Sunday, 12 July 2026

On July 12, the Coalition of the Willing for Ukraine met in Paris, as FAZ and Der Spiegel reported, with possible joint military exercises and closer cooperation against the Russian missile threat on the agenda. Reuters reported the formation of a coalition designed specifically to counter Russia's ballistic missiles. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan took part in the talks after the NATO summit, according to Daily Sabah, underscoring Ankara's involvement. In parallel, President Zelensky announced a broad leadership reshuffle, according to the New York Times, in which Prime Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko is to give up her post, while the war, in Ukraine's reading, is turning in Kyiv's favor. At the same time, both sides reported at least six dead in mutual attacks on infrastructure, according to Daily Sabah. The Western sources paint a picture of stepped-up support, but independent confirmation of the claimed turn in the war is lacking.

On July 12, AFP, the NYT and The Economist reported the death of Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina at the age of 71. For more than two decades Graham was one of the defining foreign-policy voices in the Senate, a hardliner who favored military interventions and a tough Iran policy and firmly supported Israel. The NYT highlights that he backed the US strikes on Iran, even as the wars were eroding American support. Germany's taz portrays him as an old-school Republican, at once friend and foe to Trump. The Berliner Zeitung speaks of a sudden vacuum in US foreign policy. His death comes in the middle of the acute Iran escalation, splitting the assessments between tribute and a critical reckoning with his interventionist course.

The Qatari government announced on July 12 the death of former emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani at the age of 74, as AP and Daily Sabah reported. Hamad had seized power in 1995 in a bloodless palace coup and ruled Qatar until abdicating in favor of his son in 2013. During that time he built the small gas-rich Gulf emirate, with its Al Jazeera broadcaster and active mediation diplomacy, into a globally influential player. Turkish President Erdogan offered his condolences, according to Daily Sabah, and paid tribute to the close partnership. The range of sources is sparse and largely laudatory, with critical assessments of his role, for instance in regional conflicts, absent on this day.

On July 12, the Hungarian parliament passed a law allowing the removal of the head of state, according to Reuters. The move is placed in the context of the power struggle surrounding the rising challenger Peter Magyar, whose camp is working on a realignment of power relations. The range of sources on this day is extremely thin and one-sided, with only a single report, so that the precise motives, the people affected and the constitutional significance can only be assessed to a limited extent on the basis of the available information. What is clear is that the move comes in a politically charged environment ahead of important domestic political decisions.

The renewed US-Iran escalation at the Strait of Hormuz hit markets hard on July 12. According to Bloomberg, oil posted its biggest daily jump since April after Trump said he wanted to impose a 20 percent levy on all cargo passing through the strait. Stocks and bonds fell together, as a possible supply disruption revived inflation fears. According to Bloomberg, traders now see roughly a 50 percent chance that the Fed, led by Kevin Warsh, will raise rates as soon as July, with the WSJ calling this Warsh's first major directional decision. Reuters warns that Europe's kerosene stocks would last less than a month if the disruption persists. The conservative Welt criticizes that it is above all the Europeans who are paying the price for Trump's protection-money maneuver. The assessment differs depending on the camp: market-liberal outlets emphasize the inflation risk, European voices the geopolitical dependence.

On July 12, the sell-off in Asian semiconductor stocks continued. Bloomberg reported that SK Hynix ADRs fell about 9 percent in the US after an AI-driven sell-off in South Korea, underscoring growing concerns about an overstretched AI rally. At the same time, the Financial Times warned that TSMC, SK Hynix and Samsung together already account for 29 percent of the MSCI Emerging Markets Index and that investors view this concentration with unease. Set against this was a record quarter for TSMC on the back of strong AI demand, with the company also announcing two new packaging plants in Taiwan, according to Reuters. Daily Sabah points to the downside for consumers, according to which laptops, smartphones and consoles are becoming more expensive due to the AI-driven chip shortage. The camps are at odds: optimists see the TSMC record as proof of the ongoing strength of AI demand, while skeptics warn of a dangerous index concentration and bubble formation.

In the battle over tens of thousands of jobs at Volkswagen, group chief Oliver Blume signaled over the weekend that he wanted to avoid plant closures. Speaking to Bild am Sonntag, he said there were smarter solutions, without specifying them, as Welt and Daily Sabah reported. The Süddeutsche Zeitung describes how Blume is becoming publicly isolated and how, in the face of vague hints, both the works council and the union are already preparing the next escalation stage. Daily Sabah places the case in a broader German auto crisis, from which young engineers are also suffering, unable to find a position despite numerous applications. The camps are at odds: management stresses flexibility and alternatives, while the labor side distrusts the unclear savings plans and is gearing up for conflict.