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France 24
12-05-2025
- Business
- France 24
Romania's far-right candidate clear favourite in presidential run-off
Simion -- a big fan of US President Donald Trump -- did better than expected in the first round, taking 40.9 percent of the vote on May 4. The 38-year-old is slated to take about 55 percent in Sunday's vote, according to the only poll published so far. Trailing far behind is the centrist mayor of Bucharest Nicusor Dan. Dan, 55, hopes undecided voters will turn out for him in a bid to prevent a nationalist shift under the eurosceptic Simion, who opposes sending aid to neighbouring Ukraine. The ballot will be closely watched internationally following the rare annulment of the vote held in November in the European Union country of 19 million people, which is a key NATO member. "Simion is clearly the favourite," Remus Stefureac, director of the polling company INSCOP Research, told AFP. He secured "twice as many votes as his rival in the first round" due in part to his popularity among expatriate voters, he said. Simion is also likely to benefit from Dan not having the explicit backing of the pro-European camp, which had supported another candidate. But concern among voters about the potential political and economic implications of a far-right victory might work in Dan's favour. High stakes The surprise resignation of Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu and the collapse of the pro-European government coalition have "raised the stakes" of this election and "heightened emotions", Stefureac said. The new president will have the power to appoint a new prime minister, which will influence negotiations for a new parliamentary majority, he added. If he becomes president, Simion has vowed to get former far-right presidential contender Calin Georgescu "into power", potentially as prime minister. And Simion's nationalist AUR party could enter government. The election turmoil has caused the Romanian currency, the leu, to fall in recent days, increasing economic uncertainty in the EU's most indebted country, which has grappled with high inflation. Stefureac said these "fears" could boost the turnout from the 53 percent of voters in the first round. It would need to rise to 65 percent for the centrist candidate to have a chance of tipping the election in his favour. Simion and Dan have campaigned on the promise of "change" after decades of Romania being dominated by the same political parties, which both candidates say are corrupt. But the two men could not be more different. Polar opposites In a hard-fought and lengthy debate on Thursday, Dan became more combative in an attempt to shake off criticism that he lacks decisiveness. The mathematician insisted on the need to continue sending aid to Ukraine. "Without support for Kyiv, there can be no just peace," he said, pointing to "the national security risks posed by Russia's aggression to the whole of Europe". Romania has opened a training centre for Ukrainian fighter pilots and donated a Patriot air defence system to Kyiv. It also provides significant logistical support for the export of Ukrainian grain via its Black Sea port of Constanta. Simion, by contrast, defended "neutrality, not escalation with weapons". He alluded to potentially blocking European decisions on providing aid, as the head of state represents Romania at EU and NATO summits and can veto EU votes. Taking a page from Trump's book, he also vowed to demand "compensation for Romania's participation in the war effort so far". Simion has praised Hungary's nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban and promised to adopt "many of his positions" in Romania, a prospect that would pose new challenges for the EU. Fellow far-right politician Georgescu unexpectedly topped the November 24 vote following a massive TikTok campaign. That election was cancelled over claims of Russian interference, sparking sometimes violent protests. Tens of thousands of people rallied in Romania on Friday to demand that the government maintain the country's pro-EU stance. © 2025 AFP
Telegraph
25-02-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
Labour's defence spend increase still won't impress Trump
Boris Johnson says the UK defence budget should 'get to 3 per cent [of GDP] by 2030. 2.5 per cent is not enough.' Hang on a minute. In 2022, when he was prime minister, he said 2.5 per cent was enough and he pledged an increase to that amount. And then two years later, with a flourish, Rishi Sunak unveiled exactly the same promise. So what became of Johnson's earlier undertaking? Is it possible it was only words rather than the action he now demands? At the time of Johnson's alleged increase, Labour's shadow defence secretary, John Healey, attacked his proposal, claiming the increase was required immediately, not in eight years' time. He was absolutely right, the more dangerous world that Johnson said justified the increase had already engulfed us, not least with Putin's invasion of Ukraine. But, when appointed defence secretary, Healey's plans were to get to 2.5 per cent at some undetermined time in the future. Only now, under growing pressure from President Trump, Labour has been forced to bite the bullet and up the budget to 2.5 per cent; still not 'immediately', but by 2027. Even this rise, however, will barely cover the defence equipment black hole between existing commitments and budgetary allocation and will not enable significant additional capabilities. Those increased capabilities are sorely needed. In the second half of last year we heard two shocking statements from the upper echelons of British defence. In October Healey admitted the armed forces are 'not ready to fight'. And not long before that the Chief of the General Staff, Sir Roland Walker, said the Army must be ready to 'fight a war in three years'. The problem with war is that it often comes along when you least expect it and maybe we won't have those three years. The armed forces should of course be ready to fight and ready to fight immediately. When it comes to defence our political leaders seem to be like rabbits in the headlights. Even as the war in Ukraine reminded the world how vital conventional defences continue to be, plans to cut our already minuscule Army by over 10,000 men continued apace. Despite Sir Keir Starmer's big talk of Britain taking the lead in a European peacekeeping force if President Trump secures a cessation in Ukraine, we are unlikely to be able to muster even a force of 5-10,000 fighting men to form its backbone. And at just the moment our two aircraft carriers could have been used to best effect defending international shipping in the Red Sea, we have not so far been able to deploy even one of them, apparently due to crew shortages in the Royal Navy's support vessels. That is after years of attacks on merchant and naval ships by Houthi terrorists in Yemen. Meanwhile our solitary Type 45 destroyer on duty down there lacked the weaponry to attack enemy positions on the shore. Like the other services the RAF has been severely hollowed out, with too few planes and aircrew to meet the tasks currently demanded of them including operations in the Black Sea, the Red Sea and against jihadists in Syria and Iraq. Lack of spare parts and adequate servicing schedules mean that even the available aircraft are too often grounded. With a growing threat from long range missiles and drones, both against deployed forces and the homeland, in common with all other European nations, we have highly inadequate air defences. Consequently we are over-dependent on US systems, which are also in short supply. Although Johnson's track record on defence is far from exemplary, he's right that Starmer's 2.5 per cent is not enough; not by a long chalk. Following his statement to Parliament, he might now be able to eagerly enter the White House this week proclaiming his planned rise. But I doubt Trump's experts in the Pentagon will be much impressed when they go through the books.
The Independent
07-02-2025
- General
- The Independent
A Russian spy ship caught fire off Syria's coast, officials say. Here's audio of its broadcasts
The man is insistent: Our ship is in difficulty, so keep your distance, he instructs another vessel over the radio. 'Warship on your course,' he says. "I am drifting. I'm not under command.' The broadcast, according to military officials, came from a Russian spy ship, the Kildin, as the vessel packed with intelligence-gathering equipment drifted temporarily out of control off the Syrian coast on Jan. 23, with flames and black fumes rising from its smokestack. The Associated Press obtained audio of the broadcast, as well as video and photos showing the blaze, that three military officials said were gathered by a ship from a NATO nation operating nearby. The officials, also from a NATO country, spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity to discuss the fire and radio transmission that Russian authorities haven't publicly reported. The audio provides an unusual peek inside Russia's fleet of spy ships that NATO nations are watching closely because of concerns that Moscow might sabotage underwater cables and pipelines amid tensions over the war in Ukraine. Even though the Kildin was in trouble, the secretive ship didn't respond to an offer of help from the NATO vessel, the officials said. The U.K. last month tracked another Russian vessel that it identified as a spy ship in the English Channel. The Defense Ministry said the Yantar 'was caught loitering over critical undersea infrastructure" and that a Royal Navy submarine surfaced close to the ship 'to warn it had been secretly monitoring its every move.' Fire temporarily disables the ship The 55-year-old Kildin gathers intelligence on NATO activities in the Mediterranean and had been operating near naval exercises by alliance member Turkey before the fire, according to the officials who spoke to the AP. They said the blaze burned for at least four hours and that the Kildin's crew removed the covers from lifeboats though they never put them to sea. The Kildin also hoisted two black balls from its masts — a maritime signal that the ship can no longer steer, the officials said. They said the crew eventually regained control and that the Kildin is still stationed and gathering intelligence off the Syrian port of Tartus, accompanied by a frigate and a supply vessel. It is not clear what caused the blaze. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he wasn't aware of a fire aboard the Kildin and didn't say what the ship was doing at the time. He dismissed suggestions that it reflected poorly on Russian naval readiness. 'Assessing the state of the fleet based on the breakdown of one particular ship or one particular malfunction is not professional,' Peskov said. Retired Vice Adm. Michel Olhagaray, a former head of France's center for higher military studies, said that even though the Kildin regained steering, the fire highlights the logistical difficulties for Russia of maintaining naval forces in the Mediterranean, far from its bases in the Arctic and the Baltic Sea. Moscow also is no longer able to use its Black Sea Fleet for Mediterranean patrols because during the Ukraine war Turkey isn't allowing warships to pass through the Bosporus, which links the Black and Mediterranean seas. 'The maintenance of this Russian fleet, particularly in the Mediterranean, is extraordinarily complex,' Olhagaray said. Audio captures radio exchanges The audio gathered by the NATO ship is a 75-second radio exchange between the Kildin and a Togo-flagged cargo ship, Milla Moon, the officials said. The AP also obtained a second recording of conversations among crew members aboard the NATO ship. In that, they can be heard identifying the exchange they've just monitored as being between the Kildin and a Togolese vessel. Military officials provided both recordings to the AP, which was not able to independently authenticate them. Ship-tracking websites that use the data vessels emit on their identity, position, speed and course show the Milla Moon lifted anchor off Tartus and started cruising northward along Syria's coast on Jan. 23. That was the day of the Kildin fire, also in waters off Tartus, the military officials said. They said the Kildin at first identified itself to the Milla Moon as another ship, the Sky, and then asked to switch channels to continue the conversation. After the switch, the man with accented English is then heard identifying his vessel as a warship. 'Motor vessel Milla Moon, this is warship on your course,' the voice can be heard saying on the clip. 'Please hear me.' He asks the Milla Moon to steer clear. 'I am drifting. I'm not under command," he says. Milla Moon responds that it will plot a course away before signing off with, 'You are welcome. Good watch. Goodbye.' ___
