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Spectator
4 days ago
- Politics
- Spectator
Nato should not ignore Russia's ‘coalition of murderers'
This week's Nato summit could not come at a more pivotal moment. As recent months have shown, the challenges to contemporary global security are no longer limited to the individual threats posed by Moscow, Tehran, or Pyongyang. What makes the current situation even more concerning for the West is the multiple threats posed by the heightened bilateral and trilateral collaborations between these actors, alongside those with Beijing. Whilst the so-called CRINK (China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea) does not yet constitute any formal strategic alliance, it would be naïve and dangerous to dismiss their ties as merely superficial. On his visit to the United Kingdom on Monday, Volodymyr Zelensky called Russia, Iran, and North Korea a 'coalition of murderers' after Russian drones and ballistic missiles struck Kyiv hours after his arrival in London. Ukrainian intelligence reported that half of the 352 drones used were Iranian Shahed drones, and many of the ballistic missiles were from North Korea. The authoritarian axis between Russia, Iran, North Korea, and China will be just one global security concern Within this 'coalition', there is ample room for China, which enables Moscow's war through providing dual-use technologies to Russia. Akin to its Russian counterpart, Beijing has also violated United Nations sanctions which it previously supported. Tens of thousands – if not more – of North Korean workers remain in China and Russia, and for all Beijing's supposed nausea at Pyongyang's rapprochement with Moscow, such emesis is not severe enough to prevent the middle kingdom from aiding its naughty nuclear neighbour by smuggling oil and petroleum. Since Russia's initial invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, mutual support between China, North Korea, Russia and Iran have gone beyond mere words of affirmation. Whether the development of Russian weapons factories in China; the cash-for-munitions (and manpower) exchange between Moscow and Pyongyang; or the sharing of ballistic missile technology between Pyongyang and Tehran, bilateral cooperation has reached new heights. Who can forget when Russia and North Korea signed a 'comprehensive strategic partnership treaty' on 19 June last year, within which was contained a mutual defence clause? Or when this year began with Moscow and Tehran signing a treaty of the same name, albeit this time lacking such a commitment to mutual defence? These four countries do not possess identical interests or ideologies: one need only compare the theocracy of Iran with the atheistic nature of China and North Korea. Nevertheless, their unity in their opposition to the United States and the US-led international order would be perilous to ignore. After the first week of the current Israeli-Iranian conflict, Putin mentioned that Russia had no intention of providing military assistance to Iran. But when the Russian President hosted the Iranian Foreign Minister, Abbas Araqchi, yesterday, days after the US's successful precision-guided strikes on three Iranian uranium enrichment sites, he made clear how the attack had 'no basis and no justification'. Even if Russia does not get involved directly in supporting Iran, we all know which team it bats for. For all their differences, these states can also learn from each other. The US's air strikes on Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan have only underscored how Iran is the weakest amongst this quartet of chaos. Yet, Trump's hardly unsubtle hint at regime change in Iran will do little to convince what is left of the crumbling Iranian regime to renege on their nuclear aspirations. Tehran needs only to look nearly four thousand miles eastwards, to Pyongyang, for inspiration. As world leaders meet today for the two-day Nato summit in The Hague, the authoritarian axis between Russia, Iran, North Korea, and China will be just one regional and global security concern during a time of 'polycrisis' across the globe. Despite such interconnectedness, out of the so-called Indo-Pacific Four (Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand), only the New Zealand Prime Minister, Christopher Luxon, has agreed to attend the summit. The leaders of the other three states, including the newly-elected South Korean President, Lee Jae-myung, have opted to send senior officials (in South Korea's case, National Security Advisor, Wi Sung-lac), in their places. That three out of the four leaders have chosen to sit out this week's gathering – which they had attended (as non-Nato members) since 2022 – could be seen as a snub to US President Donald Trump, in disapproval of his intervention in Iran. But Tokyo, Seoul, and Canberra may also be motivated by great power politics. If no bilateral discussion with Trump – who has imposed sweeping tariffs on all four Indo-Pacific states – is on the cards, then summitry remains firmly off the cards. It is perhaps ironic that the Japanese Prime Minister, Ishiba Shigeru, has chosen not to attend what would have been his first Nato Summit, given his past calls for an 'Asian Nato'. Japan has also been hesitant to support the US's stance towards Iran, not least given Tokyo's dependence on the Middle Eastern region for over 90 per cent of its crude oil imports. For a country whose economy is hardly blossoming, any closure to the Straits of Hormuz – which Tehran has threatened – will rub further salt into Tokyo's economic wounds in addition to causing catastrophic global impacts. One of the nicknames bestowed upon the loquacious former Japanese prime minister, Junichiro Koizumi, was Nato: 'no action, talk only'. With a coalition of anti-Western states strengthening their bilateral – if not multilateral – ties, the need for talking to lead to action has never been greater. Last night's ceasefire between Israel and Iran lasted barely a few hours, and if Iran is successful, a world of nine nuclear-armed states may soon get its tenth member. And by then, who knows how the other rogue states will seek to benefit from the newest member of the nuclear club.
Miami Herald
5 days ago
- Politics
- Miami Herald
More deaths in Kyiv as Russia hits civilian infrastructure
Russia unleashed its latest missile and drone strike on Kyiv, killing at least seven people, as Moscow steps up its aerial attacks on civilian infrastructure. A section of a residential building collapsed after it was hit, and more than 30 people were injured across the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram on Monday morning. Recovery work continues and more casualties are likely trapped in the rubble, according to Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko. Casualties were reported in other Ukrainian regions which faced Russian attacks overnight. "Russia has demonstrated that the term 'civilian object' doesn't exist for them," Klymenko said on Telegram. The overnight strikes by President Vladimir Putin's forces followed a similar pattern to last week's assault that killed 27 people in Ukraine. The country was attacked by 352 strike drones and 16 ballistic and cruise missiles into Monday, with Kyiv and the surrounding region the main target, according to Ukraine's military. One of the capital's subway entry points was damaged, the city administration said on Telegram. Subway stations are used as shelters during air raids. In total, 339 drones and 15 missiles were shot down or jammed, according to Ukraine's Air Defense. The latest strikes on Kyiv come amid a renewed effort by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to ensure further support from Western allies, as the escalating conflict between Iran and Israel climbs further up their agenda. The Ukrainian leader, who is expected to attend the NATO summit in The Hague this week, made a surprise visit to the U.K. on Monday, where he called for renewed pressure on Russia. He has already called on western allies to allocate 0.25% of their GDP to support Ukraine's defense industry next year. At the same time, his country has amassed $43 billion to ramp up production and to buy drones, artillery, and other weapons. Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, who is in Brussels for meeting of EU foreign ministers, also urged partners to impose tough sanctions, including secondary restrictions, which would "strike Russian economy and oil revenues." With all eyes on the Middle East, Sybiha and Zelenskyy have both sought to contrast Russia's "performative condemnation" and "uproar" about U.S. and Israeli air strikes on its ally Iran with its ongoing commitment to subjugating Ukraine through its own bombing campaign against cities. "Today Moscow is silent after the Russian army carried out a cynical strike using Iranian Shahed drones and missiles against civilian infrastructure in Kyiv," said the Ukrainian President in a post on X. ----------- -With assistance from Alan Crawford. Copyright (C) 2025, Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Portions copyrighted by the respective providers.
Local Sweden
19-06-2025
- Business
- Local Sweden
Podcast pioneer to drone destroyer: Swedish founder's defence start-up
Karl Rosander is best known as co-founder of the world's largest independent podcast hosting company, Acast. But in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, he has entirely reinvented himself, co-founding the drone interceptor start-up Nordic Air Defence. Advertisement Karl Rosander takes a break from his lunch to show off the Kreuger 100 interceptor on the conference table in front of him. "It's actually here," he declares, picking up a model a little larger than a Toblerone bar or a cardboard tube for kitchen roll. "This is a prototype. It's not larger than this. This is the actual size." The interceptor is "unjammable", he says, "because today, drones can be autonomous, which means they don't have any range of signal between the drone and the operator." The company, he says, has developed "a special technology we're pretty secret about", with two patents pending. "What we do is that we take away expensive hardware and replace it with software and clever aerodynamics. That means we bring down the costs a lot and we can mass produce it." Advertisement The Kreuger 100 uses an innovative method to control and propel itself. Photo: Nordic Air Defence When I ask, however, if Nordic Air Defence, the company of which he is CEO, has produced a working prototype capable of flying at the speeds required to take down an Iranian Shahed drone, he avoids the question. "I always start a company by building hype around it. Nice design. You build hype, you have a couple of angles for the press. And what that means you will be attractive to capital but also to talented people that want to work with you." "What we're doing now it's we are getting production ready, and we're not there yet, but we are moving really fast, much faster than the old legacy industry that builds a very expensive, huge systems that take ten years to develop." Advertisement Karl Rosander is the co-founder of Acast. Photo: Malin Hoelstad/SvD/TT Rosander is one of Sweden's most prolific tech entrepreneurs. He co-founded the podcast platform Acast in 2013, leaving the board five years later. He then co-founded the media micropayments platform Sesamy. The idea for Nordic Air Defence was brought to him in late 2023 in his role as an angel investor. Three people, one of whom was "a very technically skilled person", presented to him with a plan to use "software and clever aerodynamics" to make a cheap drone interceptor. "I said 'okay, is this going to work for real? Because if it does, it's going to be huge success, and we need it fast to meet the threat'." Advertisement They hired a physicist involved in defence research, who used "advanced simulation software" to check that the idea would work, and when they concluded that it would, he decided to go all in. "In the third meeting with investors, it suddenly came to me. 'I've spent the last 27 years learning how to be an entrepreneur just to do this project'. So I told them in the meeting, 'I'm going to be the CEO'. Since then I've been working day and night." For him, there is no essential difference between launching a media software platform like Acast or Sesamy, and developing military hardware. "An industry that's about to change. That's my sweet spot," he says. "It doesn't matter what area it actually is - it's fun to work with defense and also with tech, because you can scale a lot. When I started with the company 15 to 16 months ago, you could see that this is an industry that has to change rapidly." Rosander is not the only tech investor looking at defence. Daniel Ek, the Spotify founder, has become a major investor in the German drone company Helsing. He argues that Russia's invasion of Ukraine has transformed the perception of the defence industry. "Before that happened, as an entrepreneur in tech, or any kind of entrepreneur, it was not nice, it was ugly. It was sort of better to work with gambling," he says. "Now I get a hug when I tell people I'm working in defense. So it's an industry about to change. That's why I'm here." The fundamental idea behind Nordic Air Defence is simple. A single Patriot missile costs $4 million, and even the cheapest air defence missiles cost $200,000, Rosander explains. This makes stopping drone attacks prohibitively expensive. In Ukraine, Russia now brings drones to their targets at very high altitudes so that they cannot be shot down by machine guns, which are much cheaper, and then makes them dive. If someone can develop a drone interceptor that can take out a swarm of drones at a low cost, it would be a game changer, particularly if it could be easily manufactured in Europe. Whether Nordic Air Defence can achieve this feat is another question. On their website, the company displays an image of a box containing nine interceptors. Rosander is vague, however, when asked exactly what hardware his company is able to replace with software, or on how the revolutionary electrically driven "pulsed air" propulsion system will work. "We are taking away a lot of controlling mechanisms, like servos, things that are expensive. On an aeroplane, you have a lot of flaps and systems. You have to do tests, tests, tests. And we take away that. We have this innovation in our way to control this little vehicle. No one has done this before." Perhaps this is because he is the CEO and frontman rather than the technical leader. But he is still confident that his company can execute its vision faster than established defence giants like Saab, Lockheed-Martin, or BAE Systems. "Those big companies have great innovation, but they are slower than we are. Until a year ago, the procurement agencies were buying systems on a ten-year scheme. So they've already bought what's going to be delivered. "But now everything has changed, because we need new stuff. And those large companies, they want to partner up with the companies like us. Sometimes they buy companies like us." Advertisement Rosander's colleague, Jens Holzapfel, who previously worked on security for the Swedish public sector, chips in to add that the Swedish Armed Forces are belatedly realising the strategic significance of drones. "We're in the middle of that reform at the moment. Before the second Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Swedish army and many other European armies considered drones to be something very exclusive. You had low numbers. They were reusable. You used them for reconnaissance rather than for strikes. You basically thought of drones as unmanned aircraft. You didn't look at drones as ammunition, which we're seeing in Ukraine today." Even so, his says, it will still take several years before the Swedish Armed Forces start to approach the drone capability of the Ukrainians. "They have innovated out of necessity, fighting for their lives. We have the luxury of not having to do that yet." So, back to the question of what current prototypes of the Kreuger 100 can actually do. Nordic Air Defence is not yet allowing journalists to visit its research and prototyping unit. "But do you have something that can actually fly?" I ask. "We can fly," he responds. "Yes. We can say that."
News18
17-06-2025
- Politics
- News18
'Force Putin To End Ukraine War': Zelenskyy's Message To Donald Trump From G7
Last Updated: Russia-Ukraine War: Zelenskyy made a direct appeal to Donald Trump, urging him to wield the influence he holds over Moscow to help bring an end to the war. In a strong message from the G7 Summit, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on US President Donald Trump to exert pressure on Vladimir Putin, warning that diplomacy is 'in crisis" and that Russia's war on Ukraine is escalating without consequence. 'Even if the American President @POTUS now does not apply strong enough pressure on Russia," Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on X (formerly Twitter), adding, 'The truth is – America still has the most global interests and the most allies… Together, we must continue urging President Trump to use the influence he really has – to force Putin to end this war." His statement follows one of the deadliest nights in Ukraine since the start of the full-scale invasion, with Russia launching a massive coordinated attack involving 440 drones and 32 missiles. At least 15 people were killed and 131 were injured, Zelenskyy said, as a ballistic missile tore through an entire residential building and Kyiv alone saw damage to nearly 150 apartment blocks. 'Diplomacy is in crisis," Zelenskyy warned, asserting, 'There is one clear reason – Putin has openly rejected every peace initiative." Zelenskyy Urges G7 Leaders To Support Ukraine He urged G7 leaders and allies to increase military and financial support, emphasizing Ukraine's urgent need for air defense systems and localized weapons production. He also flagged growing concerns over Russia's partnerships with Iran and North Korea, noting that upgraded Iranian Shahed drones are now being manufactured in North Korea. 'This is a threat not only to Ukraine," he said, adding, 'Our cities – and, therefore, yours." Zelenskyy made a direct appeal to Donald Trump, urging him to wield the considerable influence he holds over Moscow to help bring an end to the war. He credited Donald Trump with initially proposing a ceasefire and restarting diplomatic efforts but stressed that all such overtures have been stonewalled by the Kremlin. Reasserting that the war remains an unprovoked act of aggression by Russia, Zelenskyy warned against any erosion of clarity about who bears responsibility. 'We must not forget that," he said, calling for relentless pressure- diplomatic, economic and military- to force Russia toward peace. About the Author Mallika Soni When not reading, this ex-literature student can be found searching for an answer to the question, "What is the purpose of journalism in society?" Get breaking news, in-depth analysis, and expert perspectives on everything from geopolitics to diplomacy and global trends. Stay informed with the latest world news only on News18. Download the News18 App to stay updated! First Published: June 18, 2025, 00:15 IST
Gulf Insider
10-06-2025
- Business
- Gulf Insider
Russia To Build Eight Nuclear Power Plants In Iran
It's been no secret that Russia has been getting more heavily involved in Iran's nuclear program, and interestingly at a moment Moscow has offered to mediate between Washington and Tehran on the question of uranium enrichment and a new nuclear monitoring deal. On Monday, in a surprise headline given the massive, ambitious scope, Iranian state sources have said Russia will construct eight nuclear power plants in Iran, two of which are already under construction. 'Russia is contracted to build eight nuclear power plants in Iran, including four in the southern city of Bushehr,' Ebrahim Rezaei, spokesman for the national security and foreign policy committee, announced on Monday. This marks a monumental leap forward in the Iran-Russia relationship, after the two have deepened military cooperation in relation to the Ukraine war (where Russian forces have heavily relied on Iranian Shahed drones), given that a mere several years ago, Moscow was not even ready to sell Iran nuclear fuel. But EIGHT? Some critics have denounced this as but PR nonsense and a disservice to the Iranian people, given that by some estimates Russia has already taken over a billion dollars from Iran for rebuilding just one Bushehr nuclear site with hardly any progress to show. For example, of prior problems and severe timeline setbacks one industry source described: Iran has one operating nuclear reactor, a 1,000-MW Russian-designed VVER unit at the southern port city of Bushehr, on the coast of the Persian Gulf. Two more VVER-1000 units are under construction at the site. Work on Unit 2 began in 2019, with commercial operation now expected in 2029 after earlier reports said the unit could come online last year. Iranian media reported that installation of safety equipment in Unit 2 began earlier in February, along with excavation works for the water cooling pump houses of both units. Russian state media appears to also be confirming the announcement and hugely ambitious agreement: Russia to build EIGHT nuclear power plants in Iran — Tehran's National Security spox — RT (@RT_com) June 9, 2025 According to a broader background on Iranian and Russian energy cooperation from Arms Control Association: The conclusion of an agreement in which Russia will supply Iran with nuclear fuel for a 1,000-megawatt light-water nuclear power reactor marks the latest step in a decade-long Federal Agency for Atomic Energy Director Alexander Rumyantsev announced Feb. 27 that Tehran and Moscow had finally signed off on a deal to supply fuel for the reactor near the southern Iranian city of Bushehr for a period of 10 years. Although the United States has long opposed the reactor project, the Bush administration did not publicly criticize the 1995, Russia agreed to finish the reactor project, which is widely reported to be worth about $800 million. The original German contractor abandoned the project following Iran's 1979 revolution.A final deal was delayed several times as the two sides negotiated a provision that requires Iran to return the spent reactor fuel to Russia. The arrangement was designed to reduce the risk that Iran will separate plutonium from the spent fuel. Separated plutonium can be used as fissile material in nuclear weapons. (See ACT, October 2003.)Iran does not have a known facility for reprocessing spent nuclear fuel to obtain plutonium, although Tehran has conducted related experiments. Russia and Iran have in recent years strengthened their bilateral cooperation around energy, with President Putin touting that two countries have achieved a 'comprehensive strategic partnership' which sets 'ambitious goals and outlines guidelines for deepening bilateral cooperation in the long term.' Iran is expanding its Bushehr nuclear power plant by building the second and third units of the reactor is designed in accordance with the standards of the International Atomic Energy — Press TV 🔻 (@PressTV) June 9, 2025 All of this is of course set amid the backdrop of biting US-led sanctions targeting both Russian and Iranian economies and societies. Both have relied on BRICS and non-aligned countries to meet their growing military-industrial needs. Also read: Sultan Of Oman Ratifies Visa Waiver Agreement With Russia
