With its decision of July 1, 2025, the German and Swedish governments are pushing ahead with its piracy files in the Baltic Sea. Action is now to be taken against merchant ships carrying Russian oil “to check the insurance papers”. See HERE.

Due to EU and US sanctions, these ships do not carry Western insurance documents, but are generally insured by Central Asian companies. For a flag state that recognizes such insurance, this satisfies maritime law. It is precisely this maritime law that the European Union now wants to undermine. With arrogant presumption, so-called “renowned” insurance companies are expected to accept this, e.g. Lloyds, which dominated the high seas for centuries as a colonial power in the tradition of the British Empire.

NATO states continue to provoke and have no qualms about overriding the freedom of the high seas, the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which guarantees free, uncontrolled and unhindered passage. The Russian merchant ships referred to as the “shadow fleet” (there is nothing shadowy about them) are also allegedly too old and a danger to our environment. But this is ONLY a pretext. These EU provocations increase the danger of a transition from an economic war to a shooting war in the Baltic Sea.

Let's stop NATO's escalation of war in the Baltic Sea. Instead of economic warfare, sanctions, embargoes and acts of piracy against the Russian Federation, we need global economic cooperation, change through trade and the opening of secure gas and oil pipelines from Russia.

This year's NATO summit in The Hague is set against heightened geopolitical turbulence – from the ongoing war in Ukraine to the rapidly escalating crisis in the Middle East. NATO leaders have agreed to commit 5 percent of GDP annually on defense and security-related spending by 2035. But how will NATO members handle their internal divisions over increasing budgetary demands? Is the U.S. shifting its role within the alliance? And how consistent is NATO's approach to regional conflicts unfolding globally? Guests in this edition of Dialogue are Wang Yiwei, Jean Monnet chair professor of Renmin University of China; Victor Gao Zhikai, chair professor at Soochow University; Warwick Powell, senior fellow at Taihe Institute; and Prof. Glenn Diesen from University of South-Eastern Norway.

Some peace activists from our peace alliance were in The Hague, such as Kathrin Otte and Reiner Braun; they have provided some photo impressions.

The two-day NO NATO! counter-summit took place on June 21 and 22 at the Social Hub Hoefkade and the Grey Space in The Hague. Activists and peace advocates came together for dialog, learning and coordination, Jeremy Corbyn was connected via video Afterwards, a World BEYOND War event took place on the evening of June 22 at the Grand Cafe Utopie in The Hague. - The international protest march, organized by the Dutch Counter-Summit Coalition for Peace and Justice, started at Central Station on 22 June 2025 and led to the World Forum. - As NATO heads of state prepared for their meeting (23-24 June) to develop strategies for military operations, this demonstration sent a unified message against militarization, imperialism and belligerent conflict.

Former UN weapons inspector and US military intelligence officer Scott Ritter joins TMJ News for an interview that exposes the deeper implications of Israel’s recent attack on Iran and the role the U.S. has played behind the scenes. From violations of international law to the growing threat of nuclear war, Ritter offers a hard-hitting assessment of what could be the most dangerous geopolitical crisis in decades. 

Just weeks before war erupted between Israel and Iran, journalist Max Blumenthal and I traveled to Tehran. In this exclusive podcast episode, we reflect on what we witnessed, how the political atmosphere felt on the ground, and what the West gets wrong about Iran. We break down the lead-up to the war, the regional tensions you won’t hear about on mainstream media, and what could happen next.

Anatol Lieven is the Director of the Eurasia Program at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, and recently published an article "Ukraine war Europe's risky war on Russia's 'shadow fleet'. Seizing Russian ships in international waters will trigger a powerful response from Russia. Yet, the Europeans seem unaware of the consequences as they believe they are already at war with Russia. 

Alex Krainer is a market analyst, author & former hedge fund manager. Krainer discusses the irrationality of the surprise attack on Iran, which has placed Israel and the US in the predictable dilemma of either a humiliating defeat or escalation.

On June 5 from 8:30 a.m., peace activists from the Rostock peace movement and the Peace Alliance Northern Germany stood at the Westmole in Warnemünde/Rostock with peace flags and banners to protest together against the misuse of the port of Rostock for war preparations.

By June 3, 2025, around 50 NATO warships had arrived in Rostock for the Baltic Sea naval war exercise BALTOPS. A major military spectacle took place off Warnemünde on June 5 with the joint departure of the warships.

The NATO naval command in Rostock once again played a leading role in the maneuver with the “Commander Task Force Baltic”, or “CTF Baltic” for short, based in the Hanseatic barracks, where a multinational staff is active; in violation of the 2+4 Treaty, Article 5 of which unequivocally prohibits any presence of foreign soldiers on the territory of the former GDR. The Peace Alliance Northern Germany opposes this! For civilian ports! The Baltic Sea should be a sea of peace!

We stand against it! For civilian ports! NO NATO!
The Baltic Sea should be a sea of peace!

With reference to the Swedish law on security Erik Helgeson, vice-president of the Swedish dockers’ union, Svenska Hamnarbetarenförbundet (https://hamn.nu/), was fired by the port of Gothenburg in February 2025. The publicly owned ports’ representatives argued that Helgeson had named to the court those companies responsible for arms trade between Sweden and Israel. The court had demanded that he do so as the union had announced an armaments’ boycott based on the Swedish law for a political strike which provides for more leverage for the unions compared to German law and which had been granted by the court for a brief period of time. In December 2024 68% of the union’s membership had voted to make such a boycott based on demands by Palestinian unions put forward to unions all over the world to take a stand against the war in Gaza.

The ver.di committee of Maritime workers in Hamburg which also represents the dockers in Hamburg was informed about the dismissal at its meeting on 5 February 2025 and expresses its solidarity with our colleague Erik Helgeson. We demand that the Port of Gothenburg reinstate our colleague Erik Helgeson with his full rights and entitlements, grant him full back pay, immediately cease any persecution of union members and stop the proceedings. This is an attempt to intimidate and silence critics campaigning for workers’ rights and trade union freedom. The criminalization of union activities must stop immediately!

Febraury 13, 2025 - Vereinte Dienstleistungsgewerkschaft – ver.di Landesbezirk Hamburg. See pdf of this declaration.
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