Natalya Nepomnyashcha

29 Apr 13:50: Germany 🇩🇪 tallies risks as it weighs Rosneft refinery seizure: politico.eu: Me: ‘The answer seems all too predictable. They will likely bow to Russia. If Scholz gets his likely way. And will keep their Taurus missiles hidden from those pesky Ukrainians. Please read the article to form your own views. Comments welcomed. This article helps to indicate how Germany is glued to Russia. Rosneft Gazprom own the majority of German gas and oil industry … is what I’m being told. Would be grateful to others in the know to explain. In detail, please. It’s likely one of the reasons why Germany did not want to help Ukraine in early 2022. They were waiting for Russia to take over Kiev. Now, under pressure, they 🇩🇪 are changing their stance. But will they?’:

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🔵 Currently, Spain 🇪🇸 is the last allied country belonging #NATO in military investment. 🔵 Spain has fallen to the last position in military investment among NATO countries. 🔵 It stands at 1.2% of GDP, far from the 2% agreed upon in 2014 by the members of the Atlantic Alliance. 🔵 The Russian threat has led to an unprecedented leap in defense spending. 23 of the 32 allies already meet that minimum. 🔵 Before the invasion of Crimea, there were only three. Spain hopes to reach the figure by 2029.

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15 Jun 05:50: BBC News: Ukraine 🇺🇦👶🏼🧒🏼👨🏻👵🏻🇺🇦 seeks show of support at giant Swiss 🌎🇨🇭🌍🇨🇭🌏 summit: (Includes Multiple associated article links): Europe: 1 hour ago: Updated 1 hour ago Dozens of world leaders will be at the conference in Bürgenstock: Sarah Rainsford: Eastern Europe correspondent: This weekend, a secluded Swiss resort above Lake Lucerne will be transformed as dozens of world leaders and thousands of soldiers and police descend on Bürgenstock. The Swiss hope that the Ukraine summit might produce the first tentative sketch marks for a peace process, some 28 months after Russia invaded its neighbour. It is the biggest gathering for Ukraine since the full-scale invasion. But with key players like China staying away, and putrid 👺🤡🤥🥷🏻 issuing a new (Me ‘ … and totally predictable … ) ultimatum - demanding Ukraine's capitulation and calling that a peace proposal - expectations of significant progress are low. russua has not been invited. For Ukraine, the mere fact this meeting is taking place is positive. Politicians in Kyiv have been hailing every confirmed participant as a gesture of support. For them, the giant summit should demonstrate to Moscow 👺🥷🏻 that the world stands on the side of Ukraine 🇺🇦 - and of international law:

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“Occupation changes life forever” In this article originally written for Hamburger Edition und Mittelweg 36 and translated for Eurozine magazine thanks to senior editor Simon Garnett, I identified and analyzed different types of Russian occupation of #Ukraine’s territories, and how it affected and continue affecting people, infrastructures, and quality of life, in short and long term. I also identified fascist practices in establishing occupation rule. For instance: “The occupation that began in February 2022 is often called the ‘new’ or ‘fresh’ occupation in Ukraine. There is indeed one thing that distinguishes it from the occupation of 2014: the seizing of territory was carried out not by separatists with the secret help of the Russians, but directly by Russian military personnel and FSB officers. The Russian occupiers treat the residents much more brutally than even separatists would have done. Indeed, there is much evidence that Russians treat their local collaborator ‘colleagues’ as expendable: for example, troops of the ‘People’s Republics’ of Donetsk and Luhansk are sent to serve at the most dangerous areas of the front or forced to carry out the ‘dirtiest’ jobs.” Occupation is one of my key topics I work on through my entire journalist career. I became a war reporter when Russia invaded my hometown in Crimea back in 2014, and since then I’m covering wars and its impact on people’s lives. It doesn’t give any pleasure, but I believe that collecting evidence locally, analyzing patterns and consequences of wrongdoing, and making it visible can help us with solutions globally. Humans are creatures who learn from experiences, both their own and learned from the stories of others, so, the better we tell each other about the experiences, I believe, the sooner we start generating solutions. Please read this piece, and I’d love to hear the feedback. https://lnkd.in/d7-k4Jqq (In Eurozine, you can also read one of the chapters of my book ‘Goodbye, ISIS. What remains is future’ about foreign fighters from Easter Europe within Islamic State and other terrorist groups, translated by incredible Kate Tsurkan with the support of IWM - Institut für die Wissenschaften vom Menschen)

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29 Jun 06:40: The Times: (Online Option 1 of 2: 44 Page Article: possible paywall for some: Option 2 Readable-to-All 5 part Posts 1 to 5 ‘immediately follow’): INVESTIGATION: Killings, coups and chaos: inside Putin's 🥷🏻🕵🏻‍♂️🤡🕵🏿‍♀️🤥👀👺 secret spy war on Europe: Moscow's operations have escalated across the continent, from employing thugs for hits in sympathetic countries to massive covert campaigns to sow havoc: Fri Jun 28 2024, 6.00pm, The Times: Sergei Beseda's retirement was a low-key affair. After decades of service to Russia's intelligence apparatus, his was a career that ended in catastrophe. As head of the FSB's Fifth Service, responsible for operations within the former Soviet Union, the veteran spymaster who stood down last week received much of the blame for the failure to adequately prepare the ground before the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. There were those in the West who sought to draw from this episode the idea that Russian intelligence was a paper tiger that for too long had basked in the fearsome reputation of its Soviet and Tsarist forebears. As the two years since have shown, however, they were wrong. From that moment of crisis, Russia's security services have regrouped and responded with a renewed confidence. Once beset by infighting, the three security agencies — the FSB, the GRU and the SVR - are now working with each other more than at any time since the Second World War, analysts say. And as those such as Beseda are being shown the door, a younger generation of ambitious spymasters is ascending the ranks: Me: ‘Please read on. The article works through multiple European countries with examples of how each has been impacted by russian hybrid war activities’:

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I wanted to share some of my thoughts after #NATO Washington Summit. Cause it shouldn't be only about #Ukraine Some of the key #recommendations: 📢 First, it is about #sanctions. The sophistication of a weapons system directly correlates with its dependency on these imported parts. The ‘targeted’ and selective nature of the sanctions clearly indicates that the Western world still has a misguided understanding of the Russian regime. 🛠️Therefore, the philosophy behind the sanctions needs a fundamental shift. Instead of naively hoping that the symbolic impact of sanctions will alter Russia’s policy, there must be a recognition that sanctions are a vital component in the economic war against Russian and global neo-imperialism and totalitarianism. 🔔 Secondly, if EU and NATO member states are committed to supporting Ukraine, there must be a clear strategy to ensure Ukraine’s victory and Russia’s defeat. Supporting Ukraine’s NATO membership benefits the entire Alliance by enhancing both regional and global security. 🎛 cooperation between NATO member states and Ukraine should be more in the military-technological sector. Therefore, on the sidelines of the Summit, the Ministry of Strategic Industries of Ukraine opened the first foreign representative office of Ukroboronprom. This move marks a window of opportunity for defence projects with Ukraine’s allies, particularly the United States. 📫 it is about leadership and the potential ‘Trump effect’. Why not unite the leadership efforts of the UK, Germany, Italy and France even more in order to lead European allies against Russian aggression? By coordinating their strategies, these key nations can provide a stronger, unified front to counter aggression and ensure a more robust defence posture for the entire Alliance. Thanks to the Friends of Europe for this space to reflect and share There is more here 🔽

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Berlin- The Green Party, in this case Hofreiter, always hold unrealistic views. On the one hand, they actively advocate military support for Ukraine with defence equipment, which is in Germany's original interest. On the other hand, the Green politician Hofreiter wants to enable hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians in Germany to refuse military service. Germany should issue them with replacement documents. In fact, this misses the legal reality. Or is Hofreiter now campaigning for German soldiers to operate German weapons in Ukraine, while Ukrainian men fit for military service go on holiday on German shores and receive citizen's money? The destructiveness of so-called Green politics is not only evident in energy and infrastructure policy...

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PLAIN SPEAKING – A RARITY IN POLITICS (delay and procrastination over Ukraine – and Israel) Olaf Scholz is an “autistic know-it-all,” the chairman of the German parliament’s defence committee has said, as tensions rise over Berlin’s refusal to send powerful missiles to Ukraine. Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, a politician from Mr Scholz’s coalition ally the FDP, made the harsh jibe amid frustration over his decision not to send Taurus missiles to Kyiv, among other alleged failings in office. She told German newspaper Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung: “After three years, I’ve noticed that he has virtually autistic traits, both in terms of his social contact in politics and cannot get through to him because he is a crass know-it-all.” She went on to claim that Mr Scholz’s own allies felt the same way towards the German Chancellor and had complained about it to her as well. She said that time-consuming debates in the German government about which weapons or supplies they could send has proven to be a “catastrophe for Ukraine”. She also accused Mr Scholz of refusing to provide Taurus missiles for domestic political reasons, not European security, suggesting he fears a backlash from dovish leaders in his centre-left SPD party. In a departure from the usual ‘politico-speak’, her language may be somewhat “bare-knuckle’ but better that, to convey the urgency and importance of what is at stake. However, whether or not it achieves the objective remains an open question. And that ‘open question’ apples to the treatment of another democracy. Ukraine and I will add, Israel, another democracy, are fighting for their very existence. against an implacable enemies, The new Soviet Empire and Hamas/Iran respectively. Ukraine is being ‘drip fed’ vital armaments, despite the constant stream of pledges from the Democracies and Israel is being asked to fight with one arm tied behind its back rather than go ‘all-out’ to quickly win this atrocious war. Put simply, Ukraine lacks crucial weapons from a major European country because of the behaviour of its leader, and Israel is being subjected to an erratic, hot-cold policy from the U.S President, the leader of Western Democracies. This is not good for either country or for the Western Democracies. It is time to stand up to those who threaten us all not try to appease them. History shows us that ‘appeasement’ always ends badly.

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André Larané reminds us that on June 22, 1941, at 4 a.m., General Zhukov’s urgent phone call to Stalin marked the start of a brutal and undeclared war as German troops crossed into the Soviet Union. Exactly one year after the Franco-German armistice, the Wehrmacht initiated Operation Barbarossa. The irony of this invasion is stark, given that just two years earlier, on August 23, 1939, Hitler had formed a non-aggression pact with Stalin, securing a free hand against Western democracies. Operation Barbarossa was initially scheduled for May 15, 1941, but delays assisting Mussolini in Yugoslavia pushed it to June. This postponement proved critical, as it left the Wehrmacht unprepared for the harsh Russian winter, significantly impacting their progress. Despite German secrecy, Stalin was well informed through his secret services and agent Richard Sorge. Sorge’s intelligence and hints, including a peace offer from Rudolf Hess, should have alerted Stalin. However, trusting the non-aggression pact, Stalin was complacent until German tanks advanced. Initially, the Wehrmacht achieved significant successes, capturing large numbers of Soviet soldiers and equipment. However, logistical issues and harsh winter conditions stalled their advance near Moscow by December. The Soviet regime's rapid mobilization of resources showcased remarkable resilience. This effort included relocating critical industry eastwards and a relentless defense bolstered by American supplies. As the German advance slowed and Soviet resistance stiffened, a brutal partisan war ensued. Hitler’s racial policies alienated potential allies, complicating the invasion. By December 1941, the Soviet counter-offensive had begun, marking a pivotal shift. The unity and determination of the Soviet people, driven by patriotic calls, mobilized against insurmountable odds and changed history. The atrocities of Stalin's regime were fully exposed by Khrushchev in 1956, revealing their true extent. While past grievances are significant, historical alliances, such as those during WWII, show how nations can unite against common threats. Wars, however, often spawn new conflicts, driven by conflicting interests and unforeseen enemies, complicating post-war realities and geopolitical dynamics. #sundaysofhistory #operationbarbarossa #worldwar #germany #sovietunion #hitler #stalin Herodote.net André Larané

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A few years ago, I was at #RigaStratComDialogue. To this day, one of the most compelling and thought provoking events I’ve ever attended with a myriad of international experts. The 2024 edition, marking its 10th year, kicked off today with a keynote from Janis Sarts director of the NATO Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence. A thought to consider: "Boundaries have ceased to exist in an #information space. Conflicts still might be regional, but information surrounding them is global (...) We cannot be late to respond.” Often, far away from regional conflicts, information or disinformation, shapes our perception and understanding. Enter AI and there are both risks and opportunities. Are we, though, discerning with the right amount of skepticism? Do we have the tools to know the difference between what is true or not? And where do we put our trust? In the information or the source… much to consider. #StratCom

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Disinformation is the greatest threat to the free world and humanity because it creates separate realities where existential threats to Democracy, society, and human life can't be agreed upon, deliberated over, and addressed. Until this problem is faced and overcome, all our current and future problems ranging from global pandemics to climate change to violent coup attempts will only get worse. One interesting piece in this reporting is the fact that they openly acknowledge that the threat is not just from without, coming from hostile foreign governments used against other nations, but that the threat is also coming from within, from political parties and their media wings wielding it against their own country's citizens. The only dot they don't connect is non-governmental organizations such as corporations using disinformation on the public in the countries where they have business interests, to further their financial objectives. This video segment is focused on Germany and the EU, but it applies just as much if not more to other countries around the world such as the UK and the US which have relatively recently had disastrous experiences as the victims of disinformation campaigns orchestrated by the Russian government. #disinformation #misinformation #propaganda #freespeech #pressfreedoms #civilliberties

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#Russia🇷🇺 #GRU #BlackOps⚔️ #NYT 🇩🇪🇳🇱🇦🇹 US intelligence discovered a Russian plot to assassinate Armin #Papperger, CEO of the German arms manufacturer #Rheinmetall. The US informed Germany, whose security services then protected Papperger and foiled the plot. This was part of a series of planned assassinations targeting defense industry executives across Europe who are supporting Ukraine. The assassination plots are part of a larger campaign that includes #sabotage, #arson, and other #covert #activities. In response to potential Russian-backed sabotage threats, US military bases in Europe were placed on heightened alert. Additionally, various arrests and investigations across Europe have been linked to Russian-linked sabotage activities. To carry out these plans, investigaciones point russian illegal officials and female spenatz operatives are being deployed in international organizations and ONG based in #TheHague and #Vienna. #GRU #SVR #Sabotage

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