International
NATO wraps up its main partners in the Indo-Pacific to exert pressure on China
The NATO summit in Washington has made clear the Alliance’s support in its main partners in the Indo-Pacific -Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand-, with whom it shares the interest of stopping China and North Korea as their relations with Russia increase the risk on the interests of the bloc.
NATO, born 75 years ago to provide security to the North Atlantic area in a context of cold war with the Soviet Union, has been strengthening its cooperation with Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea, known as the IP4 group, for years, but that relationship has intensified and its leaders participate significantly in a summit for the third consecutive year against the background of an increasingly militaryly powerful China.
The Secretary General of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg, yesterday made some harsh statements against China for its “responsibility” in the war in Ukraine, today he expressed concern about the strengthened relationship between Russia and North Korea, which is the reason for “usual discussions” between the two groups.
Stoltenberg accused China yesterday of “steering up the Russian war economy” by supplying Moscow with technology and microchips used to attack Ukraine, something that Beijing described today as an “unfounded” denunciation of NATO, which seeks to “establish an imaginary enemy to justify its expansion and power.”
Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, China has assumed an ambiguous and equidistant position with both parties and that adds to the growing tensions between the Asian country and NATO due to other factors such as Chinese military expansion, its economic influence and its relationship with Russia.
This morning, when receiving South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol, Stoltenberg emphasized the fear of military cooperation between Russia and North Korea, strengthened after the agreement they signed last month and which, he suggested, could result in “support for Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile programs.”
The importance of the Indo-Pacific partners for the Alliance was also reflected in the meeting of their leaders on the sidelines of the summit with the host, US President Joe Biden, where they “viercally condemned” the “illicit” transfers of weapons from Pyongyang to Moscow.
The leaders of IP4 also participated in a session with the 32 heads of state and government of NATO, plus the European Union, focused on China’s role in the “Russian war economy.”
Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, future head of European diplomacy, warned there that the cooperation or relationship between the allied countries and their partners in the Pacific with Beijing could be “very damaged if China continues to support Russia in this war.”
“In the context of an interconnected environment of threats, which is characterized by the deepening of the Russia-North Korea military partnership and China’s support for Russia’s industrial defensive base, NATO benefits from exchanging knowledge and experiences” with IP4, the White House explained in a note.
The first meeting of the Alliance with IP4 was in 2016 and was raised to the level of leaders at the Madrid summit in 2022, when NATO for the first time included China among its strategic priorities because Beijing’s ambitions and its “coercive policies,” he said, challenge its “interests, security and values.”
In addition, Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States participate in the AUKUS military partnership since 2021, very focused on this first phase on the development of defense capabilities with submarines and technological development, with a clear focus of deterrence against Chinese expansionist ambitions in its area of influence in the South China Sea.
In the Washington summit statement on Wednesday, the allies reiterated that statement about China, included their concern about its partnership with Russia and warned that they face “hybrid, cyber, spatial threats” and “malicious activities of state and non-state actors.”
The Alliance is not aware that Beijing is supplying weapons directly to Russia, unlike North Korea or Iran, but considers that it sends it the technology and microelectronics necessary to create armaments, hence the hard turn in language over the Asian country.
International
Deportation flight lands in Venezuela; government denies criminal gang links
A flight carrying 175 Venezuelan migrants deported from the United States arrived in Caracas on Sunday. This marks the third group to return since repatriation flights resumed a week ago, and among them is an alleged member of a criminal organization, according to Venezuelan authorities.
Unlike previous flights operated by the Venezuelan state airline Conviasa, this time, an aircraft from the U.S. airline Eastern landed at Maiquetía Airport, on the outskirts of Caracas, shortly after 2:00 p.m. with the deportees.
Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, who welcomed the returnees at the airport, stated that the 175 repatriated individuals were coming back “after being subjected, like all Venezuelans, to persecution” and dismissed claims that they belonged to the criminal organization El Tren de Aragua.
However, Cabello confirmed that “for the first time in these flights we have been carrying out, someone of significance wanted by Venezuelan justice has arrived, and he is not from El Tren de Aragua.” Instead, he belongs to a gang operating in the state of Trujillo. The minister did not disclose the individual’s identity or provide details on where he would be taken.
International
Son of journalist José Rubén Zamora condemns father’s return to prison as “illegal”
The son of renowned journalist José Rubén Zamora Marroquín, José Carlos Zamora, has denounced as “illegal” the court order that sent his father back to a Guatemalan prison on March 3, after already spending 819 days behind barsover a highly irregular money laundering case.
“My father’s return to prison was based on an arbitrary and illegal ruling. It is also alarming that the judge who had granted him house arrest received threats,” José Carlos Zamora told EFE in an interview on Saturday.
The 67-year-old journalist was sent back to prison inside the Mariscal Zavala military barracks on March 3, when Judge Erick García upheld a Court of Appeals ruling that overturned the house arrest granted to him in October. Zamora had already spent 819 days in prison over an alleged money laundering case.
His son condemned the situation as “unacceptable”, stating that the judge handling the case “cannot do his job in accordance with the law due to threats against his life.”
International
Miyazaki’s style goes viral with AI but at what cost?
This week, you may have noticed that everything—from historical photos and classic movie scenes to internet memes and recent political moments—has been reimagined on social media as Studio Ghibli-style portraits. The trend quickly went viral thanks to ChatGPT and the latest update of OpenAI’s chatbot, released on Tuesday, March 25.
The newest addition to GPT-4o has allowed users to replicate the distinctive artistic style of the legendary Japanese filmmaker and Studio Ghibli co-founder Hayao Miyazaki (My Neighbor Totoro, Spirited Away). “Today is a great day on the internet,” one user declared while sharing popular memes in Ghibli format.
While the trend has captivated users worldwide, it has also highlighted ethical concerns about AI tools trained on copyrighted creative works—and what this means for the livelihoods of human artists.
Not that this concerns OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, which has actively encouraged the “Ghiblification”experiments. Its CEO, Sam Altman, even changed his profile picture on the social media platform X to a Ghibli-style portrait.
Miyazaki, now 84 years old, is known for his hand-drawn animation approach and whimsical storytelling. He has long expressed skepticism about AI’s role in animation. His past remarks on AI-generated animation have resurfaced and gone viral again, particularly when he once said he was “utterly disgusted” by an AI demonstration.
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