James Rothwell

Tanks or drones*? German defence giants clash over how to rebuild military.

My latest on how Germany's 300bn euro rearmement plane is taking shape...

*ideally both, of course!

www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2...

I appeared on our Battle Lines podcast with @rikefranke.bsky.social to talk about German rearmament - what's happening, why now and why Germany is ready for it after decades of taking a backseat on security:

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/11...

How the worst bombardment of the 21st century reshaped the world After the smoke clears and the bodies are buried, the impact of Israel and Hamas’s war will continue to be felt far beyond Gaza’s borders

Last-hour-before-print-deadline thoughts on nascent Hamas-Israel ceasefire. TLDR: the war has changed Gaza, Israel, and the wider Middle East - and has implications for the rest of us too. www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2...

We also met social workers from Sweden's SiS, the youth homes where over-15 child offenders are sent. Staff are doing what they can with the resources they have to reform these boys, but say they are overwhelmed by the number of gang-involved children coming into their care

The picture isn't completely bleak - the government is introducing tougher sentences & other reforms to try and address the issue. We visited schools run by Fryshuset, where kids are given jobs so they don't seek easy cash from gangs. Teachers monitor them around the clock.

A useful way of looking at the issue was suggested to me by Evin Cetin, a lawyer who has deeply researched it: they are child soldiers. Like those used by Isis, they're brutalised & manipulated by gangs, thanks in part to social media - which grants unprecedented reach to kids

- there is a significant international element to these crimes. The gang's leaders are not even based in Sweden, having already fled the country

The most apparent driving factors are urban poverty, drug addiction and, in cases involving kids from a migration background, a deep sense that Swedish society just doesn't care about them. And -

We have also seen video footage of these crimes - some kids film the "job" for proof of payment - and text messages chats between kids and their gang "handlers" that paint a sinister picture, in which gangs are using children as proxies for drug turf wars.

The Telegraph interviewed Swedish police officers, prosecutors, lawyers, teachers, social workers and former gang members to build up a picture of why this is happening. That picture is very complex and there are quite contrasting views in Sweden over what's truly to blame.

Many - though not all - of the kids committing these crimes come from an impoverished, 1st/2nd generation migration background. As do the victims' families, whose prospects of justice are slim due to a culture of fear and omerta

The crimes are mostly committed by teenage boys, who do not necessarily have gang links - social media has revolutionized the gangs' ability to find willing volunteers. Girls & kids w/ mental disabilities are increasingly preferred by middle men who post the contracts online.

The number of children suspected of involvement in these killings in Sweden has exploded over the past year. Gangs, aware that under-15s cannot be prosecuted, are posting contracts on Snapchat and other platforms, targeting kids. They pay as much as £13,000 per hit

Children carry out surge of contract killings as Swedish gangs exploit loophole in the law ‘Handlers’ recruit alienated youths as young as 11 on social media while state care for young offenders is overwhelmed

A dispatch from Sweden on the rise of the child contract killer: kids as young as 11 who are groomed by gangs on social media to kill for fun and money. A story so grim its reality was at times hard to fathom [thread and article below]:
www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2...

The usual troublemakers are on the road, so I get to fly UTL solo: with James Kilner on Putin’s threat to hit West, @jameserothwell.bsky.social on diplomatic updates, and @rusi.bsky.social’s @mtsavill.bsky.social
on ballistic missiles and Kremlin sabre rattling. www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/03...

Sabotage likely cause for cutting of undersea internet cables, says Germany Suspicion falls on Russia as investigation into incident opens

Germany says there are no doubts that a key undersea data cable in the Baltic was severed on purpose - with suspicions falling on Russia tonight
www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2...

Biden Allows Ukraine to Strike Russia With Long-Range U.S. Missiles With two months left in office, the president for the first time authorized the Ukrainian military to use the system known as ATACMS to help defend its forces in the Kursk region of Russia.

The Biden administration finally authorises Ukrainian use of U.S. provided long-range weapons - ATACMS - to strike military targets inside Russia.

Botschafter Lambsdorff hält Diskussion über Waffenstillstand für verfrüht Solange Putin die Ukraine bombardiert, sei nicht die Zeit, über Verhandlungen zu diskutieren, sagt der deutsche Botschafter in Moskau. Der ukrainische Präsident Selenskyj definiert Vorbedingungen für ...

It's been a weird weekend of German diplomacy. After Scholz called Putin for the first time in two years on Friday, angering Kyiv, Germany's ambassador in Russia says ceasefire talks now are premature:
www.spiegel.de/ausland/bots...

Extremely loud morning in Kyiv as Russian hypersonic missiles are intercepted by Ukrainian air defence systems. More missiles are incoming and explosions have been reported across Ukraine.

War will end sooner with Trump in White House, says Zelensky Ukrainian president says conflict with Russia must be concluded next year ‘by diplomatic means’

Zelensky gives a conciliatory interview about Trump's Ukraine plan, suggesting it crosses none of Kyiv's red lines and will end the war sooner. His reward -- instantly being mocked online by Elon Musk for saying Ukraine is a sovereign country:
www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2...