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Germany loses out on UN Security Council seat to Austria, Schröder spotted in Moscow and French jets scrambled 11 times on Baltic Air Policing mission

Germany loses out on UN Security Council seat to Austria, Schröder spotted in Moscow and French jets scrambled 11 times on Baltic Air Policing mission

This week, a brief note that might have otherwise gone unnoticed. 

A Swissinfo headline this week intimates at the ambivalence of the West to understand what it was defending: "Hong Kong overtakes Switzerland as global hub for offshore wealth".

You can be Swiss and not care at all about Ukraine, the Baltic states, the free world—in fact there are more than a few like this. Here though is a headline that might give one pause. It might even provoke a moment's reflection regarding what part of the world the nation-state belongs to.

Switzerland perhaps did not understand what it was defending. There were bromides about peace and neutrality, but behind this was something deeper that offered a wealth of intelligence that helped keep the West a bit more secure even. The country understood the privilege and riches that went into its role as the world's private banker but without understanding quite why it was given the task. 

If there are four levers of value every intelligence agent knows well when it comes to assessing and evaluating a target it is money, ideology, compromising material and ego. There was a responsibility that came with opportunism. Most importantly in Switzerland and for the West, there are no laws on the books akin to the National Security Law China imposed on Hong Kong.

Remember, there is this expression: follow the money. Now for those even in the Alps, the pivot to Asia is real and underway.

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NEW YORK CITY, US – Germany loses temporary UN security council seat to Austria

  • Deutsche Welle reports Wednesday that "German lost a vote" for one of two temporary seats reserved for "Western Europe and Others" on the UN Security Council to Austria and Portugal.
  • German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said the result was "a real disappointment". According to the BBC, Wadephul said "Germany's leading role in rallying support for Ukraine" as well as "its close relations with Israel" may have doomed the coumtry's bid for the UN Security Council seat in addition to opposition "stirred up" by Russia
  • A two-thirds majority of votes in the wider UN General Assembly was required "to land a temporary seat" for the next two years. Portugal received 134 votes, Austria received 131 and Germany only 104.

 

MOSCOW, RUSSIA – Former German Chancellor spotted ahead of economic forum

  • Ukrainian state-run United24 reports Tuesday that former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder was spotted visiting Moscow ahead of the St Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), the Kremlin's answer to Davos.
  • Schröder was spotted at the Kempinski Hotel by German n-tv's Rainer Munz.
  • Members of the Bundestag from Germany's far-right AfD including Markus Frohnmaier were also in attendance at this year's SPIEF in addition to several US-based far-right influencers.

 

RUSSIAN-BALTIC BORDER – French jets scrambled 11 times over the last week

  • Reuters reports Thursday that French jets were scrambled 11 times over the past week after drones strayed into the air space of Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania from Russian territory.
  • The announcement came from the French Armed Forces spokesman as part of NATO's Baltic Air Policing mission which "protects the air space of the three Baltic states" with "rotating deployments of NATO fighter jets" which are "filling gaps in their own capabilities."
  • By the standards of the routine mission, the "unusually high number of interceptions could signal that Moscow was seeking to flex its muscles in the same week it hosted its annual SPIEF.

 

NEAR COPENHAGEN, DENMARK – Eighth member of Hamas cell arrested on German tip

  • The Jerusalem Post reports last Friday that a man identified as the "eighth member" of a Hamas cell in Europe named Yousif C., identified only as such according to German privacy laws, was arrested by Danish police near Copenhagen "after German prosecutors issued a warrant".
  • The arrest took place last Wednesday "in connection with arms procurement for a Hamas plot to attack Jewish and Israeli sites in Europe," according to German federal prosecutors. It is the eighth such a rest in connection with this network or cell.
  • Yousif C. is alleged to have delivered five pistols and ammunition to another alleged member of the cell, Abdel Al G., last July. Abdel Al G. was arrested last October 1, and he had allegedly delivered weapons to a British member of the cell, Mohammad A., who was arrested last November.  

 

PARIS, FRANCE – Russian embassy objects to France detaining 'shadow fleet' ship captain

  • Reuters reports Wednesday that the Russian embassy in Paris "is demanding that France released the captain of a tanker detained in France" after the French navy "intercepted a sanctioned tanker, the Tagor, linked to the Russian oil trade in the Atlantic Ocean."
  • France "ordered" the Tagor "to head to the French mainland," after it intercepted the vessel in the Bay of Douarnenez, according to Euronews, which the Russian state says is akin to "international piracy". French authorities "informed" Moscow about the detention of the Tagor's captain, a Russian national. The Russian embassy describes the detention and charges the Russian captain is facing as "trumped up".
  • Russia's reliance on "old vessels" to move its oil cargo as part of the country's "shadow fleet" is rejected by France and the UK which have both "vowed to obstruct" the ships "as part of a European strategy to reduce Russia's ability to fund its war in Ukraine." Euronews notes the vessel appears to be "linked" to Mohammad Hossein Shamkhani, "the son of former Iranian national security chief Ali Shamkani" and among "the most prominent figures accused of facilitating both Russian and Iranian oil exports"

 

PARIS, FRANCE – Riots after Paris St-Germain Champions League victory, over 200 injured

  • The BBC reports Sunday that "A total of 219 people" were injured following the Champions League victory of Paris St-Germain (PSG) over Arsenal on Saturday.
  • Eight of the injured were in serious condition. Nearly 800 people were under arrest as "Thousands of officers were deployed to curb unrest that disrupted bus, train and rail services in the capital, Paris."
  • One person was "found dead" on the ring road around Paris after "rioters tried to block" it.

 

PARIS, FRANCE – Macron opens monument dedicated to victims of Rwandan genocide

  • Agence France Presse reports Tuesday that French President Emmanuel Macron opened "a memorial in Paris dedicated to the victims of the 1994 Rwandan genocide" beside his Rwandan counterpart, Paul Kagame.
  • Titled "The Archive", the memorial "consists of two black brass steles, and it bears an engraved tribute to the estimated 800,000 men, women and children, most of them ethnic Tutsis" who were slaughtered with little more than machetes "between April and July 1994."
  • The memorial's opening comes five years after Macron "acknowledged France's failure to heed warnings" ahead of the genocide while on an official visit to the Rwandan capital of Kigali.

 

AMENDOLARA, ITALY – Four migrants burned alive in vehicle

  • The Guardian reports Wednesday that "four men – three Afghans and one from Pakistan – were allegedly burned alive in a car at a petrol station in Calabria."
  • The attack in a garage near in Amendolara close to Costenza was caught on surveillance cameras. The footage has aired on both private and public Italian television.
  • Two Pakistani nationals are under arrest on charges of aggravated murder, according to the public prosecutor. Both suspects are allegedly part of a "huge Pakistani mafia", according to the lone survivor, an Afghan national and strawberry picker who survived by escaping through the trunk of the car. He said previously the man had been "threatened with guns and knives" and "forced to work without pay and received only food and board."

 

REGGIO EMILIA, ITALY – Kanye West, Travis Scott concerts banned by authorities

  • NBC News reports Saturday that "Italy has banned two concerts involving US rappers Kanye West and Travis Scott" that were scheduled for July in the northern Italian city of Reggio Emilia out of public safety concerns.
  • Local prefect Salvatore Angieri "ordered the cancellation" citing "public order and security, including the potential for protests." Angieri cited requests from "consumer group CODACONS and the Jewish community in Modena and Reggio Emilia" for the cancellations.
  • Kanye West, known as Ye, "has faced a wave of cancellations" in Europe including in Poland, Switzerland and the UK after "years of antisemitic remarks, including statements praising Adolf Hitler and the release of content using Nazi imagery." In France, he postponed a scheduled show in Marseille after authorities raised concerns. However, Saturday night he performed in Istanbul and is scheduled to perform in the Netherlands in June "after its immigration minister said there were no legal grounds to deny him entry." Separately, a stampede at a 2021 Travis Scott concert "killed 10 people and injured hundreds."

 

VIENNA, AUSTRIA – Two Syrians, including ex-general, go on trial for torture, war crimes

  • The New York Times reports Monday that "Two Syrian officers accused of torture and war crimes went on trial in Vienna on Monday after hiding in plain sight in Europe for over a decade".
  • Khaled al-Halabi is a former brigadier general and is considered "the highest-ranking official of President Bashar Al-Assad's government to appear in a European court on charges of war crimes." For years, "He eluded investigators" with help from the Austrian and Israeli intelligence, "until his detention in 2024." He was previously head of state security in the Syrian city of Raqqa from 2011 until 2013 and was responsible for helping to suppress the protests there.
  • His co-defendant is Musab Abu Rukbah, "a former lieutenant colonel who had served as the head of investigations in the local criminal police department and later led the Political Security office, an intelligence agency within the Ministry of Interior, in Raqqa."  Both received asylum in Austria in 2015 and have been living there since. The Vienna Public Prosecutor's Office has indicted them on "charges of sexual coercion, aggravated coercion and inflicting bodily harm, with the purpose of suppressing the Syrian civil protest movement through force" and both have pleaded not guilty.

 

ZÜRICH, SWITZERLAND – Swiss reject US forced labor findings as key to reinstituting tariffs

  • Reuters reports Wedneday that the Swiss government "rejected US findings on how dozens of economies, including Switzerland, deal with goods imposed by forced labor" as part of "a probe that prompted Washington to threaten trading partners with fresh tariffs."
  • The Trump administration would ilke to impose additional tariffs ranging between 10-12.5% "on imports from 60 economies" citing "their failures to curb trade in goods made with forced labor" as they "hamper US commerce." By contrast, the Swiss Economy Ministry called economiesuisse (deliberately lower case because branding is a bit stuck in the 1990s) is "not being harmed by Switzerland's practices." Switzerland does not have "an import ban on goods made using forced labor".
  • Last year, Trump sought to impose a 39% tariff on Switzerland which was reduced after a delegation of Swiss business leaders delivered presents including a Rolex desk clock and a gold bar to the White House personally.

 

PLZEN, CZECHIA – Court permits extradition of far-right transgender German 'activist'

  • Reuters reports Monday that a court in Plzen, Czech Republic has authorized the potential extradition of German transgender far-right "activist" Marla-Svenja Liebich, previously known as Sven Liebich prior to her name and gender transition.
  • While Liebich retains the right to appeal, Liebich was "convicted of multiple offences" and was sentenced in 2023 "to 18 months in prison for offences including incitement to hatred, insult, trespass and defamation."
  • Liebich's conviction was upheld in August 2024 by a regional court in Halle and "An appeal to a regional court was dismissed in May 2025." Liebich officially adopted her gender change after a law called the Self-Determination Act came into effect on November 1, 2024. As a result, "regional prison allocation rules" led to "her transfer to Chemnitz women's prison," sparking debate within Germany though she failed to appear at the schedule date in August 2025 and instead fled to Czechia, leading to her capture.

 

LAM, GERMANY – Israelis denied accommodation for being Jewish through booking site

  • The Times of Israel reports Tuesday that "Israeli tourists were recently denied accommodation at a hotel in southern Germany after receiving a message through an online booking site stating," in part, "Sorry, there are no Jews allowed".
  • The Israeli Consulate in Munich made the incident at the Hotel zum Hirschen in Lam in Bavaria public and Israeli news site Ynet reportedly confirmed the authenticity of the message.
  • The guests filed complaints with the Bavarian Justice Ministry's commissioner for combating antisemitism as well as Booking.com "which has temporarily removed the property from its platform." Antisemitism in Germany remains "persistently high" with over 2,000 incidents recorded in just Berlin alone last year.

 

LJUBLJANA, SLOVENIA – Israir plane denied permission to land due to political reasons

  • The Times of Israel reports Wednesday that an Israir planed was "denied permission to touch down in Ljubljana due to the government's opposition to Israel," and instead forced to fly to Croatia before being granted permission to land.
  • The incident took place which took place Wednesday was condemend as "completely unacceptable" by Israel's foreign ministry.
  • Air traffic controllers at the Ljubljana airport were responsible for denying the plane permission to land, a "blatant violation of European Union aviation agreements", according to Israir's director Uri Sirkis who added that "Slovenian authorities are refusing to let any Israeli carriers land".

 

Stay safe and grounded!

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