Europe

Archive: https://archive.is/2025.07.14-053830/https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/italys-abortion-taboos-challenged-by-new-law-sicily-2025-07-14/

The operation, which is expected to last two years, marks a new stage in Ireland’s reckoning with the abuse and neglect of children in religious and state-run institutions,

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Several people were hurt in a second night of anti-migrant unrest in the town of Torre Pacheco in south-east Spain after a pensioner was beaten up, authorities said.

Despite a major police presence, groups armed with batons roamed the streets looking for people with foreign origins, the regional newspaper La Opinión de Murcia reported.

The regional government did not say how many people were injured but stated that at least one person had been arrested over the violence.

The unrest erupted after a 68-year-old man told Spanish media he was beaten up in the street on Wednesday by three young people of north African origin. The attack was filmed and put on social media.

The French president, Emmanuel Macron, has called on the EU to “defend European interests resolutely” after Donald Trump threatened to impose 30% tariffs on nearly all imports from the EU.

It came as the EU moved to de-escalate tensions after the blunt move by Trump on Saturday. The bloc declared a further pause on €21bn of retaliatory tariffs until 1 August, dovetailing with the US president’s new deal deadline.

At the same time, the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, and the Indonesian president, Prabowo Subianto, announced a “political agreement” on a free trade deal on Sunday, ending nine years of negotiations.

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/3541178

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Over the next few years, European countries will spend hundreds of billions of dollars on aircraft, artillery, armored vehicles, drones and fortifications. However, the rush to rebuild militaries that have shrunk over decades of underinvestment has exposed a major challenge.

Almost without exception, Europe’s largest militaries face significant shortfalls in personnel, as demographic change, economic factors and long-term shifts in attitudes towards service weigh on their ability to recruit and retain soldiers. Some governments are raising wages, others are trying to invoke a sense of crisis or patriotic duty. Some have even reinstated or extended the draft, marking a profound change to the social contract.

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As well as increasing their defense budgets, European countries are trying to recruit personnel in large quantities. Germany’s top general said in February that the military may need to add another 100,000 active duty soldiers to its current 180,000. Poland plans to grow its forces from 208,000 to 230,000 this year, and eventually to 300,000 professional soldiers and 150,000 reserves. The Dutch government has said it wants to more than double its military personnel from 70,000 to 200,000, including reserves, by 2030.

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Lithuania reintroduced conscription in 2015. Each year, 3,900 men aged between 18 and 26 are called for nine months of mandatory military training. Like its Baltic neighbors, it has dramatically increased its defense budget, aiming to spend more than 5% of GDP in 2026. By 2030, the country wants to have 18,000 full-time troops, backed by 50,000 in active reserve. To get there, it will need to push conscription numbers to something close to universal military service.

According to a report by the national audit office, the number of volunteers for military training — people who didn’t wait to be called for conscription, but chose to undergo it — rose by 41% last year. However, more than half of conscripts were declared unfit for service, 40% of those, for “mental health disorders and psychological problems.” The army has also struggled to retain higher-ranking servicemen, with many officers and non-commissioned officers leaving due to a lack of career progression, the audit office found.

Lithuania’s recent history of Soviet rule has proved a powerful motivator for volunteers. Since 2014, the number of active volunteers in the Riflemen’s Union has more than doubled to 17,000. Of those, 6,500 joined after the full-scale invasion, among them Lithuania’s former prime minister Ingrida Šimonytė. The government has tripled its financing of the organization. “No one wants to go back to the gulag. We know what it means to be free.” Giknius said. “We are on the front line, we’re on the edge. We feel the breath of the enemy up close physically. We have a small territory with few people, so universal defense is our only option.”

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While other countries in Europe have set out plans to increase the size of their regular forces, or reinstated national military service, France — with a large regular military and its own nuclear deterrent — has focused on its reserves. Any French citizen aged 17 to 72 can become a reservist, making them liable to be called up for combat missions in France or abroad, to protect civilian and military sites, or to contribute specific expertise in areas such as cyber-security or logistics.

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For reservists [in France], there is a financial incentive to sign up. New recruits earn on average more than €80 ($94) per day while they’re with the reserves, as well as free accommodation and food. If they move up in rank, the pay rises further. The government has signed agreements with more than 1,000 public and private sector employers to allow reservists to serve without losing pay. Since reserve missions are usually conducted on weekends and over the summer, Luan said he can treat it as a student job. “It’s a useful bonus.”

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In 2023, Latvia, which has a 285-kilometer-long border with Russia, reinstated the draft, taking the number of EU countries with some form of conscription to nine: Greece, Cyprus, Austria, and the Baltic and Nordic states minus Iceland. Facing acute recruitment challenges, lawmakers in other countries, including Germany, Poland and Italy, have discussed returning to national service.

A quick return to universal conscription is unlikely in most of Europe. But policymakers in several countries have pointed to a model pioneered in Sweden as a possible blueprint.

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Sweden suspended conscription in 2010. At the time, its system, under which men over the age of 18 were liable for service, was criticized as being “ineffective on the battlefield, but also unfair,” said Sanna Strand, a researcher at the University of Stockholm. When the government wanted to reinstate the draft in 2018, “politicians and defense authorities had a lot of work to do in order to explain why this was being done.”

The system they designed tried to balance the need to recruit personnel with the expectations of a progressive European population. Rather than simply forcing all men to serve, they created a more selective draft. At 18, all Swedes — of any gender — fill out an enlistment form in which they are asked to declare their willingness to serve in the military, alongside questions on education and health.

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When Emmely Søgaard Hansen volunteered for military service in Denmark last year, it wasn’t a grand patriotic gesture but a spontaneous decision. She was tired of her job, and looking for something that would challenge her. By the time she completed her four-month training in the army, she felt ready to serve her country in the event of war. “What started as a personal journey of self-development turned into something much more meaningful,” Hansen said.

All Danish men over the age of 18 are currently eligible for conscription, but in practice very few are actually drafted because the spaces are filled by volunteers. Women aren’t yet obliged to serve, but many volunteer. In 2024, nearly 5,000 people began military service, almost a quarter of them women.

As Denmark increases military spending and preparedness, it is expanding the draft.

For the first time, women will soon be obliged to register for potential conscription. Girls turning 18 after June 30 will be assessed for service, and may be drafted if not enough volunteers come forward.

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There are major questions about whether or not conscripts have much value in modern war. “To make a proper infantryman takes a year,” Globsec’s Burilkov said. “In Germany, there was a proposal for three months of training to make it attractive. And I can tell you that soldiers like that will be essentially worthless from a combat perspective.” Conscription is at best a stopgap measure. Even Russia, which has had to keep ramping up its financial incentives for recruits, has been hesitant to send conscripts to the front, Burilkov said.

That means reinstituting conscription is more often than not a political, rather than a military decision. Superficially, national service seems like a simple, catch-all solution, and one that has often attracted more conservative political voices, who see value in it for defense, but also for instilling a sense of nationhood, patriotism and discipline into the population. In a political environment characterized by partisanship and mistrust of authority, conscription promises a sense of universal identity, solidarity and social resilience.

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cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/3539855

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/3539755

The Finnish word “sisu” entered the international lexicon as a byword for indomitable willpower. Or, as Jonathan Clements [Clements, author of A Short History of Finland] put it: “That huge Soviet army rolling across the border and the Finns just standing there and saying, ‘NOPE’.” Today, he says, Ukraine is a living example of sisu.

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Could Finland’s situation be similar to Australia’s? According to Finnish President Alexander Stubb, it’s so much alike that the two nations’ security interests are joined at the hip.

“I feel that, you know, as far apart as we are, Australia and Finland, pretty much our security is tied hip to hip. Because you deal with similar types of security issues. You know, whether it’s China, for you, Russia for us.” And, for all US allies, it’s Donald Trump.

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The head of the National Security College at the Australian National University, Professor Rory Medcalf, thinks so: “Finland has proved that small countries can protect themselves in an unforgiving world while remaining true to democratic principles.”

Medcalf has published a paper nominating Finland as Australia’s “North Star” for developing national resilience. Finland is regarded as a role model for much larger European states in standing against Russia. And Stubb has recently developed a reputation as a “Trump whisperer”, one of very few foreign leaders to change the US president’s mind on any topic.

So what is Finland doing about today’s twin pressures from Putin and Trump? Russia, which once annexed Finland and has attacked it several times over seven centuries, is positioning itself to do it again. “I know it sounds strange,” Stubb says in an interview at the president’s lakeside official summer residence, but “we’re quite relaxed at the moment”.

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Russia is suspected of cutting undersea cables connecting various European nations, including Finland. Helsinki detained one such saboteur ship. China is accused of likewise cutting cables in the Taiwan Strait.

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Satellite imagery in May revealed new Russian military infrastructure being built along the border with Finland. Hangars for fighter jets, helicopter bases, warehouses for armoured vehicles and troop encampments indicate a long-term build-up is under way.

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“Our base case is very simple,” Stubb says. “Within the next five to 10 years, two things will hold true with Russia. One is that they will not revert into a peaceful liberal democracy. And second, they will continue a military build-up.” Those assumptions could just as easily be applied to China.

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Last week, Stubb gave formal notice that Finland was withdrawing from the Ottawa Convention against the use of landmines. On Wednesday, Reuters broke the news that Finland, together with Lithuania, will begin manufacturing landmines next year. And Helsinki is building a 200-kilometre barrier fence along one stretch of its Russian border.

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He [Stubb] is dismissive of Putin’s war: “Look, this year, he has advanced 0.25 per cent of the Ukrainian land mass at a cost of 167 soldiers dead per kilometre. It’s a pretty damn high price to pay.

“What I would argue is [that it’s] the biggest tactical and strategic mistake in modern history because he set out to pacify Ukraine; it’s going to become a member of the European Union, and eventually NATO.

“He [Putin] set out to dismantle NATO. Well, he just doubled the border with NATO through Russia with Finland. He set out to destroy the transatlantic partnership. Well, together we’re now hiking up our defence expenditure to 5 per cent [of GDP over 10 years],” a commitment agreed to by all NATO members last month.

“He [Puitn] set out to dismantle the EU. Well, I’ve never seen it more united. So Putin failed on all accounts.”

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A veteran MP from the [Finnish] opposition Social Democratic Party, Johannes Koskinen, says: “We remember the Winter War when we were alone against Stalin’s Soviet Union. That’s why we give so much support to Ukraine.”

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Finland has joined NATO for its protection, but other European members of the alliance also feel comforted to have Finland, population 5.6 million, as their new ally.

In Denmark, former diplomat Jonas Parello-Plesner observes that “it’s a huge boon that Finland, which never stood down militarily, is on our north and east with a large mobilised army and a huge military reserve”.

Stubb says: “There’s a reason why we have over 60 F-18s. We just bought 64 F-35s. There’s a reason why we have long-range missiles, air, land and sea. And there’s a reason why we have the biggest artillery in Europe, with Poland. And the reason is not Sweden.”

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He adds that countries with small populations and high salaries cannot compete against countries with big populations on low salaries: “Russia and China have huge armies of over a million. Small countries with standing armies on high salaries don’t have enough forces. That’s why smaller countries should have conscription.”

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Australia can learn from Finland’s comprehensive security policy, says [Australian National University] ANU’s Medcalf: “Public-private sector co-operation is key.” Indeed, Hakamies of the Confederation of Finnish Industries says the system “is not based on law, it’s based on co-operation – companies talk to each other, they rehearse what they will do in a crisis, they train in all the sectors that are crucial when the borders are closed”.

Interestingly, Australia has committed to a similar concept of “whole of nation” security, involving society and business, as recommended by the Albanese government’s defence strategic review, but that’s where it remains – in the review, on paper only.

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If the West wants to succeed, it needs to enlist the south bloc, he argues: “Because they’re the ones who decide. So if we take the moral high ground and continue preaching to the global south, we’re going to lose this game to China.”

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If it should come to a world war, values-based alliances would be central, says Stubb, a lifetime student of international affairs: “There are few countries in the world that are values-based alliances, and I think they come from Europe. They also come from Australia, New Zealand, South Korea and Japan, United States and Canada. And that’s why, if anything would ever happen, we would certainly rely on an alliance in one form or another with Australia.” And, no doubt, a large measure of sisu.

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/24583867

archived (Wayback Machine)

Archive: https://archive.is/2025.07.11-182512/https://www.ft.com/content/238c5965-01ad-48af-9f20-db6aa11f76e6

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/3507456

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***- Russians are hunting for the private data of thousands of people they consider Putin’s enemies. They use the data for doxing – exposing them to online attacks.

• Deploying a method that had previously proven successful in Ukraine, they published a list of Poles—activists, politicians and journalists—who support Ukraine.
• The “doxing Wikipedia” includes names from many countries, including Slovakia, the Czech Republic, and Hungary.
• In Central Europe, no one is effectively countering doxing.***

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On Facebook, Kateryna comes across a photo of Oleksiy [her husband who volunteered in the Ukrainian army, both his and his wife's name have been changed to protect their identity], uploaded by an unknown woman. The caption under the photo says in Russian that the man is wanted. Kateryna writes to the author: how does she know her husband? Why is she posting his photo online? What is he wanted for?

The stranger’s account immediately disappears.

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According to Mykola Balaban, deputy head of the Center for Strategic Communications of Ukraine (Stratcom), doxing is one of the key tools of Russian information and psychological warfare. It is meant to create an atmosphere of fear, to weaken morale. To destabilize the opponent’s base.

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This is confirmed by Maria Pavena, a specialist working for the Ukrainian government on the search for missing persons in the central and northern regions of Ukraine. On a daily basis, Pavena works with families who have lost contact with their loved ones, helping to get information and advising on how to respond in similar situations. She hears horror stories about victims of Russian doxing.

“Scammers found a contact for one woman on social media and demanded $15,000 from her,” she says. “They threatened that if she didn’t pay, her relative, who is in captivity, would spend the night naked outside. They sent a video as proof. After she told them that she had no such money, the contact stopped.”

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Doxing poses a challenge to legal systems. We asked institutions in Poland, as well as the neighboring Czech Republic and Slovakia, how they are approaching the problem.

The Polish Ministry of Justice explains that doxing is not a separate crime under Polish law. However, it can be classified as stalking, defamation or illegal solicitation of information. The most common actions in such cases are the initiation of criminal proceedings, securing data on the internet, imposing a penalty and, in some cases, a ban on contact or an order to refrain from certain activities.

There is also no separate criminal provision for doxing in Czech law. “It is an act that can be of a very diverse nature,” explains Hanna Malá from the communications department of the Czech Interior Ministry. “Therefore, each time the legal qualification depends on the specific case: it could be a crime of unauthorized access to a computer system, a violation of the confidentiality of transmitted information, or a violation of RODO regulations [the Czech Office for Personal Data Protection is responsible for enforcing the latter – ed]”.

Slovak police spokeswoman Martina Sláviková responds similarly. In response, she stresses that the term “doxing” is not in the Slovak Criminal Code, but that actions of this type—depending on their scale and consequences—can be classified as dangerous electronic harassment or violation of the rights of others, among other things.

Sláviková adds that police do not keep separate statistics on doxing. These cases are recorded under other crime categories.

Why doesn’t Telegram block sites that directly incite hatred and murder?

The platform has not answered our questions for months. Last August, police in France detained Telegram’s owner, Pavel Durov. French prosecutors accused him of not doing enough to moderate toxic material on Telegram.