Critical State: US Defense Companies in the EU?

At Politico, Gregorio Sorgi and Jacopo Barigazzi looked at Lithuania's Finance Minister Rimantas Šadžius’ urging the EU to maintain strong defense ties with the US despite tensions with President Donald Trump. Šadžius warned against excluding US defense companies from joint procurement initiatives, emphasizing the importance of integrating NATO allies like the US, Norway, and Canada into Europe's defense efforts.

Šadžius told Politico the EU has “very important NATO partners that are aligned with us on both political terms but also in ensuring defense capabilities with us. Let’s name Norway, Canada, and the United States.”

His comments come amid negotiations over the €150 billion (about $168.3 billion) Security Action For Europe (SAFE) regulation, which aims to bolster EU defense capabilities and counter Russian influence. The SAFE initiative currently excludes foreign countries from joint purchases unless they have Security and Defence Partnership agreements with the EU. Šadžius' stance highlights the delicate balance the EU must strike between strengthening its own defense industry and maintaining crucial transatlantic alliances.

Europe, especially Germany, has changed course on defense spending since Trump took office. Germany repealed a longstanding provision to have a balanced budget, with the aim to increase defense spending.

But the Lithuanian minister said he believed “we should make everything possible to integrate our allies into the joint defense effort.”

If You Read One More Thing: Old Kingdom, New Scandal

Ben Quinn reported at The Guardian that, in the United Kingdom, up to 12 newly elected Reform UK councilors are facing allegations of sharing far-right and Islamophobic content on social media.

• These councilors, from three different county councils, have shared posts from Britain First, a far-right group known for provocative actions. Among those accused is Russell Cherry, who allegedly retweeted content from Britain First's leader, Paul Golding, who has a conviction for religiously aggravated harassment.

• Reform UK, which recently secured 677 of 1,600 council seats, is under scrutiny for its vetting procedures. Critics argue that the party's reliance on AI-based vetting software “from Ferretly, a US social media startup founded in 2019,” failed to prevent extremist views from surfacing among its candidates. This controversy has sparked calls for stricter oversight and accountability.

• UKIP Leader Nigel Farage told Times Radio on April 30 that his party employed the “most in-depth vetting procedure” of any of the UK’s political parties. Farage said “vetting was done internally using ‘AI techniques and other things’ to ‘give us a bit of a shortcut,’” The Guardian reported.

Critical Infrastructure, Chinese-Ran

At Hungarian investigative outlet Átlátszo, Katalin Erdélyi reported on Hungary's Defense Procurement Agency awarding a significant contract to GHIBLI Transport Ltd., a Chinese-owned company, to manage military cargo trains.

• This contract, valued at over $4.3 million at current exchange rates, will see GHIBLI Transport Ltd. and its subcontractor, CER Hungary, transporting military gear across Hungary and other European countries until 2028. The decision has raised eyebrows due to the involvement of Chinese entities, given the geopolitical sensitivities and security concerns associated with Chinese investments in critical infrastructure.

• The contract details, typically classified, were unusually published in the EU's TED database, revealing the contractors' names and the contract's value. The Chinese majority ownership of GHIBLI Transport Ltd. and the involvement of László Horváth, the Honorary Consul of Kazakhstan, have added to the controversy. Critics argue that this move could pose operational security risks, especially as the transport routes include several NATO member states.

• Hungary's move could strain its ties with NATO allies, who may view the involvement of a Chinese company in military logistics as a security risk. NATO has been wary of Chinese influence in critical infrastructure, and this decision might heighten concerns about operational security and espionage.

Deep Dive: No Rest in Saudi Arabia

Amid United States President Donald Trump’s visit to Saudi Arabia, the global rights watchdog Amnesty International released a new report that reveals the severe exploitation, racism, and exclusion that migrant domestic workers face in the Gulf country.

The report documents the experiences of over 70 Kenyan women who endured abusive and discriminatory working conditions, often amounting to forced labor and human trafficking.

Recruiters in Kenya deceived these women about the nature of their jobs. Upon arrival in Saudi Arabia, they were subjected to brutal conditions, working more than 16 hours a day without days off and being confined to their employers' homes.

The report highlights instances of sexual, verbal, and physical assault, with employers confiscating passports and phones and sometimes withholding wages. The rights group went on to explain that the dire living conditions and inhumane treatment these women faced underscore the systemic racism and exploitation prevalent in Saudi Arabia's domestic labor sector.

“She [the employer] didn’t think that I could get tired," Rashida, whose real name Amnesty withheld, told the rights group. "There was no chance to rest. … I would work for her the whole day and then even at night, I would still be working. I felt like a donkey and even donkeys find rest."

Despite Saudi authorities’ claims of labor rights reforms, domestic workers remain excluded from the country's labor law protections.

Amnesty’s report called for urgent action to grant these workers equal protection under the labor law, introduce effective inspection systems to tackle widespread abuses, and dismantle the Kafala sponsorship system that binds foreign workers to their employers, Irungu Houghton, Executive Director of Amnesty International Kenya noted. This system fosters exploitation and perpetuates systemic racism, making it difficult for workers to escape abusive situations, according to Amnesty.

Of Saudi Arabia's nearly four million domestic workers, around 1.2 million are women from Africa and Asia. Many face both "severe" and "criminal" abuses at the hands of their employers, the report explained.

Houghton emphasized the need for both Saudi and Kenyan authorities to listen to these women's stories and take meaningful action. He pointed out that these women traveled to Saudi Arabia seeking employment to support their families but instead faced unspeakable abuse. The Kenyan government actively encourages labor migration, yet fails to protect its citizens from exploitation abroad.

The report calls for international pressure on Saudi Arabia to reform its labor laws and ensure the protection of migrant domestic workers. It also urges the Kenyan government to improve its vetting processes for recruiters and provide better support for its citizens working overseas. Both Saudi and Kenyan authorities declined to respond to Amnesty's requests for comment.

Meanwhile, Trump didn't offer a public comment on the migrant-worker situation while in Saudi Arabia, either. He did, however, boast of a new package of economic and defense agreements with the country, reportedly worth hundreds of billions of dollars.

Show us the Receipts

At Inkstick, Issam Adwan painted a grim and vivid picture of the devastating impact of war on families in Gaza. Adwan tells the story of Samir Ferwana. Samir, who married Saja al-Ghamri in 2022, experienced the joy of fatherhood with the birth of their daughter, Sila, in January 2023. In early December 2023, Israeli bombardment hit their neighborhood, and after a 12-hour fight for her life, Sila died from the injuries she’d sustained.

Also at Inkstick, Steven E. Hendrix did a deep dive on the long history of “diversity, equity, and inclusion” at the US State Department. While the Trump administration tries to present DEI as a recent corruption of the department’s mission, Hendrix argued that the fight for a diverse State Department, in fact, “spans over 150 years, tracing back to pioneers like Ebenezer D. Bassett, appointed in 1869 by President Ulysses S. Grant as the first African American diplomat.”

At The World, Jeremy Siegal reported on a startup named Moving Health, which uses motorized tricycle ambulances to alleviate limited access to healthcare transportation in rural Ghana. The dearth of access poses significant risks for pregnant women needing urgent medical tricycles designed to navigate the challenging terrain. These tricycles are designed to navigate difficult terrain, equipped to carry patients, nurses, and essential medical equipment. They have drastically reduced the time it takes to reach hospitals.

Bonus at Inkstick:

In case you missed it, Inkstick recently launched another newsletter, The Dotted Line, which focuses on borders and the global far right. You can check out the latest Dotted Line dispatch, about the migrant-pet-eating hoax, here. Plus, last month, Inkstick field reporter Taylor Barnes offered some crucial context on an explosion at a Northrop Grumman plant in Utah.

Critical State is written by Inkstick Media in collaboration with The World.

The World is a weekday public radio show and podcast on global issues, news, and insights from PRX and GBH.

With an online magazine and podcast featuring a diversity of expert voices, Inkstick Media is “foreign policy for the rest of us.”

Critical State is made possible in part by the Carnegie Corporation of New York.