Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at increases to British defense spending, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol’s final impeachment hearing, and a breakdown in Israel-European Union relations.
‘A Generational Response’
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced a major increase in defense spending on Tuesday in what analysts see as an effort to meet U.S. President Donald Trump’s demand for greater burden-sharing in NATO. The plan would increase military spending from 2.3 percent of the country’s GDP to 2.5 percent by 2027, amounting to an increase of around $17 billion a year. The United Kingdom would then boost its spending to 3 percent by 2034.
“We must change our national security posture because a generational challenge demands a generational response,” Starmer told Parliament on Tuesday, calling it the biggest sustained increase in defense spending since the end of the Cold War.
The announcement comes just one day after Kyiv marked the three-year anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and only two days before the British leader visits the White House, where he is expected to discuss the future of European security with Trump. London will host European leaders on Sunday to further discuss plans for the continent’s security.
Trump has expressed a desire to shift Washington’s focus away from Europe and toward the Indo-Pacific, and his past threats to pull support from or leave NATO entirely have European leaders worried about the alliance’s future. “To be honest, 2 percent is not nearly enough,” NATO chief Mark Rutte said in January, referring to NATO’s 2 percent of GDP minimum defense-spending requirement, which only 23 out of 32 members currently meet.
Asked by a journalist during a press conference later on Tuesday whether the decision to increase defense spending now was being driven by the Trump administration’s demands, Starmer said, “In our heart of hearts, we’ve all known that this decision has been coming for three years,” seemingly referring to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, but he went on to acknowledge that “the last few weeks have accelerated my thinking on when we needed to make this announcement.”
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth welcomed London’s announcement on Tuesday, calling it “[a] strong step from an enduring partner” in a post on X.
Starmer plans to pay for the new expenditures by scaling back foreign development aid from 0.5 percent of GDP to 0.3 percent. This move not only echoes Trump’s own retreat from foreign aid projects, but it also reverses the achievements of past Labour Party leaders, such as Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, who both advocated for raising aid spending to the 0.7 percent United Nations target.
“Cutting the aid budget to fund defense spending is a false economy that will only make the world less safe,” said Sarah Champion, the chair of the U.K. House of Commons’ international development committee.
But some experts argue that Starmer’s announcement is not as great of a shift in liberal British politics as one might think. “It is enough of a surprise to cause a jolt,” the Guardian’s Andrew Sparrow wrote, but “it is not a transformational uplift, and it won’t silence calls for defence spending [to] go higher.”
Today’s Most Read
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What We’re Following
Impeachment trial. South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol defended his short-lived martial law order during his final impeachment trial hearing at the Constitutional Court on Tuesday. In a bid to remain in office, Yoon promised to seek political reforms, suggested revising the current constitution’s rules on the presidency, and considered stepping down before his five-year term expires in 2027.
Seoul’s opposition-controlled National Assembly impeached Yoon on Dec. 14, 2024—less than two weeks after he declared martial law. “The reason why I declared martial law was because of desperation as I could no longer neglect a do-or-die crisis facing this country,” Yoon said. He had accused the opposition Democratic Party of obstructing his agenda and supporting “anti-state forces.”
But lawmakers from the liberal opposition as well as Yoon’s own conservative party backed his impeachment. “We call this dictatorship,” prosecutor Lee Kwang-beom said on Tuesday. “The moment he declared martial law, he effectively gave up on his position as the president of our democratic republic.”
The Constitutional Court must now determine whether to formally remove Yoon from office. It has up to six months from Dec. 14 to decide.
EU, Israel clash. Israel denied entry on Monday to two European Union lawmakers: Lynn Boylan, chair of the European Parliament’s EU-Palestine delegation, and Rima Hassan, a French politician of Palestinian descent who was born in Syria and has been critical of Israel. Boylan and Hassan are both part of The Left, a political group in the European Parliament that last Friday called on the body to immediately suspend the EU-Israel Association Agreement.
No reason was given for why Boylan was refused entry at Ben Gurion Airport, but Israeli Interior Minister Moshe Arbel said Hassan has “consistently worked to promote boycotts against Israel in addition to numerous public statements both on social media and in media interviews.” The Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement began in 2005 to protest Israel’s apartheid state, but Israel has accused the campaign of threatening the country’s legitimacy.
“Israel is a rogue state, and this disgraceful move shows the level of utter disregard that they have for international law,” Boylan said. On Monday, Boylan canceled the EU delegation’s trip to Jerusalem and Ramallah in response to their barring.
The incident occurred at the same time that Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar met with EU leadership in Brussels for Israel’s first meeting with the EU-Israel Association Council since 2022.
Vatican work. Pope Francis met with senior Vatican officials in his hospital room this week, even as the religious leader remains in critical condition with double pneumonia and the beginnings of kidney failure. According to one official, the 88-year-old pope is eating normally and moving around his room, and the Vatican released a statement on Tuesday saying, “The pope rested well all night.”
Francis was first admitted to Gemelli Hospital in Rome on Feb. 14 but has worked occasionally since falling ill. A handful of VIPs have visited him since, including Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni; Francis’s second-in-command, Cardinal Pietro Parolin; and Parolin’s deputy. The latter two individuals spoke with Francis on Monday to discuss pending sainthood cases. Francis has also maintained contact with a parish in Gaza City during his illness.
Odds and Ends
Prosecutors are hoping to flush out who’s responsible for the heist of an 18-karat gold toilet insured at $6 million. In 2019, a group of five men allegedly drove two stolen vehicles into Blenheim Palace (the birthplace of former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill) to steal the fully functioning golden bathroom throne, a work of art titled “America” by satirical Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan. A trial began on Monday for three of the suspected men involved. They are believed to have divided the toilet into smaller parts and sold off the gold.