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.
Besenbinderhof 60, 20097 Hamburg, V.i.S.d.P.: L. Stubbe, Diese E-Mail-Adresse ist vor Spambots geschützt! Zur Anzeige muss JavaScript eingeschaltet sein.

Dear friends of peace

During the weekend of events against the NATO Summit, the NO to NATO - No to War Network is planning to hold a discussion session to which all those interested are invited. This will include an exchange of information and discussion on further actions against militarisation and NATO. This will take place on the morning of Sunday 22nd June, after Saturday's counter-summit and before the demonstration on the Sunday afternoon. We hope you will join us.

Our international Network has been actively involved in all protest actions against NATO since 2009 and we want to continue this in the future. We are determined to rise to the current challenges of war and preparations for war, and to campaign more strongly for peace, against the threat of nuclear war, and for disarmament. In our view, overcoming NATO is a central necessity.

We would like to discuss with you how we can continue our work, which future actions make sense, and how we can network even better.We would therefore be delighted if you would take part in our open meeting on 22nd June.

Please register: https://bit.ly/no-to-nato-meeting-sunday

With peaceful greetings,
Reiner Braun, Ludo de Brabander, Kate Hudson (for the No to NATO - No to War Network)