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School shooting in Graz, Germany ups defense aid by €1.9 billion to Ukraine and some Social Dems want peace and friendship with Russia

School shooting in Graz, Germany ups defense aid by €1.9 billion to Ukraine and some Social Dems want peace and friendship with Russia

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, France, Germany, Italy, Slovenia and Switzerland (ok, little Liechtenstein 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.

GRAZ, AUSTRIA – School shooting leaves ten dead

  • On Tuesday around 10:00am, a young man opened fire at the Bundesoberstufenrealgymnasium Dreierschützengasse school in Graz, Austria leaving 10 dead, nine of whom were students between the ages of 14 and 17, six girls and three boys, and injuring 12, CNN reports. The gunman, who previously attended the school but quit his studies after three years, took his own life afterwards, the AP reports. On Thursday, authorities said the gunman planned his attack in detail though shot indiscriminately at random students but that one of the two teachers he shot had taught him.
  • In the aftermath, Austrian Chancellor Christian Stocker called for three days of national morning.
  • In a search of the shooter's home, authorities found a suicide note in both written and video form and an inoperable pipe bomb. The New York Times reports he was rejected by the army after failing a psychological test, but he passed a similar but different test that permitted him access to a firearm.

 

BERLIN, GERMANY – Defense minister announces €1.9 billion in military aid for Ukraine

  • Boris Pistorius, Germany's defense minister, announced a new military aid package beside Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Berlin Thursday, Semafor reports.

 

BERLIN, GERMANY – Left-leaning Social Democrats want peace and friendship with Russia

  • Stern obtained a paper co-authored by several prominent members of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) titled, "Securing Peace in Europe Through Defense Capability, Arms Control and Understanding," which calls for a reversal of the country's policies towards Russia following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February of 2022.
  • Specifically, the paper's authors want talks with Russia instead of rearming the Bundeswehr, for American medium-range missiles to not be stationed in Germany and they label NATO's five percent of GDP spending target for defense "irrational."
  • Those signing the paper include former Bundestag SPD chair Rolf Mützenich, foreign policy hand Ralf Stegner, former party leader Norbert Walter-Borjans, former federal finance minister Hans Eichel, as well as several members of the Bundestag and other elected officials.

 

COLOGNE, GERMANY – German spy agency says AfD harboring known extremists

  • Germany's domestic spy agency (Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz or BfV) said in its annual report that the far-right AfD is harboring an increasing number of extremists within its ranks, Reuters reports. The BfV puts the number at roughly 20,000 last year, or an increase by 77% on the year prior.
  • According to Deutsche Welle, the Bundestag's Federal Police Commissioner Uli Grötsch expressed disapproval of membership in the party within the ranks of the police, calling AfD membership incompatible with service.

 

WIESBADEN, GERMANY – Germany adds nearly 300,000 new citizens last year

  • Nearly 300,000 people became new citizens of Germany last year, an increase of 46% on the year before, Reuters reports citing figures from Germany's Statistical Office. More than a quarter came from Syria, representing the largest country of origin among the country's new citizens, Deutsche Welle notes.
  • Germany decreased the number of years of residency required prior to naturalization last June from eight to five years and even three years in certain cases.

 

MUNICH, GERMANY – Nuclear fusion start up secures €130 million investment

  • The Financial Times reports German start up Proxima Fusion drew €130 million in funding from tech investors Cherry Ventures and Balderton Capital to develop commercial fusion energy technology and its device known as the stellarator.
  • The stellarator is an alternative to the tokamak developed by Soviet scientists in the 1950s which uses magnets to suspend hydrogen plasma heated to extreme temperatures, fusing atomtic nuclei and producing a massive amount of energy.
  • Proxima Fusion spun out of the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics two years ago with an initial start up capital of €7 million.

 

MONACO – EU adds Monaco to moneylaundering blacklist

  • Reuters reports the EU added the micro-state principality to a list of countries viewed as having "strategic deficiencies" when it comes to shutting down money laundering and terrorist financing, alongside countries like Myanmar and Syria, Politico writes.
  • European parliamentarians wanted Russia added after the BRICS successfully countries blocked its inclusion on the global watchdog Financial Action Task Force (FATF) list last year. The EU generally followed FATF actions, which is why Monaco was included but among the blacklist countries that "have committed to overcoming them." Russia was left off again. Millions in Russian oligarch-linked funds are parked in Monaco, according to the Global Magnitsky Justice Campaign.
  • Algeria, Angola, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Kenya, Laos, Lebanon, Namibia, Nepal and Venezuela were also added to the blacklist; Barbados, Gibraltar, Jamaica, Panama, the Philippines, Senegal, Uganda and the UAE were dropped from the list.

 

MONACO – Ex-police officers on trial over residency permit corruption 'scandal'

  • Radio France International (RFI) reports the trial of former Monegasque police officers, including a former commissioner age 72, and six associates of a real estate agent over the decision to grant residence permits to "Pierre Salik, a Belgian textile magnate who, along with around 15 family members" is underway. The commissioner's ex-wife stands accused of money laundering and "concealment." Of note: "she accused her former husband of harassment and attempted extortion – charges he also faces – and revealed that he had accepted tens of thousands of euros and two luxury cars from Salik."
  • Monegasque residency permits are valuable as they grant exemption from income taxes to all but French and American citizens. Normally, the process for residency is rather strict.
  • According to the prosecution, "Salik's family rented apartments and bought AS Monaco football season tickets to give the appearance of residency – but sublet their properties, which is strictly forbidden in Monaco."

 

NOGENT, FRANCE – Student fatally stabs teaching assistant outside school

  • A student stabbed a teaching assistant to death outside a the Françoise-Dolto middle school in the eastern town of Nogent Tuesday, Le Monde reports. Politico notes the student is 14 years old.

 

PARIS, FRANCE – MEP Rima Hassan and another French national deported from Israel

  • L'Opinion reports that the French member of the European Parliament (MEP) Rima Hassan and another French national aboard the Gaza flotilla that was boarded by the Israeli navy Monday were deported from Israel to France on Thursday. Two other French nationals who were aboard the Madleen are expected to be deported on Friday.
  • Hassan was allegedly being held in solitary confinement after writing "Free Palestine" on the wall of her cell and began a hunger strike, according to the Israeli human rights NGO Adalah, which later clarified she had been released from isolated confinement. Israeli officials did not comment.
  • Hassan, a naturalized French citizen born in a Palestinian refugee camp, was welcomed home at the Place de la Republique, the go-to protest site in the French capital, according to videos shared by pro-Palestinian activists on social media.

 

PARIS, FRANCE – Arrest over kidnapping of cryptocurrency entrepreneur's father

  • Several suspects involved in the May kidnapping of the father of a cryptocurrency entrepreneuer's father were arrested Wednesday, France 24 reports.
  • The man was abducted in the 14th arrondissement by four men wearing ski masks before being bundled into a delivery truck in broad daylight. He was freed four days later by police in a suburb of Paris.

 

PUGET-SUR-ARGENS, FRANCE – Terror probe opened over killing of Tunisian barber

  • Al Jazeera English reports French authorities have opened a terror probe over the killing of Hichem Miraoui, a Tunisian barber who was shot five times and died while on a video call with his sister and mother on May 31, calling it "a first".
  • The suspect, Christophe Belgembe, has been arrested. He routinely posted far right content from France's far-right National Rally party and has pleaded guilty to the shooting but not guilty to a racially-motivated charge. According to Al Jazeera English, Belgembe was well known in his community for his racist and anti-Arab views and since-deleted videos posted to Facebook he claims credit for shooting "pieces of junk."
  • The shooting resulted in protests across France. Between January and March of this year, there were 79 Islamophobic hate crimes, an increase of more than 70% on the year before.

 

PARIS, FRANCE – Mistral AI announces Europe's first AI reasoning model

  • Reuters reports a French artificial intelligence firm, Mistral AI, released Europe's first AI reasoning model which formulates a response based on logical thinking Tuesday, the first step towards competing with rivals in China and the US.
  • In contrast to OpenAI and Google, Mistral AI has moved to make the code on some of its products open source.

 

PARIS, FRANCE – Nvidia announces plans to build industrial AI cloud in Germany

  • At the VivaTech conference Wednesday, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang announced plans to build its first artificial intelligence cloud for industrial use in Germany, Reuters reports.
  • The technology combines AI and robotics and will assist car manufacturers like BMW and Mercedes-Benz on everything from product design to managing logistics.

 

PARIS, FRANCE – Tesla leaseholders file suit as Musk's far-right activism degrades brand

  • Ten Tesla leaseholders in France have filed a lawsuit against Tesla in commercial court in Paris asserting Elon Musk's "extreme right" activities have thrust their vehicles into a global culture war, making the cars they drive associated with problematic symbolism, France 24 reports.
  • Those filing suit want their leases terminated, legal fees paid and their political point to be made public. Sales of Tesla in Europe have declined precipitously this year by about half.
  • Musk has backed US President Donald Trump and Germany's far-right AfD and earlier this year made "a repeated gesture with an out-thrust arm interpreted by many historians to be a Nazi salute."

 

NEUILLY-SUR-SEINE & DEAUVILLE, FRANCE – Rabbi targeted twice in one week

  • Rabbi Elie Lemmel told Reuters he was the target of antisemitic rage twice in one week, including an incident at a café in Neuilly-sur-Seine (where former French President Nicolas Sarkozy was once the mayor) where he was hit over the head with a chair, knocking him to the ground and requiring a visit to the hospital. AFP cites a police source that a Palestinian man living illegally in Germany was taken into custody over the incident.
  • The incident follows on one earlier in the week in Deauville, Normandy region where he was punched in the stomach by three individuals he said were drunk, a break from the more customary antisemitic "not-so-friendly looks, some unpleasant words, people passing by, spitting on the ground" he was far more accustomed to.
  • Last week, five Jewish institutions in Paris were splashed with green paint, a color traditionally associated with Islam. Three Serbs have been charged for acting in "the interests of a foreign power" in those incidents.

 

ROME, ITALY – Italian referendum on reducing years of residency for citizenship fails

  • A "citizens referendum" on reducing citizenship based on residency from 10 years to five to apply for citizenship in Italy came up for a vote Sunday, BBC reports, with fifty percent turnout required for the measure to pass, though only 30% turned out, Euractiv adds.
  • Meloni emerged stronger after the referendum failed as the bid for faster citizenship split the left, Reuters reports.
  • The Guardian has billed it as a referendum on "Italian-born children of foreigners to be citizens". The referendum was controversial due to Italy's status as a premier arrival port of migrants across the Mediterranean, many of whom are aided by human traffickers. However, to ease those concerns under a time of Giorgia Meloni's government in particular, the bid for more relaxed citizenship criteria is aimed at those with "knowledge of the Italian language, not having criminal charges, continuous residence".

 

BERN, SWITZERLAND – Senate relaxes arms export rules

  • Bloomberg reports that the Swiss Senate has relaxed arms export rules as the industry struggles due to stringent restrictions that forbid the resale or donation of equipment to countries at war who are most in need of the matériel.

 

BERN, SWITZERLAND – Unhealthy air quality result of Canadian forest fires

  • Swissinfo reports the air quality in Switzerland was "more than ten times the World Health Organization's (WHO) annual guideline value" on Wednesday, the result of forest fires in Canada

Stay safe!

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