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Middle East conflict spillover: Iranian FM in Geneva, Palestinian statehood conference delayed, Paris Airshow 'cover up'

Middle East conflict spillover: Iranian FM in Geneva, Palestinian statehood conference delayed, Paris Airshow 'cover up'

Welcome to the new Alpine Security Monitor. This project is only in its pilot stage at present. However, you can sign up and subscribe 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).

Currently, three tiers of subscriptions are offered: the free version (sign up below), member and warrior, available already for those who might stumble onto this site as we test what works and what does not.

First things first, the top stories this week all involve spillover from the Middle East into the wider Alpine region. The now direct conflict between Israel and Iran over the latter's nuclear program and Iran's twenty-plus month war of proxies against the former brings with it high-level geopolitics.

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Iran's FM to meet with French, German and UK counterparts

  • Reuters reports that Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi will be in Geneva today to meet with his EU, French, German and UK counterparts over Iran's nuclear program, currently under siege by Israel who may be on the verge of coercing the Americans to join in striking the Fordow nuclear facility.
  • Swissinfo reports the French, German and UK foreign ministers will meet first with Kaja Kallas, the EU's top diplomat, at Germany's permanent mission in Geneva before they will all have a sit down with Araghchi. It's unclear what they can achieve without the US and Israel present but it might provide the air cover the Europeans are searching for after German Chancellor Friedrich Merz's unmissable comments earlier in the week praising Israel's "dirty work," The Wall Street Journal (and every German language outlet) reports.
  • In brief, "Tehran expressed its willingness to restrict its programme again, as in the Vienna nuclear agreement of 2015, it did not want to give up its ability to enrich uranium." That may not be enough to beat back the winds of change in the form of Israel's increased appetite for risk a decade later.

 

PARIS, FRANCE – Palestinian statehood conference postponed after Israel attacks Iran

  • France 24 reports French President Emmanuel Macron said the UN conference on a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine in New York scheduled for this week would be postponed last Friday after Israel launched strikes on Iran. Macron cited "logistical and security reasons" but noted "it will take place as soon as possible." He also acknowledged France's "determination" to recognize a Palestinian state "under any circumstances."
  • Separately, The New York Times reports US President Donald Trump posted to his Truth Social network Tuesday that Macron "always gets it wrong," and France 24 reports Macron also tasked his foreign minister, Jean-Noel Barrot, with drafting an "initiative" to end the conflict between Iran and Israel at a national security meeting Wednesday.
  • France has the largest Jewish community in Europe as well as a significant and sizeable Muslim population.

 

PARIS-LE BOURGET, FRANCE – Israeli defense firm booths covered up at Paris Airshow

  • Reuters reports that France shutdown four Israeli defense firms' booths at the Paris airshow Monday, citing concerns about weapons displays at the large aviation (and weapons) expo, inviting a furious response from the Israeli government.
  • The booths of Elbit Systems, Rafael, IAI and Uvision were covered with black screens; three smaller Israeli stands without hardware displays were left alone, according to the Israeli Ministry of Defense and France 24.
  • Israeli President Isaac Herzog denounced the move, calling it "outrageous" and demanding that it be "immediately corrected". He added that it was equivalent to creating "an Israeli ghetto" on French TV channel LCI, with the defense ministry contributing that it was a form of "segregation." Israel also accused France of blocking competition to its own systems on display and noted authoritarian countries like Turkey and China faced no such barriers to displaying their systems, The Jerusalem Post adds.

 

PARIS, FRANCE – Security increased at Jewish, US sites out of fear of Iranian attacks

  • The Times of Israel reports France is boosting security at Jewish and American sites in the country out of fears of Iranian counter-attacks targeting both communities following Israel's strikes on Iran which began one week ago.
  • French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau noted "special vigilance" would be given to locations "that could be targeted by terrorist or malicious acts by a foreign power," which includes "places of worship, schools, state and institutional buildings, sites with high traffic," as well as "festive, cultural or religious gatherings."

 

BERLIN, GERMANY – Security increased at Jewish, Israeli sites out of fear of Iranian attacks

  • The Times of Israel reports German Chancellor Friedrich Merz told reporters Sunday before traveling to Canada for the G7 summit that security was increased around Jewish and Israeli sites in the country over fears that Iran could retalliate for weekend strikes carried out by Israel against Iranian senior military and intelligence leaders over the weekend.

 

FRANKFURT, GERMANY – Court gives Syrian doctor life over Assad military hospital crimes

  • France 24, Al Jazeera English and The Guardian report the Frankfurt Higher Regional Court sentenced Syrian doctor Alaa Mousa, 40, to life in prison for crimes against humanity after he was found guilty of torturing at least 18 detainees at military hospitals in Homs and Damascus between 2011 and 2012.
  • Mousa was found guilty of torture, murder and crimes against humanity. The trial came to a close a few months after Assad's ouster last December. Mousa arrived on a visa for highly skilled workers in 2015 at a time when an influx of refugees fleeing the country's civil war brought over one million new arrivals to Germany that year alone; he continued practicing as an orthopaedic doctor until he was arrested in 2020.
  • Of note: normally German privacy laws protect the full name of perpetrators with last names reduced to the first letter only, including even aged Nazi suspects from the time of the Third Reich. It is unclear why an exception was made for a Syrian national in the country or why justice was swifter in such a case.

 

And in news not related to the Middle East affecting the wider Alpine region…

 

VIENNA, AUSTRIA – Gun laws in focus after deadly school shooting in Graz leaves 10 dead

  • France 24 reports Austrian gun laws are up for debate following a deadly school shooting in Graz on June 10 that left 10 dead. The gunman had been rejected by the army following a psychological test but was able to obtain a firearm despite a separate psychological test being administered, per Austrian gun ownership laws.
  • Reuters notes Austrian Chancellor Christian Stocker told Austrian public radio ORF that officials aim to put in place "stricter eligibility rules for possession and purchase of arms."
  • While politicians are calling for more restrictions, the result of the incident is a surge of interest in gun ownership. Austria has roughly 370,000 gun owners who have registered roughly 1.5 million small arms, with a "strong gun culture," focused on "hunting and sports shooting, especially in the countryside," according to industry expert Aaron Karp.

 

VIENNA, AUSTRIA – Ukraine's Zelensky makes first trip to neutral Alpine nation

  • AP and The Kyiv Independent report Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made his first trip to neutral Austria since Russia's attempted full-scale invasion where he met with Austrian Federal President Alexander van der Bellen Monday, drawing pledges of "non-military help" from Austria.
  • The two signed bilateral agreements on agriculture, reconstruction and returning Ukrainian children who were abducted by Russian authorities.
  • Zelensky also made cryptic mention of fugitive pro-Russian Ukrainian oligarch Dmytro Firtash who has been residing in Vienna for more than a decade. Firtash was indicted in the US in 2013, though the charges were announced in 2014; he was briefly arrested before posting bail but has to date avoided extradition to the US.  Additionally, Oleskandr Tupytskyi, the former chairman of Ukraine's Constitutional Court, resides in Austria as a fugitive from Ukrainian law on charges of coercing a witness into giving false testimony as well as doing so himself.

 

LUXEMBOURG – At the same time, Austrian energy minister wants Russian gas back ASAP

  • The Financial Times reports Austrian Energy Minister Elisabeth Zehetner told a meeting of EU peers that her country would like to resume the flow of Russian gas as soon as some sort of peace is brokered in Ukraine.
  • It is the first time a country not Hungary or Slovakia floated such an option, though history unites all three as nations that are remnants of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire.
  • The EU banned Russian coal in 2022 and the G7 introduced price caps on Russian oil in 2023, though no similar restrictions have been placed on Russian gas. Most EU countries have "largely stopped importing the Russian fossil fuel," while imports of Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) went up considerably last year, with 16.5 million tons imported to the bloc. Austria's OMV split with Gazprom last December after a long running contract dispute; the Austrian state has a 31.5% stake in OMV.

 

BERLIN, GERMANY – Germans celebrated first ever postwar Veterans' Day on June 15

  • Deutsche Welle reports Germany marked its first ever Veterans Day since the end of the Second World War on June 15. A celebration was planned at the Reichstag parliamentary building in Berlin.
  • After the Wehrmacht, the Nazis' armed forces, was disbanded in 1945, Germany had no army at all and veterans associations were banned for 10 years.
  • With the founding of the Bundeswehr, the modern German army, in 1955, there were no veterans commemorations though the culture around honoring veterans began to change in the 1990s with the Balkan wars. The Bundeswehr has since also served in Africa and Afghanistan and currently has forces deployed to the frontline in the Baltics.

 

ZURICH, SWITZERLAND – The Swiss want more NATO…

  • Swissinfo reports the Swiss people want closer ties with NATO and mandatory military service for men and women in the face of growing threats to the European security picture, according to a recent survey carried out by the Center for Security Studies in conjunction with the Swiss Military Academy at ETH Zurich.
  • Of the more than 2,000 Swiss people surveyed, 81% expressed pessimism over the current global security picture and a slight majority of 53% wanted closer ties with NATO while 32% support NATO membership.

 

BERN, SWITZERLAND – Some Swiss also want to stop acquisition of the F35

  • Swissinfo reports that 42,500 Swiss citizens have signed a petition put forth by the "Stop-F35 Alliance" after a Bern signed a contract signed with Lockheed Martin for 36 of the stealth fighter jets in 2022, the year Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
  • Signatories to the petition include the left-wing Social Democrats and Green Party along with groups such as Campax and the Group for Switzerland without an Army.

 

LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – Canton of Vaud sets up Radicalization Prevention Unit

  • Swissinfo reports the canton of Vaud is setting up a special unit to deal with the growing problem of youth radicalization.
  • The unit, which "could be" operational by 2026, is a follow up to a 2018 "pilot project" which was set up to counter online youth radicalization "affecting younger and younger minors," according to Vassilis Venizelos, the state councillor in charge of the Department of the Environment, Youth and Security.

 

ZURICH, SWITZERLAND – Offices of online portal Inside Paradeplatz raided

  • Swissinfo reports the offices of the financial news and gossip website Inside Paradeplatz were "raided" by the Zurich cantonal police over two weeks ago, the editor in charge, Lukas Hässig, wrote on his site Monday. Hässig is "the subject of criminal proceedings in connection with the case of Pierin Vincenz, former CEO of Raifessen bank."
  • In 2016, Inside Paradeplatz had raised questions about four companies that were in Raifessen's portfolio but later taken over by the bank, with questions specifically about the relationship between Vincenz and Beat Stocker, the former head of the credit card issuer Aduno, now Viseca. Vincenz has been sentenced to three years and nine months in prison for fraud, while Stocker received four years; the appeal is set to begin next summer.
  • Zurich authorities confirmed to news outlet Keystone-ATS that they "had conducted a search for evidence, with proceedings underway that Hässig had breached the country's banking secrecy laws. Hässig claims Stocker had threatened him with Switzerland's banking secrecy laws already in 2017.

 

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Pictet fined and ex-employee convicted of money laundering

  • Reuters reports Bank Pictet was fined two million Swiss francs (€2.1 or $2.5 million) after a former asset manager was convicted of money laundering on behalf of Brazilian oil giant Petrobras in an international corruption scandal that came to be known as Car Wash or Lava Jato in Portuguese.
  • Between June 2010 and May 2013, funds worth more than four million US dollars were transferred from the Pictet account of a public official to conceal their illicit origin.
  • Swissinfo notes the convicted asset manager, who received a suspended sentence of six months, had been in charge of the Brazilian market for the bank since 2013.

 

PRAGUE, CZECHIA – Czech government survives no confidence vote

  • Politico reports the Czech government faced a no confidence vote on Tuesday after the country's justice minister accepted 468 bitcoins worth one billion Czech crowns (€40 million or $46.6 million) from a convicted drug dealer, Tomáš Jiřikovský, who ran his business on the dark web. While technically legal, public trust was damaged and legal oversight took a bruising.
  • If the no confidence vote had succeeded, Czech President Petr Pavel would then replace Prime Minister Petr Fiala. With 101 votes necessary in the 200 person lower house of parliament, the current coalition has a fragile majority with 104 members of parliament.
  • It's the fourth no confidence vote Fiala's government has faced since taking office in 2021.

 

DUKOVANY, CZECHIA – Switch from Russia to US nuclear fuel underway with first delivery

  • Euractiv reports US manufacturer Westinghouse has delivered nuclear fuel to the country's power plant in Dukovany, the first such delivery marking a shift away from Russian supplies.
  • The delivery to Dukovany comes after the resumption of deliveries by Westinghouse to the Czechia's second nuclear power plant in Temelín following a 15 year pause.
  • Following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Czech power company ČEZ signed contracts with Westinghouse and French firm Framatome for Temelin, adding Westinghouse as a supplier for Dukovany the following year.

 

ROME, ITALY – American man arrested over death of mother and baby in park

  • Reuters reports an unnamed American man was arrested last Friday on the Greek island of Skiathos over the death of a woman and her baby daughter after their naked bodies were found in a park in Villa Pamphili, the largest park in central Rome.

 

And finally…

 

MONTE CARLO, MONACO – Former Grimaldi money manager tells police financial secrets

  • Catalunya Diari reports Claude Palmero, the money manager for Prince Albert of Monaco for two decades has told police about alleged financial malfeasance in the house of Grimaldi that includes a bachelor pad for the prince and €15 million ($16.5 million) in expenditures by his wife Charlene over eight years despite an official annual salary of €1.5 million ($1.65 million).
  • Prince Albert has filed a complaint against Palmero for violating professional secrecy and invasion of privacy. The legal maneuver has not quelled doubts about his financial management or personal life, however.
  • Known as the "Palmero affair," the accusations have led to much spilled ink in European media as well as memes across social media casting enormous clouds over the credibility of the house of Grimaldi.

Stay safe and keep a cool head as the world heats up!

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