Grimstre science

The US and UK have launched a second round of air strikes against the Houthi rebels in Yemen.

The strikes were launched on Monday night against Houthi missile and drone launching sites in Yemen, a US defence official told The Telegraph, following weeks of assaults by the group against naval and commercial ships in the Bab el-Mandab Strait in the Red Sea.

Monday’s strikes involved four RAF Typhoons and two Voyager refuelling aircraft. They used Paveway IV guided bombs to strike multiple targets at two locations near an airfield at Sanaa, the Yemeni capital.

A Ministry of Defence spokesperson said the locations were being used to “enable the continued intolerable attacks against international shipping in the Red Sea”.

According to US Central Command, “missile systems and launchers, air defence systems, radars and deeply buried weapons storage facilities” were among the targets.

The air strikes follow a joint US-UK operation launched earlier this month, which saw RAF Typhoon jets join the US Navy and Air Force in bombing 70 sites used by the Iran-backed group to launch missile and drone attacks.

The UK’s involvement in the strikes is understood to be relatively small compared to US forces. In the first round of joint airstrikes, RAF jets struck two of sixteen targets, with multiple sites at each target.

A US defence official told The Telegraph: “The US has participated in strikes against the Houthis, and has targeted infrastructure for striking US maritime forces.”

Grant Shapps, the Defence Secretary, said: “Dangerous Houthi attacks on shipping in the Red Sea have continued to threaten the lives of sailors and disrupt shipping at an intolerable cost to the global economy.

“Along with our US partners, we have conducted a further round of strikes in self-defence. Aimed at degrading Houthi capabilities, this action will deal another blow to their limited stockpiles and ability to threaten global trade.

“Alongside our ongoing diplomatic efforts, we will continue to support regional stability across the Middle East, working hand in hand with our like-minded partners.”

Both the US and UK previously vowed that their militaries would continue to take military action against the group unless it ended attacks in one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes.

The incidents have seen the price of global shipping increase, as many carriers opt to send their cargo around the African continent, rather than using the strait to reach Europe from Asia.

The Houthis have said the attacks have been carried out in solidarity with Palestine over the war in Gaza, and that they would not stop in the face of a Western military response.

Earlier on Monday, Rishi Sunak spoke with Joe Biden to discuss the ongoing situation in the Middle East and Red Sea in particular.

Downing Street said the leaders “condemned the surge in violent Houthi attacks on commercial ships transiting the area and undertook to continue efforts alongside international partners to deter and disrupt those attacks”.

A spokesman added: “This includes work through the multinational Operation Prosperity Guardian, putting diplomatic pressure on Iran to cease their support of Houthi activity and, as needed, targeted military action to degrade Houthi capabilities.”

UK and US launch new joint air strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen The US and UK have launched a second round of air strikes against the Houthi rebels in Yemen.

Asylum seekers will not be safe in Rwanda simply because of “a few sheets of paper” in a treaty, the Church of England has said, as the House of Lords inflicted its first defeat on the Government over the deportation scheme.

The Rt Rev Rachel Treweek, the Bishop of Gloucester, urged the Government to do more to ensure Rwanda was safe for asylum seekers before ratifying its treaty with the country and deporting migrants there.

She was among peers who backed by 214 votes to 171 an unprecedented motion in the Lords demanding that the Government delay ratification of the Rwanda Treaty until it could show the African state is safe for asylum seekers. The motion is not binding on the Government but support for it indicates the uphill battle it faces over the next two months to get its Rwanda legislation past the Lords.

The legally binding treaty underpins Rishi Sunak’s Rwanda Bill and puts in place measures correcting the flaws in the deportation scheme that led the Supreme Court to declare it unlawful and Rwanda unsafe for asylum seekers.

Bishop Treweek said it was “remarkable” that the Government was asking Parliament to declare Rwanda safe on the basis of a single treaty that it claims answers all the concerns of the Supreme Court.

“If Parliament does proceed and effectively substitutes its judgement for that of the Supreme Court, I would ask where that leaves the constitutional principle of the separation of functions. And what precedent is this setting,” she said.

‘Random partnership’
She warned that “future assurances” from Rwanda or the UK were not, on their own, a strong enough basis to legislate a country as being safe. “The role of government is indeed to create law but it is not to create injustices,” she said.

“If the Government is so confident the treaty obligations placed on Rwanda will ensure that our random partnership is lawful, why not make this argument again before the judiciary?”

Given the Government was not prepared to do that, Bishop Treweek said it should ensure, instead, that a proposed 10-point action plan of new laws and judicial measures to strengthen Rwanda’s asylum system were in place before the treaty can be ratified.

“This debate is focusing us on the issue of whether or not sending people to Rwanda is safe and humane. The Prime Minister has called on Peers to get on board and do what is right,” she said. “But I fear it cannot be right to assure ourselves that asylum seekers will be protected by a few sheets of paper.”

Lord Kerr, former permanent secretary at the Foreign Office and UK ambassador to the United States, said he “profoundly objected” to Mr Sunak’s Rwanda Bill because it was “incompatible” with the UK’s responsibilities under the 1951 United Nations Refugee Convention.

He accused the Government of “washing its hands” of asylum seekers in a way that was “unprecedented and unconscionable”.

Lord Hannay, the UK’s former permanent representative to the UN, said the Rwanda scheme was “costly with so far no evident benefit” and “transgressed a whole range of international commitments” including the Refugee Convention.

“You cannot hope to be a credible champion of rule-based international order, as the Government aspires to be, and at the same time pick and choose which of those rules you yourself will continue to honour,” he said.

Lee Anderson, a former deputy chairman of the Tory party, has said the Archbishop of Canterbury should offer spare rooms in his Lambeth Palace to house illegal migrants.

Mr Anderson told GB News: “He’s got a big place just across the road ... I walk past that every day. It’s called Lambeth Palace. It’s got hundreds of empty rooms. We’re struggling for accommodation at the moment. Put them in there.”

Treaty does not make Rwanda safe place for asylum, bishop tells Lords Bishop of Gloucester decries key plank in Rishi Sunak’s law to stop illegal immigration

GENEVA – A civil liberties crackdown, repression in Xinjiang and Hong Kong's draconian national security law are among concerns expected to be raised during a U.N. review of China's rights record on Tuesday.
Beijing is likely to face intense scrutiny, especially from Western countries, during its regular Universal Periodic Review (UPR) — an examination of all 193 U.N. member states must undergo every four to five years to assess their human rights record.

"It is very important to hold China to account," a Western diplomat said.

The array of issues likely to be raised is vast, from the sweeping national security law imposed on Hong Kong in 2020 to quash dissent after pro-democracy protests, to alleged efforts to erase cultural and religious identity in Tibet.

Much focus is expected to remain on the situation in the northwestern Xinjiang region, where China is accused of incarcerating more than a million Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities. Beijing vehemently rejects the charges, which were already put forward during its last UPR in 2018.

Since then more U.N. documentation has been provided, including a report released by U.N. rights chief Michelle Bachelet just minutes before her term ended in 2022.

'Crimes against humanity'
That report, flatly rejected by China, cites possible "crimes against humanity."

But amid intense Chinese pressure, U.N. Human Rights Council members narrowly voted in October 2022 against even debating the report's contents.

"We haven't seen a really substantive discussion about the report," said Sarah Brooks, Amnesty International's deputy director for China.

Rights advocates voiced hope the UPR could provide a chance for countries to back the findings and demand action from Beijing.

"This is the perfect opportunity for countries to raise the issue and demand tangible action to stop the ongoing genocide," said Dolkun Isa, a Uyghur activist based in Germany and president of the World Uyghur Congress.

Sophie Richardson, the former China director at Human Rights Watch, said Beijing should face pointed questions on the "substantiated concerns about crimes against humanity."

Questions are also expected to be raised on Beijing's crackdown on civil society, which is sometimes felt as far away as Geneva.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the death of activist Cao Shunli, who was detained as she attempted to travel to Geneva ahead of China's 2013 UPR. After being held for several months without charge, she fell gravely ill and died in March 2014.

Richardson urged the diplomats coming to the UPR to delve into such concerns. "They must take the process seriously," she said.

'Politicization'
A large Chinese delegation, headed by Beijing's ambassador to the U.N. in Geneva, Chen Xu, will take part in the event and attempt to present its rights situation in a far more positive light.

"We uphold respect for and protection of human rights as a task of importance in state governance," Yuyun Liu, spokesperson at the Chinese mission in Geneva, wrote in an email. The spokesperson stressed that China "firmly opposes the politicisation of human rights and double standards."

In a bid to control the narrative, Beijing has reportedly requested the U.N. ensure "anti-China separatists" are not granted access to the session, and that any "anti-China" slogans are excluded.

Observers also warn that China has been pressuring countries to express positive feedback and working to ensure more critical nations have little time to speak.

Advanced questions submitted by some countries hint at pandering.

Belarus, for instance, states that "China upholds that all ethnic groups are equal," and asks Beijing to "share the efforts and practices by the Chinese government in protecting the rights of ethnic minorities."

China's critics accuse Beijing of pushing supporters to fill the allotted speaking time with praise.

In total, 163 states have registered to speak during the half-day session, leaving each country with just 45 seconds on the clock.

"How do we encapsulate our concerns regarding China in 45 seconds?" the Western diplomat said.

U.S. ambassador Michele Taylor agreed, telling an event at the U.N. in Geneva on Monday she had been "practicing my speed-reading" ahead of the UPR. "I will get all of my points across."

China to face rare scrutiny on rights record in U.N. review The Universal Periodic Review is an examination all 193 U.N. member states must undergo every four to five years to assess their human rights record.

Convenience store sales rose to a record high in 2023 for the second consecutive year, growing 4.1% on the back of the removal of COVID-19 restrictions, a surge in inbound tourists and an unusually hot summer, an industry body has said.
The same-store sales of seven major convenience store operators rose for the third straight year to ¥11.2 trillion ($76 billion) in 2023, the Japan Franchise Association (JFA) said Monday.

Japan's decision in May to downgrade the legal status of COVID-19 to the same category as seasonal influenza and a resurgence in overseas tourists helped customer visits grow 2.9%, reaching 15.5 billion people.

This is the second consecutive year that these figures have increased, although the figures are still short compared with pre-pandemic levels in 2019.

Typical convenience store items, such as onigiri, confectioneries and alcoholic beverages led growth in overall sales. Record-breaking heat waves during the summer also led to more sales of ice cream and cold beverages.

Average spending per customer increased 1.1% to ¥723.5, but the outlook remains uncertain as inflation drags on.

Higher input costs have raised prices of food items in particular, which in part has helped boost sales by value.

"While (inflation) has contributed to sales growth, it has also prompted more cautious spending behavior among consumers," a JFA official said.

In December alone, same-store sales totaled ¥1.01 trillion, a 4.2% increase compared with the same month a year earlier. The number of customers also saw a 2.7% rise to 1.31 billion, as more people traveled during year-end and New Year holidays thanks to the removal of COVID-19 restrictions.

Japan's convenience store sales rise 4.1% to record high in 2023 Average spending per customer increased 1.1% to ¥723.5, but the outlook remains uncertain as inflation drags on.

The head of international anti-nuclear group ICAN said Monday that Japanese leadership should not fear the U.S. government's reaction and move to recognize the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons as the ban marks its third anniversary.
"It's silly to be frightened of the risk coming from what the Americans think about observing or joining the treaty," Melissa Parke, executive director of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, said in an interview.

"When you compare that to the risk of nuclear weapons, I think it's important to have some perspective," the former Australian lawmaker said amid her first Japan visit since becoming ICAN's head in September. She also went to Hiroshima and Nagasaki and met hibakusha atomic bomb survivors, among others.

Although Japan suffered the devastating atomic bombings on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in the closing days of World War II, its government does not recognize the treaty effectively banning nuclear arms. Instead, it backs the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons while under the U.S. nuclear umbrella's protection.

ICAN won the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize for its work to realize the TPNW. The treaty has been ratified by 70 countries predominantly in the Global South, with Indonesia and Brazil expected to follow suit this year, Parke said.

Neither Japan nor any of the nuclear-armed states are among them, but Parke pointed to the examples of countries such as New Zealand and the Philippines, nonumbrella countries with close military ties to the United States, that have ratified the treaty.

"The U.S. is not going anywhere, it's not going to ditch its relationship with Japan if Japan observes or even joins the treaty," she said. "Japan of all states has an interest in this issue of nuclear weapons, having been bombed by the United States."

Fears of nuclear conflict are high following threats stemming from Russia's invasion of Ukraine and, more recently, nuclear-capable Israel's conflict in Gaza and tit-for-tat missile exchanges between Iran and nuclear-armed Pakistan.

Among recent commitments to deterrence, the May 2023 Hiroshima Group of Seven leaders summit chaired by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida released a communique on nuclear disarmament upholding the NPT and saying nuclear arms should "serve defensive purposes, deter aggression and prevent war and coercion" for as long as they exist.

While Parke conceded the current global nuclear situation is "a more complex picture than it was during the Cold War," she said more nuclear arms heighten global risk and called deterrence a "circular" argument.

"What we need is global leadership to break out of that cycle of military buildup and constant confrontation because it's leading to proliferation," she said.

According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, as of the start of 2023, nine nuclear powers possessed an estimated 12,512 nuclear weapons. About 2,000 warheads were on high alert status, the same number as a year before.

Despite attempts to arrange a meeting with Kishida, however, Parke on Tuesday instead meets a special advisor behind closed doors.

Reflecting on her visit to Japan, Parke said atomic bomb survivors are the nuclear debate's true realists. "People who call themselves realists and security experts and so forth, they talk in these abstract terms like deterrence and security and stability, but the reality is Hiroshima and Nagasaki and what happened," she said.

ICAN chief urges Japan to recognize nuke ban, not fear U.S. reaction According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, as of the start of 2023, nine nuclear powers possessed an estimated 12,512 nuclear weapons.

A memory chip plant located halfway between Seoul and Beijing illustrates the tough choices South Korean business leaders and policymakers face as they try to limit the damage from the U.S. technology war with China.
South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix bought its Dalian plant in northeastern China from Intel in a $9 billion deal in 2020 that was supposed to help the world's No. 2 memory chip maker shore up capacity and expand into cutting-edge chips in the world's largest chip market.

Instead, the factory has ensnared SK Hynix in a complex web of U.S. restrictions aimed at limiting China’s access to materials and equipment considered key to dominating the battlegrounds and industries of the future.

In the years since the deal closed, SK Hynix has remained in limbo, unable to commit to big capital expenditure plans at the factory.

The company had quickly built a shell for a new fabrication plant at the back of site, but it remains unclear if it contains any equipment to produce chips at all, let alone the advanced semiconductors that might secure solid returns on its hefty investment. Intel’s logo still sits atop the gleaming marine-blue glass facade of the factory complex, with the final payment for the plant due in 2025.

The company appeared to find a solution to its predicament in the fall after the U.S. gave SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics indefinite waivers to keep bringing some high-end equipment into China. South Korea’s government has attributed those concessions in part to President Yoon Suk-yeol’s charm offensive during his meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden, aided by promises of investment and a surprise rendition of "American Pie.” The U.S. side was also likely swayed by the need to keep major tech firms supplied with chips.

But there’s no guarantee those waivers will stay in place, especially if Republican frontrunner Donald Trump wins November’s U.S. presidential election and returns to the White House.

"The SK Hynix plant in Dalian captures the difficult position South Korea chipmakers are in as a result of U.S. restrictions,” said Masahiro Wakasugi at Bloomberg Intelligence. "Even with the latest U.S. concessions, it still probably doesn’t make sense for SK Hynix to expand capacity in Dalian given uncertainty over the U.S. presidential election and U.S. policy after that.”

South Korea’s economy is heavily reliant on the semiconductor sector to drive growth. That makes it especially vulnerable to Washington's drive to cut supply chain dependence on China and constrain Beijing’s access to key chip technology. The International Monetary Fund has warned that South Korea would be the largest potential loser in the Asia-Pacific region if the two superpowers' economies were to decouple.

"Korea needs to walk a delicate tightrope in balancing its relations with the United States and China,” said Troy Stangarone, senior director at the Korea Economic Institute. "It is at the forefront of critical technologies related to semiconductors and (electric vehicle) batteries that create economic opportunities, but also vulnerabilities for Korean firms.”

The SK Hynix factory in Dalian specializes in 3D NAND flash memory used in smartphones and other devices. NAND accounts for an increasing portion of the company’s revenue, around 27% of which comes from China. Including DRAM, South Korea has a combined global memory chip share of more than 60%.

The existing legacy output at the Dalian plant largely falls outside the U.S. restrictions on advanced technology, but SK Hynix was likely looking beyond those parameters for the new fab to ensure its competitiveness over the longer haul, according to Wakasugi.

The waivers from the U.S. government allow SK Hynix and rival Samsung Electronics to import U.S. chip equipment while still leaving limits on the most advanced dual-use technology, although companies that receive Chips Act subsidies are barred from expanding advanced chipmaking in China by more than 5% over 10 years.

The option of cutting losses and selling the plant would likely require U.S. government approval and Washington is unlikely to greenlight the sale to a Chinese bidder.

The waiver "considerably lowered" the risks surrounding SK Hynix's operations in China, SK Hynix Chief Executive Officer Kwak Noh-jung said earlier this month at a press briefing. The company separately declined to comment on the implications of a possible Trump presidency and denied rumors it was looking to sell.

"We are not considering selling our fabs in Dalian at all,” it said in a statement. "SK Hynix will maintain its China operations, while abiding by regulations and laws in the jurisdictions in which it does business and will do its part for the development of the semiconductor industry.”

Diplomatic drive
From the moment the U.S. Commerce Department released its restrictions on use of advanced U.S. chip technology just over a year ago, South Korean policymakers worked around the clock to negotiate with their U.S. colleagues to try and hone their impact.

President Yoon led the way with highly visible efforts to strengthen ties with Washington and repair relations with a shared U.S. ally: Japan. A summit with Biden in April was followed by a three-way Camp David meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in August.

For their part, SK Hynix and Samsung bumped up spending on lobbyists in the U.S. as they tried to get their concerns reflected in Washington while also communicating closely with South Korea’s trade ministry.

South Korean Trade and Industry Minister Ahn Duk-geun views Yoon’s efforts as a game changer that "substantially alleviated” the situation for chipmakers in China, laying the groundwork for Korean officials to convince U.S. authorities that Hynix products from Dalian were innocuous.

But even with the "exceptional arrangement,” Ahn acknowledges that the outlook isn’t entirely clear for Korean chipmakers and other trade-reliant businesses.

"Depending on unexpected geopolitical risk, you never know what kind of policy will come, right?” he said. "We still have a huge political risk in the coming years, not just in the U.S.. Many countries are now waiting for new results of elections. So we do have many new political risks and, as a government, that is a big challenge.”

Maintaining supply
The decision to grant waivers for Samsung and SK Hynix to bring U.S. equipment into China reflects the need to keep a steady stream of chips flowing to major U.S. companies including Apple, Microsoft and Google parent Alphabet.

Apple gets almost 20% of its revenue from China and is SK Hynix’s largest customer, according to Bloomberg supply chain analysis. The iPhone maker is also the biggest consumer of Samsung’s components even though the Korean company’s Galaxy phones are its biggest competitor.

On that basis alone, continuing access to output from Korean factories in China remains crucial to the supply chain for many of Apple’s products.

But Washington maintains leverage over its ally as a guarantor of South Korea’s security and its largest trading partner after China. The U.S. also has influence through its control of chip manufacturing know-how and through its Chips and Science Act, which offers $100 billion in funds to firms building plants on American soil.

Although neither firm has received any subsidies yet, SK Hynix has said it will invest $15 billion in a chip-packaging plant in the U.S., and Samsung, the world’s biggest memory chipmaker, has applied for money from the U.S. for its planned plant in Taylor, Texas.

The U.S. is the dominant player in half of 10 key chipmaking stages singled out by Bloomberg Intelligence, including etching, plasma deposition and sputtering, with Japan and the Netherlands controlling the rest including wafer cleaning and lithography.

That means South Korea’s key role as a chip manufacturer is dependent on technology, materials and expertise provided mainly by the U.S. and its allies. To ensure they stay at the forefront of the chip sector, South Korean chipmakers need the collaboration of U.S. firms, not Chinese companies.

China’s grip
South Korea has already seen what can happen when the U.S. and China fight, with the nation’s economy becoming collateral damage in a dispute almost a decade ago.

A decision in 2016 to allow the U.S. to deploy a ballistic missile system in South Korea sparked a furious reaction from Beijing, which punished South Korean firms in China and squeezed the flow of Chinese tourists as it tried to force Seoul to change its mind. The Chinese actions damaged economic growth, inflicted billions of dollars of losses on the Lotte conglomerate and triggered a slump in car sales from which Hyundai Motor and Kia never recovered.

China’s recent controls on graphite exports are another example of the country getting caught up in bigger geopolitical issues. While the actions was more likely a retaliation against U.S. chip rules, the material is a key element needed by South Korea’s up-and-coming battery makers and is a reminder of the crosswinds buffeting Seoul from competition between its two largest trading partners.

Whether to stay or go is the biggest concern among Korean companies running businesses in China, according to Ryu Jin, chairman of the Federation of Korean Industries. "The relationship with China is so important, so that’s why they are still contemplating what to do,” Jin said at a press conference in Seoul in late December.

China’s ascent up the value chain presents another cause for concern.

Chinese smartphones and cars now outcompete South Korean equivalents, and that prompted a major withdrawal of Korean production in China, especially after the experience of the missile system dispute. The experience of getting competed out of the market offers a glimpse of what the future might have in store for Korea’s chipmakers if they try to push ahead with advanced technology in China.

As some South Korean businesses reorient themselves away from the world’s second-largest economy, trade data shows a trend toward the U.S.

While China is still by far South Korea’s biggest trading partner, monthly exports to the U.S. surpassed those to China for the first time in more than two decades in data released at the beginning of 2024.That’s another indication that while South Korea is trying to keep its options in both China and the U.S. as open as possible, it is already leaning more in the direction of the U.S. as policymakers and firms change strategies to deal with a technology battle that is reshaping trade, supply lines and alliances across the globe.

"Korea’s companies will need to make some tough decisions as it weighs the risks, pressures and opportunities emanating from both the United States and China,” said Wendy Cutler, vice president of the Asia Society Policy Institute, who once led U.S. trade talks with Seoul.

"Even with these waivers, in many respects the handwriting is on the wall.”

U.S. chip battle with China catches South Korea in the crossfire Korean firms have to balance relations with both countries — one, a source of cutting-edge chipmaking technology and the other, the world's largest chip market.

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Vladimir Putin could attack Nato within five to eight years, Germany has warned, as Baltic nations approved a plan to build defences along their borders with Russia and Belarus.

“We have to take into account that Vladimir Putin will one day even attack a Nato country,” said Boris Pistorius, the German defence minister.

“Our experts expect a period of five to eight years in which this could be possible,” he told Der Tagesspiegel, a German newspaper. “At the moment I don’t think a Russian attack is likely.”

Europe is dealing with a “military threat situation … that has not existed for 30 years,” he added. “We hear threats from the Kremlin almost every day – most recently against our friends in the Baltics.”

The Baltic nations are taking steps to increase border security given those increased security concerns after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Bunkers built along borders
Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania on Friday signed an agreement to build bunkers over the next few years to bolster the defences along their borders with Russia and Belarus, a staunch ally of Moscow.

Under the agreement, signed in Riga, the three countries will “construct anti-mobility defensive installations in the coming years to deter and, if necessary, defend against military threats”, the Estonian defence ministry in a statement.

The plan, and Mr Pistorius’s comments, came the day after a top Nato military official warned that civilians in the West must prepare for the possibility of all-out war with Russia in the next 20 years, and be ready to mobilise if necessary.

While various militaries are primed for the outbreak of war, the general public must also be ready for a conflict that would mean a wholesale change in their lives, said Adml Bauer, a Dutch naval officer who chairs the Nato military committee.

“We have to realise it’s not a given that we are in peace,” he said. “And that’s why we [Nato] are preparing for a conflict with Russia.

“But the discussion is much wider. It is also the industrial base and also the people that have to understand they play a role.”

Finland, which became Nato’s latest member when it joined last April, does not see any immediate military threat from Russia, the country’s prime minister said on Friday. “I don’t see any immediate military threat from Russia against Finland,” Petteri Orpo said. “We in Finland sleep peacefully at night, because we are well prepared.”

Middle East threat to global peace
Concerns over global peace have grown, too, as the Israel-Hamas war continues and has begun to spill over in the Middle East.

With Russia’s full-scale war in Ukraine approaching its two-year anniversary, global stockpiles of weapons and ammunition have been whittled down significantly.

Adml Bauer warned that more preparation is needed now to ensure there aren’t shortages of materiel in the future.

“You need to be able to fall back on an industrial base that is able to produce weapons and ammunition fast enough to be able to continue a conflict if you are in it,” he said.

The EU has been unable to deliver on plans to send one million 155mm artillery shells to Kyiv by Februrary, impacting the ability for the Ukrainian military to return fire against the Russians.

Meanwhile, in Washington, US support for Ukraine has ground to a halt in the face of mounting opposition from Republicans.

Europe, said Adm Bauer, must be ready to defend itself if it can no longer count on the US for support.

“We have a nuclear shield with the Americans and the French have the ‘force de frappe’,” Mr Pistorius said, referring to the French nuclear deterrent. “There are no signs that the nuclear shield will evaporate or be dismantled. If this threatens to happen, we as Europeans must deal with it together.”

Putin could attack Nato countries in five to eight years, Germany warns Baltic nations approve plan to build defences along borders with Russia and Belarus