Italian pipeline sabotage jeopardizes oil to Germany, Meloni announces suspension of defense cooperation with Israel and France releases an Iranian national

This week began respectfully enough with the defeat of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in Hungary. Great expectations there could give way in time to nostalgia for the simple times of a strong man if incoming leader Péter Magyar's abilities do not match his ambitions. 

More critically, though, perhaps for the free world is the fact that US Vice President JD Vance spent last weekend delivering a swan song of American power. First, he campaigned alongside the soon-to-be-defeated Orbán before moving on to Pakistan to negotiate with Iran when he has quite literally no negotiating experience whatsoever. That too did not end well. Now, as the Straits of Hormuz are blockaded by the US, the head of the International Energy Agency Fatih Birol warns Europe maybe has six weeks of jet fuel left, according to the BBC.

Yet, even despite the obvious madness from the madmen, France's far-right is polling strong and business leaders that eschewed normalizing what used to be considered completely abnormal are dining with National Rally leadership. In Germany, the Alternativ für Deutschland feels comfortable enough within its margins to begin to remove the mask that landed it behind one side of what was supposed to be an impenetrable firewall. You can read about the Overton window cracking open just a bit wider in this week's Monitor. If you think Orbán was the only problem confronting European democracies, think again.

If the great unhinging is not leading exactly where you imagine it might, there is yet more evidence in the fact the US government is turning to automanufacturers to make weapons, according to The Wall Street Journal. This can only best be described as not a war economy maneuver from our peace president. For many who voted for this, and it was indeed exactly what they voted for, it was not so long ago that populism's promises of giving the people what they want and some peace to boot made sense. All one had to do was close ones eyes and ears and imagine benevolence in lieu of madness.

It will now be an interminably long amount of time until there is peace as the unhinging has begun in earnest. NATO is preparing for the US to exit and to "Europeanize," The Wall Street Journal reports this week. One has to wonder what that even means. Europe is not one nation and is not capable of thinking as one. If the world that is vanishing was made to keep the Americans in, the Russians out and the Germans down, as Hastings Ismay, 1st Baron Ismay famously put it, where will the new equilibrium that quiets the evil come from?

Now is a time of monsters and no one should feel anything more than momentary relief that Orbán went quietly. There was never anything inevitable about the recalcitrant far right coming to power. What comes after it might be even worse. Now looking back, it might have even been a backstop on evil unleashing because it showed itself and we can say we know who is responsible. Ultimately, this new world that is emerging is not unlike a hostage situation though we are even less sympathetic than most who find themselves in one.

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TERZO DI TOLMEZZO, ITALY – Pipeline attack jeopardized oil supply to Germany

• Politico reports last Friday that "An attack on an oil pipeline in northern Italy" which was "caused by an attack on the power supply of a pumping station near Terzo di Tolmezzo in the Italian Alps" put at risk "the supply of gasoline, diesel and aviation fuel to southern Germany" at the end of last month.
• The result of the incident was that "crude oil supply to Miro, Germany's largest refinery near Karlsruhe, via the Transalpine Pipeline was interrupted for several days." A spokeswoman said that for three days the Miro refinery did not received crude supplies. Additionally, the Bayernoil refinery and sites in Neustadt and Vohburg in Bavaria reported similar difficulties from the lack of crude oil deliveries.
• Two people confirmed that the incident was an act of sabotage, with German authorities informed about the incident by Italian counterparts.

VERONA, ITALY – PM Meloni suspends defense cooperation with Israel

• Reuters reports Tuesday that Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said her government "suspended a defence cooperation deal with Israel".
• Meloni's right-wing government has been among Israel's closest European allies "but in recent weeks it has criticised its attacks on Lebanon," which have resulted in the deaths of hundred and left thousands injured. Israel also fired at Italian troops serving in southern Lebanon as part of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) mission last week, damaging a vehicle.
• On the sidelines of a wine fair in Verona, Meloni told reporters, "In light of the current situation, the government has decided to suspend the automatic renewal of the defence agreement with Israel". Israel's Foreign Ministry "played down the consequences", saying in a statement that there was a "memorandum of understanding from many years ago" but that there is "no security agreement" and it "never contained any substantive content", nor would it effect the country's national security.

PARIS, FRANCE – Detained Iranian citizen returns home as prisoner exchange underway

• Al Jazeera English reports Wednesday that Iranian citizen Mahdieh Esfandiari "returned home after being held in France for more than a year as part of what appears to be an exchange of detainees".
• Iranian state television reported the pro-Palestinian "activist" who had been "sentenced to one year in prison after making online comments supportive of Palestine and the 2023 Hamas attack on Israel" had returned to the country.
• Esfandiari graduated from the University of Lyon and had been living in France since 2018. She had worked as a translator and had been placed under arrest in February last year on charges that she promoted terrorism. In October, she was released on bail. Her release comes after a French couple was released last week after more than three years detention in Iran.

PARIS, FRANCE – Ex-CEO of cement manufacturer jailed over financing Syrian jihadis

• France24 reports Monday that a court in Paris found the cement maker Lafarge, now owned by Swiss firm Holcim, "guilty of paying the Islamic State group and other jihadists to keep a plant operating in northern Syria during the country's civil war" and sentenced the former CEO, Bruno Lafont, to six years in jail.
• A judge ordered Lafont to begin his sentence "immediately" after the conviction for financing terrorism. Former deputy managing director of the firm Christian Herrault also received a five-year sentence.
• The ruling comes after a 2022 US case where "the French firm pleaded guilty to conspiring to provide material support to US-designated 'terrorist' organisations and agreed to pay a $778-million fine", or €661-million. It was "the first time a corporation had faced the charge", which is routinely used in the US to try and convict terror suspects for everything from pushing propaganda to financing US-designated terror groups.

PARIS, FRANCE – French business elite dines with far-right leader Marine Le Pen

• Politico reports last Friday that "Marine Le Pen dined with LVMH chief Bernard Arnault and other influential French corporate leaders" last week Tuesday, "another indication her far-right party, the National Rally, has become a mainstream movement that is no longer ostracized by the business community."
• Several leaders of companies listed on France's premier stock index CAC40 attended, including TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyanné, Engie CEO Catherine MacGregor, Accor Hotels' Sebastien Bazin, the son of conservative billionaire Vincent Bolloré, Cyrille Bolloré, and the former CEO of Axa insurance, Henri de Castries according to a senior party official and two executives of companies present, "all of whom were granted anonymity to candidly discuss the evening." Le Nouvel Obs first reported the meeting which reportedly took place at the upscale Drouant restaurant in the French capital.
• Previously, Arnault backed Macron in 2017 and until last week had refused meetings with leaders of the far-right National Rally. With Le Pen and Bardella leading in the polls ahead of the presidential elections next year, "business leaders have been seeking to build bridges".

PARIS, FRANCE – Government systems to begin migration to Linux over Windows

• Tech Crunch reports last Friday that the French government announced "plans to move some of its government computers currently running Windows to the open source operating system Linux to further reduce its reliance on US technology."
• Linux is open source and free to use. The French government said the move was to enable the country to "regain control of our digital destiny" with the French Budget Minister David Amiel articulating that "the French government can no longer accept that it doesn't have control over its data and digital infrastructure."
• While the government "did not provide a specific timeline for the switchover," the process "will begin with computers at the French government's digital agency, DINUM." Microsoft did not comment on the shift.

HAGENBACH, FRANCE – Nine year old boy freed after two years locked in dad's vehicle

• CBS News reports Saturday that a nine-year-old boy was freed last week "after living locked in his father's utility van" in the town of Hagenbach in eastern France near the borders of Switzerland and Germany after a neighbor heard the "'sound of a child' coming from a van".
• Police forced open the van where they found the child "lying in a fetal position, naked, covered by a blanket on top of a mound of trash and near excrement". The child was reportedly "malnourished and could no longer walk." The child's father, 43, said he placed the boy in the van in November of 2024 "to protect him" since his 37-year-old partner "wanted to send the boy to a psychiatric hospital" when the child was just seven years old. Prosecutor Nicolas Heitz said in a statement that there were no indications of psychiatric problems in the boy's medical records prior to his disappearance and that he had good grades in school. The child told authorities of "big difficulties" with his father's partner and said he had not showeed in two years and said his father brought him food twice a day and water.
• The boy's father was taken into custody and slapped with kidnapping and other charges. The father's partner "denied knowledge that the boy was in the van" and "was handed preliminary charges including failure to help a minor in danger, and released under judicial supervision." The boy's sister, 12, and the daughter of the father's partner, 10, "were put in the care of social services."

MARSEILLE, FRANCE – Kanye West announces concert postponed as minister seeks ban

• The BBC reports American rapper Kanye West, who is noteworthy for his past anti-Black and antisemitic statements, announced the cancellation of a June 11 concert date in the French city of Marseille one week after the UK Foreign Office barred him from entering the country leading to the cancellation of a major festival where he was set to appear.
• France's Interior Minister Laurent Nunez is reportedly "looking to ban the June 11 gig." In January, the rapper published a lengthy apology as an advertisement in The Wall Street Journal in a bid to make a mainstream comeback. Recently, he played two sold out shows in Los Angeles, his first such stadium gig in several years.
• Currently West is scheduled to tour several European countries from May until July including Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain, according to his website.

MAGDEBURG, GERMANY – AfD adopts 'radical' program for Saxony-Anhalt at conference

• The BBC reports Saturday that the far-right Alternativ für Deutschland (AfD) "adopted what has been described as a 'radical' and pro-ethnic German government programme for Saxony-Anhalt at a party conference" in Magdeburg ahead of elections in the federal state in September where the party "could win an outright majority".
• The 150-page program calls for "clamping down on immigrants and supporting large families of German origin." In foreign policy matters, the AfD "wants to improve relations with Russia, directly contradicting the policies of the federal coalition government." In 2023, the Saxony-Anhalt Office for the Protection of the Constitution classified the federal state's AfD branch as a "far-right extremist organisation".
• Ulrich Siegmund, a TikTok star and the AfD's candidate for Saxony-Anhalt "said his party had the courage to speak out about what was going wrong in Germany," telling the party conference, "that we don't feel safe anymore, that we scarcely feel at home anymore, that we don't recognize our homeland anymore" calling for the party to "take back the country." He added, "We say yes to consistent deportations, we say yes to free childcare facilities, we say yes to remigration".

SCHROBENHAUSEN, GERMANY – Raytheon gets $3.7 billion German contract for Ukraine

• Breaking Defense reports Wednesday that RTX subsidiary Raytheon inked a $3.8 billion (€3.23 billion or 3 billion Swiss franc) deal with the German Ministry of Defense "to supply Ukraine with Patriot Advanced Capability-2 (PAC-2) Guidance Enhanced Missile-Tactical (GEM-T) interceptors, in a much-needed boost for the country's air defenses."
• RTX announced a new production facility in Schrobenhausen, Germany that will play a "key role" in the sale. The future facility is a joint venture between MBDA Deutschland and Raytheon.
• Germany's Ministry of Defense noted in a press release that it is funding the PAC-2 package alongside "an undisclosed number of launchers for Diehl-produced IRIS-T medium-range air defense systems."

WEIMAR, GERMANY – Court upholds ban on pro-Palestine protest at Buchenwald

• The Times of Israel reports last Friday that a court in Weimar upheld the ban on a planned pro-Palestine protest march at the former Nazi concentration camp Bunchenwald by a group provocatively calling itself "Kufiyas in Buchenwald".
• The planned event marketing itself as a vigil against Israel's "genocide" in Gaza and "had provoked a sharp debate in Germany, with a number of politicians denouncing the protest as inappropriate."
• The court in Weimar has upheld the ban and instead the protest can go forward in a square in Weimar, adding that the action would "violate the dignity of victims" of the Nazi regime.

KRÁSNÁ, CZECHIA – German far-right transgender activist arrested on Europol warrant

• The BBC reports last Friday that German far-right transgender activist Marla-Svenja Liebich, formerly known as Sven, was arrested on a European arrest warrant in the Czech town of Krásná after she "failed to appear at the prison in the German town of Chemnitz, where she was to serve an 18-month jail term."
• German media reports indicate Liebich used to be a member of the neo-Nazi gang Blood and Honor. Radio Prague International adds she was remanded to custody by a court in Plzeň following her arrest last Friday.
• In July of 2023, Liebich was sentenced to prison without the option for parole in the eastern German city of Halle "for extreme right incitement to hatred, defamation, and insult."

SION, SWITZERLAND – Mayor questioned after deadly New Year's bar fire

• Swissinfo reports Monday that the mayor  of the Alpine ski resort town of Crans-Montana where a deadly bar fire on New Year's resulted in the death of 41 mostly young people was questioned by the Valais cantonal public prosecutor for the first time.
• Separately, the Rome Prosecutors' Office announced it was also opening an investigation into Jacques and Jessica Moretti, the couple that owns Le Constellation bar where the fire occurred, according to Sky News on Wednesday. Swissinfo reports Thursday that four public officials were also indicted in connection with the fire.
• Nicolas Féraud "is the eighth of nine defendants to be questioned in the case." He arrived at around 8:30am with his lawyer in tow where he was met "by a crowd of journalists, photographers and cameramen." Valais lawyer Sébastien Fanti said, "it has taken three months and 10 days for the mayor to be heard as an accused," adding, "For the families, the word that comes to mind is 'finally'."

BERN, SWITZERLAND – Investigation opened after Grok chatbot insults minister

• Swissinfo reports Monday that the "the Bern public prosecutor's office has opened an investigation over insult and defamation" after Swiss Finance Minister Karin Keller-Sutter filed a complaint after a Grok chatbot user prompted the AI "to conjure insults against the minister."
• Previously, Swiss tabloid Sonntagsblick had "reported that an X user had allegedly prompted the AI chatbot Grok to hurl sexist insults at Keller-Sutter." Earlier this month, a spokesperson for the minister told the press "misogyny should not be considered normal or acceptable."
• Keller-Sutter's complaint targets "unknown persons" though "The direction the investigation will take is a matter for the public prosecutor".

Stay safe and belts and suspenders!

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