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Communications systems are being targeted by NATO’s enemies. New technology is needed to ensure decision-makers are not blinded by attacks. A critical fiber optic cable next to a Swedish highway of significant strategic military importance was found cut in several places in October. Such attacks are becoming commonplace — police have investigated around 30 acts of sabotage attacks, mostly along the same road, according to a June report.  The implications are profoundly worry

When many US taxpayers hear about Ukraine, they ask: what’s in it for us? The story of Ukraine's largest oil company shows why helping Kyiv can put America first. Source: FREEDOM In November 2022, nine months after Russia’s full-scale invasion, Ukraine seized Ukrnafta from oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky. The once-mighty petrochemical behemoth was near collapse — with just $10m in the bank, billion-dollar tax debts , and a $14m payroll it could barely meet.   Yet under reformist man

The ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine is among the most technologically advanced wars the world has ever seen. But while the rapid developments taking place in drone warfare tend to attract most attention, the cyber front of the conflict also offers important lessons for international audiences. The Russian state and affiliated groups have been refining their cyber warfare tactics in Ukraine ever since the initial onset of Russian aggression in 2014. In January 2022, Ukrain

With COP30 underway, the consequences of ongoing climate change are all around us . This summer in Spain, in the midst of an unprecedented heatwave , some 380,000 hectares burned in wildfires. This area was the fifth largest on record , despite decades of work to improve prevention measures and give harsher sentences to those who start fires. Portugal also suffered, with fires destroying 260,000 hectares – proportionately, the largest burn area in Europe. Even in Paris, autho

Estonia responds to Russian trolling with ridicule. By Edward Lucas Source: Estonian MFA Russia’s Wagner Group mercenaries are not the kind of people you want to see on your doorstep. So it was unwelcome news in Estonia when border guards spotted  the group’s distinctive flag (skull and lightning bolts on black) on a Russian patrol boat on the Narva river. All the more so because Estonia is battling lazy journalism  that depicts its eastern border city as a likely Russian tar

The pro-Kremlin disinformation machine is seeking to undermine the EU’s sanctions policy by attacking its Green Deal. In its quest for the tiniest bit of news that could be twisted to undermine liberal democracy around the world, the Kremlin’s disinformation machine occasionally seizes on an issue that it otherwise treats with disinterest or disdain. So it is with climate change. The pro-Kremlin disinformation ecosystem tends to ignore it: The COP30 climate conference, schedu

Missiles are not a panacea for air defense. Europe needs a return to guns – they’re cheaper and more practical. Photo: 115 separate mechanized brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine For decades, defense departments and the defense industry have pushed missiles as the solution to target destruction. The tank? Use a missile. The helicopter? Use a missile. And the low-flying MiG-29 or cruise missile? Don’t worry, we have missiles for that.  But this reliance ignores the lessons

A screenshot from the video with a captured Indian national, Majoti Sahil Mohamed Hussein. (The 63rd Mechanized Brigade / Telegram) As Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine approaches the four-year mark, Moscow is facing increasing difficulties replenishing the ranks of its invading army. With fewer Russians now prepared to volunteer, the Kremlin is seeking to recruit more foreign fighters to serve in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s colonial war. A number of recent media

Europe must harness dual-use technology to more swiftly deliver battlefield innovation. Kraken Technology Group picture Dual-use is not new, and Europe has a proud history of commercial-military innovation. In World War I, Renault adapted industrial expertise to create the pioneering FT tank , while in World War II, Ford’s UK plants pivoted to produce tanks, shipyards retooled and Bletchley Park fused government, industry and academia to crack codes and pioneer early computin

Anti-drone nets installed on a highway near Kherson. Photo: IPC-South On October 20, pensioner Larisa Vakulyuk was killed by a Russian drone while tending to her goats in the Ukrainian city of Kherson. The murder of the 84 year old Ukrainian grandmother was a deliberate act carried out by a Russian drone operator using a video camera to hunt his victim. There can be no realistic doubt that he knew exactly what he was doing. One week earlier, Russian drones attacked a United

Political meddling has long hampered German intelligence and security. Not any more. By Edward Lucas Penetrated by the opposition, paralysed by legal obstacles and subject to political interference, Germany’s intelligence services were for decades seen as at best useless, and at worst outright harmful. I remember a British spook in cold-war Berlin in the 1980s joking: “If you want Gorbachev to know something quickly, tell the Germans in strict secrecy: it will be on his desk

In the digital age, disinformation campaigns have evolved beyond social media and ‘fake news’, becoming a full form of information warfare – an area in which Russia excels. The Kremlin’s foreign information manipulation and interference (FIMI) campaigns have remained largely consistent since the Cold War. But the emergence of the Internet and other communication technologies have allowed for more flexibility and greater impact with fewer resources. Just as the Web 2.0 reshape

Poland’s battle against cyberattacks should be a warning and an example for the West as governments seek to counter their enemies’ hybrid tactics. Source: Embassy of the Republic of Poland in London A hospital was forced to suspend operations. A city’s water network was infiltrated . Dozens of daily cyberattacks are hammering Poland’s municipal systems.   This is the new normal in an era of irregular warfare. Officials report 20 to 50 attacks a day , with most blocked, but s

Russia is holding and torturing Ukrainian civilians, though they are not charged, have had no due process and no release date. Ukrainian warriors of the Armed Forces, the National Guard, the State Border Guard Service, and civilians. Most of them had been in captivity since 2022. / Source Volodymyr Zelenskyy Official Facebook Page. Dmytro Khilyuk spent more than three years in brutal conditions in Russian captivity, and marked his 20 years as a journalist while being held at

Getting accurate information and news is harder than ever in the social media age, but close to existential in a country at war. As with much of the world, traditional Ukrainian outlets like television, newspapers, and radio play a diminishing role. Citizens have increasingly turned instead to Telegram, YouTube, and Facebook, even though trust in these digital platforms is strikingly low.   A survey of 2,000 Ukrainians by Rating Group , a Kyiv-based research organization, hig

Russian drone incursions mark an acceleration in the Kremlin's hybrid war on the West. NATO members should study Ukraine's frontline labs to prepare for what comes next. Source: 427th Separate Regiment of Unmanned Systems "RAROG" The Russia-Ukraine conflict has radically changed the understanding of modern warfare. Aviation no longer has absolute control of the air, and advanced tanks and armored vehicles have had their vulnerability exposed by relatively inexpensive unmanned

The Kremlin’s planners prepared well for their full-scale invasion of Ukraine, building up currency reserves and later boosting growth through military spending. But the Russian economy is beginning to show signs of weakness as Moscow’s illegal war continues. For years, Russian state outlets and pro-Kremlin commentators have boasted of Russia’s great economy despite Western sanctions that greatly intensified after Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. In

With a bit of imagination and courage, NATO can impose immediate costs for Russia’s hybrid war operations. Source: NATO Airborne Early...

What should be Europe’s strategy as aggressive imperial powers seek to conquer territory? Ancient Greece offers some guidance. Source:...

What looks like a dream job abroad is, in reality, a conveyor belt into Moscow’s war machine. Influencers generally promote beauty...