Hybrid war autumn is here with riots, bomb threats to aviation and freezer and blood bank hacks across the Alpine region and Europe

Recall that window of opportunity for Russia to attack Europe everyone warned about for years (and few paid attention to)? From now until 2030, and especially after the US midterms this week, and the great blue wave that hit the country, part of a wider, Western democracy anti-incumbency fervor, we in Europe are maximally vulnerable. And, less there be any doubt, the wave of street rioting, grocery store freezer and blood bank hacks as well as bomb threats against airplanes across Europe are all pro forma from the Russians' hybrid warfare playbook.

While formally the attacks remain unattributed, it is increasingly unlikely that such coordination and rigor can be blamed on "somebody sitting on their bed that weighs 400 pounds", as then-presidential candidate Donald Trump suggested in a 2016 debate against his then opponent Hillary Clinton regarding the hack of the Democratic National Committee that year. Make no mistake about it, insofar as Russia or any hostile foreign or domestic adversary cares about feelings or neutrality, it is purely from a predatory position of exploitation.

That said, it was also in 2016 when a newly minted MAGA movement was chest thumping and shouting such polite slogans as "fuck your feelings". A decade later, the boomerang swung back and the Republicans lost in places you have to go back decades if not generations to recall Democrats being elected to state-wide offices. To lose Texas, Ohio and Kansas in one go along with the Georgia statehouse and the late South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham's seat is a genuine achievement. As the American vernacular has it, FAFO.

In Europe, however, the anti-incumbency mood is still swinging hard left and hard right, with National Rally candidate Marine Le Pen leading with double digits. Recall, her father is one of the postwar period's great antisemites. In Germany, the Alternativ für Deutschland is polling strong nationwide, eclipsing the Christian Democrats of German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. And the last German politician to really be embroiled in a national scandal around antisemitism (but permitted to remain in office because nie wieder bis wieder!) has died in unclear circumstances in a Berlin hotel this week (see our weekly round up of news items below).

Bottom line: when the far left is rioting in the streets, it is often enough to open a clearing and the Overton window for the far right. Be afraid but be courageous. It is the hour for courage, the one commodity sorely lacking in Europe beyond the frontline states these days. As the old Saturday Night Live adage repeated by many characters over many decades has it, denial is not just a river in Egypt.

Then there is the old adage that when America sneezes, Europe catches a cold. Given the US swung hard away from MAGA and the Republican Party than it has in decades, if not generations, this midterm election cycle, it is unclear how the outcome of the midterms will impact Europe. To be perfectly clear, the Congressional and statehouse victories of the Democrats this week are a low impact event for US foreign policy even after everyone is sworn into office in January. Trump still has two years and ample time to make of his legacy what he will.

Also unclear is how much influence a diminished America under Donald Trump has on the rest of the world. If might equals right under the current rules of engagement and US weapons stockpiles are diminished after the ill-advised and conceived war against Iran, what is American power in the world today with regard to other Western democracies in the weeks, months and years to come?

While I do not by any means have all the answers, I will be joining American cult expert and author of The Cult of Trump Steve Hassan this evening at 8pm Central European Time and this afternoon at 2pm Eastern Standard Time to discuss European perspectives on the US midterms on a livestream. Join us then! I also strongly recommend his book Combatting Cult Miind Control if you have not already stumbled upon it yet. Europeans need to catch up and it is a fine place to start.

Welcome to this week's Alpine Security Monitor from the center of the gathering maelstrom, neutral Switzerland. We urge you to subscribe (and become a paid subscriber!) for weekly updates on security and geopolitics as it concerns the Alpine region, namely Austria, Czechia, France, Germany, Italy, Slovenia and Switzerland (ok, little Liechtenstein and Monaco too when merited). Tell your friends!

ACROSS THE ALPINE REGION – Weekend protests continue, with looting in places

In France, Euronews reports protests continued for a third straight weekend across the country with lower turnout and fewer incidents of violence compared to the previous weekends. In the center of Paris, minors faced a curfew over the weekend and over 40 metro stations were closed.
In Germany, the BBC reports that largely peaceful protests by thousands of people in cities such as Frankfurt, Berlin, Hamburg and Cologne were followed by incidents of violence and rioting. In central Frankfurt, rioters looted shops on Saturday. Authorities said that roughly 100 "clearly identified left-wing extremists" infiltrated the protest in Frankfurt. The peaceful demonstrations were organized under the banner "Gen Z takes charge" and were allegedly motivated by "underfunding in schools, the high cost of living, public spending cuts and military service".
In Italy, Reuters reports that thousands of protesters, mainly students and workers, took to the streets on Friday across the country to protest against the rising cost of living and to demand higher wages and better public services. The demonstrations were largely peaceful, "although tensions flared in some areas".
In Switzerland, Swissinfo reports that two unauthorized demonstrations in Basel and Zürich turned violent. In Zürich, hundreds of people gathered to protest near the main train station with some setting fire to garbage cans, bicycles and a car in the evening. A crowd also attacked police responding to a medical emergency while police used water cannons to quell the unrest. In Basel, roughly 150 people took part in a demonstration, with some protestors setting fire to garbage cans and erecting barricades which they set alight.
In Austria, Blue News reports that riots broke out in Vienna on Halloween night and five people were detained for "resisting arrest or on suspicion of property damage".

ACROSS THE ALPINE REGION – Flights disrupted by wave of hoax bomb threats

Reuters reports Thursday that fake bomb threats disrupted nearly 30 passenger flights across Europe.
Already earlier in the week, around seven flights were affected by hoax threats. The new, much bigger wave hit flights destined for Paris, Rome, Milan, Prague and elsewhere. Some of the flights were forced to make unplanned landings, and others were escorted or intercepted by fighter jets.
None of the countries affected by the fake bomb threats has named a culprit.

ACROSS THE ALPINE REGION – Cyberattacks hit grocery freezers, blood banks

The BBC reports Tuesday that cyberattacks hit supermarkets in Italy, Germany and other European countries, causing fridge temperatures to rise up to 50 C (122 F) and on Wednesday, the BBC reports bloodbanks were also targeted in France.
It is the second time in a matter of a few weeks that European supermarkets' refrigeration systems were attacked. Italy's government said most of the food distribution chain is equipped with security systems "able to fend off such attacks", thus the impact was "currently very limited". In Germany, so far one supermarket reported disruptions to its refrigeration systems. The French Blood Establishment, the authority in charge of blood banks, said that, due to a cyberattack temperatures in its fridges were set to rise "but staff intervened to protect blood supplies". Blue News reports that a butcher shop outside Bern in Köniz was also hit.
Euronews reports that in Italy, one of the countries where supermarkets were attacked, held emergency talks on Tuesday. It is still unclear who is behind the attacks, but the attacks against blood banks led certain experts to suspect Russia.

BERLIN, GERMANY – German military names army chief new chief of defense

Defense News reports Thursday that "German Army Chief Christian Freuding will become the country's chief of defense".
Freuding will assume the job of the country's "highest-ranking soldier in February 2027," according to a defense ministry statement.
He will succeed Carsten Breuer who will be the next chief of NATO's military committee.

BERLIN, GERMANY – Police investigate death of Bavarian politician with antisemitic history

Deutsche Welle reports Wednesday that Bavaria's Economy Minister Hubert Aiwanger was found dead in a Berlin hotel.
Police opened an investigation into the circumstances of Aiwanger's death. Bavarian State Premier Markus Söder, in an X post, called Aiwanger's death an "absolute tragedy". Aiwanger, who died at the age of 55, was chairman of the Bavarian right-wing populist Free Voters Party.
Three years ago, Aiwanger was in the center of a national scandal when the newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung reported that Aiwanger had authored "an antisemitic leaflet during high school in the 1980s". The flyer contained "references to Nazi-era atrocities such as Auschwitz". Söder brushed off the scandal and Aiwanger remained in the Bavarian state government.

BERLIN, GERMANY – Islamist-motivated antisemitic crimes rise after October 7 attacks

The Jerusalem Post reports Tuesday that since the Hamas assault on Israel on October 7, 2023, Germany saw a dramatic rise in incidents classified as "Islamist-motivated antisemitic crimes".
The German government's data indicates that from January 1 until October 6, 2023, 33 antisemitic offenses were classified as Islamist. In the three months after the Hamas attack on Israel, 331 such incidents were recorded. Since then, the number rose sharply, to 631 incidents in 2024 and 670 in 2025. Reportedly, roughly around half of the incidents concerned "signs of banned organizations" such as Hezbollah or the so-called Islamic State. The most violent recorded offense was an "attempted homicide" by a Syrian who attacked a Spanish tourist at the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin in February 2025.
In total, authorities recorded 6,548 antisemitic offenses "across all ideological categories" last year. Around half of these incidents were considered to be "Israel-related", and right-wing extremism "remained the largest ideological category". The federal government-provided data on these incidents came in response to a question posed by a member of parliament from the Green Party.

BERN, SWITZERLAND – Switzerland to pay medical bills of Italian victims of New Year's fire

Reuters reports Wednesday that after months of delay, the Swiss government finally agreed to cover the medical bills of the Italian victims of the fire that torched a popular bar and night club in the Swiss resort town of Crans-Montana last New Year's Eve, sparking international headlines.
Initially, Bern demanded reimbursement from Rome, a move that Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni called "disgraceful". The medical bills of the Italian victims amount to 1.5 million Swiss francs ($1.83 million or €1.64 million).
The fire that raged in a crowded bar in Crans-Montana on New Year's Eve killed and injured 115 mostly young people. At the beginning of 2026, 12 Italian victims were treated in Switzerland. Earlier this year, Italy recalled its ambassador to Switzerland over the perceived corruption in the canton of Wallis where the fire took place that led to the circumstances where such a fire could occur and a lack of financial assistance to cover the medical bills of the victims and survivors.

BELLINZONA, SWITZERLAND – Court upholds ruling against Liberian warlord

Reuters reports last Friday that the Swiss Federal Criminal Court upheld a 20-year prison sentence against a Liberian warlord.
The warlord, Alieu Kosiah, was convicted in 2021 for committing "rape, murder and cannibalism" in Liberia's civil war during the 1990s.
The case, which is now closed, marked Switzerland's first ever war crimes trial.

LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – Teenager allegedly hacked Swiss schools

Swissinfo reports Tuesday that authorities arrested a 16 year old for hacking into an "IT platform containing data" on roughly 38,000 students and 3,500 teachers in the canton of Vaud.
The hacked platform contains the names and email addresses of students and teachers. Investigators quickly identified the likely perpetrator, questioned him and seized his computers and other devices.
Switzerland's juvenile court opened an investigation. Cyber experts are looking into whether the 16 year old "downloaded any data or passed it on to third parties".

PRAGUE, CZECHIA – Chinese spy suspect walks free while Czech remains in jail in China

The EU Observer reports Thursday that a suspected Chinese spy, Yang Yiming, "has walked free after his arrest earlier this year in the Czech Republic" on Monday while a "Czech spy suspect in China remains behind bars".
A Czech judge found that Yang "posed as a foreign correspondent for a Chinese media outlet while working for the country's intelligence services." Yang passed on "information he obtained about politicians and other public figures." The judge said that the evidence "did not show he broke the law."
The trial of the Chinese national "was the first of its kind in modern-day Czech Republic."

PRAGUE, CZECHIA – Public journalists on strike over planned funding overhaul

The Associated Press reports Wednesday that Czech public media employees went on a one-day strike to protest a government plan to change public media funding.
Late last month, protests took place against the middle-of-the-night plan pushed by Prime Minister Andrej Babiš. Until now, public radio and television have been financed via "an existing system of regular fees from individuals, households and businesses". Under Babiš' plan, funding would come from the state budget and amount to roughly 15% less. The opposition compared the proposed changes to reforms enacted under the leadership of the authoritarian former Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
The media workers' strike was supported by labor unions, churches and other civil society activists. In Prague, thousands of protesters took to the streets.

MONACO – City-state principality removed from money-laundering 'grey list'

Agence France-Presse reports last Friday that the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a Paris-based international anti-money laundering watchdog, removed Monaco from its "grey list".
Monaco "will no longer be subject" to the watchdog's "increased monitoring process" because it implemented promised action plans in recent years.
Countries on the FATF's "grey list" are regarded as having "'strategic deficiencies' in countering money laundering and terrorist financing" but are willing to cooperate with the FATF to resolve the issues.

INNSBRUCK, AUSTRIA – Former property tycoon Benko convicted of aggravated fraud

Reuters reports Thursday that the former real estate mogul René
Benko has been convicted of "aggravated fraud and sentenced to a further
two years in prison".
The trial that took place in Benko's home city of Innsbruck was the third case brought against him. All cases stem from ongoing investigations into "possible crimes connected to the collapse of the Signa ⁠property group he founded". In Innsbruck, Benko was acquitted of "insolvency-related fraud", an offense he was convicted of in a previous trial.
Signa filed for insolvency in late 2023. Its collapse constitutes the biggest bankruptcy in Austria's history.

ROME, ITALY – American man convicted of murdering his partner and their daughter

The New York Times reports Thursday that an American man, Rexal Ford, was convicted of murdering his Russian partner, Anastasiia Trofimova, and their 11 month old daughter in 2025 in "a case that gripped Italy".
The two victims' bodies "were found naked and decomposing in one of Rome's largest parks in June 2025". Investigators had few clues to go on and turned to a popular television show, "Chi l'ha Visto?" to solicit tips from the public.
Ford legally changed his name from Francis Charles Kaufman in 2017. He was arrested in Skiathos, Greece and extradited to Italy where he was placed in custody in Rome's Regina Coeli prison where he has remained throughout the trial.

And finally, some non-midterm election news from the US…

ATLANTA, UNITED STATES – Germany among nations objecting to Russia at G20

The Associated Press reports Friday that officials from the group of the 20 largest economies known as the G20 cancelled the traditional "family photo" at the inclusion of last week's summit in Atlanta over Russia's participation and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's presence.
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul argued that "there is no normality with Russia" and warned against sending "falsely optimistic signals".
Russia was invited to the meeting by the US. While in Atlanta, Lavrov continued to excuse Russia's unprovoked aggression against Ukraine and opposed Poland's proposed membership in the G20.

MIAMI, UNITED STATES – FIFA chief sought high level help for maid's work permit

The New York Post reports Tuesday that the head of the global soccer governing body FIFA, Gianni Infantino, tried to obtain a work permit for his Nicaraguan housekeeper via a Trump adviser "after the White House scrapped her legal status".
FIFA reportedly continued to employ the woman, who allegedly worked as a housekeeper in Infantino's Miami home, for more than four months after US authorities revoked her work authorization in the summer of 2025. Infantino allegedly reached out to Carlos Cordeiro, a FIFA employee and adviser to Trump’s World Cup task force. In January of this year, the housemaid received "a coveted C11 parole work authorization", even though Trump moved "to ax the humanitarian scheme" for Nicaragua a year earlier.
FIFA said the recent reporting was part of a "concerted and ongoing effort" to discredit Infantino and that the international soccer body would verify "the employment status" of its employees.

CHICAGO, USA – Elderly man convicted of sexual assault on Vienna-Chicago flight

NBC Chicago reports last Thursday that an 85 year old man was found guilty of "abusive sexual contact" on a flight from Vienna to Chicago in 2024.
The man had touched a passenger's "outer thigh, inner thigh, and groin area, against their objections". The victim reported the assault to a flight attendant.
The report did not indicate when the elderly man would be sentenced for his actions.

Stay safe and be courageous!

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