WORLD ROUNDUPFinland Raced to Join NATO. What Happens Next Is Complicated. | India’s Justice System Is No Longer Independent | French Withdrawal from Niger a Further Risk to Stability, and more
· Finland Raced to Join NATO. What Happens Next Is Complicated.
After decades of going it alone in security issues, Finns are finding that life in a large alliance is complex, expensive and deeply political
· Bulgarian ‘Spies’ Accused of Gathering Information for Russia
Bulgarians charged with espionage and collecting information to assist with abductions of specific targets
· Taiwan Launches ‘Sea Monster’ Submarine to Counter China Threat
Island nation plans eight home-built vessels as belligerent Beijing squares up to the Philippines
· Tensions With China Cross a New Line in the South China Sea
The Philippines is offering more forceful resistance to China’s territorial designs
· Is the Idea of Khalistan, a Sikh Homeland, Still Alive?
Some in India fear a revival of militant Sikh separatism that once threatened to tear the country apart
· French Withdrawal from Niger a Further Risk to Stability
The situation in Niger carries high stakes because of the impact not only on the country itself, but also on the Sahel region
· India’s Justice System Is No Longer Independent: Part III
Part III concludes this series, detailing how India’s judiciary has been complicit in the Modi government’s prosecution of political opponents
· Biden Hosts Pacific Islands, With a Rising China in Mind
The event at the White House was part of an administration effort to deepen ties with a string of small but strategic nations
Finland Raced to Join NATO. What Happens Next Is Complicated. (Steven Erlanger, New York Times)
Barely a year after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Finland cast aside decades of military nonalignment and self-reliance and joined the NATO alliance.
That happened with breathtaking speed, as these matters go, but gaining membership may have been the easy part. Now comes the complicated process of integrating itself into the alliance and its requirement of collective defense — with all of its financial, legal and strategic hurdles.
Membership in NATO has long been considered a cheap benefit, given the American nuclear umbrella and the principle of collective defense. But NATO also has extensive requirements of its members — not just spending goals for the military, but specific demands from each country for certain capabilities, armaments, troop strengths and infrastructure as defined by the Supreme Allied Commander in Europe.
Achieving that will demand some difficult and costly decisions from the government and military officials as they learn to think strategically outside Finland’s borders and adapt its forces and their capabilities to the alliance’s needs.
Bulgarian ‘Spies’ Accused of Gathering Information for Russia (David Brown, The Times)
Five alleged Russian spies have appeared in court charged with espionage and collecting information to assist with abductions of specific targets.
All five are charged with collecting information intended to be directly or indirectly useful to an enemy for a purpose prejudicial to the safety and interest of the state between August 2020 and February this year.
Taiwan Launches ‘Sea Monster’ Submarine to Counter China Threat (Richard Spencer, The Times)
Taiwan is to launch its first home-built submarine as competition for military control of the Pacific between China and the US along with its Asian allies deepens.
The submarine, to be named Hai Kun after a sea monster from Chinese legend, is the first of eight planned to bolster the island’s defenses against China’s growing navy.
The launch on Thursday has been long planned but its timing coincides with a failure of attempts this year by the US and China to halt their war of words over Taiwan, control of the South China Sea and trade. (Cont.)
