Europe

i gather that Y.V., seen speaking in this video, is not a favourite figure in this sub.

to expabd beyond echo chambers and raise cognitive flexibility it is important to engage critically with every side, especially since we're all european in this sub and are entering world-wide war. so i wanna read some critique on Yanis Varoufakir from here, if you who read this would find it in your interest to share reflections from hearing this video

The results suggest a material change in the electronic warfare environment. According to the report, the strongest events now blend forged GPS signals with simultaneous jamming of GLONASS, Galileo and BeiDou. The authors argue this imposes reliance on spoofed GPS inputs while denying access to independent satellite ranges. They recorded 83.5 percent GNSS availability in the worst period and more than four days of spoofing across June and July, including nearly 30 continuous hours inside a 48-hour window.

link to report

https://gpspatron.com/gnss-interference-in-the-baltic-sea-a-collaborative-study-by-gpspatron-and-gdynia-maritime-university/

Archived link

Russia's ability to carry out hybrid attacks suffered a setback in 2022 when European countries expelled spies operating under diplomatic cover. Now, Russia is actively rebuilding that capability and employing new tactics, [research fellow at the International Center for Defense and Security Marek] Kohv said.

"Russia is now recruiting people with criminal backgrounds as well as ordinary people on social media," the research fellow said.

Kohv said the damage caused by individuals recruited in this way is often significantly greater than that done by traditional spies.

"These people generally lack specialized training in firearms or explosives. When people without knowledge of explosives set fire to certain targets, the damage to civilians — casualties and injuries — can be significantly higher," he said.

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"Very, very often these recruited individuals do not actually know they're working for Russian intelligence services, and in such cases a trial can be more complicated because it might not be possible to prove a direct connection with Russian special services," the researcher said.

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[Igor Gretskiy, another research fellow at the International Center for Defense and Security] said European countries are now significantly more aware of the threats emanating from Russia.

"At the beginning of the year, it would have been unthinkable for someone to suggest shooting down aircraft violating a country's airspace. Now, that is no longer off the table," he said.

"Threat perception is key, because Russia knows very well that a portion of Europe's political elite fears escalation, Russia is a nuclear power, and so on. Putin is clearly aware of this and exploits it. That is why he keeps raising the stakes. I predict that next year we'll hear more nuclear blackmail messages from Russia. Russian authorities have always done this in extreme situations, trying to seize the initiative," Gretskiy outlined.

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With the war in Ukraine entering its fourth year, Finland is moving to strengthen its healthcare infrastructure.

Hospital operations are being made relocatable, buildings reinforced against attacks and medicine stockpiles expanded. To make this happen, roughly 100 million euros is being allocated for wellbeing counties in the state's third supplementary budget.

The reforms, prompted by lessons from Russia's war in Ukraine, aim to make hospitals and critical health services more resilient.

In practice, this can mean moving hospital operations below ground.

"The war has shown that hospitals and other healthcare services are not protected from military strikes — they can be targets," said Pekka Tulokas, an emergency manager at the preparedness unit working under the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health.

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Archived link

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While the world watches Ukraine’s grinding defensive struggle, a parallel crisis is building along NATO’s northeastern edge. The Baltic states, Poland, and Finland are rearming at a pace unseen since the Cold War — not against a theoretical threat, but against one their leaders describe as imminent and inevitable.

Moscow’s territorial demands have only hardened. On December 11, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov revived Russia’s December 2021 ultimatums as his baseline for any security arrangement — demands that would require NATO to withdraw all forces and weapons from every country that joined after 1997, effectively dismantling the alliance’s eastern presence. The Kremlin first issued these demands two months before invading Ukraine. That Lavrov is reiterating them now signals how little Russia’s war aims have moderated.

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Putin’s notion of “historical lands” is deliberately boundless. He openly denies Ukrainian statehood — “all of Ukraine is ours,” he told an economic forum this summer — but his revisionism extends far beyond Kyiv. In 2022, he equated the Soviet Union with “historical Russia,” a formulation that encompasses not just Ukraine but the Baltic republics, Finland, Poland, Moldova, the Caucasus, and Central Asia.

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Open warfare against NATO has not begun, but a shadow conflict is well advanced. Russian sabotage, electronic jamming, and military provocations have intensified sharply throughout 2025, with the Baltic Sea as the primary arena.

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Spanish investigators have confirmed that the Russian cargo vessel Ursa Major, which sank off the coast of Cartagena in December 2024, was carrying undeclared nuclear reactor components likely bound for North Korea.

According to La Verdad, the ship was part of Russia’s shadow fleet and took an unusual route from St. Petersburg to Vladivostok through the Mediterranean.

Though the ship’s manifest listed only empty containers and port equipment, aerial images revealed two large, undeclared containers at the stern. Authorities later identified them as housings for VM-4SG nuclear reactors.

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Spain concluded the shipment was headed for the North Korean port of Rason, which lacks the infrastructure to handle such cargo without specialized cranes—also found onboard.

On December 22, Spanish maritime controllers noticed the vessel losing speed and listing without explanation.

A distress signal followed on December 23. Spanish rescue units responded and found the ship heavily tilted. The captain claimed mechanical failure, but hull damage showed signs of an external strike consistent with a supercavitating torpedo.

The Russian warship Ivan Gren soon arrived, demanded control of the site, and launched flares—likely to disrupt satellite surveillance. Shortly after, the Ursa Major disappeared from the surface. Seismographs recorded underwater explosions, and the ship sank to a depth of 2,500 meters.

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Days later, the Russian vessel Yantar, capable of deep-sea recovery, arrived at the site—suggesting an effort to retrieve or destroy sensitive equipment. Spanish officials believe the reactor parts were part of a covert nuclear cooperation deal between Moscow and Pyongyang, following recent military agreements.

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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/40950866

Archive: https://archive.ph/wFWgm

China’s recent military exercise further increases cross-strait tensions and endangers international peace and stability.

Peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait are of strategic importance for regional and global security and prosperity. We reiterate our calls to exercise restraint and avoid any actions that may further escalate tensions, which should be resolved through cross-strait dialogue.

The EU has a direct interest in the preservation of the status quo in the Taiwan Strait. We oppose any unilateral actions that change the status quo, in particular by force or coercion.

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The EU joins the UK and several countries in East Asia, including Japan, South Korea, and the Philippines that expressed similar critique.

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The German federal government called for "restraint and dialogue," adding that "any change to the status quo must occur only peacefully and by mutual agreement."

France expressed concern about "the scale of Chinese military exercises near Taiwan and urged all sides to refrain from escalation in order to preserve peace and stability in the region."

Meanwhile, the United Kingdom, via its Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, said it did not support "any unilateral attempts to change the status quo or any activity that risks destabilising it."

Japan, South Korea and the Philippines issued similar responses.

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cross-posted from: https://mander.xyz/post/44622771

The Anti-Corruption Foundation (ACF), founded by the late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, has revealed the existence of yet another luxury palace linked to Vladimir Putin, this one on Cape Aya in Crimea. According to the investigation, the foundation obtained photographs of the secret property as well as detailed architectural plans. The cost of building the palace is estimated at about 10 billion rubles (roughly $125 million).

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According to the investigation, the complex features lavish interiors, a private medical center, a spa, a cryotherapy chamber, a helipad, an extensive private waterfront, and round-the-clock security. Technical facilities, buildings for staff, and an additional helipad are located higher up the slope.

The ACF published photographs of the interiors, including a ceremonial hall measuring 233 square meters (about 2,500 square feet)

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The linked article offers nice pictures:

• A bedroom of 154 square meters:
• As well as a 50-square-meter bathroom fitted with faucets costing nearly 3 million rubles ($38,000). Project documents show the bathroom contains 15 fittings with a combined price exceeding 11 million rubles ($140,000)
• One floor below, the palace has a private hospital. It includes a “general practitioner’s office” equipped with an ultrasound machine costing about 2 million rubles ($25,500), examination and massage tables, laboratory testing equipment, an electrocardiograph and physiotherapy devices. Nearby is a dental office, and farther down the corridor is an operating room with a surgical table priced at 4 million rubles ($51,000), a ventilator, a defibrillator-monitor, anesthesia equipment, patient monitoring systems, an X-ray machine, and devices for gastroscopy and colonoscopy.
• The left wing of the same floor houses a spa center, including a swimming pool.

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The foundation said the construction was financed in part by Vladimir Kolbin, the son of Putin’s childhood friend Pyotr Kolbin.

“Vladimir Kolbin paid for the construction of a winery at Putin's palace in Gelendzhik. We also found out that he gave 405 million rubles ($5.2 million) for the Crimean dacha. The company Aratron turned out to be the main sponsor of the construction on Cape Aya. This company transferred 3.6 billion rubles ($45.8 million)to the account of Bereg LLC [which owns the property]. And, of course, Kovalchuk and his network of offshore companies — Forstis — also participated in the Crimean construction project: almost 2 billion rubles ($25.5 million)came from this offshore company.”

Web archive link

Archived link

Britain faces a “silent vulnerability” from Chinese microchips embedded in growing numbers of everyday appliances and cars, a Labour MP has warned.

The reliance on Chinese components for remote-controlled appliances created the risk that vital household technology could be disabled by China, according to Graeme Downie, who chairs the Coalition on Secure Technology campaign group.

Downie argued it was not a theoretical risk but a “real vulnerability in the systems that power our homes, hospitals and national infrastructure” and said ministers must act to reduce the country’s reliance on Chinese microchips by investing in alternatives manufactured in the UK or in allied countries.

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The microchips transmit and receive information through computer networks, known as Chinese-made cellular IoT modules (CIMs). They enable real-time data transmission as well as remote control and predictive analytics. They have been described as “gateways to computers” and can be accessed by their manufacturer at any time.

Research by the Coalition on Secure Technology found that two thirds of all CIMs were supplied by a handful of Chinese firms: the Shanghai-based Quectel and, in Shenzhen, a city in southeast China often referred to as the country’s Silicon Valley, Kaifa Technology and Fibocom.

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Chinese companies are subject to strict regulatory requirements that compel them to act on instructions from the ruling Chinese Communist Party and state authorities. This is particularly the case for issues deemed important to national security, prompting concerns that embedding Chinese-manufactured devices in so much of Britain’s technology could hand Beijing the capacity to cause widespread disruption by disabling devices or entire networks. While the devices cannot be used to hack into systems remotely, they can be disabled and used to collect data.

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Sir Richard Dearlove, the former head of MI6, and Charles Parton, a veteran diplomat, have warned that the dominance of Chinese companies in the IoT industry could allow Beijing to switch off Britain’s traffic lights and “immobilise London”.

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title of video: The EU is in a toxic relationship with Elon Musk’s X. We’re attacked, misrepresented, and our laws are ignored.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/23670064

AI-generated videos promoting Poland's exit from the European Union have appeared on Polish-language social media, featuring non-existent, attractive young women advocating for "Polexit".

One TikTok account called "Prawilne Polki" published content showing women dressed in T-shirts bearing Polish flags and patriotic symbols, European analytics collective Res Futura said. The content targeted audiences aged 15 to 25.

The videos featured statements including: "I want Polexit because I want freedom of choice, even if it will be more expensive. I don't remember Poland before the European Union, but I feel it was more Polish then."

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/40915456

The Hollywood actor is a prominent donor to the Democratic Party in the United States. In recent years, that has regularly led to criticism from President Trump, who has called him a “second-rate movie star,” among other things. According to Clooney, it didn’t bother him much. “It’s not my job to keep the President of the United States happy.”