This marks the second time in a year that Baltic Sea infrastructure — which includes communications cables and energy pipelines such as Nord Stream — has been damaged, raising concerns over security and sabotage. Another telecom cable in the Baltic Sea between Lithuania and Sweden’s Gotland Island was damaged Sunday morning, telecom company Telia Lietuva, … Read more
Scholz’s SPD, on the other hand, is polling third with 16 percent, just behind the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party and down 10 percentage points since the 2021 election. According to Spiegel, SPD members of the Bundestag in a recent meeting joined local and regional politicians in voicing doubts over Scholz’s chances to succeed … Read more
Der öffentlich-rechtliche Rundfunk soll weniger kosten, die Gebühren dürfen nicht weiter steigen. Darin sind sich die meisten Länderchefs einig, die sich ab heute zur Ministerpräsidentenkonferenz in Leipzig treffen. Über den Weg zu den Einsparungen dagegen herrscht noch keine endgültige Einigkeit. Wie die Anstalten geschrumpft werden könnten – organisatorisch, aber auch inhaltlich – analysiert Gordon Repinski. … Read more
Beijing claims the democratically governed Taiwan as its own and says the strait is within Chinese jurisdiction. Germany’s Defense Minister Boris Pistorius defended the transit on Friday. “International waters are international waters,” Pistorius said during a press conference with Lithuanian Defense Minister Laurynas Kasciunas. “It’s the shortest route and, given the weather conditions, the safest, … Read more
The Russian leader delivered an explicit message Thursday night to Ukraine’s Western partners, warning them against letting Kyiv use donated long-range missiles to strike deep into Russia. “This will mean that NATO countries, the United States, and European countries are fighting Russia,” he said, ahead of a key meeting between U.S. President Joe Biden and U.K. … Read more
“The federal government is committed to NATO’s 2 percent target,” said a Defense Ministry spokesperson. In addition to the annual defense budget, Berlin also includes in its defense spending total sent to NATO some expenditures from other departments. That includes the Foreign Office, Chancellery and the Ministry of Finance, the spokesperson said, but the total … Read more
The country’s new Labour government is more enthusiastic about forging deeper defense co-operation with European allies than its Conservative predecessor, and moved quickly to sign a cooperation deal with Germany on Wednesday. As part of a whistle stop tour of Europe, including France, Poland and Estonia over 48 hours this week, British Defense Minister John … Read more
Heute wird der Kanzler eine Regierungserklärung abhalten, diesmal zum Europäischen Rat und zur NATO. Doch sicherheitspolitisch sind die Augen inzwischen auf einen ganz anderen gerichtet: Boris Pistorius. Mehrmals hat der Verteidigungsminister abgeliefert: Seine Pläne für einen modernisierten Wehrdienst kommen auch bei der Opposition gut an, und in der Koalition setzt er sich mit seinen Finanzierungwünschen … Read more
“On a totally selfish personal note, I’d be delighted to be able to continue the good cooperation we’ve established with Sébastien Lecornu, there’s a lot to do. Defense policy has never been so important,” Pistorius told reporters when asked whether he was worried about the impact of a National Rally victory in the two-round election … Read more
Pistorius wants to move quickly and have at least 5,000 fresh troops signed up next year, but rather than rushing bodies into active service, he proposes first to whip the state into shape to be able to hire, train and house recruits at scale. “It’s a start,” Pistorius said modestly of his plan, which will … Read more
