Latest news with #militaryConflict
Russia Today
3 days ago
- Business
- Russia Today
Veto ban would spell the end of EU
The EU's reported plan to scrap member states' veto power would spell the end of the bloc and could become 'the precursor of a huge military conflict,' Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has warned. Slovakia and its Central European neighbour Hungary have long opposed the EU's approach to the Ukraine conflict, criticizing military aid to Kiev and sanctions on Russia. Both governments have repeatedly threatened to use their veto powers to block EU actions they view as harmful to national interests. To bypass the dissent, Brussels is reportedly weighing a shift from unanimous voting, a founding principle of EU foreign policy, to qualified majority voting (QMV), arguing that it would streamline decision-making and prevent individual states from paralyzing joint actions. Fico, however, condemned the proposal on Thursday during the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Hungary. 'The imposition of a mandatory political opinion, the abolition of the veto, the punishment of the sovereign and the brave, the new Iron Curtain, the preference for war over peace. This is the end of the common European project. This is a departure from democracy. This is the precursor of a huge military conflict,' he said. EU sanctions on Russia currently require unanimous renewal every six months, with the current term set to expire at the end of July. Brussels is also preparing an 18th package of sanctions aimed at tightening restrictions on Russia's energy sector and financial institutions. Earlier this month, during a visit to Moscow for Victory Day commemorations, Fico assured Russian President Vladimir Putin that Slovakia would veto any EU-wide attempt to ban imports of Russian oil or gas. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has taken a similar stance. While Hungary has not formally blocked a sanctions package, it has delayed several rounds to extract concessions. Orban has also warned that removing the veto would strip smaller nations of their sovereignty. 'We want Brussels to show us, as all other member countries, the same respect, not only symbolically, but also by taking our interests into account,' he said last month. Both Slovakia and Hungary have resisted increased military support to Kiev, with Budapest blocking several key decisions citing concerns over national interests and the potential for escalation. Fico has emphasized the need for peace negotiations over continued military engagement.
Arab News
15-05-2025
- Politics
- Arab News
India says Pakistan nuclear arsenal should be under UN surveillance
SRINAGAR: Pakistan's nuclear arsenal should be brought under the surveillance of the UN's nuclear agency, Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh said Thursday, following last week's conflict between Islamabad and New Delhi. 'I wanted to raise this question for the world: are nuclear weapons safe in the hands of a rogue and irresponsible nation?' Singh told troops at a base in Srinagar in Indian-administered Kashmir. 'I believe that Pakistan's atomic weapons should be brought under he surveillance of IAEA. I want to say this very clearly,' he said, referring to the International Atomic Energy Agency. 'The entire world has seen how Pakistan has irresponsibly threatened India with nuclear attacks multiple times.' Pakistan repeatedly said during the conflict that the nuclear option was not on the table. Singh's comments came as the nuclear-armed rivals ended their worst military conflict in nearly three decades with a ceasefire announcement on Saturday. The conflict sparked global concerns that it could spiral into a full-blown war. The fighting began last Wednesday when India launched strikes against what it described as 'terrorist infrastructure' in Pakistan. Pakistan immediately responded with heavy artillery fire and a four-day standoff ensued between the South Asian rivals, which left around 70 people dead on both sides. India claims Pakistan backed an April attack in which 26 people were killed in Indian-administered Kashmir — a charge Islamabad denies. New Delhi had earlier denied targeting Pakistan's nuclear installations during the brief conflict. 'We have not hit Kirana Hills,' Indian Air Marshal A.K. Bharti told reporters, referring to a vast rocky mountain range where, according to Indian media reports, Pakistan stores its nuclear arsenal.
South China Morning Post
10-05-2025
- Politics
- South China Morning Post
India-Pakistan conflict halts IPL, sparks panic buying of food, medicine, and fuel
Many Indians, especially those living in areas closer to the Pakistan border, have started hoarding groceries, medicines, petrol and cancelling travel plans, amid a rapid escalation in military conflict between the two nuclear-armed nations. Advertisement Citizens across towns in Punjab in India, such as Pathankot, Amritsar and Chandigarh, are seeing such panic buying. Gagandeep Madan, a 42-year-old who owns a kirana shop – a family-run store – about 14km (9 miles) from the Attari-Wagah border near Amritsar in Punjab, said almost all shops in the area, including his, had run out of food essentials on Wednesday. 'Customers came and bought about one month's worth of wheat, rice, sugar and pulses,' Madan said. 'Panic set in among everyone here. Everyone wanted to be prepared.' India said it 'neutralised' Pakistani drone and missile attacks targeting several military sites on Thursday night, marking a second day of hostilities between the neighbours. India began the military strikes on Wednesday on what it called terrorist targets in Pakistan in retaliation for an April 22 attack that killed 26 civilians in the India-controlled part of Kashmir region. With both nations saying they have shot down drones and missiles from the other in the past few days, local media reports say tourist hotspots are seeing dwindling footfalls. India has shut down more than two dozen airports in northern and western parts of the country. Panic Buying Some residents in Amritsar, which saw a blackout last night, stored water in large containers, fearing power outages would mean they can't use their electric pumps to draw groundwater.
Al Arabiya
09-05-2025
- Politics
- Al Arabiya
India reacted in self-defense to a ‘terrorist outrage,' says Congress Leader Tharoor
India has no interest in behaving like terrorists and killing civilians, said Dr. Shashi Tharoor, responding to a question about retaliatory Indian missile strikes on Pakistan having allegedly killed innocent children. 'All India did was react in self-defense to a terrorist outrage. […] There is no proactive military engagement coming from the Indian side. Beyond the attacks in reprisal to the terrorism. Nothing at all,' he said. India has accused Pakistan of perpetrating the Pahalgam attack, which killed 26 civilians last month in India-administered Kashmir. Pakistan denied any involvement. Indian MP @ShashiTharoor warns that #Pakistan 's continued military provocations could lead to escalation, urging global capitals, especially Beijing, to pressure Pakistan to de-escalate and avoid further conflict. #India #GNT — Al Arabiya English (@AlArabiya_Eng) May 9, 2025 In an interview on GNT presented by Al Arabiya English's Tom Burges Watson, the Indian Congress Leader and Chairperson of the Parliamentary standing Committee for External Affairs said India does not want to start a war. 'All India wanted to do was to make it very clear that people from Pakistan can't just come across the border, kill innocent civilians who are just enjoying a tourist holiday and walk back across without having to pay a price for it,' Tharoor said. Pakistan has said that there are no terror sites in the country and that Indian missiles only struck civilians and mosques. However, Tharoor said that India conducted the operation in an 'extremely careful and calibrated manner,' adding that only terrorist sites were targeted. 'These are extremely well-known terror bases. […] We have absolutely no interest in behaving like terrorists and killing civilians. There is no question in my mind that India would have been very happy to merely dismantle the terrorist infrastructure rather than even take a single human life,' he said. While saying that India's operation in Pakistan was of a non-escalatory nature and it does not want to escalate tensions further, the Congress leader accused Pakistan of over-reacting and showing a lack of restraint. 'As long as Pakistan decides that they're not anxious to have an all-out war, there will not be one,' he said. 'If, however, the Pakistani army, which is deeply unpopular in its own country, has decided that they actually do want a war in order to shore up their faltering and tottering image as the savior of the nation, then, of course, the Pakistan military will get what it wants.'
