BRUSSELS: Facing the possibility of a fundamental disengagement under US President Donald Trump, European Union leaders opened a day of emergency summit talks Thursday to beef up their own military defenses and make sure that Ukraine will still be properly protected by its allies.
Friedrich Merz, the likely next chancellor of Germany, was conferring with summit host Antonio Costa over breakfast on how to meet the challenge on a short deadline only days after he and his prospective coalition partner pushed plans to loosen the nation’s rules on running up debt to allow for higher defense spending.
At the same time, the 27-nation bloc was waking up to the news from French President Emmanuel Macron would confer with EU leaders the possibility of using France’s nuclear deterrent to protect the continent from Russian threats.
It all underscored the sea change that has happened in the two months since Trump took office and immediately started questioning the cornerstones of cooperation between the United States and Europe which had been the bedrock of Western security since World War II.
“Given these profound shifts in US policy, and the existential threat of another war on the continent, Europe, must manage its essential defense tasks,” the European Policy Center think tank said in a commentary.
The bloc of 27 will “take decisive steps forward,” Macron told the French nation Wednesday evening. “Member states will be able to increase their military spending” and “massive joint funding will be provided to buy and produce some of the most innovative munitions, tanks, weapons and equipment in Europe.”
Adding to the ebullient message he said that “Europe’s future does not have to be decided in Washington or Moscow.”
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen wants to be up to the task and has proposed an 800 billion euro ($840 billion) plan that would allow EU member states to spend much more on defense despite their current budgetary woes and profit from loans to kickstart the process.
Part of any plan is also to protect the increasingly beleaguered position of Ukraine, and President Volodymyr Zelensky is set to take part in the talks.
Early this week, Trump ordered a pause to US military supplies to Ukraine as he sought to press Zelensky to engage in negotiations to end the war with Russia, bringing fresh urgency to the EU summit in Brussels.
“Europe faces a clear and present danger on a scale that none of us have seen in our adult lifetime. Some of our fundamental assumptions are being undermined to their very core,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen warned in a letter to the EU’s 27 leaders, who will consider ways to access more money for defense spending and ease restrictions on it.
But perhaps the biggest challenge for the EU on Thursday will be to take a united stance at a moment when it’s fractured, since much of what the bloc does requires unanimous support.
Even if the challenges are so daunting, Thursday’s summit is unlikely to produce immediate decisions on spending for Ukraine or its own defenses. Another EU summit where the real contours of decisions would be much clearer is set for March 20-21.
EU leaders open emergency talks on defense and Ukraine aid as US support wanes
https://arab.news/yk8qs
EU leaders open emergency talks on defense and Ukraine aid as US support wanes
- EU gathering underscores sea change that has happened in the two months since Donald Trump took office
UN’s top court opens Myanmar Rohingya genocide case
- The Gambia filed a case against Myanmar at the UN’s top court in 2019
- Verdict expected to impact Israel’s genocide case over war on Gaza
DHAKA: The International Court of Justice on Monday opened a landmark case accusing Myanmar of genocide against its mostly Muslim Rohingya minority.
The Gambia filed a case against Myanmar at the UN’s top court in 2019, two years after a military offensive forced hundreds of thousands of Rohingya from their homes into neighboring Bangladesh.
The hearings will last three weeks and conclude on Jan. 29.
“The ICJ must secure justice for the persecuted Rohingya. This process should not take much longer, as we all know that justice delayed is justice denied,” said Asma Begum, who has been living in the Kutupalong refugee camp in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar district since 2017.
A mostly Muslim ethnic minority, the Rohingya have lived for centuries in Myanmar’s western Rakhine state but were stripped of their citizenship in the 1980s and have faced systemic persecution ever since.
In 2017 alone, some 750,000 of them fled military atrocities and crossed to Bangladesh, in what the UN has called a textbook case of ethnic cleansing by Myanmar.
Today, about 1.3 million Rohingya shelter in 33 camps in Cox’s Bazar, turning the coastal district into the world’s largest refugee settlement.
“We experienced horrific acts such as arson, killings and rape in 2017, and fled to Bangladesh,” Begum told Arab News.
“I believe the ICJ verdict will pave the way for our repatriation to our homeland. The world should not forget us.”
A UN fact-finding mission has concluded that the Myanmar 2017 offensive included “genocidal acts” — an accusation rejected by Myanmar, which said it was a “clearance operation” against militants.
Now, there is hope for justice and a new future for those who have been displaced for years.
“We also have the right to live with dignity. I want to return to my homeland and live the rest of my life in my ancestral land. My children will reconnect with their roots and be able to build their own future,” said Syed Ahmed, who fled Myanmar in 2017 and has since been raising his four children in the Kutupalong camp.
“Despite the delay, I am optimistic that the perpetrators will be held accountable through the ICJ verdict. It will set a strong precedent for the world.”
The Myanmar trial is the first genocide case in more than a decade to be taken up by the ICJ. The outcome will also impact the genocide case that Israel is facing over its war on Gaza.
“The momentum of this case at the ICJ will send a strong message to all those (places) around the world where crimes against humanity have been committed,” Nur Khan, a Bangladeshi lawyer and human rights activist, told Arab News.
“The ICJ will play a significant role in ensuring justice regarding accusations of genocide in other parts of the world, such as the genocide and crimes against humanity committed by Israel against the people of Gaza.”
