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China-Taiwan Relations
Unusual pause in China's military flights around Taiwan

When the Iran war began, China's military flights around Taiwan ceased. Until Thursday. Then, five Chinese fighter jets were sighted in the strait between China and Taiwan for a day, after two weeks without a Chinese presence, CNN reports.

This is the longest pause since Taiwan began publishing data on China's military activity, according to analysts.

- This is honestly unlike anything we've seen in recent times in terms of PLA activity around Taiwan, Ben Lewis, founder of PLATracker, a platform that tracks Chinese military movements around Taiwan, Japan and the South China Sea, told CNN.

The pause has puzzled experts and several explanations have been put forward. One is that China wants to reduce tensions ahead of its meeting with Donald Trump later in March.

Another theory is that the war in Iran and its impact on the energy market have played a role, but this explanation is considered less likely according to CNN.

Taiwan's defense minister, however, urges caution in drawing too many conclusions. During the break, the Chinese naval presence has continued.

Security around the Baltic Sea
The target of Russian disinformation: Alexander Stubb

Last year, Russia escalated its information war against neighboring Finland, and particularly targeted President Alexander Stubb. This is written by HBL, referring to a report from the Finnish government's overview of information influence.

Stubb has emerged as a strong voice in foreign policy for Russia to be held accountable for its war in Ukraine and for the West to increase its support for the invaded country. Russia has responded to this by trying to belittle Stubb's role in a "mocking and aggressive" manner, the report says.

It also states that the goal of Russia's information war is to sow discord in the alliances that support Ukraine and oppose Russia.

Security in Europe
Kallas: US wants to divide the EU - we must stick together

EU Foreign Affairs Chief Kaja Kallas says that the Union's relationship with the US is very complicated, but if you read the US security strategy, you should only be able to draw one conclusion: the US does not like the EU. She tells the Financial Times.

- What I think is important for everyone to understand is that the US has been very clear that they want to divide Europe, she says.

The US security strategy describes the EU in less flattering terms and it explicitly states that the White House should support movements in Europe that share US interests. Trump has also clearly allied himself with Hungary's EU-critical leader Viktor Orbán and has also introduced trade tariffs against the EU and threatened to take Greenland from Denmark.

Kallas believes that the response to US aggression should be through the EU.

– They don't like us sticking together, because we are equal powers when we stand united, she says.
China-Taiwan relations
Unusual pause in China's military flights around Taiwan

When the war in Iran began, China's military flights around Taiwan ceased. Until Thursday. Then, five Chinese fighter jets were sighted in the strait between China and Taiwan for a day, after two weeks without a Chinese presence, reports CNN.

This is the longest pause since Taiwan began publishing data on China's military activity, according to analysts.

– This is honestly unlike anything we've seen in recent times in terms of PLA activity around Taiwan, Ben Lewis, founder of PLATracker, a platform that tracks Chinese military movements around Taiwan, Japan and the South China Sea, told CNN.

The pause has puzzled experts and several explanations have been put forward. One is that China wants to reduce tensions ahead of its meeting with Donald Trump later in March.

Another theory is that the war in Iran and its impact on the energy market have played a role, but that explanation is considered less likely according to CNN.

Taiwan's defense minister, however, urges caution in drawing too many conclusions. During the break, the Chinese naval presence has continued.

Midterm elections in the United States
Three 80-year-olds running for re-election to Congress

Who says you're too old to serve in the US Congress? Not the 85-year-old Democrat from South Carolina, Jim Clyburn, who announced during the day that he is running for another term. This is what Axios writes.

This is happening at the same time as a generational shift is taking place in Congress, where nearly a dozen Republicans and Democrats in their 70s and 80s are retiring when their terms expire.

If Clyburn is re-elected, it is still not certain that he will be the oldest member when the new Congress is sworn in early next year. The 88-year-old Kentucky Republican Hal Rogers and the 87-year-old California Democrat Maxine Waters have both announced that they are running for re-election.