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Government Spokesperson Stefan Kornelius holds a press conference in the capital, Berlin, Germany, on March 9, 2026. [Halil Sağırkaya – Anadolu Agency]
Germany said on Monday that the US war on Iran “has nothing to do with NATO,” Anadolu reports.
“It is not NATO’s war. NATO is a defensive alliance. The German government must also clearly assess the alliance’s territory and its own position on participation in this war,” government spokesman Stefan Kornelius told journalists in Berlin.
“The expansion of combat operations would bear great risks for other partners in the Middle East and Gulf region,” he added.
The German government has repeatedly stated that it would not participate in the US war on Iran.
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Strike banner in Ancona, reading: “The port that resists wars, rearmament, and fascist laws.” Source: Potere al Popolo Terni/Facebook
On February 6, dockworkers in more than 20 Mediterranean ports went on strike against war, militarization, and port privatization.
Dockworkers in more than 20 ports across the Mediterranean marked a historic moment today as they launched an international day of strike and protest against war and rearmament. Dockers also protested the privatization and militarization of port infrastructure.
Unionists involved in preparing the action described it as the result of a long and complex process, built on dockworkers’ solidarity with Palestine and their struggles for dignified working conditions at home.
The impact of the strike was felt even before it fully unfolded on February 6, as reports emerged of ships – vessels that regularly transport military cargo to Israel – disrupting their itineraries due to the actions.
“Ports are places of sweat, not blood”
Demonstrations began in the morning in the Greek ports of Piraeus and Elefsina, in Türkiye’s Mersin, and in Bilbao and Pasaia in the Basque Country. The trade union Liman-İş Sendikası rallied hundreds of its members to send a message against genocide and in solidarity with Palestine, echoing similar dispatches by their comrades from LAB in the Basque Country.
In Greece, dockworkers highlighted the contradiction between massive European investments in rearmament and the imposition of austerity on public services and infrastructure, which is leading to increasingly unsafe working conditions. “We won’t accept work without rights,” said Damianos Voudigaris of the Greek union ENEDEP later in the day. “Development should mean going home alive. Ports are places of work, not war. They are places of sweat, not blood.”
Demonstration during the strike in Piraeus Port. Source: PAME International
Some of the largest mobilizations of the day took place in Italy. Strikes were organized in Ancona, Bari, Cagliari, Civitavecchia, Crotone, Genoa, Livorno, Palermo, Ravenna, Salerno, and Trieste, involving not only dockworkers and port employees but also students and members of the public. The map of the strikes once again underscored the momentum built by Italy’s labor movement over the past year, including three general strikes for Palestine – mobilizations that have drawn inspiration from some of the dockers collectives’ anti-war activism.
The trade union Unione Sindacale di Base (USB) reported from all striking ports, with union representatives addressing assemblies prominently displaying Palestinian and Cuban flags. Workers stressed that Europe’s labor movement must find an internationalist orientation in order to block the anti-worker agenda of the European Union and right-wing governments. Governments including that of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, which, as USB activists noted during live broadcasts, was rattled by the determination shown by workers after years of stagnation. According to trade unionists, this panic has translated into a new wave of repression, including measures targeting union members involved in Palestine solidarity actions. USB, however, insisted that resistance to Meloni’s policies would only intensify in the coming weeks.
“Today it’s the ports, tomorrow it will be the entire logistics sector”
While uniting around shared demands – to prevent the militarization of ports, reject rearmament, and stop a war economy from stifling all other priorities – striking workers also raised local concerns. Dockworkers in Trieste warned against port privatization. Elsewhere, including in Bari and Ravenna, workers and students described how port infrastructure was being used, sometimes covertly, to transport military and dual-use materials to Israel. “Everyone here has had enough of that,” one activist in Ravenna said.
Demonstrations held in Civitavecchia, Livorno, and Ancona on Friday evening were notable, with strikers in Ancona describing the day as “monumental.” In Genoa, as has become customary, turnout was massive. Members of the collective CALP – who had previously vowed that “not one nail” would leave the port if Israel attacked the Global Sumud Flotilla en route to Gaza – led the protest. Speaking to media and fellow activists, they stressed that the success of the international strike once again proved that dockworkers keep their promises.
“We promised to block everything – and we blocked everything. We promised a general strike – and we had a general strike. We promised an international strike – and here we are,” they said.
Students in solidarity with dockworkers in Ravenna. Source: Cambiare Rotta Bologna
The international dockworkers’ strike, however, is not the end of the road, workers emphasized. “Today it’s the ports, tomorrow it will be the entire logistics sector, and then it will be all workers,” strikers in Ravenna concluded.
Actions were also reported in the ports of Fos-sur-Mer near Marseille, the German hubs of Bremen and Hamburg, and in Corsica. Dockworkers from Morocco’s Democratic Labor Organization (ODT), who had been involved in preparing the strike throughout the process, were forced to postpone their industrial action due to extreme weather conditions that led to port closures.
Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpAKeir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.Orcas discuss Genocide-supporting and complicit Zionists. Donald Trump, Keith Starmer, David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting are acknowledged as evil genocide-complicit and supporting cnuts.
Protesters on City Square gather during a protest in support of Greenland on January 17, 2026 in Copenhagen, Denmark. (Photo by Martin Sylvest Andersen/Getty Images)
“Trump has no legal authority to tariff American allies to bully them into backing his brainless attempt to seize Greenland,” one US lawmaker said.
President Donald Trump on Saturday announced new tariffs on eight European countries that oppose his plan to annex Greenland hours after thousands of people gathered in Denmark and Greenland to declare, “Greenland is not for sale.”
In a post on Truth Social, Trump announced that imports from Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Finland would face a 10% tariff beginning February 1, which would jump to a 25% tariff on June 1.
“This Tariff will be due and payable until such a time as a Deal is reached for the Complete and Total purchase of Greenland,” Trump wrote from his West Palm Beach, Florida gulf course.
The announcement seemed to deliver on a threat the president made Friday to impose tariffs on countries “if they don’t go along with” his designs on Greenland. It also ignored the sentiment of the thousands of people who marched in Denmark and Greenland’s capitals wearing red hats with the slogan, “Make America Go Away.”
“You cannot buy Greenland, you cannot buy a people. It is so wrong, disrespectful to think that you can purchase a country and a people.”
“We are demonstrating against American statements and ambitions to annex Greenland,” Camilla Siezing, chairwoman of the Inuit Association, said in a statement. “We demand respect for the Danish Realm and for Greenland’s right to self-determination.”
Julie Rademacher, chair of Uagut—an association of Greenlanders who live in Denmark that helped organize the demonstrations—said at the Copenhagen protest, as Deutsche Welle reported: “We are also sending a message to the world that you all must wake up… Greenland and the Greenlanders have involuntarily become the front in the fight for democracy and human rights.”
One Greenlander who attended the Copenhagen protest was Naja Mathilde Rosing.
“America has a sense of feeling they can steal land from the Native Americans, steal land from the Indigenous Hawaiian people, steal land from the Indigenous Inuit from Alaska,” she toldNPR. “You cannot buy Greenland, you cannot buy a people. It is so wrong, disrespectful to think that you can purchase a country and a people.”
Protests were also held in the Danish cities of Aarhus, Aalborg and Odense.
Greenland is a semiautonomous territory of Denmark with a population of nearly 57,000, 85% of whom do not want to join the United States.
Greenland’s Prime Minister prime minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen joined a crowd of 5,000 in the island’s capital city of Nuuk, where people carried signs reading, “Greenland is already great,” and “Yankee, go home,” according toCNN.
“We have seen what (Trump) does in Venezuela and Iran,” one protester, named Patricia, told CNN. “He doesn’t respect anything. He just takes what he thinks is his… He misuses his power.”
Yet Trump did not acknowledge the feelings of Greenlanders in his post on Saturday. Instead, he was focused on the actions of eight European countries that have sent small numbers of troops to the island, accusing them of “playing this very dangerous game.”
The leaders of the eight countries and the European Union pushed back against Trump’s threats.
French President Emmanuel Macron likened Trump’s designs on Greenland to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
“No intimidation or threat will influence us—neither in Ukraine, nor in Greenland, nor anywhere else in the world when we are confronted with such situations,” he wrote on social media. “Tariff threats are unacceptable and have no place in this context. Europeans will respond in a united and coordinated manner should they be confirmed. We will ensure that European sovereignty is upheld. It is in this spirit that I will engage with our European partners.”
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson posted: “We will not let ourselves be blackmailed. Only Denmark and Greenland decide on issues concerning Denmark and Greenland.”
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen wrote: “Tariffs would undermine transatlantic relations and risk a dangerous downward spiral. Europe will remain united, coordinated, and committed to upholding its sovereignty.”
Denmark’s Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen, meanwhile, said Trump’s tariff announcement came “as a surprise,” noting that it followed a meeting with Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio earlier in the week, which he described as “constructive.”
Trump’s latest tariff threat also drew criticism from US lawmakers.
“To threaten Denmark—and now six other NATO allies—in a crusade to take Greenland threatens to blow up the NATO alliance that has kept Americans safe and destroy our standing in the world as a trustworthy ally,” wrote Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.), who led a bipartisan congressional delegation to Denmark that coincided with Saturday’s protests.
Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) said: “Trump has no legal authority to tariff American allies to bully them into backing his brainless attempt to seize Greenland. This is against the law, it’s a total disaster for America, and Republicans in Congress and the Supreme Court need to find their spines and stop it.”
“ Donald Trump wants to be Tariff King, but he’s nothing more than a tax troll with no legal authority to levy these tariffs, no support from the American people, and no support from his allies.”
Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Patty Murray (D-Wash.) also called on Congress to act.
“Trump is raising tariffs on eight NATO allies because they rightly support Denmark’s sovereignty in Greenland. Destroying our closest alliances to take Greenland—which Denmark lets us use freely already—is insane. Congress must say NO,” Sanders wrote on social media.
Murray posted: “To my Republican colleagues: ENOUGH. It’s time for the Senate to vote to block these tariffs and to block the use of military force against Greenland. Trump is tearing apart our alliances in real time and the economic and diplomatic consequences will be catastrophic.”
Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) also appealed to Republican colleagues, and pointed out that it would ultimately be Americans who would pay higher prices as a result of the tariffs.
“Troops from European countries are arriving in Greenland to defend the territory from us,” he wrote on social media. “Let that sink in. And now Trump is setting tariffs on our allies, making you pay more to try to get territory we don’t need. The damage this President is doing to our reputation and our relationships is growing, making us less safe. If something doesn’t change we will be on our own with adversaries and enemies in every direction. Republicans in Congress need to stand up to Trump.”
Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) posted a video from the streets of Boston, evoking the spirit of the American Revolution.
“Donald Trump wants to be Tariff King, but he’s nothing more than a tax troll with no legal authority to levy these tariffs, no support from the American people, and no support from his allies. Enough is enough,” he said.
Trump wants to be the Tariff King but he’s nothing more than a tax troll. Imposing tariffs on our allies if they don’t hand over Greenland? Enough is enough. pic.twitter.com/77Hxq59vx7
Ultimately, Trump’s ability to play “tariff king” will be determined by the Supreme Court, which could rule as soon as next week on the legality of many of his tariffs.
Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.Donald Fuhrump says that Amerikkka doesn’t bother with crimes or charges anymore, not being 100% Amerikkkan and opposing his real estate intentions is enough.Orcas discuss how Trump was re-elected and him being an obviously insane, xenophobic Fascist.
People march to protest against Donald Trump and his announced intent to acquire Greenland, on 17 January 2026 in Nuuk, Greenland. Photograph: Sean Gallup/Getty Images
Heads of state across Europe respond in solidarity with Denmark and Greenland, and boycott of World Cup suggested
Donald Trump threatened a 25% tariff on a slew of European countries including Denmark, Germany, France and the UK – until the US is allowed to purchase Greenland, in an extraordinary escalation of the president’s bid to claim the autonomous Danish territory.
In a lengthy post on Saturday on Truth Social, Trump said he would impose a 10% tariff on Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Finland beginning 1 February, “on any and all goods sent to the United States of America”.
He said the tariff will increase to 25% on 1 June.
“This Tariff will be due and payable until such time as a Deal is reached for the Complete and Total purchase of Greenland,” Trump said.
The president’s longstanding interest in acquiring Greenland “one way or the other” has become a fixation since the US raid that captured Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro earlier in January. While he has claimed the Arctic territory’s current status poses a national security threat to the US, this has been disputed by US allies, including Denmark.
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Speakers in Berlin traced how Germany’s rearmament, US-led violence abroad and the repression of solidarity at home are converging in a dangerous drive toward war. BEN CHACKO reports
“HEAD over heels into war” was the theme of this year’s Rosa Luxemburg Conference in Berlin, organised as ever by the Morning Star’s German sister paper Junge Welt.
And the voices of school strikers, trade unionists, human rights activists, economists and socialist campaigners throughout the day left no doubt that this is the trajectory of Germany and the whole of Europe.
The shadows of genocide in Gaza and the shredding of international law through US boat bombings, piracy at sea and the kidnap of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro loomed over the thousands who came to discuss how to stop a world war that looks ever closer.
The crisis in the Caribbean prevented Emilio Lozada — head of international relations for the Communist Party of Cuba — from attending as planned, but Manuel Pineda of the Communist Party of Spain struck an urgent note on solidarity with the socialist island.
“Cuba is in danger,” he warned. “Trump is a fascist. He is a danger to humanity as a whole — and he wants Cuba to collapse. Cuba is being strangled.”
Already reeling under the impact of a 64-year blockade — “the most extensive, complex and long-lasting sanctions regime in history,” which made everything from stocking shop shelves to running buses a constant struggle, the US’s increasing readiness to simply steal supplies headed for Cuba, as it did with a Venezuelan tanker shipping oil to the island last month, represents an existential threat.
“Cuba has shown us what solidarity is,” he said, speaking of the medical brigades sent to crisis points across the world — including Europe during the pandemic.
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