"They really seem to think that they have a special right to do such things. The motive for sabotage is usually that it’s done because it can be done," [...]

"It comes to mind that this could be a practice for a larger-scale act if there is a need for that," [...]

but...

The Finnish Security and Intelligence Service (Supo) told Yle on Monday afternoon that it was too early to assess the cause of the cable breakage.

Undersea cable between Lithuania and Sweden damaged - Telia

Following Finnish media reports that an unexplained failure of an undersea telecommunications cable has disrupted communication services between Finland and Germany, Telia’s Chief Technology Officer [...] says that the communications cable between Lithuania and Sweden was also damaged.

"The cable was cut on Sunday morning, at around 10:00. The systems immediately reported that we had lost the connection. Further investigation and clarification took place, and it turned out that it was damaged," [...]

Things in Europe start to get nasty...

Why cut that now?...

Tit for tat.

What to distract from?

ATACMS

Or what to threaten??

NATO/USA

https://www.lrt.lt/en/news-in-english/19/2397035/lithuania-to-dismantle-power-lines-with-russia-belarus-in-2025-says-tso

On Feb 8 2025 the Baltic countries (Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia; all EU and NATO members) are going to shut down and dismantle the remaining power lines which connect the region with Belarus and Russia. On this day they are going to end ~five decades of synchronization to the former Soviet, now Russian controlled IPS/UPS synchronous grid. Baltics (like Ukraine since Feb 2022) then will be part of the continental European ENTSOE synchronous grid. But the Baltics will only be connected to Poland via one synchronous 400 kilovolts AC link (2 circuits) and three (non-synchronous) High Voltage DC subsea links to Sweden (1) and Finland (2).

interactive ENTSOE grid map: https://www.entsoe.eu/data/map/

The disconnection will also cut off Russia's Baltic exclave Kaliningrad. All news statements read: "all links to Russian grid" will be dismantled. I don't know if that means Kaliningrad's grid will become an isolated island or if Lithuania will provide them a transit link to Russia like they provide a transit railway, negotiated two decades ago.

This will also be the final stop mark for Putin's project to build a 2 gigawatts nuclear power plant in Kaliningrad.

Chinese Bulk Carrier "Yi Peng 3" (IMO9224984) sailed at irregular speeds through the southern Baltic Sea outbound from St. Petersburg (Russia), stopped for ~70 minutes at the time of damage and above the position of the intersecting submarine cables. The ship then continued at constant speed. It is currently being escorted through the Danish Straits by Danish warship HDMS Hvidbjoernen.

Source: Open source intel folks monitoring marinetraffic.com

Russian's since years are known to spend tremendous effort in mapping European subsea infrastructure (comms cables, DC cables, offshore oil & gas plattforms and pipelines; platform's onshore power connections, offshore wind farms and connecting power lines, ...). They do this at broad daylight with former Soviet research vessels; frequently switching of AIS transponders for hours...

How to prevent and deter such "events"? There never will be clear evidence (caught red-handed). You can't monitor not even such a small marginal sea (more of an inland lake) like the Baltic Sea 24/7. Frightening times ahead...

Bulk carrier "Yi Peng 3" (IMO9224984) was stopped yesterday by Danish Navy in the Danish Straits (territorial waters) and is still anchored there.

https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/home/shipid:213234/zoom:14

Modi's just as crooked young buddy, Gautam, has finally been caught out.

US charges Indian billionaire Gautam Adani with fraud.

Indian billionaire Gautam Adani has been charged with fraud in the US, which has accused him of orchestrating a $250m (£198m) bribery scheme and concealing it to raise money in the US.

The criminal charges, filed on Wednesday in New York, are the latest blow to 62-year-old Mr Adani, one of Asia's richest men, whose business empire extends from ports and airports to renewable energy.

In the indictment, prosecutors alleged the tycoon and other senior executives had agreed to the payments to Indian officials to win contracts for his renewable energy company expected to yield more than $2bn in profits over 20 years......

Bulk carrier "Yi Peng 3" (IMO9224984) is still anchored in the Kattegat. The ship is surrounded by two offshore patrol vessels, a Danish Navy frigate and a German Coast Guard vessel. The place is located in the north of the Danish Straits, far outside the area of responsibility of German authorities. A German Coast Guard RIB, has been occasionally sailing between the ships for at least two days now.

How long does it take to search such a medium-sized bulk carrier? They won't find anything anyway. Or is the ship now missing its captain, who is behind bars in Denmark?

https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/home/shipid:213234/zoom:14

The Gilded Age when the Rich used a private company named Pinkerton to put down strikers by force of arms, to kill strikers, to the Rich this was when America was Great and they want it back, the French had a Rich problem, not anymore.

The effort that is still being made because of this detained Chinese ship "Yi Peng 3" is remarkable. Last week, the German Navy sent two (smaller) supply ships for the German coast guard ship in Danish waters. This has now been replaced by another "Bamberg" (BP82). The Danish Navy has its largest warship "HDMS Absalon" (F341) on site.

A state of unease.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol's martial law declaration blocked by opposition MPs in parliamentary vote.

South Korean MPs have voted to lift emergency martial law only hours after it was declared by the country’s President Yoon Suk Yeol.

However, the military has said it will maintain martial law until the order is lifted by President Yoon.

The martial law declaration saw people descend on the National Assembly in protest, with police and soldiers struggling to control crowds outside.

Mr Yoon made the call in an unannounced late-night address broadcast live on YTN television on Tuesday night, local time, citing the need to protect the country from "communist forces"......

Our BushMasters get a new model that could prove to be a better option to HIMARS for us down under.

Missiles launched from Bushmaster vehicles could soon be operated by the Australian army.

A mobile missile launcher transported by Bushmaster vehicles is a step closer to being operated by Australian soldiers, with Defence to formally examine whether the locally designed weapon system can soon be brought into service.

Known as StrikeMaster, the Australian-developed product utilises a pair of Naval Strike Missiles (NSM) mounted on top of the domestically produced Bushmaster, which can be fired at enemy targets on land and sea out to at least 250 kilometres.

First unveiled in 2022 by defence companies Kongsberg and Thales, the StrikeMaster and its ship-killing NSMs is being touted as a sovereign and cost-effective option for delivering a potent "area denial" capability across Australia's top end.

Now the ABC can reveal the Albanese government has this week approved a tender process that will pit the StrikeMaster against the American-made High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS), currently being used by Ukrainian forces.........

......While the Lockheed Martin-produced HIMARS is regarded well by the Australian military, there are concerns about the high cost and lack of sovereignty with the US-made technology and the long acquisition times given numerous other nations have ordered it....

Meanwhile back in the state of unease.

South Korea’s President Yoon Suk Yeol now a dead man walking after martial law fiasco.

How a Dior handbag, a tax scandal, and a furore over the price of spring onions triggered Yoon Suk Yeol's downfall.

Our BushMasters get a new model that could prove to be a better option to HIMARS for us down under.are concerns about the high cost and lack of sovereignty with the US-made technology and the long acquisition times given numerous other nations have ordered it....

The advantage of the Himars (or e.g. the larger tracked variant MARS) is logistics; the speed of reloading a whole module of six missiles (Mars: 2 x 6) in a very short time.

The Russians still unload wooden transport boxes of even their smallest Grad missiles from trucks by hand, open the boxes, take the missile from the box; and two men push them into the launch tube. Repeat that a dozen times... Strenuous work, which ties up a lot of personnel walking around unprotected near combat zones; that in the 21st century where drones are flying around everywhere.

The South Korean drama continues.

South Korean president's office raided, ex-defence minister attempts suicide before arrest.

South Korean police say they have raided President Yoon Sook Yeol's office, as the investigation into his declaration of martial law gathers pace.

"The Special Investigation Team has conducted a raid on the presidential office, the National Police Agency, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, and the National Assembly Security Service," the unit stated in a message sent to AFP.

It comes as a second impeachment motion is planned for December 14, according to opposition party spokesperson Jo Seung-lae.

Mr Yoon is already under a travel ban as part of an "insurrection" probe into his inner circle after his short-lived suspension of civilian rule on December 3.

The president is the subject of criminal investigation on insurrection charges over his short-lived imposition of martial law but he has not been arrested or questioned by authorities.

South Korean Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said he blamed himself for failing to stop the emergency martial law, news agency Newsis reported on Wednesday........

Not the brightest thinking they wouldn't notice?
North Texas women taking 71 pounds of marijuana to London arrested in Washington D.C.

A North Texas woman was arrested at Washington Dulles International Airport after over 71 pounds of marijuana was discovered in her baggage, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said in a news release.

(Suspect), age 30, of The Colony TX, was arrested on Nov. 23 by the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority Police Department.

(She) is charged with felony possession with intent to distribute, transporting controlled substances into the Commonwealth, and narcotics conspiracy, the news release stated.

Young Andy keeps on being in the news for all the wrongs reasons.

Questions over Andrew's judgement and finances raised again.

The Duke of York has been dogged by questions about two overlapping problems - his judgement and his finances.

It is an issue that goes back to the loss of Prince Andrew's status as a working royal, stepping down over his association with the financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

It has been raised again with the controversy over a Chinese business contact, accused of cultivating financial links with the prince in a way that could be exploited for "leverage for political purposes". Buckingham Palace declined to comment, saying only that they do not act for the prince, who is not a working royal.

It is a reminder of how the royals can be targeted by those wanting to build links either for their own personal ambition or for a strategic political agenda. Getting close to the royals is seen as a way of getting influence.

For Prince Andrew there's been a long-running stream of questions about his financial dealings........

Assad was a drug dealer.

Rebels uncover warehouse of Captagon, the drug that propped up Assad’s regime for a decade.

Syrian rebels last week confirmed they had uncovered a warehouse on the outskirts of Damascus stockpiled with an illegal amphetamine known as captagon.

These little white pills of “chemical courage” were long associated with the now deposed Assad regime, delivering billions of dollars to Syria’s zombie economy. But how did Syria become the “narcostate” responsible for the manufacture and global distribution of this synthetic stimulant?

Captagon is the former brand name of the pharmaceutical stimulant fenethylline, created by a German pharmaceutical company in the 1960s. Originally marketed as a psychostimulant used to treat ADHD, depression and narcolepsy, the drug was eventually banned by regulators in the 1980s due to its addictive nature and dangerous side effects.

What remained was a market for illicit knock-off versions of the amphetamine, manufactured in the Middle East for pennies and exported to rich gulf states for huge profits. Its prevalence saw the drug dubbed as “the poor man’s cocaine” and throughout the 2010s it wreaked havoc across The Gulf.....

The saga of the Chinese bulk carrier Yi Peng 3 in the Baltic Sea ended on Dec 21:

2024 Baltic Sea submarine cable disruptions

On 18 Dec 2024 Chinese authorities allowed [...] [Western] investigators to board Yi Peng 3 [...]. Finally, on 19 December 14 Chinese, 9 Germans, 6 Swedes, 3 investigators from Finland and one Dane boarded the vessel [...]. The Chinese [...], accompanied by the western observers, questioned the crew, inspected relevant pieces of equipment and reviewed documents. The Swedish Police [...] participated, conducting interviews with crew members and technical examinations, including of the anchoring equipment. Jonas Bäckstrand, Deputy Director General of the Swedish Accident Investigation Authority, noted that significant observations were made, though details remain undisclosed. The operation lasted for 5 hours.

The Chinese representatives did not permit access for Henrik Söderman, the Swedish public prosecutor [...]. Swedish government had put pressure on Chinese authorities for the ship to move [...] into Swedish territory to allow a full investigation.

On 21 December 2024 Danish authorities reported the Yi Peng 3 had weighed anchor and continued its voyage. A Swedish Coastguard statement said the Yi Peng 3 did so on its own initiative [...]

Russia-linked cable-cutting tanker seized by Finland ‘was loaded with spying equipment’

Russia-linked dark fleet tanker Eagle S (IMO: 9329760), seized by Finland on Dec 25 for damaging an undersea cable, had transmitting and receiving devices installed that effectively allowed it to become a “spy ship” for Russia [...]

The hi-tech equipment on board was abnormal for a merchant ship and consumed more power from the ship’s generator, leading to repeated blackouts [...]

They said listening and recording equipment was brought on to the 20-year-old tanker via “huge portable suitcases” along with “many laptops” that had keyboards for Turkish and Russian languages [...]

The transmitting and receiving devices were used to record all radio frequencies, and upon reaching Russia were offloaded for analysis.

“They were monitoring all Nato naval ships and aircraft,” [...]

“They had all details on them. They were just matching their frequencies.

“Russians, Turkish, Indian radio officers were operating it.”

Eagle S also dropped “sensors-type devices” in the English Channel during a transit [...]