#Baltic Sea patrols

[latestnews-now]

Poland is taking bold steps to fortify its eastern borders, ensuring security against potential threats. Prime Minister Donald Tusk visited the border with Kaliningrad to inspect the groundbreaking "East Shield" project. Learn how this massive $2.5 billion initiative will safeguard Poland and NATO allies. Stay tuned for a full breakdown of this historic defense effort.

[tomorrowusa]

Undersea telecom cables in the Baltic Sea connecting NATO members have been intentionally damaged. Russia is suspected of involvement.

Poland has suggested a regional effort to patrol the Baltic to reduce acts of sabotage.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Wednesday he wanted to launch a “navy policing” program to secure the Baltic Sea against Russian threats. Speaking to reporters in Warsaw ahead of a summit of Nordic and Baltic leaders in Sweden, Tusk said the initiative would be “a joint venture of countries located at the Baltic Sea, which have the same sense of threat posed by Russia.” "If Europe is united, then Russia is a technological, financial and economic dwarf in relation to Europe,” he added. “But if Europe is divided, Russia poses a threat to each and every European country individually.”

A fragmented Europe is easy prey for Putin. Countries in the region need to act together to ward off acts of terrorism.

The suggestion comes after a 1,000-kilometer-long undersea telecoms cable linking Finland and Germany, and another connecting Sweden to Lithuania were severed last week. A Chinese-flagged ship that departed Russia and sailed through the Baltic Sea is suspected of being involved.

The Baltic Sea is accessible only through Danish waters or through Germany's Kiel Canal.

Any country which isn't playing nice could theoretically see its access to the sea restricted.

[dostoyevsky-official]

Denmark will scrap plans to build new patrol and environmental vessels for the Baltic Sea and instead design ships to carry out tasks around Greenland. Danish lawmakers initially agreed in 2021 to design new navy ships for patrolling and clean-up operations for environmental accidents in the Baltic Sea. The project will now be shifted to focus on acquiring vessels equipped for tasks around Greenland, the defense ministry said in a statement on Wednesday. “We are in a significantly changed security situation,” Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen said, adding that a replacement for the existing fleet of “aging” Thetis-class ships in Greenland was needed.

denmark is reorienting from the non-existent russian threat to the more pressing american security threat

[follow-up-news]

With its powerful camera, the French Navy surveillance plane scouring the Baltic Sea zoomed in on a cargo ship plowing the waters below — closer, closer and closer still until the camera operator could make out details on the vessel’s front deck and smoke pouring from its chimney. The long-range Atlantique 2 aircraft on a new mission for NATO then shifted its high-tech gaze onto another target, and another after that until, after more than five hours on patrol, the plane’s array of sensors had scoped out the bulk of the Baltic — from Germany in the west to Estonia in the northeast, bordering Russia. The flight’s mere presence in the skies above the strategic sea last week, combined with military ships patrolling on the waters, also sent an unmistakable message: The NATO alliance is ratcheting up its guard against suspected attempts to sabotage underwater energy and data cables and pipelines that crisscross the Baltic, prompted by a growing catalogue of incidents that have damaged them.

[thatswhywelovegermany]

Verdict concerning urinating at the beach of the Baltic Sea

A man emptied his bladder in the protection of the dark and was confronted by watchful upholders of law and order. The case went to court - and the judges felt challenged to show their craft.

It is one of the advantages of nature that your view of the magnificent landscape is not obstructed by an outside toilet. That's why you simply have no choice but to pee outdoors every now and then. Under the cover of a bush, tree, hill or even the night, an unproblematic affair that should not upset anyone.

Something like that may have gone through the thoughts of the wild wee'er who removed himself about twenty meters from his friends gathered on the Baltic Sea beach in a summer night of July 2022 and urinated protected by the darkness – the act was committed around 00:36 – with his back facing the beach towards the water. Children building sand castles or girls playing volleyball were not active at this time. Nor was the beach frequented by walkers. However, law enforcement officers of the city of Lübeck armed with flashlights patrolled the beach, who confronted the perpetrator – but only after he had emptied his bladder, order must prevail. The man was supposed to pay sixty euros for the administrative offense of "annoyance of the general public by a grossly indecent action", which the man refused to pay. The case went to the district court of Lübeck.

Among other things, the question whether the wild wee'er had violated the public sense of shame was on the table. The court found: no. The person concerned had entrusted himself to the protection of the darkness and did not have to expect to be suddenly illuminated with flashlights and to be approached in a targeted manner. It has to be redounded to the district court's credit that it has also kept an eye on the geographical peculiarities. "The fact that there were no other ways to retreat behind landscape features at the drift line of the Baltic Sea, unlike in mountains and at forest edges, except to turn away, cannot be stacked against the person concerned. That's how it is at the coast."

Yes, that's the way it is at the coast. Continue in the court text, on to the next setback for the Hanseatic city of Lübeck. According to the district court, no discommoding pollution or impairment by odor had occurred. The Baltic Sea is not a puddle, the wild wee'er had determined correctly. The court has researched that it contains "an amount of 21,631 cubic kilometers of brackish water. The degree of dilution would be so high that even in the event of a repeat or imitation a discommoding pollution or impairment by odor is impossible."

Finally, the district court comes to the beautiful, almost poetically formulated judgment that under the vastness of the firmament, man has no less rights than the deer in the forest, the rabbit in the field or the seal at the drift line of the Baltic Sea. And since, in case of doubt, we are sometimes deer, rabbits or seals, depending on the region, the state treasury has to bear the costs of the legal proceedings and the expenses of the person concerned.

[beardedmrbean]

Two families in East Germany, longing for freedom, built their own hot air balloon out of masses of taffeta, bought secretly in preparations that took more than a year.

They planned to flee and cross into West Germany in a daring plan put into action in September 1979.

They set out in their craft on a moonlit September night - after a failed attempt when they ran out of gas in the air and crashed into the bushes below.

However, they managed to reach the West in their second try, making it out of the country in a highly dramatic feat just before the East German police caught up with them.

The two families were dicing with death, as guards protecting the border in East Germany, then part of the Eastern Bloc, were ordered to use lethal force to prevent people defecting to the West.

The inner German border and the Berlin Wall were heavily fortified with watchtowers, land mines, armed soldiers and other measures to prevent illegal crossings.

"We didn't know anything about ballooning," says Günter Wetzel, 69, from one of the two families who managed to flee in their homemade balloon, who researched at length after a television programme provided inspiration.

When asked whether his dreams have been fulfilled in his new home, he replies soberly, "What do you mean by dreams?" Wetzel, who retrained as a car mechanic, was sure it would all work out.

His story was later made into several films. His character was played by US star Beau Bridges in the Disney film "Nightcrossing" and by David Kross in a German movie called "Balloon" (2018).

Sadly the films did not make him rich, however. "We were naive," he says, looking back.

Exploring the former death strip

A sign located on what used to be East Germany's infamous death strip now tells visitors about the balloon flight, known worldwide for its boldness.

Following World War II, Germany was divided for decades, separated by a lengthy border that can now be walked by hikers.

Where the death strip ran along the inner German border, there is now a green belt between the Saxon-Bavarian Vogtland region and the Baltic Sea.

Day trippers are drawn by the combination of forests, moorland, rivers, heathland and low mountain ranges.

Hiking journalist Thorsten Hoyer has covered 1,250 kilometres of the roughly 1,400-kilometre-long green belt in less than a month, but he does not recommend it, saying, "70% of it is over concrete and asphalt."

Nature is working on reclaiming the terrain, but has not yet managed completely.

The route is modelled on the Kolonnenweg on the east side, where the former East Germany border guards patrolled over perforated slabs.

Today, there is greenery everywhere along the path - though less in the way of tourist infrastructure and in places, there could be better signposting.

So it is better if cyclists and hikers focus on select routes, perhaps in the Franconian Forest where the states of Bavaria and Thuringia meet.

'Little Berlin'

The river Saale, once a border, flows leisurely along and builds up to a smooth surface near Hirschberg and is lined with trees and bushes, while canoeists rush over a weir. If you cycle along the colonnade path, watch out for the wide depressions in the concrete.

The situation eases on a forest path and the little road to Mödlareuth. Here, Americans used to call the village "Little Berlin."

Just like the German capital, Mödlareuth was divided by a wall and you can still visit the German-German Museum which has a memorial to the separation of the country. Visitors can also see a section of the Wall, and watchtowers and barbed wire fences bear witness to the painful division.

Britt Hornig, who is currently wandering through the museum grounds, is deeply moved and agitated. She used to work as a paediatric nurse in East Germany. "There can't be anything like this again. That was my childhood, my youth. It was absolute madness what they did to us."

"I went to the demonstrations in Leipzig every week and fought for freedom until the Wall came down."

Otto Oeder, a former border policeman and now 79 years old, also recalls the division. "I thought the world ended there," he says, describing his deployment on the Bavarian side of the Iron Curtain.

He wrote and published his book about those divided years, recalling refugees who made it through. "At our police station, we first dressed them in dry clothes, donated by us, not paid for by the state."

He also set up a regular meeting point in a pub for people who had crossed the border and could share their anecdotes. Anyone loyal to the East German regime was unwelcome.

Hiking through the past

Frankenwald-Steigla is the name of a network of circular hiking trails in the Franconian Forest, three of which illustrate the German-German past.

The Wetzsteinmacher trail, 5.3 kilometres long and starting below Lauenstein Castle, leads up to the Thüringer Warte. It is a viewing tower on the summit of the Ratzenberg and provides a fantastic vantage point to survey the area. Climb 117 steps and you can take in a view of the forests of the Thuringian-Franconian Slate Mountains.

Other climbs include the challenging Grenzer-Weg trail - 16.8 kilometres from Carlsgrün - and the moderate, recently inaugurated 10-kilometre Grünes Band trail, which starts in Mitwitz.

Along the way, a stream babbles and cuckoo calls echo through the forest. You can hear birdsong, while dewdrops sparkle like pearls on blades of grass. Dragonflies dance in the sun and it is so peaceful that you cannot imagine anything ever happened here.

[awesome-casuallyfamouscollector]

Latvian Skrunda class patrol boat P-08 Jelgava and Latvian Air Force's UH-60M Black Hawk helicopter during military exercise recently in the Baltic Sea. Source: lsm.lv

P.S. Latvia will support the enhanced surveillance of underwater infrastructure in the Baltic Sea by NATO and the Joint Expeditionary Force, involving the National Armed Forces (NBS) Navy, Air Force and, if necessary, units from the State Border Guard and the State Police, subordinate authorities of the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Defense (AM) said on January 13.

[mariacallous]

By the end of the week, NATO will deploy “about 10” ships to guard underwater infrastructure in the Baltic Sea, according to Yle, Finland's national public broadcaster. Finnish and Estonian ships will be primarily responsible for patrols, while vessels from other NATO members will be stationed near energy and communication cables. The deployment fulfills a promise by NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte on December 27 to “enhance [NATO’s] military presence in the Baltic Sea.”

The Swedish submarine rescue ship HSwMS Belos recently discovered and retrieved the anchor of the tanker Eagle S from the bottom of the Gulf of Finland. On January 3, a Finnish court upheld the seizure of the Eagle S, which is suspected of damaging the Finnish-Estonian Estlink 2 undersea power line and four telecommunications cables by dragging its anchor line on the seabed over “several tens of kilometers.” Finnish officials also believe the ship belongs to Russia’s so-called “shadow fleet” of tankers carrying Russian crude sold above the West's $60-per-barrel price cap.

Undersea cables in the Baltic Sea and Gulf of Finland have suffered damage on three separate occasions in recent months. In addition to this most recent incident, a communication cable connecting Sweden, Lithuania, Finland, and Germany was damaged in November. In October 2023, the Balticconnector gas pipeline and communication cables were also damaged.

[usafphantom2]

NATO intensifies patrols in the Baltic Sea after damage to submarine infrastructure

Fernando Valduga By Fernando Valduga 10/20/2023 - 4:00 p.m. in Military

NATO and the Allies are intensifying patrols in the Baltic Sea, following the recent damage caused to the region's submarine infrastructure.

The added measures include additional surveillance and reconnaissance flights, namely with maritime patrol aircraft, NATO AWACS aircraft and drones. A fleet of four NATO mine hunters is also being sent to the area.

“We continue to closely monitor the situation and are maintaining direct contact with our allies in Estonia and Finland, and with our partner Sweden,” said interim NATO spokesman Dylan White. “NATO will continue to adapt its maritime posture in the Baltic Sea and will take all necessary measures to keep the Allies safe.”

Since the sabotage of the Nord Stream in September 2022, NATO has intensified patrols near critical submarine infrastructure and promoted technological innovation - including with drones - to better detect any suspicious activity. Earlier this year, NATO created an underwater infrastructure coordination cell to deepen ties between governments, military, industrial actors and NATO, and since then created the NATO Maritime Center for the Security of Critical Underwater Infrastructures under the NATO Maritime Command.

Tags: Military AviationAWACSNATO - North Atlantic Treaty Organization

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Fernando Valduga

Fernando Valduga

Aviation photographer and pilot since 1992, has participated in several events and air operations, such as Cruzex, AirVenture, Dayton Airshow and FIDAE. He has work published in specialized aviation magazines in Brazil and abroad. Uses Canon equipment during his photographic work in the world of aviation.

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[maximumphilosopheranchor]

What if Ukraine falls, emboldening Putin to pursue further expansion into the other former Soviet Union states that, in his view, belong in the Russian empire? Will Nato truly honour its pledge to collective security, or is that promise nothing but hollow rhetoric? The fact is, Nato’s resilience is more fragile than we think. And a victory for Putin could see the world’s most successful alliance begin to crumble. The strength of Nato lies not only in its military prowess but in its unwavering commitment to collective defence, enshrined in Article 5. Yet Article 5 merely compels members to contemplate a response. “The Parties agree that … if such an armed attack occurs, each of them … will take action as it deems necessary…” – that’s all that Article 5 says. That action could mean anything from sending a warship to patrol an incursion, to merely expressing deep concern. Nato Eastern flank countries, such as Estonia and Poland, are on a war footing, shaming Nato up by doing much more than is formally required. Estonia is well ahead of its Nato allies in the 3% GDP defence spending, and Poland in particular is bracing itself for potential war with Russia. According to Polish military sources, there is no intention to wait for Russian boots to step onto Poland’s soil; the war could very well begin on Russian territory itself. Should Ukraine fall, and Russia’s aggression turn toward Nato allies like the Baltic states or Poland, expect to see Nato be fragmented, or even replaced, by those countries who cannot afford to be left exposed by the weaknesses of their so-called allies. Recent statements from Poland’s defence counterintelligence chief, Jaroslaw Strozyk, underscore that Putin is fully prepared for a small-scale military operation in Eastern territories, targeting, for example, the Estonian municipality Narva or encroaching on one of the Swedish islands. It is noteworthy that the Swedish Navy recently accused Russian ‘shadow’ oil tankers navigating through the Baltic Sea of engaging in espionage, gathering information on operations in the port of the island of Gotland under the guise of ‘emergency docking’. Gotland holds strategic significance for the regional security of Northern Europe and is crucial for the defence of neighbouring Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Finland, and Poland. Poland’s intelligence concerns were echoed by those of Estonian, German and the UK officials. It is clear that Putin is only being held off in his intentions by the West’s strong resolve in supporting Ukraine. If that resolve shatters, the likelihood of an imminent Russian attack on Nato would grow exponentially, and the implications would be profound. With existing divisions within Nato, particularly evident in disagreements over matters such as Sweden’s potential accession to the alliance, it’s likely that many member states would prioritise their own defence over that of their weaker allies.

[cyberbenb]

The Baltic Sea’s energy infrastructure is under attack. NATO must act

The European Union and NATO must strengthen cooperation to protect critical energy infrastructure from attacks, which pose a growing threat to European stability. The Kremlin, with its history of weaponizing energy, remains a prime suspect. NATO must properly secure the Baltic Sea — the so-called NATO lake.

The Baltic states achieved independence from the post-Soviet energy system in February by connecting to the continental grid via Poland. However, this transition is being overshadowed by a series of incidents in the Baltic Sea, underscoring the urgent need to secure the energy bridge from Poland, known as the LitPol Link. Poland and the Baltic states are ramping up their preparations.

Energy ministers from the Baltic states and Poland discussed preparations on Jan. 24 for the synchronization scheduled for Feb. 8-9. They announced plans for joint protection of the infrastructure required for this effort, following multiple incidents in the Baltic Sea. The synchronization will proceed without relying on the Estlink 2 cable, which was damaged in one of these incidents.

The meeting in Riga focused on finalizing preparations for synchronization and strengthening the resilience of critical infrastructure. “The damage to the Estlink 2 power cable connecting Finland to Estonia has not impacted the ability of the Baltic states to safely disconnect from the Belarusian and Russian energy system and connect to the European grid,” the ministers concluded.

Analyses indicate that the Baltic states have sufficient cross-border capacity through Estlink 1, NordBalt, and LitPol Link to synchronize with Europe without relying on Estlink 2. Synchronization entails disconnecting the Baltic states from the post-Soviet BRELL system — which will continue to include Belarus and Russia — and adapting Baltic energy systems to operate on the continental frequency.

The LitPol Link power connection, running through Poland, will facilitate this transition. Synchronizing with the continental grid will eliminate energy exchanges with the BRELL system. This move is particularly significant for Kaliningrad Oblast, which will become an energy island — just as the Baltic states would have been if disconnected from BRELL without European synchronization.

“The resilience and protection of infrastructure have never been more important."

However, we cannot be sure that other parts of the critical infrastructure needed for a successful disconnection from the post-Soviet system are safe from malign activity. The Baltic states and Poland are enhancing the security of LitPol Link and other critical infrastructure elements to protect the synchronization process.

“The resilience and protection of infrastructure have never been more important. The Russian Federation is deliberately destroying Ukraine’s power grid, and its hybrid activities in the Baltic Sea underscore the importance of a well-secured energy system for defense,” said Krzysztof Bolesta, state secretary at Poland’s Ministry of Climate and Environment.

Captain Thomas Zimmerman (L) orders the NATO flag hoisted for the first time on HMS Carlskrona (P04) near Karlskrona, Sweden, on Feb. 4, 2025. (Johan Nilsson/TT News Agency/AFP via Getty Images)

A Helicopter 15 (HKP15) lands on the flight deck of HMS Carlskrona (P04) near Karlskrona, Sweden, on Feb. 4, 2025, during NATO’s Baltic Sentry patrol. (Johan Nilsson/TT News Agency/AFP via Getty Images)

Poland is also taking lessons from another energy bridge to Lithuania, known as Harmony Link. Rising costs and security considerations led Polish and Lithuanian operators to plan Harmony Link as a subsoil cable instead of the originally proposed sea route. Land-based infrastructure is easier to secure and — more importantly — can be repaired faster. If sabotage damage can be repaired within a few weeks, the act of sabotage loses much of its impact. That is why the news that Finnish telecom company Elisa managed to repair two undersea cables in about two weeks was so encouraging.

Another type of threat is emerging as well. Baltic operators have reported the spread of disinformation regarding the synchronization of their energy systems with Europe. “We urge the public to critically evaluate information, resist emotional opinions, and refrain from spreading unverified reports,” participants of the Riga meeting emphasized. Beyond spreading fear, the enemy may be attempting to promote a false economic narrative — that disconnection from BRELL would significantly increase electricity costs.

That narrative is false. According to a study conducted during the preparations, the average increase in energy prices for consumers with an average consumption of 140 kWh per month would be minimal: 50 cents per month in Lithuania, 60 cents in Estonia, and around one euro in Latvia. Relatively speaking, this is not a heavy impact. In return, the Baltic states gain energy independence from the Russian operator and market coupling with Europe, which promotes price decreases.

Energy system operators in Poland and the Baltic states have been instructed by their governments to implement an urgent package of measures to enhance the security of critical energy infrastructure. Lithuania’s Interior Ministry expedited the strengthening of the LitPol Link cable’s protection, advancing the timeline from April to Jan. 15 in response to the severing of the Estlink 2 cable between Finland and Estonia on Dec. 26, 2024.

Poland is also taking action. “Polish Transmission System Operator (PSE) ensures the protection of transmission infrastructure within the Republic of Poland’s territory. The company collaborates with relevant national services and institutions, as well as transmission system operators in neighboring countries,” PSE stated in a comment for the Energy Drink podcast.

“Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a state of heightened readiness has been in place, and the infrastructure is continuously monitored, with particular attention given to interconnections with Lithuania, Sweden, and Ukraine. New measures to enhance physical security are also being implemented.”

(L-R) Henna Virkkunen, Mette Frederiksen, Ulf Kristersson, Gitanas Nausėda, Alexander Stubb, Mark Rutte, Kristen Michal, Edgars Rinkēvičs, Olaf Scholz, and Donald Tusk pose at the Baltic Sea NATO summit in Helsinki, Finland, on Jan. 14, 2025. (Vesa Moilanen/Lehtikuva/AFP via Getty Images)

PSE reports ongoing collaboration with operators in Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia to strengthen regional infrastructure protection. “Discussions are underway about launching joint projects in this area and securing EU funding for them,” the statement adds.

The increasing frequency of attacks on critical infrastructure — such as the recent incident involving the undersea cable between Latvia and Gotland — highlights the difficulty of attributing blame in a complex and interconnected world. Scandinavian media reports suggest it could have been an accident.

However, there have been too many such “accidents” since Russia’s unlawful aggression against Ukraine began. The West needs to take the initiative and stop retreating. The EU and NATO must develop new tools and strategies to address these challenges and protect collective security — especially in the Baltic Sea, which must be properly secured as a NATO-controlled waterway.

Editor’s Note: The opinions expressed in the op-ed section are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Kyiv Independent.

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Europe must act on Russian LNG before Trump makes it impossible

Europe’s window to ban Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) is closing faster than we think. As a second Trump administration takes shape, Europe’s opportunity to impose new, meaningful measures on Russian fossil fuels is rapidly diminishing. U.S. President Donald Trump’s plan to end the war alleged…

The Kyiv IndependentSvitlana Romanko

[seojobnet-blog]

Baltic Sea shipping tax could pay for undersea cable protection, says Estonian minister

Shipping firms may need to pay a fee to use the Baltic Sea, one of the world’s busiest shipping routes, in order to cover the high costs of protecting undersea cables, Estonia’s defence minister said on Wednesday following a spate of breaches.

NATO said last week it would deploy frigates, patrol aircraft and drones in the Baltic Sea after a series of incidents where ships have damaged power and communications cables with their anchors in acts of suspected sabotage.

In addition to the patrols, Defence Minister Hanno Pevkur said countries are weighing other measures to protect cables, including installing sensors to detect anchors dragged across the sea floor or constructing casings or walls around the cables.

But this will come at a cost, and whether countries or cable operators end up paying for it, consumers may be left ultimately footing the bill through higher taxes or utility costs.

Another option, Pevkur said, is levying a tax on vessels that sail through the Baltic Sea, that is bordered by eight NATO countries and Russia.

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Wednesday, January 29, 2025

Working Americans Turn to Food Banks as Fed Inflation Battle Drags On (Bloomberg) Once a month, Kersstin Eshak visits a food pantry in Loudoun County, Virginia, to stretch her family’s budget. Eshak’s husband works at a big box retailer. She works as a substitute teacher. They have income, but with prices up nearly 23% over the past five years—and still rising—their earnings just don’t stretch quite far enough some months. Food banks across the nation are seeing a similar story: A post-pandemic wave of demand for food driven by working people caught in America’s cost-of-living crunch. “This is a new era of food insecurity,” said Emily Engelhard, vice president of research at Feeding America, the largest US hunger relief organization. “This isn’t an unemployment issue.” As prices have risen, so have the share of Americans reporting they don’t have enough to eat. And despite robust economic growth and historically low unemployment, those figures have remained elevated in 2024, US Census data show.

The technology that runs Congress (The Conversation) On a typical day, you can’t turn on the news without hearing someone say that Congress is broken. The implication is that this dereliction explains why the institution is inert and unresponsive to the American people. There’s one element often missing from that discussion: Congress is confounding in large part because its members can’t hear the American people, or even each other. I mean that literally. Congressional staff serve in thousands of district offices across the nation, and their communications technology doesn’t match that of most businesses and even many homes. Members’ district offices only got connected to secure Wi-Fi internet service in 2023. The information systems Congress uses have existed largely unchanged for decades, while the world has experienced an information revolution, integrating smartphones and the internet into people’s daily personal and professional lives. Like many institutions, Congress resists change; only the COVID-19 pandemic pushed it to allow online hearings and bill introductions. Before 2020, whiteboards, sticky notes and interns with clipboards dominated the halls of Congress.

Gulf of Mexico? Gulf of America? (NYT) Francisco Javier Remes Sánchez was puzzled as he watched President Trump sign an executive order last week renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America as part of his pledge to honor “American greatness.” “That man talks a lot and we have no choice but to defend Mexico,” said Mr. Remes Sánchez, 52, who manages a 15,000-member fishing association in Tamaulipas state in northeastern Mexico. He has fished in the gulf for 20 years and estimated that he spends 2,000 hours a year on its waters. “He’s changing the name of a cultural and natural heritage of Mexico since the 16th century, when the United States hadn’t even been formed,” he added. To be clear: Mr. Trump’s order renaming the world’s largest gulf only changed the name in the United States, where he has authority, not internationally. But still, across Mexico and Cuba, the other countries with maritime boundaries in the gulf, Mr. Trump’s move was met with a combination of bewilderment, indignation, indifference and, at times, laughter. “For us and for the whole world, it is still the Gulf of Mexico,” President Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico said, briefly chuckling when addressing the topic last week.

NATO is deploying eyes in the sky and on the Baltic Sea to protect vital cables (AP) With its powerful camera, the French Navy surveillance plane scouring the Baltic Sea zoomed in on a cargo ship plowing the waters below—closer, closer and closer still until the camera operator could make out details on the vessel’s front deck and smoke pouring from its chimney. The long-range Atlantique 2 aircraft on a new mission for NATO then shifted its high-tech gaze onto another target, and another after that until, after more than five hours on patrol, the plane’s array of sensors had scoped out the bulk of the Baltic—from Germany in the west to Estonia in the northeast, bordering Russia. The flight’s mere presence in the skies above the strategic sea last week, combined with military ships patrolling on the waters, also sent an unmistakable message: The NATO alliance is ratcheting up its guard against suspected attempts to sabotage underwater energy and data cables and pipelines that crisscross the Baltic, prompted by a growing catalogue of incidents that have damaged them.

Danish leader on European tour as Copenhagen moves to strengthen presence around Greenland (AP) Denmark’s prime minister embarked on a tour of major European capitals Tuesday as the continent faces what she called “a more uncertain reality” and her country moves to strengthen its military presence around Greenland. Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen planned stops in Berlin, Paris and Brussels, the latter to meet NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte. Her trip comes as new U.S. President Donald Trump has said he would not rule out the use of military force to seize control of Greenland, an autonomous territory belonging to NATO and European Union member Denmark. On Monday evening, her government announced a roughly 14.6 billion-kroner (nearly $2 billion) agreement with parties including the governments of Greenland and the Faeroe Islands to “improve capabilities for surveillance and maintaining sovereignty in the region.”

Auschwitz survivors warn of rising antisemitism at 80th anniversary of camp's liberation (Reuters) Auschwitz survivors warned of the dangers of rising antisemitism on Monday, as they marked the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi German death camp by Soviet troops in one of the last such gatherings of those who experienced its horrors. Remembrance of crimes committed in the name of Nazi notions of racial superiority has become an acutely political issue in recent years with the rise of far-right parties across Europe.

As Trump and Putin Circle Each Other, an Agenda Beyond Ukraine Emerges (NYT) They have been circling each other carefully for seven days now—sending out invitations to talk, mixing a few jabs with ego-stroking, suggesting that the only way to end the Ukraine war is for the two of them to meet, presumably without the Ukrainians. President Trump and Vladimir V. Putin, whose relationship was always the subject of mystery and psychodrama in the first Trump term, are at it again. But it is not a simple re-run. Mr. Trump was unusually harsh in his rhetoric last week, saying Mr. Putin was “destroying Russia,” and threatening sanctions and tariffs on the country if it doesn’t come to the negotiating table—a fairly empty threat given the tiny amount of trade between the U.S. and Russia these days. Mr. Putin has repeated that he was ready to sit down and negotiate over the fate of Europe, superpower to superpower, leader to leader. So far they have not spoken, though they are sending signals that they want to negotiate about more than just Ukraine. Both men seem to envision taking on the whole relationship between Moscow and Washington, possibly including revived nuclear arms talks, a conversation that has a looming deadline: The major treaty limiting the arsenals of both nations expires in almost exactly a year. After that, they would be free to pursue the kind of arms race the world has not seen since the deepest days of the Cold War.

Lunar New Year: Sliding into the Year of the Snake (Washington Post) Lunar New Year, a holiday celebrated by more than 1 billion people around the world, is nearly upon us. Lunar New Year, or the Spring Festival, is celebrated in China and much of Asia, including Korea, Vietnam and Singapore, as well as among the global Asian diaspora. The holiday symbolizes a hopeful transition from the cold winter to the season of renewal. It is a largely secular holiday but includes cultural rituals that derive from Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, as well as from ancient myths and folk traditions. The Chinese zodiac system assigns each year to one of 12 animals: the Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog and Pig. The Lunar New Year that began in 2024 was the Year of the Dragon, so this one will be the Year of the Snake. Each elemental animal follows a 60-year cycle, so 2025 will be the year of the Wood Snake. Lunar New Year follows the lunar calendar—in which months are determined by cycles of the moon. That means it differs from the Western new year, which is determined by the solar calendar, or the Earth’s cycle around the sun.

China to prioritise physical education in schools as obesity rates rise (Reuters) China is aiming to beef up physical education in schools, making it core to the curriculum rather than a secondary subject, authorities said as they push for a more “holistic education” amid growing concerns about the rise in childhood obesity. Youth obesity has accelerated since 2019 due to decreased physical activity during COVID lockdowns and more online ordering of junk food. The proportion of obese boys in China jumped to 15.2% in 2022 from 1.3% in 1990, trailing the United States 22%, but higher than Japan’s 6%, Britain’s and Canada’s 12% and India’s 4%. Obesity in girls rose to 7.7% in 2022 from 0.6% in 1990.

Lebanon Faces a Colossal Disposal Task: Clearing War Debris (NYT) For the past three months, Ahmad Mehdi has been living in half a home. In October, an Israeli airstrike on the building next to his in a neighborhood south of Beirut blew out most of the kitchen and living room of his fifth-floor apartment. When he looks at what remains of the building next door, he is overwhelmed by the scale of destruction. “Eleven floors worth of rubble have collapsed into two,” he said. “All you see are rocks and dirt and steel and bits of iron.” Like many Lebanese whose homes and businesses suffered damage during more than a year of war between Israel and Hezbollah, Mr. Mehdi, 20, and his family are eager to start repairs, but they cannot do much until the rubble is cleared. As Lebanon starts the slow process of rebuilding after a tenuous cease-fire between Hezbollah, the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group, and Israel, it is struggling to figure out how to clean up the vast amounts of rubble left scattered around Beirut, the capital. A report from the National Council for Scientific Research in Lebanon said a preliminary estimate of damages showed that nearly 3,000 buildings in the Dahiya area south of the city had been destroyed, severely damaged or extensively damaged. Tamara Elzein, an author of the report, said that initial assessments showed that Israeli attacks on buildings, houses, factories, roads and other infrastructure across the country had created an estimated  350 million cubic feet of rubble. Substantial reconstruction cannot begin until all of that is cleaned up.

Huge health challenges face Gaza residents returning to their homes (AP) Hospitals and clinics destroyed. Millions of tons of debris contaminated with toxic substances, unexploded ordnance and human remains. Tens of thousands of people with injuries that will require a lifetime of care. As Gaza’s residents return to what is left of their homes, they face new risks on top of monumental health challenges. Fifteen months of war has killed more than 47,000 people, according to local health officials, displaced 90% of Gazans and reduced many areas to rubble. Clean water is in short supply and sewers, so important for protecting public health, are badly damaged spurring worries about the spread of infectious disease. “You have a population with just every health need imaginable ... (who have) been unable to get access to care ... for more than a year,” said Yara Asi, an expert in global health management and visiting scholar at the FXB Center of Health and Human Rights at Harvard. “What is that going to look like in the near future and the long term?”

Fighting rages in Congo's Goma (Reuters/NYT) Rwanda-backed M23 rebels faced pockets of resistance from army and pro-government militia overnight after entering eastern Congo's largest city Goma in the worst escalation of a conflict that has run for more than a decade. Residents in several neighbourhoods reported small arms fire and some loud explosions on Tuesday morning. Aid agencies say Goma hospitals are overwhelmed with the wounded, and there are dead bodies in the streets. Hundreds of protesters attacked, looted and set fire to several foreign embassies today in Kinshasa, the capital. In response, the U.S. advised all Americans to leave the country. Many people in Congo are angry at the country’s foreign allies and what is seen as their inability to stop a Rwandan-backed rebel militia known as M23 from seizing Goma. The U.S. and other Western countries have done little to pressure Rwanda to rein in the rebels.

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Latvia reports new undersea cable breach caused by “external force”

An undersea fibre-optic cable between Latvia and Sweden was damaged in the Baltic Sea, probably due to an “external force,” Latvian portal LSM reports, citing the cable’s owner, Latvian State Radio and Television Centre (LVRTC).

The centre recorded interruptions in data transmission and services to consumers on the Ventspils – Gotland section. The organisation said:

“At the moment there are reasons to believe that the cable is significantly damaged and that the damage is caused by external influences.”

The operator warned subscribers about possible delays in data transmission, but noted that at the moment, according to its observations, the problem has not affected end customers in Latvia itself. The traffic of the centre’s customers represented by other service provider companies has been redirected through other cables.

The centre informed the authorities about the incident. Latvian law enforcers have opened a criminal case on the fact of cable damage.

The operator has started negotiations with a foreign contractor who can technically repair the damaged cable.

The investigation is underway

The damaged LVRTC cable runs through Sweden’s exclusive economic zone, which is also the point where it was damaged. The Latvian Navy has liaised with NATO allies, including Sweden, and sent a patrol vessel to the site of the breakage.

Latvian Prime Minister Evika Siliņa convened a meeting of responsible ministries and services in connection with the incident. She said that Latvia continues to co-operate with NATO and the Baltic States in order to clarify the circumstances of the incident. The Swedish Coast Guard has been involved in the investigation, and Stockholm has promised to provide Latvia with the necessary assistance.

A Latvian patrol ship inspected the area of possible cable damage, and its crew inspected the Michalis San vessel, which, according to LSM, is bound for Russia. According to the Marine Traffic portal, it is a bulk carrier sailing from the Algerian port of Bejaia under the flag of Malta, its destination is not determined. The vessel is now in the Baltic Sea south of the Swedish coast.

No suspicious activity has been detected on board the vessel, and the Latvian side has not detected any damage to the anchor, LSM reports.

Read more HERE

[rauthschild]

🐋💨 UK Navy mistook a whale breaking wind for Russian spy drone targeting nuclear subs

Suspicious ‘pinging’ sounds picked up by UK naval sensors between the Isle of Raasay and Applecross in North West Scotland were initially identified as man-made, The Sun reported.

Spooked by the sounds, flustered British naval officials feared that Russian deep sea spy drones were targeting UK nuclear subs.

Further analysis revealed that the fuss was over farting marine mammals, specifically - whales.

The bizarre incident came amid boosted NATO patrols in the Baltic Sea after a string of incidents involving the severing of underwater cables were initially blamed on Russia only to be refuted as groundless.

The West apparently sees 'Russia's hand' in everything that spooks them...

[awesome-casuallyfamouscollector]

USS Roosevelt (DDG-80), an Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer, Riga, Latvia, August 6, 2023. Source: U.S. Embassy Riga

The USS Roosevelt (DDG-80) has been patrolling the Baltic Sea with NATO Allies to underscore the strength and interoperability of the Alliance.