BERLIN/TALLINN/COPENHAGEN (own report) – Illegal maritime operations by Germany and other NATO countries bordering the Baltic Sea are directed at oil tankers transporting Russian oil. The actions against Russia’s ‘shadow fleet’ threaten to escalate tensions in the Baltic. A Baltic Sea summit of NATO allies, held in January, has emboldened several countries with Baltic coasts, including Germany, to find pretexts for detaining tankers coming from Russian ports and even confiscating them and their cargo. Berlin is currently engaged in such an audacious test case. The German authorities assisted and then detained a tanker carrying Russian oil in January. It was then officially confiscated in March. The vessel’s owner has filed a lawsuit against the seizure and the case is now the subject of legal proceedings. Other NATO countries around the Baltic are also acting to hinder Russia’s so-called ‘shadow fleet’. They have regularly done so in a maritime area between 12 and 200 nautical miles off their coasts. This marks the ‘exclusive economic zone’ (EEZ) in which access to foreign ships is not legally permitted. Such actions are tantamount to piracy. Russia is beginning to counter these measures. Indeed, it is threatening to use force to ensure the peaceful passage of tankers carrying its oil. A foreign minister from a NATO state has voiced the alliance’s dislike of legal constraints: “We have a problem with the law.” Read more

BERLIN/BRUSSELS/WASHINGTON (own report) – In the face of the Trump administration’s escalating tariff offensive, foreign policy advisors and economic experts in Berlin are urging significantly tougher countermeasures by the EU. While US tariffs on steel and aluminium imports are set to double this Wednesday, Brussels continues to limit itself to threats without actually implementing the counter-tariffs. This is completely inadequate, according to foreign and economic policy researchers at the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP). In order to put a stop to the US trade warfare it is, they say, necessary to “meet force with force”. The situation demands not only the implementation of counter-tariffs but also export restrictions on vital products. For example, the United States depends heavily on Dutch-made lithography equipment used in semiconductor production. The EU must, they say, even take the risk of causing widespread instability on the financial markets. This may be the only scenario that can make the Trump administration back down. These calls for a more aggressive response go hand in hand with ambitious long-term demands: the EU should assume the role of an independent global power. Read more

BERLIN/KIEV/MOSCOW (Own report) – Negotiations between Moscow and Kiev on ending the war in Ukraine resumed in Istanbul on Monday, with the exchange of memoranda. Their analysis would be the next step before continuing the negotiations. In the meantime, the exchange of prisoners between Russia and Ukraine is already gaining momentum. Following resumption of the Istanbul negotiations, a close examination of the ceasefire talks in Istanbul in the spring of 2022 has so far been suppressed by leading media with the categorical assertion that Russia demanded, at the time, an unacceptable capitulation from Ukraine. Detailed analyses also by Western experts prove the contrary; they again raise the question of why the West did not support or even torpedoed those peace efforts. Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul's assertion that Russia's “war machine” should not be overestimated also raises questions. The claim that Russia's armed forces will soon be strong enough to attack NATO countries serves to legitimize the current arms build-up. Read more

BERLIN/BRUSSELS (own report) – Thanks to the recent weakness of the US dollar the euro could “play a greater international role” as it gains importance in the global financial system. This view is being advanced by Christine Lagarde, President of the European Central Bank (ECB). As Lagarde stated last week, the US dollar’s share of global currency reserves has fallen to 58 per cent, the lowest since 1994. In the current weakness of the dollar she sees as an opportunity for the euro. Bewildered by Donald Trump’s economic policies, both private investors and governments may be motivated to keep their reserves in euros. However, the Eurozone would still need, said Lagarde, a “solid and credible geopolitical foundation” for this enhanced role – a foundation cemented with strong military capabilities. She went on to say that the European Union would finally have to create the long-promised single capital market and gain greater effectiveness by widening the scope of majority decision-making. Parallel to Lagarde’s ambitious plans for Europe’s economy, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is advocating “European independence” from the United States as the next “major European project”. This, again, would mean “a leading role in the global economy of tomorrow”. Read more

BERLIN/VILNIUS (own report) – On May 22, Germany celebrated the formal commissioning of its Lithuanian Brigade, with a ceremonial military roll call in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius. On paper, this brigade has existed as a Bundeswehr unit since April 1. Berlin intends to station a total of 5,000 soldiers in Lithuania by 2027. Germany’s Minister of Defense, Boris Pistorius had announced intensive maneuvers for next year. The German government additionally plans to integrate the German commanded NATO multinational battlegroup into the Lithuanian Brigade and thereby into the Bundeswehr command structure. In his speech in Vilnius, Merz reiterated that Germany will do everything to become the strongest military power in Europe. In the Lithuanian capital, both the German chancellor and the minister of defense accused Russia of aggressive revisionism – of all things, during the military roll call commissioning the Bundeswehr’s first permanent foreign base, on territory that had once been the Soviet Union – and in the immediate vicinity of Russia’s border. Read more

BERLIN/NEMENČINĖ (Own report) – Berlin is stationing a unit of the future Lithuanian brigade in Nemenčinė just two kilometers away from the site where Germans and Lithuanians massacred a large segment of the town's Jewish population in the fall of 1941. The massacre of Nemenčinė was an aspect of the systematic mass murder carried out by the Germans and their Lithuanian collaborators ln the extermination of the Jews of the Lithuanian province. Prior to the German invasion, Lithuania had been a supra-regional hub of Jewish culture. A few months later, it was “judenfrei” (free of Jews). Less than five percent of the local Jewish population survived German occupation of Lithuania. Commemorating and acknowledging the shared historical guilt play no role in the German-Lithuanian cooperation that, over the past few years, has again grown stronger. On the contrary: the culprits are still today being publicly honored in Vilnius. Within the framework of the deployment of the Lithuanian brigade, Berlin has made no effort, until now, toward commemorating the systematic slaughter of Lithuanian Jews, for example, on the anniversary of the Nemenčinė Massacre. With its silence, it is helping to conceal the reality of Germany’s war of annihilation against the Soviet Union. Read more

BERLIN (Own report) – Germany is facing a massive restructuring of its economy and society following the latest announcements by the new German government on its planned upgrading of the Bundeswehr and its competition for military leadership in Europe. Last week, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz declared that the Bundeswehr should become “the strongest conventional army in Europe”. Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul expressed his explicit support for the projected new NATO target of spending five instead of two percent of Germany’s gross domestic product (GDP) on military measures. Berlin is “ready to take on a leading role in Europe” and “to call on others to follow us,” declared Wadephul. With a massive debt-financed arms build-up, the Bundeswehr could actually outpace the French armed forces, which, due to its already high levels of debt, cannot afford to take out excessive arms loans without fearing a drastic financial crisis. This development is accompanied by a significant increase in the power of the arms industry at the expense of civilian sectors and a dramatic militarization of the society. The most comprehensive social change since 1990 is looming. Read more