BERLIN/PARIS/KIEV (own report) - Talks began yesterday, Wednesday, in Brussels on shifting Ukraine support away from the United States to the countries of Europe. The background to this scenario is US President-elect Donald Trump’s call for a swift end to the fighting between Russia and Ukraine. Trump says the burden of the war and its consequences should be borne primarily by Europe. One proposal is for the European states to provide a military force of some 40,000 soldiers for deployment in a future demilitarised zone. The buffer zone would be along the demarcation line between Ukrainian and Russian-occupied territories once a ceasefire has been concluded. The plan was discussed yesterday, 18 December, by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in talks with various politicians, including above all French President Emmanuel Macron. Macron has been advancing similar ideas for some time. Talks will continue this Thursday. Meanwhile, the Russian armed forces are advancing faster than at any time since the end of February 2022, while Ukrainian military personnel are deserting in ever greater numbers. Some estimates put the figure at more than 200,000 soldiers so far. Read more

DAMASCUS/BERLIN (own report) – The German government is pushing for a strong German role in moves to reset foreign relations with Syria. It has announced closer cooperation with the jihadists of Hayat Tahrir al Sham (HTS). German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock explains that since HTS is “de facto the new strong power in Syria”, Berlin should cooperate with them as part of a “pragmatic approach”. German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius chimes in, “We as Europeans, as Germany” must now “see our responsibility to contribute to the stabilisation of the region.” The German government has chosen to play an active part in the fierce struggle between external powers for control over Syria – a struggle which has been ramped up with the fall of Damascus. Two NATO states and one of Germany’s closest allies are among those seeking to control developments in Syria. They have occupied parts of Syria in violation of international law and continue to strike at targets across the country in the wake of Assad’s collapse. These actors are Turkey, the US and Israel. Syria is again becoming a pawn in the hands of external powers from the Western world. Their overriding goal is to disempower their rivals – Russia and Iran. Read more

DAMASCUS/BERLIN (own report) - German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron have declared that they are “ready” to work together with “the new rulers” in Syria. Both emphasised this stance in a telephone call on Monday evening. Cooperation should, they agreed, be “on the basis of fundamental human rights and the protection of ethnic and religious minorities”. Abu Muhammad al Julani, the leader of Hayat Tahrir al Sham (HTS), a jihadist organisation that rules the governorate of Idlib, is generally regarded as the new “strong man in Syria”. Only selected males have the right to vote in Idlib, women do not. Christians have limited rights, while Alawites and Druze are considered apostates from Islam and are persecuted. Torture is common and dozens of cases of “disappeared” persons have been documented. Journalists critical of HTS have been murdered by HTS militants. Children are told to follow the “path to martyrdom”. The previous prime minister in Idlib has now been appointed prime minister of the Syrian transitional government. Despite the chaotic situation, some German politicians are urging rapid deportations to Syria. Read more

DAMASCUS/BERLIN (own report) - With their sanctions against Syria, Germany and the EU have contributed to the fall of Syrian President Bashar al Assad and the triumph of the jihadist militia Hayat Tahrir al Sham (HTS). The fact that the HTS offensive could lead to the capture of Damascus in just eleven days had several causes. There was widespread corruption in the Syrian armed forces, and they were in part infiltrated by opposition activists. The internal corrosion meant that the army melted away when the HTS launched its military campaign. State corruption and general discontent among the population were, however, fuelled by Western sanctions, with really drastic consequences. Syrians faced a massive increase in poverty and hunger. As early as 2019, the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) warned that the sanctions ultimately amounted to a “scorched earth policy that indiscriminately and arbitrarily punishes ordinary Syrians”. A beneficiary of the widespread discontent has been the HTS. The Islamist militant group, which was able to establish a repressive regime in the Idlib governorate based on a harsh interpretation of Sharia law, is now taking power in Damascus. Read more

BERLIN (own report) – Germany’s biggest arms manufacturers achieved fast growth in 2023, significantly above the global average. This finding emerges from the latest ranking of the world’s hundred largest defence companies, published yesterday (Monday) by the Stockholm-based research institute SIPRI. Only four German companies – Rheinmetall, ThyssenKrupp, Hensoldt and Diehl – can claim a place in the SIPRI ranking. But this is due to the way Germany’s defence industry has a marked pattern of small and medium-sized enterprises, the renowned Mittelstand. However, the biggest four German companies were able to increase their revenues by 7.5 per cent last year, while global growth of the top hundred as a whole stood only at 4.2 per cent. Rheinmetall and Diehl in particular owe their growth surge largely to their role as suppliers in the Ukraine war. The SIPRI ranking again confirms that the largest US arms manufacturers are far ahead, generating massive revenues equal to around a half of the total global sales recorded for the top one hundred in 2023. The analysis also reveals the emergence of a powerful Turkish arms industry as well as a strong growth trend among the West’s Asian partners in an anti-China alliance. Here, weapons makers in South Korea and Japan are setting new records. Read more