By choosing to vote against a United Nations resolution marking the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the United States seems intent on abandoning its leadership of the West after eighty years of hegemony. Europe is going through its gravest hour since the Second World War—and most Transatlanticist political leaders are starting to realize it.
In the past two decades, the external debt of developing countries has quadrupled to $11.4 trillion (2023). It is important to understand that this money owed to foreign creditors is equivalent to 99% of the export earnings of the developing countries. This means that almost every dollar earned by the export of goods and services is a dollar owed to a foreign bank or bond holder. Countries of the Global South, therefore, are merely selling their goods and services to pay off debts incurred for development projects, collapsed commodity prices, public deficits, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the inflation due to the Ukraine war. Half the world’s population (3.3 billion) lives in countries that allocate more of their budget to pay off the interest on debt than to pay for either education or health services. On the African continent, of the fifty-four countries, thirty-four spend more on debt servicing than on public healthcare. Debt looms over the Global South like a vulture, ready to pick at the carcass of our societies.
On March 21, 2025, Bayda’ Al-Muwahideen, a pro-Islamic State (ISIS) channel on Telegram, posted an article titled, “The Jewish Hostages: Are They a Card in Hamas’ Hand or a Card in the Jews’ Hand?” In it, the channel asserts that the “genocide” and destruction in Gaza provs that the dossier of hostages is without a doubt a card in Israel’s hand, used to kill Muslims on the pretext of seeking to rescue hostages.
On March 24, 2025, the recently-established Iran-backed Iraqi militia called the Awliya Al-Haqq [Supporters of Truth] Brigades posted two messages on Telegram in which it threatened to attack the U.S. Embassy in Iraq and Israeli and American interests in the country and in the region, in the event of an American or Israeli attack on “the mujahideen” in Iraq, or if the Israeli attacks on Gaza continue. The militia stated that as far as it is concerned, “the American occupier” in Iraq constitutes a target, and it urged the public and the Iraqi security forces to distance themselves from it, for their own safety.
Avec le vote du Parlement européen en faveur du plan de réarmement (419 OUI, 204 NON, 46 abstentions), je pense que nous pouvons dire que, symboliquement, à partir d’aujourd’hui, la démocratie en Europe a disparu ; déjà flétrie depuis un bon bout de temps, nous constatons amèrement, aujourd’hui, que les pétales secs sont tombés.
Syria’s transitional authorities announced on Tuesday the appointment of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham’s (HTS) military commander, Marhaf Abu Qasra, as the new defense minister, two days after naming former members of opposition factions to key positions. Among those appointed to the armed forces were foreign fighters, including Uyghurs, Jordanians, and Turks, according to Reuters. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and experts identified some of these appointees as “foreign jihadists.”
Top national security officials for President Donald Trump, including his defense secretary, texted plans for upcoming military strikes in Yemen to a group chat in a secure messaging app that included the editor-in-chief for The Atlantic, the magazine reported in a story posted online Monday. The National Security Council said the text chain “appears to be authentic.”
In the 14 years since the war in Syria broke out, hundreds of thousands of people have been killed and millions have been displaced from their homes or have lost their livelihoods. What began as a popular uprising in March 2011 was met by a swift and brutal crackdown by then-President Bashar al-Assad’s forces. It then morphed into a protracted armed conflict that drew in other countries and led to the emergence of extremist organizations like the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.
In today’s summary:
Ukrainian troops attempted to break through to the Belgorod region on a small section of the border in the Krasnoyarsk region
Ukrainian Armed Forces units retreated from the regional center of Sudzha – the former Kursk bridgehead was reduced to approximately 100 sq. km
Near Pokrovsk, Ukrainian troops have already recaptured five settlements during “stabilization” measures
The Russian Armed Forces have launched an offensive in the Zaporizhzhya direction west of Orekhovo – so far the actions are tactical in nature
Russian military created another local bridgehead on the right bank of the Oskol River north of Kupyansk
The first combat use of the Ukrainian long-range missile “Long Neptune” took place – probably at the oil refinery in Tuapse
In the structure of losses of equipment of the Russian Armed Forces, the share of various unarmored vehicles has grown to 85%
The Insider has released an article reviewing American military aid to Ukraine and its importance for the continuation of the war
The United States is going to abolish the post of NATO commander in Europe. Experts interpret this decision as Washington’s first step toward leaving the alliance. Potentially, this leaves European NATO countries defenseless against a nuclear threat from Russia. Europe has several ways to ensure its own nuclear security: expanding France’s deterrence system to the entire continent, jointly using nuclear weapons, or developing its own nuclear weapons. However, there are no quick fixes in this area that could immediately compensate for the loss of American involvement. Each of the possible options leads to its own set of technical, political, and military problems, says Fabian Hoffmann, a researcher in defense policy at the University of Oslo in Norway.