Putin, UAE President Discuss Escalating Iran-Israel Conflict, Urge Diplomatic Solutions
Russian President Vladimir Putin held a phone call with UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan to discuss the ongoing escalation in the Iran-Israel conflict.
According to a statement released by the Kremlin and reported by Russia's Sputnik News Agency on Wednesday, both leaders expressed deep concern over the intensifying conflict, warning of its potentially grave consequences for the entire region. They also exchanged views on the rapidly deteriorating situation in the Middle East.
The statement emphasized the urgent need to halt hostilities and to intensify political and diplomatic efforts to resolve disputes, particularly those related to Iran's nuclear program.
President Putin reiterated Russia's readiness to mediate and foster dialogue between the conflicting parties, informing his Emirati counterpart of recent contacts held with various international leaders in this context.
The call concluded with both presidents expressing satisfaction with the strong level of cooperation between Russia and the UAE across political, economic, trade, and humanitarian fields, and agreeing to maintain ongoing personal communication.
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Egypt Independent
36 minutes ago
- Egypt Independent
As South Korea's population falls, its military is shrinking rapidly. Is that a problem as North Korea ramps up its forces?
The writing has been on the wall for a long time: South Korea's birth rate has dropped throughout much of the past decade, spelling trouble for the military as regional threats and global conflicts simmer. Now, a new report has found that the number of South Korean troops declined by 20% in the past six years, in large part because of the dwindling pool of young men – reflecting the shrinking workforce and swelling elderly population in one of the world's most rapidly aging countries. The Defense Ministry report attributed the drop to 'complex factors' including population decline and fewer men wanting to become officers due to 'soldier treatment.' The report didn't elaborate on that treatment but studies and surveys have previously highlighted the military's notoriously harsh conditions. As of July, the military had 450,000 troops, it said – down from 563,000 in 2019. 'If the number of standing army (members) continues to decline, there can be difficulties in securing elite manpower and limits in operating equipment,' warned the report, shared last week by lawmaker Choo Mi-ae. The news comes at a bad time for South Korea, a key Western ally which hosts huge numbers of US troops and has a mutual defense treaty with Washington. Just across the border, neighboring North Korea has sent tens of thousands of soldiers to fight for Russia along the front lines with Ukraine – raising fears that Moscow may share advanced military technology with Pyongyang in exchange, violating international sanctions. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin during a visit to Pyongyang, North Korea, on June 19, 2024. Gavriil Grigorov/Pool/AFP/Getty Images/File Meanwhile, North Korea's ruling Kim family has continued blasting hostile rhetoric, threatening to destroy South Korea with nuclear weapons if attacked and warning that Seoul remains 'the enemy.' However, experts say, that doesn't necessarily mean North Korea's military is better off. The North is facing its own population woes and birth rate decline – and its technology lags far behind the South, which is now hoping to plug the shortfall in military recruits through innovation. 'South Korea is incomparably far ahead of North Korea in terms of conventional weapons,' said Choi Byung-ook, a national security professor at Sangmyung University. 'We have smaller troops now, but I like to say 'small but strong military,' that's what we need to become.' Double the babies, triple the soldiers On the surface, North Korea has a few advantages. It's one of the world's most heavily militarized nations, with up to 1.3 million armed forces personnel, according to the CIA World Factbook. That's nearly three times higher than South Korea's troop numbers. Those troops also serve in the military for far longer – an average of 10 years, which allows them to have higher 'unit cohesion (and) knowledge of each other's capabilities,' said Sydney Seiler, senior adviser to the Korea Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. By contrast, there's 'really not much advanced skills that you can develop' within the year and a half that most South Korean conscripts serve, Seiler said. North Korea's fertility rate – defined as the average number of children born to a woman in her lifetime – is also far higher, at 1.77 in 2025 compared to South Korea's rate of 0.75, UN data shows. That data also suggests the North has been having more babies per year than the South since 2018, said Jooyung Lee, senior economist at the Bank of Korea Economic Research Institute. But the full picture is more complicated, experts told CNN. For one, South Korea has a reserve force of about 3.1 million men. While their training may be basic, it would give them the numbers needed for potential warfare – and that's not including the 28,500 US troops stationed in the country. Pyongyang is also facing its own population problems, with its fertility rate dipping in the last few years after the pandemic. The nation's authoritarian leader, Kim Jong Un, pointed to the problem at a national conference of mothers in 2023, urging them to 'give birth to many children' as a patriotic duty. That could bode ill for a highly isolated nation with an economy that relies on labor-intensive industries like agriculture and mining, said Lee. It's hard to tell how much this has impacted the North Korean military so far. But the fact that Pyongyang has sent tens of thousands of troops to fight for Russia suggests Kim 'doesn't feel concerned about not having enough soldiers on board to do the task of defending the homeland,' Seiler said. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un instructs soldiers at a firing contest among army sub-units on July 23, 2025, in a photo released by the official Korean Central News Agency. STR/AFP/KCNA VIA KNS/AFP via Getty Image Their military has also enlisted more women to fill whatever gaps do exist. This trend began near the turn of the century after a previous dip in fertility, Lee said, with the proportion of female recruits now reaching as high as 20% by some estimates. Many are younger women serving in the military's communications, administrative and anti-aircraft artillery sectors, said Lee, who has interviewed many North Korean refugees who fled the country. Meanwhile, middle-aged and older women have been mobilized to fill gaps in other civilian sectors. By contrast, women are not conscripted in South Korea – a controversial point that has stoked resentment among some young Korean men who argue their mandatory service puts them at a disadvantage in their studies, careers and personal lives. As of 2023, volunteer females accounted for only 3.6% of the entire military, according to the Defense Ministry. The way forward Some experts have suggested that conscripting more women could solve South Korea's problem, which the Defense Ministry has not ruled out. But Choi, the national security professor, argued the country needs to move away from the idea of increasing its manpower – and instead focus on advancing its technology and making the troops elite. 'I don't personally agree with opinions that we must have a large number of troops because North Korea does,' he said. 'The size of our troops has decreased and there are not many options to increase it … I think we need to take this crisis as an opportunity as South Korea is in the route of becoming a science technology powerhouse.' On the battlefields of Europe, Ukraine has shown firsthand how an out-manned and out-gunned military can still hold back and inflict painful losses on a much larger opponent by embracing new and affordable technology. Tools like drones and cyber-warfare could help decrease South Korea's reliance on infantry and artillery, Seiler said. AI-assisted and autonomous systems could further boost a shrinking military, said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor of international studies at Ewha Womans University in Seoul. Choi pointed out that South Korea spends far more on defense than the North, and conducts many military drills including with allies like the US – making it better equipped in overall combat readiness. However, Seiler warned, at the end of the day 'you still need people. There's no robots or automation that can replace a trained soldier, airman, marine.' Easley agreed, saying South Korea's military would still face shortages in manpower in the event of war. And a broader challenge remains: how do authorities change cultural attitudes toward the military within South Korea? While people can volunteer to become professional cadres who serve longer terms and train with more advanced weapons, the number of applicants has dropped steadily over the years. High-profile cases of hazing, bullying and harassment within the South Korean military may have contributed to negative perceptions of the force. In recent years, the government has loosened restrictions on conscripts – including allowing them to use cell phones at certain times of the day – and offered a longer civilian service alternative to conscription. But that's not enough, said Choi. 'We need to improve military welfare and fighting spirits as a whole,' he said – adding that supporting the current size of the military will become even harder in the coming decades as the population declines further. 'By 2040s, even maintaining 350,000 troops will be difficult, and that is why we need to establish an optimized manpower structure system … as soon as possible.'
Egypt Independent
2 hours ago
- Egypt Independent
After Putin's win in Alaska, Zelensky travels to Washington for his day of high stakes talks, how far can he push Trump?
At what was billed as an 'historic' presidential summit, hastily put together in Alaska on Friday afternoon, the optics were as clear and overshadowing as the vast Chugach mountains glistening over Anchorage in the summer sun. US President Donald Trump literally applauded Vladimir Putin as he walked along a red carpet laid out in his honor by genuflecting US troops. After warmly greeting the Russian president, whose full-scale invasion of Ukraine has so far left more than a million people dead and injured, a US B-2 stealth bomber, flanked by fighter jets, roared overhead. But Putin seemed unintimidated by the spectacle. This was, after all, his long-awaited coming out of international isolation party; a political gift bestowed upon the Kremlin strongman, who is indicted for war crimes at the International Criminal Court, by a US president who called him his friend, 'Vladimir.' Later, in the windowless press room on Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson near Anchorage, where the White House and Kremlin press pools had gathered wrongly expecting a joint news conference, we found ourselves positioned alongside an energetic, tight-suited reporter from one of the radically conservative news networks who seem to vie for Trump's favor. 'Trump is determined to exit Biden's war,' the reporter confided to me between live shots, referring to the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine that began in 2022 when Joe Biden was US president. 'But the Ukrainians and the Europeans are in his way,' the reporter added, seemingly frustrated, as Trump, at the reluctance to accept any deal at any price. Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump meet at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, on Friday. Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP/Getty Images The comment points to an even bigger, though less obvious, Putin victory than merely returning to the top table of international diplomacy: In pursuit of a quick peace deal in Ukraine, the US president appears to have taken Russia's side on key issues in the conflict. A ceasefire, for example. Ukraine and its European supporters have long argued that halting the violence must be an essential first step in peace talks. Trump, who had earlier accepted that, has apparently changed his mind, posting on his Truth Social platform about going for a full peace deal instead, a long-standing preference of the Kremlin, which sees no benefit in halting offensive operations at a time when it believes Russian forces have the upper hand. As President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine heads to Washington, flanked by European leaders, for direct and urgent talks with Trump, this about-face by the White House will be at the forefront of concerns and negotiations – alongside demands by Putin, and perhaps Trump too, for Kyiv to withdrawal from swathes of strategic territory in the Donbas region of Ukraine that has been annexed by Russia but not yet conquered. That may ultimately be a red line neither Ukraine nor Europe is willing to cross, and their leaders are likely to push back hard in Washington on these territorial demands. But saying no to a quick deal that Trump supports, perhaps thoughts of a Nobel Peace Prize within his grasp, Ukraine and Europe risk casting themselves at the White House – not the Kremlin – as the real obstacles to peace. The fact major territorial concession is being discussed at all is itself, from the Kremlin's point of view, yet another important win. While Ukraine and its Western backers haggle over how much more of Donbas Kyiv should surrender, the territory Russia has already captured by brute force is barely mentioned at all. Ukrainian servicemen fire a multiple rocket launch system towards Russian troops near the frontline town of Pokrovsk, in Ukraine's Donetsk region, on June 8. Anatolii Stepanov/Reuters In the days and the weeks ahead, as the success or failure of peace talks inevitably dominate the news agenda, it's worth considering not just what Putin can get, but what Trump wants. The anticlimactic Alaskan summit was, perhaps, a clue. Watching it firsthand, it was striking how deferential a usually domineering Trump appeared, even allowing Putin – a foreign guest on American soil – to speak first in the joint statements to the press. The US president stood listening quietly at his podium for several minutes as the Kremlin leader held forth on Alaska's Russian and American history before delivering his own impressions of the day's meetings. It was almost as if Putin, who confidently suggested Trump visit Moscow – in a rare English-language remark from the Russian president – was accepting Trump back into the fold, not the other way around; reintroducing him to the world from Alaska as a fellow strongman, with immense power, many thousands of miles away from the petty concerns of Ukraine and Europe.
Egypt Independent
2 hours ago
- Egypt Independent
‘Scandalous' banner displayed by Maccabi Haifi soccer fans receives widespread condemnation from Polish officials
Polish president Karol Nawrocki has denounced a 'scandalous' banner displayed by a group of Israeli soccer fans at a UEFA Conference League qualifying match on Thursday. Supporters of Israeli club Maccabi Haifa held a large banner reading 'murderers since 1939' close to the front of the stands and across a row of seats during the match against Raków Częstochowa in Debrecen, Hungary – an apparent reference to the Holocaust and the crimes committed by Nazi Germany. On Friday, European soccer governing body UEFA announced that disciplinary proceedings have been instigated against Maccabi Haifa for 'transmitting a message not fit for (a) sports event.' CNN Sports has contacted Maccabi Haifa for comment. Germany invaded Poland in 1939, with more than three million Polish Jews and 1.9 million non-Jewish citizens killed during the Holocaust. Poland was the center of Ashkenazi Jewry before the Holocaust, but by the end of World War II, just 10% of the community remained. Considerable research by historians has found that some Polish individuals and groups did collaborate with the Nazi occupiers. 'Individual Poles often helped in the identification, denunciation, and hunting down of Jews in hiding, often profiting from the associated blackmail, and actively participated in the plunder of Jewish property,' according to the US Holocaust Memorial Museum. However, recent Polish governments have sought to challenge that narrative of collaboration, and in 2018 passed a law making it illegal to accuse Poland of complicity in crimes committed by Nazi Germany, including the Holocaust. Raków Częstochowa and Maccabi Haifa contest the first leg of their UEFA Conference League qualification tie in Poland. Michal Dubiel/IPA Sport/Shutterstock 'The scandalous banner displayed by fans of Maccabi Haifa insults the memory of Polish citizens – victims of World War Two, including 3 million Jews,' Nawrocki said in a post on X. 'Stupidity that no words can justify.' Meanwhile, Poland's interior minister Marcin Kierwiński said on X that 'anti-Polonism and the outrageous distortion of Polish history by Israeli hooligans require strong condemnation. There is no, and will never be, agreement to such shameful practices.' The Israeli Embassy in Warsaw also criticized the banner, photos of which have been widely shared on social media, describing it as 'disgusting behavior.' 'There is no place for such words and actions, from any side, neither at the stadium nor anywhere else. Never!' it said on X. 'These shameful incidents do not reflect the spirit of the majority of Israeli fans.' CNN Sports has contacted the Nagyerdei Stadion in Hungary, where the match was held, regarding any intervention, including taking down the banner or ejecting the fans responsible. Cezary Kulesza, the president of the Polish Football Association, previously called on UEFA to take disciplinary action following the 'scandalous banner and outrageous behavior,' adding in a post on X: 'There's no consensus for provocations and falsifying history.' Raków Częstochowa won the match 2-0 to reach the playoff round of qualification for this year's Conference League after overcoming a 1-0 deficit from the first leg. The club will now face Bulgarian side Arda Kardzhali on August 21.
