Taking the Tempo: “Shake your head and move on”

NATO

The Foreign Affairs Panel takes the tempo of major world events

Johan Mathias Sommarström, 

Niclas Vent, 

Nivette Dawod

Published 21.46

World events are washing over us like never before.

How much should you care?

Aftonbladet's foreign affairs panel explains how urgent major world events really are.

FACTS

Our expert

• Johan Mathias Sommarström (JOMA) 
  is Aftonbladet's foreign affairs commentator, tasked with guiding the audience through major world events and explaining the crucial contexts.
   
• Niclas Vent 
  is Aftonbladet's defense and security reporter. He delves into issues related to Sweden's defense, NATO and security policy.
• Nivette Dawod 
  is Aftonbladet's foreign affairs reporter, responsible for in-depth coverage of international issues.

USA wants to buy Greenland

JOMA:

 The hurricane winds have subsided but the storm is still blowing. Nothing is definitely resolved and the important issue of principle could suck up all the oxygen on the world stage at any time. 7/10

VENT:

 The air has gone out of the actual issue, right now. But the aggressiveness, carelessness and unreliability of Trump-USA remain, as the currently defining world political factor in a number of issues and crises. 8/10

DAWOD:

 “It’s just a small piece of ice,” said Trump, trying to play down the fact that one state wants to take over the territory of another state by force. Life-threatening. 9/10

 

 

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The fragile ceasefire in Gaza

JOMA: During the 107th day of the ceasefire, 11 people were killed in Gaza, three of them journalists working for an Egyptian aid organization. The suffering continues, the killings continue, while many aid organizations are being ported. 9/10

VENT: The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a concoction of all the worst of human incompetence. Any progress would give hope for a broader positive development. 7/10

DAWOD: Is it even a ceasefire when Israeli attacks occur almost daily and Hamas executes opponents in the open street? The headlines have become fewer, the conflict remains. 8/10

  

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Donald Trump's "peace council" Photo: Markus Schreiber / AP / TT

Donald Trump's peace council

JOMA: With Trump's omnipotent presence, can it become a force to be reckoned with, but Russia? Belarus? In a peace council! Yeah. 3/10

VENT: The relevance of a peace council with Hungary, Belarus and Israel, but without France, Sweden and Norway, is self-explanatory. Shake your head and move on. 1/10

DAWOD: No. Just no. The world, do yourselves a favor and silence this lousy idea. 0/10

 

 

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The power struggle in Syria

JOMA: A serious hour for President al-Sharaa who has huge challenges with internal fighting at the same time as the world turns its back on the Kurds who were once the front against IS. 6/10

VENT: Syria's future is still fragile, but does not currently threaten to spill over into a major crisis. 3/10

DAWOD: A president who belonged to al-Qaeda, IS members and their relatives who have spent years in prisons and camps, Kurdish-dominated forces that the US is now turning its back on. This could explode quite a bit. 6/10

 

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Violent protests have shaken Iran Photo: A

The protests in Iran

JOMA: The regime will fall at some point, the question is when. It is no longer bubbling with discontent, it is boiling against a regime that ruthlessly kills its own population. 8/10

VENT: Iran's future is extremely important for the entire region and if the protests lead to the regime actually falling, it will be an epoch-making event. However, I am not convinced that it will be so. 8/10

DAWOD: When the protests this time have spread to all cities in Iran, we know that something bigger is afoot. But the future is uncertain, and the protests seem to have subsided somewhat for now. 6/10

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Trump's advance in Latin Americ

JOMA: After the abduction of Maduro, eyes are now turning to Cuba, where Washington is said to already have a plan to overthrow the communist regime. 5/10

VENT: The US is now using military muscle to translate the "Donroe" doctrine's desired dominance into reality. It could create a lot of chaos, but whether it will change anything in the long term is more difficult to assess. 6/10

DAWOD: I want to believe that overthrowing the Cuba plan is just another of Trump's crazy ideas that shouldn't get too much airtime. But the US just entered Venezuela and arrested its president, in violation of international law, without any major protests from the outside world. 6/10

 

  

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Houses in ruins in the Donetsk region Photo: Iryna Rybakova / AP / TT

Peace talks on Russia's war against Ukraine

JOMA: Europe's most important issue and biggest threat. For peace, Ukraine will be forced to give up territory, the question is how much and whether Russia will be satisfied when they get a taste of war being profitable. 10/10

VENT: The talks seem to have stalled and the killing continues. How the war ends will determine the security of all of Europe for a long time, but is probably further away than desired. 9/10

DAWOD: A terrible understatement for our entire world order that Russia's war has been going on for almost four years, and does not seem to be coming to an end. 9/10

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NATO Director General Mark Rutte and US President Donald Trump met in Davos on Wednesday Photo: Evan Vucci / AP / TT

NATO is being shaken to its core

 

JOMA: Our wall of defense against the Russian threat needs to be repaired as the cracks deepen from Trump's public disses. 5/10

VENT: Nothing to see here, say politicians and military personnel, waving their hands in disapproval, but any reasonable planning for a country like Sweden must take into account that the US cannot be trusted. That is no small matter. 8/10

DAWOD: And here we may have the answer to why Russia's war in Ukraine continues and Trump is demanding to buy Greenland. Rutte(t) is something in the alliance. 9/10

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Humanitarian catastrophe in Sudan

JOMA: The crisis that the outside world is watching with half-closed eyes is the deadliest currently ongoing, no serious attempts are being made to curb the violence and in the meantime massacres and displacement continue. 9/10

VENT: A terrible, immense suffering, but low great power involvement, relatively low risk of spread and small effects on the rest of the world. 5/10

DAWOD: The world's worst humanitarian crisis is just going on and on before our eyes. What a shame. 9/10

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The climate is approaching the tipping point

JOMA: Now, now, now! Climate change will affect everyone, all over the world. Security, access to food and water, extreme weather. Yet the issue has strangely been relegated to the shadow side of discussions. 10/10

VENT: War and evil can always end, the deepest human darkness can always be turned into light. But if we lose the climate, it may very well be good night forever. 10/10

DAWOD: “We are entering a phase of climate change where uncertain but catastrophic risks can no longer be ignored,” writes climate professor Johan Rockström in a new debate article. We have no choice, we have to care. 10/10