTARY: By Eugene Doyle

    Immediately after killing Fernando Pereira and blowing up Greenpeace’s flagship the Rainbow Warrior in Auckland harbour, several of the French agents went on a ski holiday in New Zealand’s South Island to celebrate.

    Such was the contempt the French had for the Kiwis and the abilities of our police to pursue them.  How wrong they were.

    To mark the 40th anniversary of the French terrorist attack Little Island Press has published a revised and updated edition of Eyes of Fire: The Last Voyage and Legacy of the Rainbow Warrior, first released in 1986.

    A new prologue by former prime minister Helen Clark and a preface by Greenpeace’s Bunny McDiarmid, along with an extensive postscript which bring us up to the present day, underline why the past is not dead; it’s with us right now.

    Written by David Robie, editor of Asia Pacific Report, who spent 11 weeks on the final voyage of the Warrior, the book is the most remarkable piece of history I have read this year and one of those rare books that has the power to expand your mind and make your blood boil at the same time. I thought I knew a fair bit about the momentous events surrounding the attack — until I read Eyes of Fire.

    Heroes of our age
     The book covers the history of Greenpeace action — from fighting the dumping of nuclear and other toxic waste in European waters, the Arctic and the Pacific, voyages to link besieged communities across the oceans, through to their epic struggles to halt whaling and save endangered marine colonies from predators.

    The Rainbow Warrior’s very last voyage before the bombing was to evacuate the entire population of Rongelap atoll (about 320 people) in the Marshall Islands who had been exposed to US nuclear radiation for decades.

    This article is the first of two in which I will explore themes that the book triggered for me.

    Neither secret nor intelligent – the French secret intelligence service

    Jean-Luc Kister was the DGSE (Direction-générale de la Sécurité extérieure) agent who placed the two bombs that ripped a massive hole in the hull of the Warrior on 10 July 1985. The ship quickly sank, trapping Greenpeace photographer Fernando Pereira inside.

    Former colonel Kister was a member of a large team of elite agents sent to New Zealand. One had also infiltrated Greenpeace months before, some travelled through the country prior to the attack, drinking, rooting New Zealand women and leaving a trail of breadcrumbs that led all the way to the Palais de l’Élysée where François Mitterrand, Socialist President of France, had personally given the order to bomb the famous peace vessel.

    Robie aptly calls the French mission “Blundergate”. The stupidity, howling incompetence and moronic lack of a sound strategic rationale behind the attack were only matched by the mendacity, the imperial hauteur and the racist contempt that lies at the heart of French policy in the Pacific to this very day.

    Thinking the Kiwi police would be no match for their élan, their savoir-faire and their panache, some of the killers hit the ski slopes to celebrate “Mission Accompli”. Others fled to Norfolk Island aboard a yacht, the Ouvéa.

    Tracked there by the New Zealand police it was only with the assistance of our friends and allies, the Australians, that the agents were able to escape. Within days they sank their yacht at sea during a rendezvous with a French nuclear submarine and were evenually able to return to France for medals and promotions.

    Two of the agents, however, were not so lucky. As everyone my age will recall, Dominique Prieur and Alain Mafart, were nabbed after a lightning fast operation by New Zealand police.

    With friends and allies like these, who needs enemies?
     We should recall that the French were our allies at the time. They decided, however, to stop the Rainbow Warrior from leading a flotilla of ships up to Moruroa Atoll in French Polynesia where yet another round of nuclear tests were scheduled. In other words: they bombed a peace ship to keep testing bombs.

    By 1995, France had detonated 193 nuclear bombs in the South Pacific.

    David Robie sees the bombing as “a desperate attempt by one of the last colonial powers in the Pacific to hang on to the vestiges of empire by blowing up a peace ship so it could continue despoiling Pacific islands for the sake of an independent nuclear force”.

    The US, UK and Australia cold-shouldered New Zealand through this period and uttered not a word of condemnation against the French. Within two years we were frog-marched out of the ANZUS alliance with Australia and the US because of our ground-breaking nuclear-free legislation.

    It was a blessing and the dawn of a period in which New Zealanders had an intense sense of national pride — a far cry from today when New Zealand politicians are being referred to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague for war crimes associated with the Gaza genocide.

    Eyes of Fire: The Last Voyage and Legacy of the Rainbow Warrior . . . publication next week. Image: ©  David Robie/Eyes Of Fire/Little Island Press

    The French State invented the term ‘terrorism’
     I studied French History at university in France and did a paper called “La France à la veille de révolution” (France on the eve of revolution). One of the chilling cultural memories is of the period from September 1793 to July 1794, which was known as La Terreur.

    At the time the French state literally coined the term “terrorisme” — with the blade of the guillotine dropping on neck after neck as the state tried to consolidate power through terror. But, as Robie points out, quoting law professor Roger S. Clark, we tend to use the term today to refer almost exclusively to non-state actors.

    With the US and Israel gunning down starving civilians in Gaza every day, with wave after wave of terror attacks being committed inside Iran and across the Middle East by Mossad, the CIA and MI6, we should amend this erroneous habit.

    The DGSE team who attached limpet mines to the Rainbow Warrior did so as psychopathic servants of the French State. Eyes of Fire: “At the time, Prime Minister David Lange described the Rainbow Warrior attack as ‘nothing more than a sordid act of international state-backed terrorism’.”

    Don’t get me wrong. I am not “anti-French”. I lived for years in France, had a French girlfriend, studied French history, language and literature. I even had friends in Wellington who worked at the French Embassy.

    Curiously when I lived next to Premier House, the official residence of the prime minister, my other next door neighbour was a French agent who specialised in surveillance. Our houses backed onto Premier House. Quelle coïncidence. To his mild consternation I’d greet him with “Salut, mon espion favori.” (Hello, my favourite spy).

    What I despise is French colonialism, French racism, and what the French call magouillage. I don’t know a good English word for it . . .  it is a mix of shenanigans, duplicity, artful deception to achieve unscrupulous outcomes that can’t be publicly avowed. In brief: what the French attempted in Auckland in 1985.

    Robie recounts in detail the lying, smokescreens and roadblocks that everyone from President Mitterrand through to junior officials put in the way of the New Zealand investigators. Mitterrand gave Prime Minister David Lange assurances that the culprits would be brought to justice. The French Embassy in Wellington claimed at the time: “In no way is France involved. The French government doesn’t deal with its opponents in such ways.”

    It took years for the bombshell to explode that none other than Mitterrand himself had ordered the terrorist attack on New Zealand and Greenpeace!

    Rainbow Warrior III . . . the current successor to the bombed ship. Photographed at Majuro, the capital of the Marshall Islands in April 2025. Image: © Bianca Vitale/Greenpeace

    We the people of the Pacific
     We, the people of the Pacific, owe a debt to Greenpeace and all those who were part of the Rainbow Warrior, including author David Robie. We must remember the crime and call it by its name: state terrorism.

    The French attempted to escape justice, deny involvement and then welched on the terms of the agreement negotiated with the help of the United Nations secretary-general.

    A great way to honour the sacrifice of those who stood up for justice, who stood for peace and a nuclear-free Pacific, and who honoured our own national identity would be to buy David Robie’s excellent book.

    I’ll give the last word to former Prime Minister Helen Clark:

    “This is the time for New Zealand to link with the many small and middle powers across regions who have a vision for a world characterised by solidarity and peace and which can rise to the occasion to combat the existential challenges it faces — including of nuclear weapons, climate change, and artificial intelligence. If our independent foreign policy is to mean anything in the mid-2020s, it must be based on concerted diplomacy for peace and sustainable development.”

    You cannot sink a rainbow.

    Eugene Doyle is a writer based in Wellington. He has written extensively on the Middle East, as well as peace and security issues in the Asia Pacific region. He contributes to Asia Pacific Report and Café Pacific, and hosts the public policy platform solidarity.co.nz

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

    July 3, 2025
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