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Ukraine finds Swiss, German components in Russian drones, France to get yet another PM and releases Russian shadow fleet ship

Ukraine finds Swiss, German components in Russian drones, France to get yet another PM and releases Russian shadow fleet ship

Several countries in Europe have convulsed through the motions of spirited debate on a mass political level about the Middle East and its messy poiltics. At least one in the wider Alpine region, Italy, has experienced general strikes in recent weeks. But the gorey saturation of violence on social media contrasted with the overall calm on European streets is something else, quite distinct and apart from the Middle East itself with its own internal convulsions, histories and yes, The Discourse™.

In this, Europe's revised and condensed retelling of a modern Middle East tragedy, there are only just two sides. Whichever side you pick is your in-group and you are ardently opposed to the other side. You are pantomiming the internal politics of your nation but with Middle East characters loosely proscribed. This is charitable, of course, because it does not touch on Europe's long history of racism, xenophobia, hate and violence. We are discussing people with a desire to have good intent here, not the monsters, because there is still time in Europe.

If you squint, from the back row just enough, you may recognize the conflict, maybe. Any discerning outsider recognizes no friends in this Europeanized version of the Middle East tragedy. To have a brain is to know too well that if they do not like those people over there so much, what is to stop them from doing this to me and my kind? People who refrain from behaving like trash when everyone else is are actually better people. Look around.

Which brings us to Merkel blaming the Baltic states and Poland for Russia's unprovoked act of aggression against Ukraine, as my old newsroom Deutsche Welle reports. Who remembers when European leaders said "never again" so often that it was performative? Many things that were overspoken are now unspeakable. Also gone: references to "Europe, whole and free." We are back to blaming the victims of aggression. What were Poland and the Baltic states wearing when Russia decided to attack Ukraine?

Finally there is this troubling question that pops up over and over in history in perilous moments like these. As this Middle East ceasefire pertains to the wider Alpine region, will the ceasefire hold and save Eurovision? The countries are soon to vote on this Israel problem, which we might as well call the Jewish question. Germany will quit Eurovision if Israel is excluded, The Daily Mail reports, but Ireland, Spain and three other nations will boycott if Israel remains because of the conflict in Gaza. Austria will not host the contest at all if Israel is excluded, according to The Jerusalem Post, showing that at least officially the German-speaking world believes this all looks bad. A colossal shitstorm, as the Germans would say. And what if the ceasefire holds but we lose Eurovision? Who will we blame then? Natürlich.

Welcome to the new Alpine Security Monitor. We are launching now really and truly. You can read more about me, your monitor author. But more importantly, you can 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). Let's get to it.

KYIV, UKRAINE – Zelensky: Western components found in Russian drones over Ukraine

  • Swissinfo reports component parts made in Switzerland as well as Germany and the United States were located inside the fragments of Russian drones shotdown by Ukraine, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on social media Monday.
  • In total, "549 weapons systems with 102,785 components manufactured abroad," were involved in an overnight drone swarm strike Sunday.
  • Zelensky said additional components found in the Russian drones Ukraine shot down come from China, Japan, the Netherlands, South Korea, Taiwan and the UK.

 

PARIS, FRANCE – PM Lecornu resigns after three weeks on the job; new PM to be named

  • The Financial Times reports the newly installed French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu resigned from the job Monday three weeks after being appointed by French President Emmanuel Macron and "only hours after he had named ministers for his prospective government."
  • Le Monde reports Macron's office said Wednesday that he is expected to name a new prime minister today. Lecornu also "said Wednesday he would remain in office" in a caretaker role "until a replacement was appointed."

 

SAINT-NAZAIRE, FRANCE – France releases ship linked to Russian shadow fleet

  • Agence France Presse reports last Friday that the Boracay, a ship that is "blacklisted by the European Union for being part of Russia's sanctions busting 'shadow fleet' of aging oil tankers," was released by the French military who boarded it after it was linked to a drone swarm over the Copenhagen Airport two weeks ago.
  • Citing maritime tracking websites, the Boracay was reportedly "heading towards the Suez Canal". The tanker's Chinese captain and first mate "were back on board," after being briefly detained by French authorities.
  • The ship was detained the Friday before last when it was "carrying a 'large cargo of oil' from Russia to India" with the flag of Benin.

 

PRAGUE, CZECHIA – Andrej Babiš and his ANO Party win parliamentary elections

  • Politico reports Andrej Babiš and his ANO Party won Czechia's parliamentary elections on Saturday with "more than 34 percent of the vote".
  • The ruling coalition Spolu (Together) received 23 percent of the vote, meaning "Babiš is the hot candidate to become prime minister". According to the BBC, Babiš "has already begun talks with the two small right-wing eurosceptic parties," the Motorists for Themselves and the Freedom and Direct Democracy Party.
  • Hungary's Viktor Orban was "one of the first to congratulate Babiš", calling it "good news for Europe." Italian far-right League leader Matteo Salvini said Babiš had "crused the left" while French far-right National Rally figures Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella "also hailed ANO's victory." In Russia, close Putin advisor and head of Russia's sovereign wealth fund Kirill Dmietriev said on X, "Europe is waking up."

 

MUNICH, GERMANY – Drones shut Munich airport for a second day

  • Reuters reports drones shuttered the Munich Airport for a second day in a row last Friday following drone sightings the night before.
  • "Dozens of flights were diverted or cancelled" last Friday with operations resuming by Saturday morning. Agence France Presse reports 46 flights either delayed, diverted or cancelled and over 6,000 passengers were affected.
  • German tabloid Bild reported the drones spotted at the Munich Airport were for military use.

 

BERLIN, GERMANY – Germany rescinds 'fast-track' citizenship of three years

  • Reuters reports the German Parliament Wednesday voted to rescind "fast-track citizenhip" of three instead of five years for "exceptionally well-integrated" individuals.
  • The move follows through on a promise German Chancellor Friedrich Merz made during the campaign season to rescind the legislation.
  • German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt told the German Parliament a German passport is "recognition of a successful integration process" rather than "an an incentive for illegal immigration".

 

VIENNA, AUSTRIA – Austria mulls rescinding citizenship of fugitive ex-Wirecard COO

  • Reuters reports the Austrian Interior Ministry said Tuesday it is mulling revoking the citizenship of Jan Marsalek, the fugitive ex-Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Wirecard who defected to Russia after cultivating contacts in Austrian intelligence.
  • As COO of Wirecard, Marsalek presided over the nearly $4 billion (€3.4 billion) collapse of "Germany's biggest post-war fraud". While "police have been unable to hunt him down" because he fled to Russia, "police and prosecutors said Marsalek had run" a "spy unit" that included three Bulgarians on trial in London who were found guilty in March of espionage on behalf of the Russian state.
  • "Joint reporting" published last month from Germany's Der Spiegel, the investigative outfit The Insider and Austria's Der Standard revealed "Marsalek was living rather openly in Moscow.

 

ROME, ITALY – Protests roil Italy after Israel intercepts activists on Gaza flotilla

  • Politico reports there were small but violent clashes involving police at a mostly peaceful march in support of Gaza that drew "Hundreds of thousands of people," Saturday, "the fourth day of sweeping strikes and protests that have seized parts of the country".  CNN has video.
  • Reuters reported that "Officers responded to the violent protests with tear gas and water cannons as protesters set fire to cars and trash cans" while placing the number of disruptive protesters at around 200 individuals.
  • In a social media post, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni thanked law enforcement "for the extraordinary work carried out in these complex days".

 

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Eight Swiss on Gaza flotilla greeted at airport after Israeli jail

  • Keystone-SDA reports eight on the 19 Swiss activists aboard the latest flotilla to Gaza to be intercepted by the Israeli Navy returned to Geneva on Sunday, with a ninth landing in Zürich Saturday and, Swissinfo reports, another nine on Wednesday with a tenth Turkish-Swiss dual national landing in Turkey.
  • Two hundred people greeted the eight activists at the Geneva airport upon their return. The ten Swiss citizens who remained in Ktzi'ot detention center in the Negev dessert were welcomed back to Switzerland and Turkey by Wednesday and included former Geneva mayor Rémy Pagani. They were met by a crowd of around 300 people.
  • More than 400 activists from numerous countries were on board the latest flotilla marketed as the "Global Sumud". On Monday, Swissinfo reports the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs posted on X that "171 additional provocateurs from the flotilla" inclduing Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg were deported, including nationals of several Alpine nations including Austria, France, Germany, Italy and Switzerland."

 

BERN, SWITZERLAND – Government to 'update' Ukrainian refugees' status as of November

  • Swissinfo reports Wednesday that the earliest the Swiss government will cancel the protected "status S for refugees from Ukraine" is March 2027 and "applicants will now be treated differently depending on their region of origin when protection status is granted."
  • What this means in practice is "Currently, a return to the regions of Volyn, Rivne, Lviv, Ternopil, Transcarpathia, Ivano Frankivsk and Chernivitsi is considered reasonable".
  • Going forward from November 1 of this year, "S Status will not be limited to people whose last place of residence is in one of the Ukrainian regions occupied by Russian troops or combat zones." The policy is not applicable retroactively.

Stay safe and here these are frightening pictures of glaciers melting from the BBC!

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