"Een weerbare samenleving vereist politieke leiders die beseffen dat hun eigen reactie mee bepaalt of een hybride aanval een strategisch succes wordt."

Europa's politieke leiders zijn kwetsbaarder gebleken dan Europa’s grenzen

Europa moet een duidelijke strategie ontwikkelen om het gebruik van migratie als geopolitiek wapen af te schrikken.

tijd.be

"Officers with air force backgrounds appeared to have made the most gains, the air force having emerged relatively unscathed from the anti-corruption campaign. The rise of air force generals could further weaken the army’s long-standing dominance within the PLA."

New batch of officers quietly takes helm of PLA after anti-corruption drive

New cohort of lieutenant generals has stepped up to lead key PLA bodies, SCMP analysis of state media footage from key meetings reveals.

sc.mp

"There are two demographics that usually join ISIS to conduct attacks in the West: second-generation European Muslims (often recruiting their brothers and sisters), and European converts."

Berlin Pride: ISIS still inspires terrorism in Europe – but who carries out these attacks?

ISIS’ extremist tenets often appeal to second-generation Muslim immigrants in Europe and the US.

theconversation.com

"There was plenty of evidence of the systematic and coercive nature of the Russian federation’s policies attempting to erase the identity of the Ukrainian children under its control."

We investigated Russia’s military indoctrination of Ukrainian children in occupied territories – what we found was more shocking than we could have imagined

International law forbids the indoctination and militarisation of children in occupied territories.

theconversation.com

A cybersecurity firm that specializes in protecting critical infrastructure, noted a pattern with attacks in March and in Minnesota: the targeting of small utilities that use internet-exposed controllers with default passwords. “It’s very low-hanging fruit.” www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...

U.S. spy agencies suspect Iran launched cyberattack on Minnesota water facilities

Intelligence agencies have assessed that Iran was likely behind a coordinated attack on more than 30 municipal water systems in the state.

washingtonpost.com

"If China claims that these tests are routine, then it is time that it undertakes responsible actions and follows the internationally established protocols for ballistic missile launch notifications."

China’s SLBM Test Underscores the Importance of a Ballistic Missile Launch Notification Agreement

On July 6, 2026, China conducted a submarine-launched ballistic missile test into the Pacific, its first ever into international waters. The insufficient notification underscores the importance of the...

csis.org

How do African states navigate great-power competition and growing pressure to take sides? And do we need new concepts to understand African states' alignment strategies, or can established concepts travel across contexts? Questions E. Vigne and I explore in our newly published article 👇

Africa Spectrum@africaspectrum.bsky.social · last mo.

🆕 How do weaker states navigate great-power competition? Vigne and Van Hoeymissen examine how the DRC balanced relations with China, the US, and the EU, showing how hedging can help preserve autonomy amid insecurity and geopolitical rivalry. 🔗 doi.org/10.1177/00020397261466687 @giga-hamburg.de

In Europe the shift has taken on a geopolitical edge after the US last month imposed export controls on Anthropic’s Mythos and Fable models, forcing businesses to confront the risks of reliance on US technology: “You can put Fable back in the market, but you can’t put the genie back in the bottle".

Companies turn to Chinese AI models to cut costs

DoorDash, Siemens and Airbnb are among those seeking to curb ballooning bills and reduce reliance on US technology

ft.com

De Chinese overheid trekt een lijn in het zand: het is de bedoeling dat AI jobs zal creëren, niet vernietigen. 🇨🇳ondernemers nemen dat signaal maar beter ernstig, argumenteren @dorienemmers.bsky.social en ik in @tijd.be. En daarmee tekent zich in China een duidelijk ander model af dan in de VS.

De Tijd@tijd.be · last mo.

[OPINIE] Silicon Valley versus Hangzhou: twee visies op AI en werkgelegenheid

New data restrictions & outdated sources hamper Western analysis of Chinese military affairs in an open-source setting. One way to alleviate this is to revive taxpayer-funded open-source intelligence-gathering of translations of foreign military & political sources. warontherocks.com/the-blind-sp...

The Blind Spots in Chinese Military Studies

During a recent conference on the People’s Liberation Army, I heard the same question posed to attendees and paper writers: “How would China react to U.S.

warontherocks.com

Ticket vergeten te kopen, zelfs als houder v/e abonnement en Trein+ overkomt het me wel eens. Ik verwacht vanaf 1/7 geen excuses meer à la "deze trein bestaat uit 2 rijtuigen in plaats van 5" & "om operationele redenen rijdt deze trein niet" Ik correct mijn deel, jullie ook @sncb-nmbs.bsky.social?🤜🤛

Zonder vervoersbewijs de trein op? Vanaf woensdag word je beboet als zwartrijder | VRT NWS Nieuws

Vanaf 1 juli is het niet meer mogelijk een ticket aan boord van een trein bij een treinbegeleider te kopen. Wie zonder vervoersbewijs de trein neemt, wordt vanaf dan als zwartrijder beschouwd én beboe...

vrtnws.be

"Long trousers are sweaty enablers of a pretence that our world is not changing. Wearing them, in hot summers, requires either dangerous perseverance or consumption of energy in a way that ultimately makes the problem worse."

Shorts-wearers of the world, unite!

As summer temperatures soar, it makes no sense — sartorially or environmentally — to stick with long trousers

ft.com

The assumption that EV adoption in Africa would follow the old pattern of 2nd hand imports from Europe and Asia has changed. EVs made in China and motorbikes assembled in Africa with Chinese parts are now available at competitive prices, providing Africa with an opportunity to leapfrog technologies.

Iran war supercharges electric vehicle uptake in Africa

Boom in demand for electric motorbikes and buses on continent is a boost for China

ft.com

"In Europe and in the United States, there is still a reluctance to make currency diplomacy integral to the broader trade discussion. This is an intellectual and policy blind spot that risks a failure of economic policy coordination. As long as it persists, trade imbalances will only grow."

The Real Problem With Global Trade

How China’s currency manipulation is warping the world economy.

foreignaffairs.com

Iran suspects the US seeks not a lasting peace but a free hand to keep Iran isolated and weak, checking its nuclear and missile activities by periodically “mowing the lawn”. Faced with such a prospect, Iran is seeking deterrence on 3 fronts: Hormuz, the nuclear file and by making the US pay a price.

Why Iran fears a deal today means more war tomorrow

Tehran interprets the US’s seemingly generous concessions as too good to be true

ft.com

"The result is that while all external actors claim to fight instability, the current regional order depends on continuing insecurity. Stabilisation risks becoming less about resolving conflict than about managing insecurity in ways that sustain regimes, partnerships and geopolitical influence."

The Sahel region is less secure than ever: foreign forces just add to the cycle of violence

After more than a decade, external security intervention has left the Sahel region more fragmented, militarised and violent.

theconversation.com

"In terms of sectors, Chinese investment was still heavily concentrated on the automotive industry, with €7.6 billion of deals completed in 2025. Entertainment was the second most popular category at €2.3 billion, followed by consumer products and services at €2 billion."

Chinese investment in Europe surges to 7-year high despite rising trade tensions

But study warns that new project pipeline appears to be drying up, as Chinese investors face pressure from both Beijing and Brussels.

scmp.com

“The development of AI technology should be applied to liberating labor, promoting employment and improving people’s livelihood,” the Court wrote. “Labor law allows employers to ... upgrade their operations, but it should also take into workers’ legitimate rights and interests."

China Wants A.I. to Flourish, but Not at the Expense of Jobs

nytimes.com

The investigation also underlined that the strikes have not reduced the flow of drugs to the US but have instead torn apart communities already fractured and weakened by organised crime and state neglect: "some communities stopped fishing for weeks because they were terrified of being bombed".

13 men killed by US military boat strikes identified: ‘These were flesh-and-blood people’

All victims of US strikes in eastern Pacific and the Caribbean identified so far came from extremely poor communities

theguardian.com

"Many critics expect, even hope, that Chinese industrial policy will eventually implode under the weight of its own contradictions. But there is not guarantee that will happen soon. To paraphrase an old adage about markets, China can stay irrational longer than foreign competitors can stay solvent."

Beijing’s ‘Industrial Policy of Everything’ Leaves Rest of the World in the Dust

Government support encompasses the old, the new, goods and services, micro and macro. Nothing Trump elicits in China will alter this.

wsj.com

"When translating Trump’s remarks, Chinese state media used a common practice to make Xi look superior. They portrayed Trump as using a formal form of the Chinese word for 'you' that signals respect when addressing Xi. Xi, on the other hand, used the more common form of 'you' when addressing Trump."

Donald Trump’s China trip melds corporate interests and communist pomp

President touts his friendship with Xi Jinping and future opportunities for his entourage of US business titans

ft.com

"ASML is seen as the jewel in the crown of Europe’s technological sector, but has spent much of the past decade caught in the crossfire of the US-China tech war. In January it estimated that 20% of its 2026 annual sales would come from China. This would represent a reduction from 33% in 2025."

Netherlands opposes US proposal to further bar chip giant ASML from China market

While the chipmaking-gear giant is already banned from selling advanced kit to China, new rule would make low-end products off-limits too.

scmp.com

"To keep their competition peaceful, China and the US must: 🔺 preserve military deterrence without turning it into provocation 🔺 channel their rivalry into institutions and public goods rather than military confrontation 🔺 keep ideology from hardening every disagreement into a zero-sum struggle"

Trump-Xi summit: 3 ways the US and China can compete without going to war

Both sides need to realise there will be no ‘winner’ in their rivalry. Instead, they can learn to coexist through mutual restraint and continued engagement.

theconversation.com

"Countering 10 enemy ICBMs simultaneously could require a constellation of roughly 7,800 armed satellites. These would need to be placed in low orbit where they would be subject to drag from the Earth’s atmosphere. Over a 5 year span they could lose enough altitude to burn up and need replacement."

Trump’s ‘Golden Dome’ Missile Defense Plan Could Cost $1.2 Trillion

nytimes.com

"In zekere zin zijn we met onze uitbreiding weer bij onze roots aanbeland: hoe kunnen we van Europa opnieuw een project van vrede en welvaart maken?"

De Tijd@tijd.be · 3mo ago

Europees commissaris Marta Kos: ‘Op een dag treedt Oekraïne toe tot de EU, maar het zal niet in 2027 zijn’

"Drew Thompson, a former Pentagon official, cautioned against comparing the conflict in Iran to a war over Taiwan. In a defense of the island, the United States would largely rely on anti-ship missiles, which were used sparingly on Iran, to target a Chinese invasion fleet."

China Sees a ‘Giant With a Limp’ as U.S. Drains Weapons on Iran War

nytimes.com

"Payments for Iranian oil have been processed by Chinese institutions such as China’s Bank of Kunlun and the Cross-border Interbank Payment System.This has helped Iran bypass western sanctions by putting oil revenues out of the reach of the US Treasury."

China has played a key role in the Iran war – and will continue to do so

Due to its position of influence over Iran, China will be a leading factor in whether the war ends or spills back into open conflict.

theconversation.com

"President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine is encouraging Ukrainian companies to offer subscriptions — to devices, software updates and the services of remote pilots in Ukraine. Such deals, Ukrainian leaders believe, would lead to more long-term security agreements with other countries."

Taiwan Could Learn From Ukraine. Informally, Connections Are Growing.

nytimes.com

"In Kenya, the National Intelligence Service found that around 1,000 Kenyans had gone to Russia and ended up in Ukraine so far. Only 30 of them have returned alive."

‘The Death Zone’: How Russia Is Luring Africans to Ukraine

nytimes.com

Security experts said US allies in Asia should also be prepared for delays: "This reality will drive Japan, South Korea and other allies to focus more heavily on indigenous and non-American options, even in areas where US equipment is clearly superior.”

US warns Europe of delays to arms shipments as Iran war drains stockpiles

Deferred deliveries could include those used in Ukraine’s defence against Russia

ft.com