Diplomacy & Defense Think Tank News

Die Gastronomie ist ständig in Bewegung. Gäste wollen heute nicht mehr nur satt werden, sondern auch Atmosphäre, Lifestyle und unvergessliche Erlebnisse genießen. Für Betreiber von Restaurants, Bars und Hotels bedeutet das: Innovation ist Pflicht. Von digitalen Tools über nachhaltige Konzepte bis hin zu luxuriösen Genuss-Extras – 2025 bringt bereits viele spannende Trends mit sich.

1. OOKA: Shisha-Erlebnis ohne Kohle

Einer der spannendsten Trends kommt aus der Welt des Shisha-Genusses: OOKA für Business. Das elektronische Shisha-System funktioniert komplett ohne Kohle – und damit ohne Sicherheitsrisiken für Gastronomen. Stattdessen sorgt ein smartes Heizsystem für ein aromatisches Inhalationserlebnis –  stilvoll, luxuriös und mit deutlich weniger Aufwand.

Besonders interessant: Eine im Fachjournal Scientific Reports veröffentlichte Studie [ zeigt, dass die Nutzung von OOKA im Vergleich zur herkömmlichen Shisha mit einer signifikanten Reduktion der Exposition gegenüber Kohlenmonoxid, Aldehyden und Nikotin verbunden ist. Für Gäste bedeutet das eine moderne, komfortable Art des Genusses. Für Betreiber ist es ein Umsatz-Booster, der sich ohne großen Platzbedarf in Lounges, Bars und Hotelbereiche integrieren lässt.

OOKA schafft damit eine perfekte Symbiose aus Lifestyle, Sicherheit und Mehrwert – und ermöglicht es, sich von der Masse abzuheben.

2. Erlebnisgastronomie wird zum Standard

Einfach nur essen gehen? Das reicht den meisten Gästen längst nicht mehr. Immer mehr Restaurants setzen auf Entertainment-Konzepte: offene Küchen, Live-Cooking, Themenabende oder kulinarische Reisen durch verschiedene Länder.

Gerichte werden zum Teil der Show, und Gäste fühlen sich mitten im Geschehen. Dieser Trend lohnt sich doppelt, denn er sorgt für Begeisterung, Social-Media-Reichweite und Stammkundschaft.

3. Nachhaltigkeit auf der Speisekarte

Regional, saisonal und möglichst unverpackt – Gäste achten immer stärker darauf, wie bewusst ein Betrieb wirtschaftet. Zero-Waste-Küchen, Kompostierungskonzepte oder Kooperationen mit lokalen Bauernhöfen sind längst nicht mehr nur PR, sondern echte Entscheidungskriterien.

Nachhaltigkeit ist dabei nicht nur ökologisch, sondern auch ökonomisch spannend: Wer clever kalkuliert, spart Kosten und gewinnt loyale Gäste.

4. Digitale Tools und smarte Abläufe

Von der Online-Reservierung über QR-Code-Speisekarten bis hin zu KI-basierten Bestellsystemen: Digitalisierung ist in der Gastronomie kaum noch wegzudenken.

• Gäste schätzen die schnelle Übersicht und die Möglichkeit, kontaktlos zu bestellen.
• Betreiber profitieren von effizienteren Abläufen und klareren Daten für ihre Planung.

Besonders spannend sind digitale Bestell- und Zahlungssysteme, die Wartezeiten reduzieren und den Service entlasten.

5. Premium-Drinks und alkoholfreie Alternativen

Auch an der Bar tut sich einiges: alkoholfreie Cocktails, Fermentgetränke oder hochwertige Tees und Kaffees in Bar-Qualität werden immer beliebter. Gäste sind bereit, für Qualität zu zahlen – selbst wenn gar kein Alkohol im Glas ist.

Für Gastronomen bedeutet das: mehr Spielraum in der Karte und neue Zielgruppen, die sonst vielleicht nur Wasser bestellt hätten.

6. Multifunktionale Räume

Viele Betriebe setzen inzwischen auf flexible Konzepte: Frühstückscafé am Morgen, Lunch-Spot am Mittag, Cocktailbar am Abend. Durch clevere Raumgestaltung lässt sich die Auslastung erhöhen, ohne zusätzliche Flächen mieten zu müssen.

OOKA passt übrigens perfekt in dieses Konzept – als exklusiver Abendservice oder Highlight für private Events.

7. Gesundheit und Wellbeing

Neben dem Genuss rückt auch das Wohlbefinden stärker in den Fokus. Das bedeutet: leichtere Gerichte, mehr vegetarische und vegane Optionen sowie Angebote, die das „gute Gefühl“ nach dem Essen fördern. Smoothie-Bars, Bowls und fermentierte Produkte sind inzwischen fast Standard geworden.

Das Fazit? Gäste suchen Vielfalt – Betreiber neue Chancen

Die Gastronomie-Welt 2025 ist bisher ziemlich bunt, innovativ und anspruchsvoll. Wer bestehen will, muss Erlebnisse schaffen, die über das klassische Menü hinausgehen. OOKA ist dabei ein Paradebeispiel: luxuriös, unkompliziert und ein echter Umsatztreiber. Doch auch Themen wie Nachhaltigkeit, Digitalisierung oder Premium-Drinks zeigen, dass sich Kreativität auszahlt.

Für Gastronomen und Hoteliers gilt: Trends sind keine Pflicht – aber eine Chance. Wer die passenden Ideen auswählt und ins eigene Konzept integriert, gewinnt mehr als nur Gäste. Er gewinnt echte Stammkunden.

Der Beitrag Gastro-Trends 2025: Genuss, Erlebnis und neue Umsatzideen erschien zuerst auf Neurope.eu - News aus Europa.

Under the agreement, the two countries pledged that “any aggression against either country shall be considered an aggression against both.”

The Arctic could be a testing ground as the alliance expands beyond the Korean Peninsula. 

Event Video 
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On September 23rd, IPI and the Government of Estonia, in partnership with the 1 for 8 Billion, the United Nations Association of the UK (UNA-UK), and CIVICUS, cohosted a public policy forum at the United Nations on the process of selecting the next UN secretary-general: the global diplomat and civil servant for the world’s peoples.

The event focused on recommendations to create a more transparent, inclusive, and equitable selection process for the position of UN secretary-general and ideas for how different sectors can work collaboratively to encourage and ensure the realization of this goal. The discussion also explored the increasing role of the General Assembly in the secretary-general’s election process. The event highlighted how this critical appointment can be a transformative and reinvigorating opportunity for the UN and for multilateralism as the world faces intersecting and accelerating global challenges.

Speakers:
H.E. Arnoldo André Tinoco, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Costa Rica
H.E. Jeppe Tranholm-Mikkelsen, Permanent Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs of Denmark
H.E. Oana-Silvia Țoiu, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Romania
H.E. Gro Harlem Brundtland, Member of The Elders; former Prime Minister of Norway and Director-General of the WHO
Maria Noel Leoni, Representative of the 1 for 8 Billion Campaign; Co-founder and Campaign Director of GQUAL; and Deputy Executive Director for the Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL)
Thant Myint-U, Visiting Fellow at Trinity College, Cambridge; the Chairman of U Thant House; Founder and Chairman of the Yangon Heritage Trust; and author of the book, Peacemaker: U Thant and the Forgotten Quest for a Just World

Closing Remarks:
H.E. Alar Karis, President of Estonia

Moderator:
Jeffrey Feltman, Non-Resident Adviser, International Peace Institute

The post A New Vision for Global Leadership: Selecting the Next UN Secretary-General appeared first on International Peace Institute.

Red tape could discourage 13 million expats from casting their ballots just when their country needs them most.

A recent defense exercise between Bangladesh and the U.S. sparked some exaggerated responses.

Kazakhstan has agreed to purchase 300 freight locomotives to the tune of $4.2 billion; Uzbekistan will buy at least 14 Boeing jets, in a deal said to be valued at $8 billion.

China is using AI to turbocharge its disinformation efforts. The U.S. is not ready.

Comparing the 2024 and 2025 Beijing Xiangshan Forums, the transformation in China's messaging was unmistakable.

Trump should become the first U.S. president to visit the region and celebrate the 10th anniversary of the C5+1 in a summit with the five Central Asian presidents.

The Security Action for Europe (SAFE) Programme is the new EU financial instrument designed to allow EU Member States to speed up their defence readiness by enabling urgent and significant investments in support of the European defence industry, with a focus on filling critical gaps in capabilities and equipment. It is the first pillar of the ReArm Europe Plan/Readiness 2030 strategic plan that aims to unlock €800 billion in defence spending across the EU.[1]

SAFE will provide up to €150 billion in competitive long-maturity loans to Member States that request financial assistance for investments in defence capabilities. These loans will finance urgent and large-scale procurement processes, ensuring that Europe’s defence industry can deliver the requisite equipment.

The features expected of the submitted proposals

The proposals should be:

• Relevant to the defence capabilities of Member States and the EU (e.g. border protection, countering hybrid threats, protecting critical infrastructure, countering cyber warfare, etc.)
• For urgent, large-scale procurement efforts, not small projects
• Involve at least two Member States in a common procurement procedure
• However, requests from individual Member States can also be approved, but only if they are linked to an urgent need and broader geopolitical realities; the proposal must also be submitted on the basis of the timely procurement and delivery of critical assets[2] (for example, the need to procure drones to counter migration movements along routes experiencing a significant increase in traffic, or systems to protect critical infrastructure from potential terrorist threats linked to the situation in the Middle East, could be supported). This is a temporary exception with an initial duration of one year.
• In addition, no more than 35% of the cost of the products’ manufacturing components can originate from outside the EU, EEA-EFTA, or Ukraine, while the countries of origin must meet the conditions set out in the Programme Regulations.

What will SAFE fund?

Category 1:

• Ammunition and missiles
• Artillery systems, including deep-precision strike capabilities
• Ground combat capabilities and their support systems, including soldier equipment and infantry weapons
• Small drones (NATO 1 class[3]) and related anti-drone systems
• Systems and equipment for critical infrastructure protection
• Cyber defence and cyber security systems
• Military mobility, including counter-mobility

Category 2:

• Air and missile defence systems
• Maritime surface and underwater capabilities
• Drones other than small drones (NATO-2 and NATO-3 class) and related anti-drone systems
• Strategic enablers such as, but not limited to, strategic airlift, air-to-air refuelling, C4ISTAR systems (Command, Communications, Information, Control, etc.), as well as space assets and services
• Space asset protection systems
• Artificial intelligence and electronic warfare systems

Countries that have expressed an interest in participating in SAFE and a Timeline for the Next Steps

By 29 July 2025, when the Programme’s first key deadline expired, 19 Member States had expressed an interest in accessing loans through the SAFE mechanism, with potential defence purchases of at least €127 billion.

The Member States in question are Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia and Spain.

The following resources have been tentatively allocated to the Member States as follows:

Member-State Allocation of Resources (€) Belgium 8,340,027,698 Bulgaria 3,261,700,000 Croatia 1,700,000,000 Cyprus 1,181,503,924 Czech Republic 2,060,000,000 Denmark 46,796,822 Estonia 2,660,932,171 Finland 1,000,000,000 France 16,216,720,524 Greece 787,669,283 Hungary 16,216,720,524 Italy 14,900,000,000 Latvia 5,680,431,322 Lithuania 6,375,487,840 Poland 43,734,100,805 Portugal 5,841,179,332 Romania 16,680,055,394 Slovakia 2,316,674,361 Spain 1,000,000,000

 

30 November 2025 Submission of National Defence Investment Plans

January 2026 Adoption of Council Implementing Decisions

February 2026: Negotiation of loan agreements and operational arrangements, triggering pre-financing.

In search of a European strategic culture and interoperability: Behind the Lines

1. The Programme is part of the EU’s overall strategy on the indivisibility of external and internal security—a strategy which informs every strategic and institutional document it produces in relation to internal and foreign policy. SAFE follows in the wake of the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, but also the intensification of hybrid threats. It is therefore to be expected that it bears the imprint of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as well Moscow’s hybrid attacks against Ukraine and its hybrid operations against EU Member States. Apart from blurring the lines between war and peace—which is a key characteristic of hybrid threats in general—, the specific threat posed by Russia highlights the extent to which internal security is now significantly threatened by a malicious external actor, which can also be a state. This constitutes a further significant change in the recognition and assessment of threats.
2. The main threats that can be addressed through projects submitted to SAFE for funding extend beyond military attack by a hostile nation to include hybrid threats, cyber-attacks, the weaponization of migration and mass border breaches, terrorist attacks, malicious acts, and the sabotaging of critical infrastructure. Which is to say, precisely those threats that are stressed in the broader strategic and political philosophy underpinning the new EU defence policy, mainly via the White Paper on European Defence Preparedness 2030.
3. This works in tandem with the EU Preparedness Union Strategy, which sets out an integrated approach to every threat to the Union’s preparedness for conflict, anthropogenic and natural disasters and crises, the White Paper on European Defence Preparedness 2030, and the Internal Security Strategy: Protecting the EU.
4. SAFE emphasizes investment in the protection and resilience of critical infrastructure/entities, cyberspace, borders, transport, supply chains, information and communication technologies, as well as space investments, technologies and facilities. It is worth noting that most Member States are in the process of transposing the Directive on the Resilience of Critical Entities into national law and developing related strategies.
5. SAFE is a Programme that can further enhance interoperability between the armed and security forces, as well as dual use in the defence / security / civil protection sectors in line with the framework put in place by the EU Preparedness Union Strategy to prevent and react to emerging threats and crises—in particular those in the areas of hybrid threats, border protection, the resilience of critical infrastructure, and cyber security.
6. It can act as a bottom-up catalyst for the emergence of a European strategic culture in both threat identification and investment planning; for the creation of collaborative economies of scale; and for the increased interoperability of assets and systems on the basis of a common European defence capability. This procedure has been followed in other cases where there were difficulties reaching an agreement at the Council level—for example, in the prevention of radicalization. However, there is always the risk that the absence of a statutory coordinating body could lead to fragmented proposals that simply reproduce the various strategic cultures and assessments of risk. Let’s hope that this time, the glass is half-full.

 

[1] For details on SAFE, see the relevant EXPLAINER by S. Blavoukas and P. Politis-Lamprou at https://www.eliamep.gr/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/EXPLAINER-4-EL.pdf. More generally, on the European Defence Fund and the EU Defence Industrial Ecosystem, see S. Blavoukos; P. Politis-Lamprou and G. Matsoukas at https://www.eliamep.gr/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Policy-paper-182-Blavoukos-Politis-Matsoukas-FINAL-EL.pdf

[2] https://defence-industry-space.ec.europa.eu/eu-defence-industry/safe-security-action-europe_en

[3] The classification is based on their weight and the altitude they can reach under normal conditions. Specifically, they are:
Class I: small>20 kg; mini 2-20 kg, micro<2kg
Class II: 150-600 kg (regular)
Class III: >600 kg with three subcategories (strike, HALE, MALE).
On the categories, and more generally on NATO’s approach to unmanned aerial vehicles, see Joint Air Power Competence Centre https://www.japcc.org/

Die Rufe nach einem Beschuss von unerlaubten Kampfjets aus Russland sind laut, auch US-Präsident Trump sprach sich dafür aus. Helge Adrians ist selbst Offizier und forscht bei der Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik zu internationalen Sicherheitsthemen. Worin der Experte aktuell die größte Gefahr sieht.

The Transatlantic Periscope is an interactive, multimedia tool that brings together expert commentary, high-quality media coverage, official policy documents, quantitative data, social media posts, and gray literature. It will provide on a monthly basis a summary of the most important news concerning the Greek-US relations, as reflected in the media. Below you will find an overview for August 2025.

On August 4, 2025, the Greek Minister of Environment and Energy, Stavros Papastavrou, met with the new Chargé d’Affaires at the US Embassy in Athens, Josh Huck, to discuss energy cooperation between Greece and the US and electricity interconnection projects in the Eastern Mediterranean. Papastavrou said that the discussion focused on energy cooperation, the South-North Vertical Gas Corridor, the utilization of infrastructure for American LNG in Revithoussa and Alexandroupolis, and the keen interest in electricity interconnection projects in the Eastern Mediterranean.

On the same day, a statement released by the American Hellenic Chamber of Commerce on the recent EU-US Trade Deal noted that the deal may present important opportunities for Greece. As it is specifically noted in the statement: “As a member of both the EU and NATO, and as a growing logistics, energy, and digital hub in Southeastern Europe, Greece stands to benefit significantly from the strengthening of transatlantic trade ties. In fact, improved market access, increased regulatory coordination, and the prospect of expanded zero-for-zero tariff arrangements can translate into tangible results for Greek exporters, investors, and technology-driven sectors”.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio held a call with Prime Minister of Greece Kyriakos Mitsotakis on August 8 regarding the strategic importance of US–Greece energy cooperation in the Eastern Mediterranean. During the call, Secretary Rubio reaffirmed the continued strength of the United States’ bilateral relationship with Greece and its role as a key NATO Ally.

At the same time, Greece and the United States are in talks to revise their Mutual Defense Cooperation Agreement (MDCA), a move that could see the establishment of two new bases for US forces in mainland Greece and a significant expansion of the American military footprint in the country. The ongoing negotiations are also focused on upgrading existing facilities. The US will remain in the strategic northeastern port of Alexandroupoli and is set to spend $42 million to upgrade its naval base at Souda Bay in Crete. According to officials, the two new locations being considered for US forces are the Petrochori firing range in the western Peloponnese and the Dalipis Army Base near Thessaloniki.

More at: https://transatlanticperiscope.org/relationship/GR#

The economist articulated a series of statist economic principles that continue to guide decision-making in Indonesia to the present day.

The advent of artificial intelligence has the potential to enhance nations' military capabilities. It has also created a host of new security challenges.

Despite the recent turbulence in the relationship, geopolitical realities will continue to push New Delhi to seek a closer relationship with Washington.

President Prabowo Subianto is accused of eroding the firewall erected between the military and civilian spheres after the fall of Suharto in 1998.