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Russia warned Britain on Monday that if British weapons were used by Ukraine to strike Russian territory then Moscow could hit back at British military installations and equipment both inside Ukraine and elsewhere. Russia said British Ambassador Nigel Casey was summoned to the foreign ministry for a formal protest after Foreign Secretary David Cameron said last week that Ukraine had the right to use British weapons to strike Russia. Russia's foreign ministry said the Cameron remarks recognised that Britain was now de facto a part of the conflict and contradicted an earlier assurance that long-range weapons given to Ukraine would...

Several European member states are expected to recognize Palestinian statehood by the end of May, the EU's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Monday...

As US lawmakers return from their Easter break, they need to take Volodymyr Zelensky’s warning Sunday seriously: Without US military aid, Ukraine “will lose the war.” And if that happens, “other countries will be attacked.” Yes, it’s that simple. Ukraine’s military has been short of ammo and struggling to hold back Russia for weeks. Moscow is reportedly probing for weaknesses and planning new offensives to capture more Ukrainian territory. If US help fails to arrive, it’s just a matter of time before Zelensky & Co. are annihilated or forced to surrender. And anyone who thinks that outcome won’t endanger the...

Russia and NATO are now in "direct confrontation", the Kremlin said as the U.S.-led alliance marked its 75th anniversary on Thursday. NATO's successive waves of eastern enlargement are a fixation of President Vladimir Putin, who went to war in Ukraine two years ago with the stated aim of preventing the alliance from coming closer to Russia's borders. Instead, the war has galvanised NATO, which has expanded again with the entry of Finland and Sweden. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters: "In fact, relations have now slipped to the level of direct confrontation." NATO was "already involved in the conflict surrounding...

NATO is going to “build a bridge” towards Ukraine becoming a member state of the defensive alliance, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on the organisation’s 75th birthday. North Atlantic Treaty Organisation member states met in Brussels at the alliance’s headquarters on Thursday to toast the 75th anniversary of its founding, among them U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken who like others used the occasion to discuss renewed Russian aggression and the potential place of Ukraine among its members. He emphasised the view, already articulated multiple times by NATO leaders in recent years, that “Ukraine will become a member...

Poland’s new government is moving to limit freedom of speech and actively penalize so-called hate speech, a move that has been associated with stifling dissent and limiting opposition to issues surrounding mass immigration, religion, and LGBT issues in other European countries. ... Deputy Minister Śmiszek announced this week legislative changes to introduce criminal responsibility for what his party considers hate speech against homosexuals. --- "The time has come to ban disgusting, homophobic, discriminatory statements in the public sphere,” declared Śmiszek, who is openly homosexual. Meanwhile, the European Parliament is calling on EU leaders to include incitement to hatred and hate...

France announces it will provide over 30 million euros to UNRWA while ensuring the agency fulfills its mission "in a spirit devoid of incitement to hatred and violence".

Emmanuel Macron broke the taboo in February. NATO already assists Ukraine in virtually every possible aspect, from supplying weaponry and intelligence on Russian targets and the positions of enemy bombers to training thousands of Ukrainian troops in Europe. But until the French president suggested it, no one had dared to raise the question of Atlantic Alliance soldiers going into action to stop the Kremlin’s invasion. Macron not only opened a debate; his words also served to confirm that there are already military personnel from NATO countries on Ukrainian soil, albeit without taking an active role in combat operations. Polish Foreign...

Five months into the Gaza crisis, the results of the updated Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) assessment released today indicate the unfolding of the worst possible forecast for Gaza. Gaza is already facing famine, with 100% of people estimated to be acutely food insecure, according to the IPC. In Gaza's Northern Governorates, 70% of the population are facing imminent famine. In the centre and southern governorates, 50% of people face catastrophic food insecurity conditions. The situation is projected to deteriorate fast in the next weeks and months and famine is likely to also affect the South. This is unprecedented....

Democrat Sen. Mark Warner, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, is warning that U.S. forces could be “in combat” if Congress fails to pass $61 billion in aid to Ukraine."Ukrainians in two years have been really remarkable," Warner said on a press call Thursday. "They've literally destroyed 87%. Russia's pre-existing ground forces have either been killed or wounded or are basically out of the conflict, and now the world is waiting to see whether the United States is going to honor its commitment to Ukraine."The Virginia lawmaker said he "fears" that if the U.S. doesn't pass additional war funding for...

The Polish General Staff is convinced that 300,000 NATO soldiers are on high alert and will immediately arrive in Poland in case of a threat to the country This was stated by the Deputy Chief of the Polish General Staff Karol Dymanowski. According to him, several thousand American soldiers are currently deployed in Poland and are involved in exercises. Answering the host's question about whether the number of US troops in Poland may increase to 100,000, he said that this is a realistic scenario. "These are NATO's plans, which were approved at the political level at the last NATO summit...

The European Commission will propose on Tuesday ways for the European Union to boost its arms industry so it can shift to “war economy mode” in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Thierry Breton, the European industry commissioner, will lay out proposals to encourage EU countries to buy more weapons together from European companies, and to help such firms increase production capacity, according to EU officials. “We need to change the paradigm and move into war economy mode. This also means that the European defense industry must take more risks, with our support,” said Breton, previewing the package. Breton, a...

French President Emmanuel Macron met with parliamentary parties on Thursday. During the meeting Macron said he was open to the possibility of sending troops to Ukraine, as announced by, according to French newspaper L’Independant. Fabien Roussel, a representative of the French Communist Party, said after the meeting that “Macron referenced a scenario that could lead to intervention [of French troops]: the advancement of the front towards Odesa or Kyiv.” He noted that the French President showed parliamentarians maps of the possible directions of strikes by Russian troops in Ukraine. Following the meeting, Jordan Bardella of the far-right National Rally party...

Western powers will not censure Iran over its lack of cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog at its Board of Governors meeting from Monday for fear of aggravating geopolitical tensions, diplomats said. Last week, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in confidential quarterly reports seen by AFP that Tehran’s cooperation with the agency remained poor on several outstanding nuclear issues. These include expanding its nuclear work, deactivating agency surveillance devices for monitoring Iran’s nuclear programme, and barring senior inspectors. The so-called E3 group — France, Germany and the United Kingdom — initially planned to censure Iran for its lack...

The European Union has become the first international body to criminalise the most serious cases of environmental damage that are “comparable to ecocide”. Ecosystem destruction, including habitat loss and illegal logging, will be punished with tougher penalties and prison sentences under the EU’s updated environmental crime directive. In a vote in the European Parliament on Tuesday, EU lawmakers overwhelmingly backed the move with 499 votes in favour, 100 against and 23 abstentions. Member states now have two years to enshrine it in national law. Here’s what you need to know about the updated law, which experts are calling revolutionary. Environmental...

Several NATO and EU members are "considering sending troops to Ukraine" on a "bilateral basis Slovakia's PM Robert Fico added, "I cannot say for what purpose and what they should be doing there," after making the claims.

And so it begins. Nine months still to go before the next US presidential election and already the Republican party favourite and former President Donald Trump is sending eyebrows and blood pressure skywards in Nato capitals with his provocative statements. And yet they will delight many of his supporters. Suggesting at a rally in South Carolina that he would "encourage" aggressors (for example Russia) "to do whatever the hell they want" with Nato countries that fail to pay their dues has prompted an immediate condemnation from the White House. A spokesman called the comment "appalling and unhinged", saying it was...

Just when you may have thought things couldn’t get any crazier: American playwright and humorist C.J. Hopkins, profiled in this space on numerous occasions, has been sent a “punishment order” by a German judge, offering him a Sophie’s Choice of 60 days in jail or 3,600 euros. His crime? Essentially, insulting the German health minister in a tweet, and using a scarcely-visible image of a Swastika on a mask in a book critical of the global pandemic response, The Rise of the New Normal Reich. He was first accused of this “crime” in June, shortly after Roger Waters was placed...

"NATO’s strength is its diversity" - Secretary General on International Day against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia.

The German Foreign Office tweeted screenshots on Friday of the accounts of journalists suspended by Twitter, telling the social media platform that suspending their accounts was unacceptable. "Press freedom cannot be switched on and off on a whim," the ministry wrote on its official Twitter page. "The journalists below can no longer follow us, comment and criticize. We have a problem with that, @Twitter." The move comes a day after the social media platform changed its policies revolving around accounts which tracked private jets, including a jet owned by Musk. The EU, meanwhile, has warned Elon Musk that Twitter could...