Tiny glimpses of hope
Posted: 18th July 2025
Enjoy watching and reading!
Ulla
YouTube – July 17, 2025 – Dock workers in Piraeus block unloading of vessel carrying enriched steel to Israel
Dock workers at Piraeus Port have refused to handle cargo for military use bound for Israel on the ship “Cosco Shipping Pisces.” They gathered at Pier 2 and 3 joined by a large number of supporters on Wednesday evening, July 16 to block the unloading of containers said to carry enriched steel for military use. The protest came as the Hague Group - a group of 30 countries - concluded a two-day emergency summit in Bogota where 12 of the nations committed to take six concrete steps against Israel over its actions in Gaza and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
Among others, these include the prevention of weapons transfers and blocking the docking of vessels used for carrying arms, munitions and other materials for military use to Israel.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAnz7Fy-o4Q
Al Mayadeen – July 17, 2025 – Colombia’s Petro says to part ways with NATO, cites bombing complicity
Gustavo Petro urges Colombia’s exit from NATO, condemns “Israel’s” war on Gaza, and reaffirms support for Palestine at the Hague Group summit.
… “We must leave NATO, there is no other way. And relations with Europe can no longer be built with those European governments that betray their own people and participate in bombings,” the Colombian president said at the closing of the Hague Group summit in Bogota.
Petro emphasized that Colombia must avoid alliances involving cites-bombing”>https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/colombia-s-petro-says-to-part-ways-with-nato-cites-bombing
People’s Dispatch – July 14, 2025 – Athens dockworkers obstruct military cargo shipment to Israel
Dockworkers in Athens prevented the transport of military cargo bound for Israel on the Ever Golden, leading a large mobilization at the port.
A successful mobilization led by dockworkers at the port of Piraeus in Athens has prevented the transport of military cargo bound for Israel on the ship Ever Golden. On Monday, July 14, dockworkers were joined by youth groups, other trade unionists, and community members in a large protest against the port’s involvement in the shipment of arms and related materials to Israeli ports, as the genocide in Gaza continues. …
MILITARY AFRICA – July 17, 2025 – France Completes Military Withdrawal from Senegal
On Tuesday, July 15, 2025, France handed over a military communications centre in Rufisque, near Dakar, to Senegal, marking a pivotal step in its full withdrawal of troops from the West African nation. This transfer, part of a process that began in March 2025, follows a directive from Senegal’s President Bassirou Diomaye Faye, who announced late last year that France must close all its military bases in the country by the end of 2025. …
…While France remains a key partner in trade and investment, Faye’s administration seeks a dynamic where military dependence is replaced by cooperation on equal footing. France’s military drawdown in Africa, including Senegal, is part of a deliberate pivot. After years of maintaining a robust presence to counter security threats, Paris is now focusing on smaller, more targeted operations, such as its Special Operations Task Force “Takuba.”
https://www.military.africa/2025/07/france-completes-military-withdrawal-from-senegal/
Foreign Affairs – July 14, 2025 – Is America Breaking the Global Economy?
What an Age of Economic Uncertainty Will Mean for the World
The global economy is, to put it mildly, in a state of flux. …
Amid this deep uncertainty, forecasters have struggled to predict where the U.S. economy will ultimately end up. But two main visions bookend a dispersed and unstable set of individual projections. In the first, the United States is on a bumpy journey that will culminate in an economic restructuring resembling the ones that took place under U.S. President Ronald Reagan and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, where it will emerge with less debt and a more efficient private sector and where it will trade in a fairer international system. In the second scenario, the country is slowly slipping into the stagflation and, as happened under U.S. President Jimmy Carter, could end up in a deep recession, perhaps with pronounced financial instability. …
African Digital Democracy Observatory – June 4, 2025 – Anti-French rhetoric as Senegal rethinks alliances
… As Senegal repositions itself on the regional and global stage — reassessing ties with France, exploring alternatives to the CFA franc, and signalling interest in BRICS — its political leadership has become a focal point for coordinated online influence campaigns.
One of the focal points is the CFA franc and the push for the country to abandon the use of the currency. Benin, Burkina, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo constitute the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO) who use the West-African version of the CFA franc. Cameroon, Central Africa Republic, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the Republic of the Congo constitute the Central Bank of Central African States (BEAC), who use the Central-African version of the CfA franc. These central banks, amongst other requirements, are obligated to maintain at least half of their foreign assets with the French Treasury. This policy is perceived by many as a medium through which France retains its influence in these countries. This is a central part of the campaigns. …
https://disinfo.africa/anti-french-rhetoric-as-senegal-rethinks-alliances-1383c03fae7e