Latest news with #militarythreat
Reuters
19-06-2025
- Politics
- Reuters
Finnish parliament votes to exit landmines treaty due to Russia threat
HELSINKI, June 19 (Reuters) - Finland's parliament voted on Thursday in favour of withdrawing from the Ottawa Convention that bans the use of anti-personnel landmines amid concerns over a military threat posed by neighbouring Russia. Finland joins other European Union and NATO members bordering Russia - Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Poland - in leaving or planning to leave the treaty, as fears grow about their much larger neighbour. President Alexander Stubb, who leads Finland's foreign and security policy, has defended the move. "The reality in the endgame is that we have as our neighbouring country an aggressive, imperialist state called Russia, which itself is not a member of the Ottawa Treaty and which itself uses landmines ruthlessly," he said. Russia has used landmines in its invasion of Ukraine. The Finnish decision follows similar votes in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, where parliaments have approved the withdrawal. Finland, which guards NATO's longest border with Russia, will be able to start stockpiling landmines six months after formally notifying other treaty members and the United Nations of its resignation. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Monday launched a new effort to "uphold the norms of humanitarian disarmament", urging all states to adhere to existing treaties and immediately halt any steps towards their withdrawal. "I am gravely concerned by recent announcements and steps taken by several Member States to withdraw from the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention," he said in a statement, opens new tab. In response to Guterres' concerns, Finland's Defence Minister Antti Hakkanen said the aim of the withdrawal was to protect civilians and minimise the loss of human lives. "I believe that our government and parliament have a duty to take measures that reduce Finland's risk of being attacked," the minister said on social media X. "Protection against the Russian threat takes priority," he added. Parliament on Thursday also agreed to permit land mine exports under usual arms sale control procedures.
Irish Times
17-06-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
Letters to the Editor, June 17th: On EU and defence, the UN and cadaver dogs
Sir, – Your contributor Patrick Smyth in an opinion piece (' Ireland will have to commit substantial funds to arms procurement whether it approves or not, ' June 14th) makes some thought-provoking observations about EU defence preparedness. Smyth's article is based in part on his attendance at a fascinating debate on EU defence hosted by the Irish Institute of European Affairs (IIEA) last week. I also had the privilege of attending the event and a private lunch that preceded the public debate. At the lunch I participated in what was a very insightful off-the-record exchange of views with some of Ireland's leading defence and security experts. Unlike Smyth, however, I do not share some of the a priori assumptions contained within his opinion piece. He reiterates a number of received views about the status of Russia's military threat to the EU and 'former Soviet states' – many of whom are members of Nato. Smyth writes: 'Russia . . . has been massively expanding its military-industrial production capacity with an estimated spending in 2024 of 40 per cent of the federal budget and up to 9 per cent of its GDP'. READ MORE It is worth bearing in mind that Russia has a GDP of approximately $2.4 trillion – roughly that of Spain, give or take a few hundred billion. The combined GDP of the EU is over 10 times that of Russia. The EU White Paper on Defence Preparedness 2025 sets out the manner in which the EU must harness some of this GDP to address capability gaps in our collective defence and security. Specifically, it sets a spending target of ¤800 billion on weapon systems in support of the EU's 'Re-arm Europe' plan. Frankly speaking, the EU and its Nato members dwarf Russia's economic and military capabilities. Vladimir Putin has failed – spectacularly – to achieve his military goals in Ukraine thanks to the courage and resilience of the Ukrainian people. If Russia fully mobilises its armed forces and places its economy on a full war-footing, it will fail and will ultimately collapse – as its Soviet predecessor did in the 1980s. Putin's criminal regime is undoubtedly at war with the EU and all of its member states, including Ireland. It is engaged in full spectrum combat operations in its invasion of Ukraine and in asymmetrical 'grey zone' operations throughout the EU. Despite this existential threat, I do not see any evidence to suggest that Russia has the military capability to carry out a successful ground invasion of a Nato state by 2029 as was asserted at the IIEA debate. In my professional and intellectual formation as a professional soldier, academic and security analyst for over 35 years, I am inclined to look for evidence-based data to inform my views – subjective as they are. Smyth is right to welcome the current debate on defence and security and the requirement for it to 'expand beyond Dáil Éireann's narrow confines'. However, I believe very strongly that we should avoid a generalised 'moral panic' and 'group-think' about the full spectrum of security threats that confront us. These include, but are not confined to, Putin's criminal aggression, along with global geopolitical and climate crisis. Europe armed itself twice in the 20th century with catastrophic results. While I accept that we need to invest in deterrence, I am fearful of a growing clamour for an offensive posture within Europe – from a collective of voices who for the most part have zero experience of armed conflict themselves. In the context of the current debate on our triple lock mechanism and its intimate linkage to our militarily non-aligned neutral status, I believe Ireland has a solemn duty to speak truth to power within the EU on the many unquestioned assumptions and myths about the real threats that confront us as a political, economic and social union. As was the case during the so-called Celtic Tiger years and the catastrophic clamour for austerity measures that followed it, we need to be very careful not to collaborate with and extend authoritarian and paternalistic narratives that have led Europe to calamitous outcomes in the past. – Yours, etc, Dr TOM CLONAN, Captain (Retired) Independent Senator, Leinster House, Dublin 2. Sir, – Patrick Smyth says, 'as Europe rearms at speed, Ireland cannot stand on the sidelines'. Surely, we all have to, as the alternative is an insane leap-frogging build-up of mutually destructive armaments. The article itself speaks of a '. . . real fear that the EU itself is existentially threatened'. This is the language of the cold war, a raising of tensions that will make EU citizens believe that there is no alternative but to heavily re-militarise. Thankfully, there is an alternative to the military solution, and Ireland is very well placed to advance it. The United States, which US professor and intellectual Noam Chomsky describes as a rogue state, and autocratic Russia, which is, arguably, another rogue state, are between them responsible for two of the most violent and destructive conflicts ravishing the world at present, one as combatant, the other as supplier of armaments. Those two states (in common with the other permanent members of the United Nations Security Council) hold vetoes that make them virtually unaccountable to anyone or anything, except their own self interests. Ireland needs to, with the support of other like-minded nations, withdraw the security council vetoes held by those countries. There are those who will claim that the big powers will never give up those vetoes. However, they are not substantive. Paradoxically, this might be a highly propitious time to proceed with this, as there is a glimmer of evidence of war-weariness in both of those countries, a growing awareness that there might be a better means to achieve objectives than the military one (In war, the only winners are the arms dealers). If they fail to see that conflicts can be better resolved by peaceful negotiation, if they attempt to continue in their rogue roles, let the rest of the world proceed without them. The UN is not working, because it is not allowed to. Chomsky's word 'rogue' is designedly politic. 'Cowboy' might be another. They are members of the UN but resolutely refuse to be held accountable to the international body of nations. Ireland and the many other peace-loving countries can bring moral pressure on them to fully commit to the UN. Beyond that there is the growing realisation that general prosperity comes from peace, not war. If we need evidence of that, we need only to look at the bloody history of Europe and the great benefits flowing from the creation of the EU. The alternatives are a ruinously expensive stockpiling of arms, which, at best, will rot away in bunkers and, at worst, result in mutual annihilation. Meanwhile, US president Donald Trump has demanded that Europe sort out its own defence issues. Not that Europe should need permission from the US. Let the EU do that. Let it follow the advice given by Prof Jeffrey Sachs to the EU parliamentthat the EU negotiate directly with Russia – one European superpower with another – to find conditions for an immediate ceasefire and an enduring solution to the Russian Ukrainian war. The EU was able to create peace between age old adversaries, let it now forge the conditions for enduring peace with Russia. – Yours, etc, JOHN O'RIORDAN, Dalkey, Co Dublin. Ireland, the UN and the triple lock Sir, – Taoiseach Micheál Martin is absolutely correct when he states that the role and international standing of the United Nations is being 'eroded'. In fact, the institutions of the UN are currently under grave threat on many fronts. Mr Martin goes on to assure us that 'this is a matter of deep concern' for his Government (' Taoiseach says UN being eroded, calls for world powers to de-escalate Iran-Israel conflict ,' June 14th). His point is well made, but why then choose this juncture to remove the UN element of the triple-lock mechanism for deploying Irish troops abroad? This means a distancing of Ireland from the peacekeeping structures of the UN and is hardly a vote of confidence in that body. On the contrary, this move arguably undermines the reputation of the UN as an international peacekeeper. The UN Security Council is undoubtedly a flawed institution – particularly because of its permanent members – but the Government here should surely be arguing for deep reform within the UN and a greater role for the general assembly. Instead, this fiddling with the triple lock appears to be about decoupling Irish Army deployment abroad from the UN and moving towards a closer relationship with emerging EU military structures. It is difficult to square this with the Taoiseach's commendable remarks on the need for us to support the key role of the UN as a multilateral institution. – Yours, etc, FINTAN LANE, Lucan, Co Dublin. Trump's birthday parade Sir, – Did the US army deliberately snub Trump by their out of sync marching on the big celebration? It looked more like soldiers our for a dander than a military march. It reminded me of the tale of the proud mother watching a parade of soldiers passing who declared 'there they go, and they're all out of step except my Johnny'. – Yours, etc , EOGHAN Mac CORMAIC, Cill Chríost, Gaillimh. Sir, – Did more people march in President Trump's birthday parade than watch it live? – Yours, etc, DENNIS FITZGERALD, Melbourne, Australia. Sir, – It is perhaps appropriate that the protest campaign against the presidential rule of Donald Trump is organised by a 'No King' coalition. The last king of the American colonies was King George III, who once said: 'A traitor is everyone who does not agree with me'. – Yours, etc, DERMOT O'ROURKE, Lucan, Dublin. Government and housing Sir, – It may be a harsh judgment but there is no doubt that the blame for the dysfunctional rental market in Ireland can be laid squarely on the shoulders of past and present governments and not on the private landlords. Their failure for many years to get the local authorities to build social houses in any great numbers has resulted in the State being now the biggest player, indirectly through the housing assistance payment (Hap), and, directly, in the private rental market. Using a sporting analogy for an extremely serious and sad situation, we now have a scenario where the State, as both player and referee, has decided that the only solution is to issue yellow and red cards to landlords in the form of rent controls. The disappearance of the private landlords off the pitch will undoubtedly make matters much worse and may well prove, courtesy of a biased referee, to be a major own-goal by the State. – Yours, etc , CHARLES SMYTH, Kells, Co Meath. Recruiting cadaver dogs Sir, – I see a cadaver dog is required again by gardaí to assist in the search for the remains of Annie McCarrick. That's twice now in a matter of months a cadaver dog was required. The training of these dogs is not arduous and it is relatively inexpensive. A few thousand euro at the outset and after that the normal cost of dog food and veterinary bills. It is outrageous that funding cannot be found to train even one dog given the difference it might make to one grieving family. I cannot accept the State funding of the greyhound industry to the tune of ¤20 million a year, an industry where thousands of dogs are culled annually because they can not run fast enough. Yet a dog needed to assist families who have lost a loved one through tragic circumstances is considered 'unnecessary'. It is time to get our priorities right. – Yours, etc, JOAN BURGESS, Cork. Sir, – If An Garda Síochána acquires a cadaver dog, will it be the Office of Public Works's responsibility to provide its kennel? – Yours, etc, DERMOT MADDEN, Meelick, Co Clare. Getting to grips with Ulysses Sir, – In reply to the letters regarding the difficulty of reading/finishing Ulysses, I found a marvellous book in Ballsbridge library, Dublin: Ulysses Annotated by Don Gifford. It has excellent explanatory notes at the bottom of each page, making the book much more accessible for everybody. Worked for me! – Yours, etc, GENA LYNAM, Sandymount, Dublin. Sir, – Tackling James Joyce's Ulysses proved a worthwhile exercise when I came across my great-grandfather Michael 'Micky' Hanlon of whom Mr Joyce was clearly no fan ('ignorant as a kish of brogues'). As I have little account of the true character of this Moore Street fishmonger, I wonder if any of your readers would be able to add some meat to these discarded fish bones? – Yours, etc, HUGH McDONNELL, Glasnevin, Dublin 9. Residential options for all Sir – The call for better residential options for younger people with disability by Parkinson's Disease Ireland (Letters, June 14th) should prompt consideration of better joint working and advocacy across all ages. Otherwise, a key risk is promoting a tolerance for lesser conditions for certain groups, such as older people. This was a notable failure of the Ombudsman's report on younger people in nursing homes, Wasted Lives, which completely ignored the fact that the loss of choice and independence noted extended also to the more than 20,000 older residents of nursing homes. Advancing new thinking on nursing home care, such as the household (Teaghlach) model of small domestically configured units, configured in moderate sized collections, located near the communities where residents formerly lived, needs forceful and unified advocacy. Policymakers tend to avoid action where they detect divisions between related but differing advocacy groups. It would therefore be preferable that organisations such as Parkinson's Disease Ireland would join with other advocacy groups, such as Care Champions, Age Action, ALONE and the Alzheimer Society of Ireland, to promote a joint position on nursing home care design, policy and service provision which delivers dignified care while promoting independence, choice and flourishing. – Yours, etc, Prof DESMOND O'NEILL, Consultant physician in geriatric medicine, Tallaght University Hospital, Dublin.
Daily Mail
16-06-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
Defence Minister Richard Marles can't answer important China question four months on from unprecedented 'show of force' in Australia's backyard
Anthony Albanese 's right-hand man has declined to say whether China poses a military threat to Australia - just days after the Prime Minister also dodged the same question. Defence Minister Richard Marles was quizzed on the threat China poses in the Indo-Pacific at Newscorp's 'Defending Australia' summit on Monday. 'In conventional terms, unquestionably, (China) is at the heart of the complex strategic circumstances that we face,' the Deputy Prime Minister said. However, Marles stopped short of naming China as a military threat, instead saying it was not providing reassurance to other countries around its intentions regarding its biggest military expansion since the Second World War. '(China) is engaging in a military build-up of that scale... without strategic reassurance.' 'Every country has a right to properly invest in its own defences, but what's really important is that you provide strategic reassurance to your neighbours and to the world about what that's about, as we have done with AUKUS,' he added. The Prime Minister was similarly guarded last week when asked at the National Press Club in Canberra if China was a threat. 'I think that our engagement with the region and the world needs to be diplomatic, needs to be mature and needs to avoid the, you know, attempts to simplify what are a complex set of relationships,' he said. This is despite the Chinese navy conducting live-fire exercises in the Tasman Sea in February, without giving prior notification to the Australian government. The alert was first picked up on the 121.5 MHz emergency radio channel by a Virgin Australia pilot, later prompting 49 commercial flights to reroute. The naval fleet of four vessels, including a cruiser, a frigate, a supply tanker and possibly a submarine, then circumnavigated Australia's coastline in an unprecedented move that most defence analysts interpreted as a show of force. It comes after Albanese was last week urged to boost Australia's defence spending or risk being stranded in 'no-man's-land' with a 'paper IDF'. A report from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute praised the Labor government's commitment to long-term defence projects, such as the AUKUS submarine deal, but warned it was not doing nearly enough in the immediate future. 'That slow pace risks leaving the ADF ill-prepared for current threats and unable to keep pace with future challenges, creating a 'no-man's-land' of preparedness,' the report's author and former Home Affairs deputy secretary Marc Ablong wrote. 'The timelines for major acquisitions, especially the nuclear-powered submarines under the AUKUS partnership, extend well into the next decade and beyond. 'While those future capabilities are strategically important, they offer little immediate enhancement, thus creating a 'paper ADF' that lacks readiness for near-term conflict scenarios.' US President Donald Trump has called on Australia to boost its defence spending to 3.5 per cent of GDP - up from the current rate of around 2.3 per cent. The US administration has also launched a 30-day review of the $368 billion AUKUS submarine deal. The pact between Australia, the US, and the UK is aimed at countering China's expanding presence in the Indo-Pacific. But the Pentagon review will assess whether the deal meets Trump's 'America First' objectives. Albanese is expected to meet Trump on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Canada later this week.
Al Bawaba
16-06-2025
- Politics
- Al Bawaba
"A new reality awaits Israel": Iran signals major transformation
ALBAWABA - A top Iranian military spokesperson warned Sunday night that Israel may soon become 'uninhabitable' and that its residents will no longer be protected by underground shelters as tensions between Iran and Israel escalate. According to the spokesperson, Iran has a comprehensive and in-depth database of important Israeli targets, including military installations, intelligence hubs, offices for making decisions, and even the residences of top military officials and scientists. He cautioned citizens from serving as "human shields," stating that "Shelters will not keep Israelis safe." The official stated in his statements that a number of sensitive locations on Israeli land have already been struck by Iran's recent strikes. Any additional Israeli assault, he stressed, would be faced with a "shocking" and "comprehensive" retaliation that would encompass all of what Iran views as occupied land. Iran's Mehr News Agency reported the remarks as part of a larger statement that also included scathing criticism of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. His government is 'corrupt, criminal, and failing,' according to the Iranian military, which also charged that he started the recent escalation for personal benefit, endangering Israeli lives in the process. With a promise that retaliation would not be restricted in scope or location, the spokesperson declared, "Iran's armed forces will deliver a crushing and painful response to this child-killing regime." The declarations come after multiple nights of cross-border assaults in which Iran claimed to have successfully struck vital Israeli infrastructure. Israel has continued its own airstrikes against Iranian assets and has refuted several of Iran's claims. International observers are concerned about the escalating war because they believe the current military engagements could turn into a wider regional conflict.
Telegraph
06-06-2025
- Telegraph
Police blunder put paratroopers on alert for ‘Lee Rigby-style' threat
Military staff at an Army base were mistakenly put on alert over a 'Lee Rigby-style' threat to behead a paratrooper. Security was tightened at the Colchester garrison, where Parachute Regiment battalions are located, after online threats were intercepted by Nottinghamshire police. All military staff at the base were warned not to wear any uniforms or clothing outside the camp that would identify them as military personnel. The families of service members were also sent warnings. However, a spokesman for Nottinghamshire Police has said: 'This story relates to outdated intelligence and does not relate to any current threat or investigation.' It is understood that due to an error made by police logging the date the post was made, military officials were mistakenly informed this week it was a new threat. Fusilier Rigby was murdered by Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale on May 22 2013, outside the Royal Artillery barracks in Woolwich, south London, after he was seen wearing a Help for Heroes hoodie, which was popular with troops. The alert sent to families and service personnel at Colchester Garrison, where 3,500 troops and 750 civilian workers are based, said: 'Urgent. All, please disseminate to all your people in camp. 'We have received a warning that a man has made threats against members of the Para Regt and wants to carry out a 'Lee Rigby' style attack. 'The SCC [Security Control Centre] and main gate have been informed but ensure no Para Regt/military clothing is worn outside camp and remain vigilant.' Colchester's military history dates back to the late 18th century when the first barracks were built in the city. The garrison is the home of 16 Air Assault Brigade and troops from the Parachute Regiment's second and third battalions, alongside other infantry and aviation units and supporting detachments, such as logistics and medical personnel. Airborne forces are known to wear regimental clothing outside working hours, particularly their distinctive maroon-coloured T-shirts and fleeces, most often worn with tight jeans and desert boots, a tradition that goes back many decades. Fusilier Rigby was a father-of-one from Middleton, Greater Manchester, and had served in Afghanistan. At the time of his death, he was working in army recruitment. He was a trained machine-gunner and a regimental drummer. He was given a military funeral at Bury parish church on July 12 2013.
