Read more about the article EU Foreign Affairs Council Approves Ukraine Assistance Fund (UAF): €5 Billion for Military Aid
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EU Foreign Affairs Council Approves Ukraine Assistance Fund (UAF): €5 Billion for Military Aid

The European Peace Facility (EPF) has emerged as a critical financial instrument for delivering EU military assistance to Ukraine following the unprovoked Russian aggression against the country (Bilquin, 2023).Conceived as part of the 2016 EU Global Strategy, the EPF was established by the Council on 22 March 2021 through Council Decision CFSP 2021/509. It substitutes and expands upon former financial instruments and it is tailored to provide quick responses to security crises (Council of European Union, 2021), funding both lethal and non-lethal military equipment and supplies (Council of the European Union, 2024).

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26 March 2024
Read more about the article Leaving the (Space) Door Open: ISS Missions as a Platform for International Cooperation
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Leaving the (Space) Door Open: ISS Missions as a Platform for International Cooperation

On 3 March, three American and one Russian astronauts took off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on the Falcon-9 rocket, owned by Elon Musk's company SpaceX, to reachthe International Space Station (ISS) (Le Monde, 2024). A US-Russian partnership, sustained by a private actor, might seem quite surprising amidst renewed geopolitical tension. However, neither the space cooperation between the US and Russia nor the active involvement of private companies in public-funded space operations is new in the space field. The growing impact of these trends on the space activities of other actors, such as the EU, will be significant (Jones, 2023).

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22 March 2024
Read more about the article Ukraine-Russia Conflict Enters Third Year: Reflecting on Two Years of Warfare
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Ukraine-Russia Conflict Enters Third Year: Reflecting on Two Years of Warfare

The war between Ukraine and Russia has now entered its third year since Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a ‘Special Military Operation’ on 24 February 2022. The seeds of this conflict date back to 2014, when Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula in south-eastern Ukraine.

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21 March 2024
Read more about the article Controversies around the EU-funded Senegalese security forces
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Controversies around the EU-funded Senegalese security forces

On 29 February 2024, EU-funded Senegalese security forces violently suppressed pro- democracy protests (Nielsen, 2024). Controversy ensued as the Groupes d’Action Rapide – Surveillance et Intervention au Sahel (GAR-SI Sahel) security forces, initially trained to combat cross-border crime along Senegal’s border with Mali, were being utilised for domestic purposes (Popoviciu & Bautista, 2024).

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19 March 2024
Read more about the article EU’s presence in the Arctic
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EU’s presence in the Arctic

The EU presence in the Arctic region is acquiring decisive importance in terms of security and defence, especially since the escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian war. However, not only geopolitical rivalries are an important change, but also the opportunism of the effect of global warming and the increase in commercial interest in natural resources. The joint communication of 2021, October 13, A stronger EU engagement for a peaceful, sustainable and prosperous Arctic, proposed that the EU pursue a secure, stable, sustainable, peaceful, and prosperous Arctic region. There is a need to adopt a strengthened maritime security policy, especially in the areas of economic development, free trade, transport, and energy security.

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5 March 2024