Trump’s Influence Marks NATO’s 34th Summit

At the 34th NATO summit held in The Hague on the 24th and 25th of June, heads of state and government reaffirmed their commitment to collective defence and Article 5 of the Washington Treaty (NATO, 2025). Before the summit there was uncertainty surrounding the United States, due to President Trump’s previous threats of withdrawal from NATO and his refusal to give a clear pledge to back Article 5. Trump said he left the summit with more of an understanding about the importance of the alliance and was impressed by the passion from other world leaders for their countries (Ataman & Sebastian, 2025). Secretary General Mark Rutte made it clear that the United States is totally committed to NATO and Article 5 and criticised the press for continuously questioning the organisation's stability (Krupa et al., 2025).

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Operation Midnight Hammer: Tactical Triumph or Strategic Illusion?

Operation Midnight Hammer unfolded during the night of June 21 and 22, 2025, as the United States launched a coordinated strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities at Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan. The operation involved more than 125 aircraft, including seven B-2 Spirit stealth bombers, and has been described as the largest and longest B-2 mission since the war in Afghanistan began in 2001 (D’Urso, 2025). According to General Dan Caine, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the operation required “months of positioning and preparation” (U.S. Department of Defense, 2025, para. 3), moving “from strategic planning to global execution” within weeks (U.S. Department of Defense, 2025, para. 12). Deception played a critical role to preserve the element of surprise. Just hours before the strike, two additional B-2 bombers were dispatched westward toward Guam, serving as decoys (Holliday, 2025a). Their movements, including staged refuelling stops in Oklahoma, California, and Hawaii, were intended to draw attention away from the real strike package (Holliday, 2025b).

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Operation Spiderweb: under Russia’s nose

On 1 June 2025, Ukraine launched Operation Spiderweb, the most effective drone attack against Russian airfields since the start of the war. A total of 117 drones were used to strike airbases across five regions – Murmansk, Irkutsk, Ivanovo, Ryazan, and Amur regions –, with the aim of inflicting maximum damage on Russian aircraft far away from the frontier (Al Jazeera, 2025; Horowitz, 2025). Reports suggest that 41 aircrafts – including A-50, Tu-95, Tu-22 M3 and Tu-160 – have been hit in the operation along with a third of Russian bombers that are currently used as cruise-missile carriers (Horowitz, 2025; Security Service of Ukraine, 2025; Zoria, 2025).

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A New Chapter in EU-UK Relations? Insights from the 2025 EU-UK Summit

The EU-UK summit, held on May 19th at Lancaster House in London, marked a decisive moment in post-Brexit European politics. As the first formal summit since the UK’s departure from the European Union, the meeting brought together key EU officials, namely European Council President António Costa, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, and High Representative Kaja Kallas, alongside UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer (Tocci, 2025). Amidst a backdrop of global geopolitical turmoil, the summit symbolised a renewed commitment to security and defence cooperation.

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