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LeMonde
4 days ago
- LeMonde
'Trump treats his allies in Asia like those in Europe, with intimidation and blackmail. The result is the same: Trust breaks down'
In politics, drawing parallels with universally respected icons is often more effective than building long arguments. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese demonstrated as much on Saturday, July 5, as debate raged in his country over the future of Canberra's relationships with the United States, China and Europe. Albanese paid tribute to his distant predecessor John Curtin, also a Labor Party leader, on the 80 th anniversary of Curtin's death. On December 27, 1941, three weeks after the Pearl Harbor attack and in the midst of the Pacific War, Curtin published a now-famous article in the Melbourne Herald urging Australia to "look to America." In reality, this was a way to avoid leaving his country's fate in the hands of Churchill. In February 1942, Curtin stood up to the British prime minister, who had claimed the right to deploy Australian troops to Myanmar, and insisted they be brought home to defend Australia. Curtin's message, as Albanese interprets it today, was that "Australia's fate would be decided in our region. (...) This was a Pacific war. (...) Our security could not be outsourced to London, or trusted to vague assurances from Britain." Replace "London" with "Washington," and the message is rather clear. Albanese, comfortably re-elected in May over a conservative opponent who boasted of good relations with Donald Trump, does not appreciate the dictates of the 47 th US president. In a country that, like Japan, is key for the US presence in the Indo-Pacific, doubts about the strength of the alliance with Washington have come to the fore. Trump treats his allies in the Indo-Pacific like those in Europe: with intimidation and blackmail, from ultimatums in military cooperation to tariff wars in trade relations. The result is the same: a breakdown in trust. US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth's remarks at the annual Shangri-La Dialogue security forum in Singapore on May 31 had an effect on the US's Asia-Pacific allies akin to that of Vice President JD Vance's address to European allies in Munich in February: chilling and domineering. Declaring the Indo-Pacific the "priority theater" for the US, and calling the Chinese threat "imminent," Hegseth urged them to follow the example of NATO allies, "even Germany," who have committed to raising their defense spending to 5% of GDP. Australia is currently spending 2% and aiming for 2.4% by 2033.
France 24
6 days ago
- France 24
Japan, South Korea face 25% tariffs as Trump ramps up trade war
U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday ramped up his trade war telling 14 nations, from powerhouse suppliers such as Japan and South Korea to minor trade players, that they now face sharply higher tariffs from a new deadline of August 1. France 24's Camille Nedelec reports on the reaction from Asia.
Euronews
6 days ago
- Euronews
(Un)orthodox intelligence ops: How Russia is using its churches abroad
Sweden has opened up a probe into a Russian Orthodox church in the town of Västerås over possible links to the Kremlin's hybrid warfare techniques. An investigation by outlet France24 revealed that the Church of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God might be used for espionage. Located just 300 metres from Stockholm-Västerås Airport, it has drawn scrutiny from local authorities and security services over its ties with Russian intelligence. Sweden's domestic security agency, SAPO, believes the church is being used as a platform for intelligence gathering and other hostile activities. Strategic location of the Russian church in Sweden Stockholm-Västerås Airport, also known as Hässlö Flygplats, is a small international airport that until 1983 served as a base for the Swedish Air Force. Following Sweden's NATO membership in 2024, the airport became a strategic military hub, regularly hosting exercises for the alliance. The head of the control tower, Andreas Nyqvist, told France24 journalists that a Russian church being located this close to the airport is not a normal situation. 'Nothing is normal about a church that close to the airport," Nyqvist explained. Västerås also sits on the edge of Lake Mälaren – a strategically sensitive corridor that connects the Swedish heartland with the Baltic Sea – and several key bridges cross the important waterway here. SAPO previously attempted to halt the construction of the church, citing security risks. However, the project proceeded without regard for the prior regulations. The church's spire is 22 metres high, although the local zoning plan indicated it was not supposed to exceed 10 metres due to its proximity to sensitive infrastructure – the airport. Who is in charge of the Västerås church? When the Västerås church was consecrated in November 2023, the ceremony was attended by Russian and Belarusian diplomats. One of them, Vladimir Lyapin, has since been exposed as a Russian spy by Swedish investigative journalists. Two weeks later, SAPO issued a public warning that the Moscow Patriarchate in Sweden is supporting Russian intelligence operations and receiving significant state funding. Municipal authorities are now considering the unprecedented step of expropriating the building, citing national security concerns. Even more so with the attention being drawn to Father Pavel Makarenko, the parish priest at the church in Västerås. The investigation revealed that, for several years, on the sidelines of his religious duties, Makarenko served as the CEO of the Russian-owned import and export firm NC Nordic Control AB. That job and his corporate career came to an abrupt end in 2021, when a Stockholm district court convicted him of aggravated accounting fraud for footing fake bills for companies in Russia and Belarus. Makarenko, who denied the charges – and later lost an appeal – was handed a suspended six-month jail sentence, 160 hours of community service and a three-year business ban. Russian churches in Europe The Russian Orthodox Church may utilise its churches in Europe for intelligence activities, strategically positioning them near critical facilities, according to a report by the Molfar Institute, a Ukrainian company that provides open-source intelligence services. The OSINT agency conducted open-source research analysing 11 European countries, including Sweden, Norway, Finland, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic. The agency also specifically analysed the church in Västerås, claiming that its construction was financed by Rosatom, Russia's state atomic energy corporation. Notably, the Swedish Westinghouse electric factory, which produces nuclear fuel assemblies, is approximately 5 kilometres away from the Russian church. The Molfar investigation also geolocated Russian churches in Bryne, Oslo and Kirkenes in Norway. In Trondheim, for example, the Russian church is around 1 kilometre away from the Air Force Academy and less than 1 kilometre from a submarine bunker. In some countries, the authorities shut down Russian churches due to security concerns. In Finland, the Russian church in Turku was located critically close to the Coastal Fleet. The authorities shut it down in August 2022 following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. In 2023 Bulgarian authorities expelled the head of the Russian church in the country over what they called a 'threat to national security'. Archimandrite Vasian, who headed the Russian Orthodox Church in the country, was accused of espionage***.***
