November 18, 2025 – News Brief

Europe arms up – France delivers up to 100 fighter jets to Ukraine!

France is sending a clear signal while Washington hesitates: Paris plans to sell up to 100 Rafale fighter jets to Ukraine – a deal that reaches far beyond the current course of the war and shows that Europe is prepared to support Kyiv in the long term. The agreement includes not only the jets but also air defense systems, air-to-air missiles, guided munitions and joint defense projects that are set to begin later this year. France and Ukraine also plan to produce interceptor drones together. Delivery, however, is stretched through 2035 – a timeline that has drawn criticism in Ukraine. Many are asking how such deliveries are supposed to help when Russia is intensifying its offensives now.

But for President Volodymyr Zelensky, the agreement is a “historic step,” as he emphasized. Emmanuel Macron spoke of a signal of European determination in the face of Russia’s “imperialist and neocolonialist instincts” and said that Ukraine “belongs to the European family.” Strategically, the decision could have far-reaching consequences. Europe’s growing willingness to deliver weapons – Sweden earlier with up to 150 Gripen E, now France – shows a movement toward a more independent defense posture, especially at a moment when the Trump administration is limiting its military support for Kyiv. Analysts in Kyiv therefore see a second message: when America wavers, others step in. “Why are we buying American at all?” said military expert Mykhailo Samus. If all deliveries are carried out, Ukraine would in the coming years move from a narrow fleet of F-16s, Mirages and old Soviet-era jets to a modernized European air force – supported by countries that are willing to take responsibility even as Washington pulls back.

The sound of remembrance – why thousands are taking to the streets in Athens today!

Athens on November 17, 2025, witnessed an image deeply rooted in Greece’s collective memory. Thousands of students marched through the streets, many with red carnations, others with banners remembering those who lost their lives in the fight against the military dictatorship in 1973. It is a ritual of the present, born from a bloody past. The uprising at the Polytechnic, the famous Athens university campus, began on November 14, 1973, when students rose up against the rule of the junta. For three days they occupied the grounds, broadcast messages to the country over an improvised radio – until tanks crashed through the gates. The rumble of the armored vehicles over the asphalt remains to this day a symbol of the moment when a regime revealed its fear. Numerous people were injured or killed. The exact number is still the subject of political and historical debate, but one point is undisputed: the uprising marked a turning point and paved the way for the collapse of the junta.

When young people today chant “Never forgive, never forget,” it is not directed solely at the perpetrators of the past but at the awareness that freedom is not something won once and kept forever. It echoes the old radio messages, only carried by a new generation that, faced with social tensions, economic strain and political uncertainty, is once again asking how fragile a democracy can be. The demonstrations in Athens are therefore more than historical remembrance. They are a reminder that courage and civil resistance do not age. And that those who, in 1973, with an occupied university and a determined student movement, helped bring down a dictatorship remain a compass and a warning at the same time.

Japan shifts course underwater – first submarine launch since World War II

Japan has launched a submarine for the first time since the end of World War II, sending a clear signal to the shifting security landscape in East Asia. The new model, developed under strict secrecy, is said to combine state-of-the-art detection and defense technologies to strengthen the island nation’s military readiness. Government officials called it a “necessary step,” driven by rising tensions in the region, particularly North Korea’s missile tests and China’s growing military presence in the Pacific. The commissioning marks a historic break: after decades in which Japan adhered to a strictly defensive line, the country is now showing that it is prepared to significantly expand its maritime security. Military experts in Tokyo see a mix of deterrence and self-protection. For neighboring states it is also an unmistakable sign: Japan is no longer willing to rely solely on old alliances.