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ICRC chief visits Moscow, an explosion rocks Monaco and the top US Army Europe general relinquishes command

ICRC chief visits Moscow, an explosion rocks Monaco and the top US Army Europe general relinquishes command

This weekend, America celebrates 250 years, though having spent much of the last month state-side, the party feels surprisingly muted. Older generations recall the 200th birthday in 1976 was somehow more spectacular. Perhaps this is due to nostalgia or perhaps because it marked the start of the last quarter of what would come to be known as the "American Century" and arguably the most prosperous and powerful period of American history. 

As the football—or soccer—World Cup plays out across North America, the ubiquitous "hydration break" – which has nothing to do with advertising – has been slipped into the first and second half of the matches, dividing the game like basketball or American football into quarters. There is something American about parsing time in this way, like a quarterly earnings report. There is also something very American about watching the matches play out in the diverse cities that have functioned as hubs of migration since their inception in modern times.

So 250 years can be fashioned as a quarter of a millennium. We are now competitive with the club of great nations that have endured at least two and a half centuries. The American left would point to the rise and fall of empires of the past and might shake a fist at hubris. The American right might home instead on American exceptionalism, a god-given right to the greatness of these lands. The excesses of both at extremes serve only to balance the pendulum over time.

At 250, it is hard to take everything the US has done seriously, and certainly so in the last decade. However you splice time and imagine a return on investment, enjoy! Not because it's all downhill or eternal from here but because, you only live once, truly.

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MOSCOW, RUSSIA – ICRC chief on visit to Moscow

  • Swissinfo reports Wedneday that the President of the International Committee for the Red Cross, Mirjana Spoljaric, is in Moscow."
  • During the two-day visit, Spoljaric will "meet with several senior officials" where she is due to discuss "crucial humanitarian issues" which are "related to the conflict in Ukraine."
  • Issues considered "crucial" to the ICRC chief include attacks on critical infrastructure and civilians, prisoners of war and missing persons.

 

MONTE-CARLO, MONACO – Manhunt for backpack bomber who targeted Ukrainian

  • ABC News reports Wednesday that "Officials in Monaco are pleading for help from the public after a man allegedly dropped a package bomb in a building lobby, which went off and wounded three people", including pro-Russian Ukrainian businessman Vadim Yermolaiev, his 13 year old son and wife Monday. On Friday, the BBC reports authorities were searching for Anastasiia Berezovska, 39
  • The blast occurred around 9pm local time Monday evening. A "Ukrainian businessman" along with "his partner and teenage son were seriously injured", according to investigators. Various media reports and social networks have identified the primary target of the blast as.
  • Police believe the suspect responsible for depositing the bomb had already "left for France." The BBC notes a vehicle used by Berezovska "was also searched and seized."

 

WIESBADEN, GERMANY – Top US Army Europe general relinquishes command

  • Defense News reports Thursday that "US Army Gen. Christopher Donahue relinquished command of US Army Europe and Africa in Wiesbaden, Germany" capping off what was "an unexpectedly brief 18 months in the role."
  • Maj. Gen. Christopher Norrie will serve in an acting capacity until a successor to Donahue is named. The position requires a nomination from the Senate and must be approved by the President.
  • Donahue's departure comes as US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth implements "sweeping leadership changes" which involve removing and replacing "at least a dozen senior leaders."

 

KARLSRUHE, GERMANY – Ukrainian national charged over Nord Stream2 explosion

  • Deutsche Welle reports Thursday that "German federal prosecutors have filed charges against a Ukrainian national over a series of Nord Stream 2 pipeline blasts in 2022".
  • The suspect, identified only as Serhii K. according to strict German privacy laws, was originally detained in Rimini, Italy while on holiday with his family in August 2025 before being extradited to Germany. He is charged with variou crimes involving attacking critical infrastructure.
  • German federal prosecutors alleged Serhii K. "led the sabotage team and was in command of the sailing yacht Andromeda, from which the attack was allegedly carried out" and where "traces of the military explosives HMX and RDX" were discovered by investigators.

 

BERLIN, GERMANY – Intelligence agency says almost 60,000 domestic far-right extremists

  • The BBC reports Wednesday that there are approximately 58,700 individuals Germany's domestic intelligence agency would classify as "Right-wing extremists" in Germany who "remain the greatest threat to German democracy".
  • The latest figures include 8,000 more individuals than the previous year, approximately 5,600 of the total "have a propensity for violence". The "annual report" also noted that "extreme left-wing violence is also on the rise" with some 42,200 individuals, an increase of 4,200, as "involved in left-wing extremism". According to the agency's figures, some 28,645 are further classified as "individuals involved in Islamism or 'Islamist terrorism'".
  • Sinan Selen, the head of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, said the country's democracy was under "'practically permanent attack' from both inside and outside". His agency cited the rise of the far-right Alternativ für Deutschland (AfD) as responsible for "the growth". Russia, China and Iran are the most active foreign adversaries initiating "activities against Germany".

 

STADE, GERMANY – Five killed in shooting at youth welfare facility for 'young mothers'

  • The Associated Press reports Monday that five were killed at a youth welfare facility "for pregnant women or young mothers with children" as a result of a shooting with two arrested, including the alleged shooter.
  • An unknown number of others were injured and police said "There was no danger to the public". Police "were working to establish the background to the shooting and what exactly happened."
  • Stade is a town about 40 kilometers or 25 miles from Hamburg with a population of roughly 50,000 people.

 

PARIS, FRANCE – Fresh police raids add to National Rally's 'judicial headaches'

  • Politico reports Thursday that "police raids on Tuesday" will affect the "judicial headaches" of Marine Le Pen's far-right National Rally party which "was hoping it could put its legal woes behind it".
  • The raids Tuesday were "connected to a European Public Prosecutor's Office investigation into whether the now-defunct Identity and Democracy group misused taxpayer funds when Bardella was its vice-president." According to "a confidential audit", the group "breeched spending rules by at least €4.3 million" or $s4.9 million.
  • The Party's President Jordan Bardella "now faces fraud allegations similar to those threatening to derail Le Pen's presidential ambitions."

 

ROME, ITALY – MFA: Italy will join US-led 'Pax Silica'

  • Reuters reports last Friday that "a foreign ministry official", Ambassador Armando Varicchio, the current Italian Ambassador to Germany, and former ambassador to the US and Serbia, told Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera that "Italy will join the US-led Pax Silica Initaitive on artificial intelligence supply chains despite a spat between Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and US President Donald Trump".
  • According to Ambassador Varicchio, "Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio would sign a memorandum of understanding 'at the first available opportunity'". After the Trump-Meloni spat, it was clear to observers that given the importance of the US-Italian relationship, diplomats had their work cut out for them as far as finding a suitable and expedient off-ramp. To state the obvious, Ambassador Varicchio told the paper, "This provides a political basis that demonstrates the willingness to resume from where we had temporarily left off".
  • What is "Pax Silica"? According to Reuters, it "is a US State Department Initiative bringing together allied countries to secure AI-related supply chains".

 

DÖTTIGEN, SWITZERLAND – Nuclear reactors taken off grid due to excessive heat

  • Swissinfo reports last Friday amid the heatwave that sent temperatures soaring across the Alpine region that Swiss energy company Axpo announced it had taken the two nuclear reactors at the Beznau nuclear power plant off the grid.
  • The reactors require water from the nearby River Aare which was way too warm to cool the reactors as "The temperature of the River Aare reached 25 degrees Celcius," or 77 degrees Fahrenheit.
  • Last Tueday, the output of the two reactors was already cut in half due to the soaring temperatures.

 

ÉCÔNE, SWITZERLAND – Schismatic bishops ordained in 'a breakaway Catholic group'

  • Reuters reports Wedneday that "Four new bishops from a breakaway Catholic group dedicated to the old Latin mass were ordained" in the southwest Swiss town of Écône "in defiance of an appeal against the unauthorized move by Pope Leo."
  • Pietro Parolin, a top cardinal at the Vatican, said that "the forbidden ceremony" is "expected to cause the excommunication of the priests involved". In a letter Monday, Pope Leo wrote the leader of the sect involved to "ask you with all my heart please turn back!"
  • "Thousands turned out to watch" as the "bishops from the ultra-traditionalist Society of St. Pius X" which "denies the central teachings of the Second Vatican Council," also known as Vatican Two, were ordained.

 

DIELSDORF, SWITZERLAND – Trial of teen accused of stabbing Orthodox Jew begins

  • Swissinfo reports Wednesday that the trial began in Dielsdorf in the canton of Zurich of a Tunisian-Swiss man who was 15 in March 2024 when he stabbed a 50 year Orthodox Jewish man.
  • The case is being heard in Juvenile Court. The defendant refused to answer questions from the judge "about the anti-Semitic attack" though "The judge quoted the teenager's answers to investigators" including how "he wished the police had killed him at the scene of the crime so that he could go to 'paradise'."
  • The man was left "seriously injured" after he was stabbed 17 times by the defendant. The Public Prosecutor's Office seeks "a one-year prison sentence and is demanding therapeutic and protective measures."

 

And finally…

 

TOMBLAINE, FRANCE – Skydiving plane crashes, killing 11 including five nurses

  • Reuters reports Sunday that 11 people, including the pilot and 10 skydivers, were killed in a plane crash Sunday in the northeastern French town of Tomblaine, near Nancy.
  • Among the dead were five instructors and five receiving instruction in skydiving. The flight "went down shortly after takeoff," about 300 meters from the runway, with French media reporting the five trainees were nurses. CBS News reports the mayor of Nancy, Matthieu Klein, said the victims "died in full view of their loved ones, who were preparing to film the tandem skydives."
  • French media reported the aircraft was registered in Germany though the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs offered no comment.

 

Stay safe and enjoy the Fourth!

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