Rugambwa Bob

I care more about freedom for Iran than about oil prices

🚨 Arsenal’s last two games… 🏆❌ Carabao Cup: lost the final vs Manchester City. 🏆❌ FA Cup: lost quarter finals vs Southampton.

really really hope this doesn’t become a hostage situation.

🇩🇪 Germany just did something that would’ve sounded absurd a few years ago: restrict travel for men aged 17–45 in the name of military readiness. Let that sink in. In a country where militarism is treated like a historical trauma, carefully contained, politically radioactive, and socially taboo, Berlin is now quietly laying the groundwork for something that looks a lot like pre-mobilization. For decades, Germany has been the anti-military power inside NATO. It outsourced hard power to the U.S, leaned on diplomacy, and kept its Bundeswehr underfunded and, frankly, underprepared. That was the deal. Economic giant, military minimalist. Now that deal is breaking. Russia’s war in Ukraine didn’t just redraw borders, it rewired Europe’s threat perception. And Germany, the continent’s economic engine, suddenly looks dangerously exposed. So Berlin is doing what it swore it wouldn’t: rebuilding the machinery of war readiness. Travel restrictions for military-age men are about control. They ensure that, if things escalate, the state knows where its manpower is, and can keep it there. It signals that policymakers are no longer asking if a larger conflict could happen in Europe…they’re asking how fast they could respond when it does. And you don’t introduce policies like this unless you think you might actually need them. Source: Berliner Zeitung

Not hard to see why US puts pressure on Rwanda. M23 is armed, trained and supported by Rwanda. It is inside DR Congo. At one point, the M23 threatened to target Congo's capital, Kinshasa - 2,600km (1,600 miles) away. The Congolese are not inside Rwanda. Simple.

I had a phone call with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi today to discuss the situation in Iran and its impact on the global economy and energy security. We also discussed EU-China relations. Iranian attacks on civilian ships, and the threat of more, have brought traffic in the Strait of Hormuz to a near halt. This is why restoring safe, toll-free freedom of navigation in the Strait, consistent with the Law of the Sea, is an urgent priority. The EU supports all diplomatic efforts to achieve this and calls for de-escalation and restraint. Attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure must cease.