Middle East crisis

Voices about
“The crises are happening so fast that we don’t have time to learn”

Economic crises are coming more and more frequently and the risk is that society will not have time to learn from them, warns economist Klas Eklund. In the 2020s, the world has already been hit by several major shocks, from pandemics to inflation and energy crises.

– It seems as if there is no time to learn from old memories, he says.

The risk that the Iran war will lead to long-term high inflation, like the pandemic and the Ukraine war, is unclear. Much will depend on how long the conflict lasts and what decisions Donald Trump makes. Eklund emphasizes that the situation is still far from the deep crises seen historically.

Expert: Iran's missile attack should worry Europeans

Iran claimed for years that it limited the range of its missiles to 2,000 kilometers. According to the Iranian military, this was a signal to Europe that the continent is not a military target, writes RFE/RL.

This weekend, Iran showed that they do not take any such limit into account when they sent two ballistic missiles towards the British-American island base of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, almost 400 kilometers away. At that distance, they could reach Stockholm, for example.

– The rules of the game have changed. Iran is in a war of survival and is making short-term decisions, says Israeli independent defense expert Michael Horowitz.

– If I were a European, I would be worried, he adds.

The missiles did not reach their target – one broke up in the air and one was shot down by the United States. Analysts also suspect that at such distances Iran must modify its missiles to such an extent that their accuracy may deteriorate significantly.

Gas prices
Crisis appeal from the EU: Do not fill gas storage – but start now

The European Commission is urging the EU member states not to fill their gas storages to more than 80 percent, in order to dampen demand and thereby the price of gas. Bloomberg reports.

In a letter, the Commission's energy commissioner Dan Jørgensen also encourages the EU's member states to start filling gas storage facilities now, to avoid excessive competition as the summer draws to a close.