« #TatjanaZdanoka, a #Latvian member of the #EuropeanParliament, has been a trusted asset of #RussianIntelligence since at least 2005. Leaked emails between Zdanoka and her two known #Russian case officers include explicit, detailed reports from Zdanoka to her handlers describing her work as a #European legislator, particularly as those official duties relate to fostering pro-Kremlin sentiment in her native #Baltic region. »
Vladimir Putin sets conditions for future escalations in the #Baltic countries as part of the alleged plan to weaken the NATO alliance - Institute for the Study of War (ISW)
#Putin has long employed an expansive definition of Russia’s sovereignty and trivialized the sovereignty of former #Soviet republics
#Putin claimed on January 16 that #Latvia and other #Baltic states are “throwing [ethnic] Russian people” out of their countries and that this situation “directly affects [#Russia’s] security.”
A good take on the Vyacheslav Morozov case – the Russian academic arrested in Estonia. It makes one wonder, how many other Russian academics in western institutions hide an agenda under the guise of being a "Putin critic". Innocent until proven guilty of course, but KAPO (Estonia's domestic intelligence service) does not act rashly.
[Foreign Policy]: The Dream of a European Security Order With Russia Is Dead
How the war ends will determine Europe’s future as much as Ukraine’s.
By Kristi Raik, the deputy director of the International Centre for Defence and Security in Tallinn, Estonia.
Six European #gas transmission system operators have signed a contract for a pre-feasibility study on the Nordic-Baltic #Hydrogen Corridor. The #project aims to develop hydrogen transmission #infrastructure from #Finland through the #Baltic countries and #Poland to #Germany.
No alt-text on this map showing use of renewable #energy in Europe but the red — less energy use — is largely SE #Europe and the #Baltic states. And Denmark. Why #Denmark? I'd think #wind power would be good there.
#ArtAdventCalendar Day 14 Since reading more about her by chance, recently, I've been thinking a bit about the #Baltic#Latvian#goddess#Ragana She seems more to stem from the primordial nature worship of Old Europe (the ancient pre-Indo-Europeans). (more to come on this some day soon). She's associated with birch trees in particular, so now I think of her whenever I see them! Next year's catkins on this one, I think? #pagan#BorealForest#CommuneWithNature#WinterPictures#Alberta
Winter Solstice is associated with #Ragana (Latvian sp) in #Baltic tradition - Indo-European gods + Christianity have reduced this nature deity to a hag #witch (often in a negative way, not the modern reclaimed use of the word!) of wild places and dubious ways- I'll be exploring ideas restoring her primal attributes, and will be thinking of her essence as a symbol of natural forces/cycles this Solstice day! eg- She may represent natural darkness, and essential balance to the light of #Saule /Sun
"Decentering Russia also means taking a pluralistic view of the region as a whole, and even questioning whether or not it is in fact a meaningful region ... does it still make analytical sense to talk about a “postcommunist” or a “post-Soviet” region, especially one implicitly centered around the Russian Federation and Soviet-era legacies? “Postcommunist” and “post-Soviet” as descriptors increasingly obscure more than they reveal" https://shorturl.at/eilnX #Ukraine#Russa#Soviet#USSR#Baltic
"Nearly every party and politician across the Nordic-Baltic region now agrees on standing tough against Russia. That has pushed electoral contests onto other terrain. All this has made the two regions more equal: the Baltics are no longer such junior partners. "
Mother Nature showing us who's Boss this morning with the coldest morning since March with a -10c degrees down over Shap in Cumbria
Much of central and southern Scotland is hovering about -5c degrees with the SW down to -7c degrees in places. Wee bitty warmer further north, with the WESTERN ISLES positively balmy at +3c degrees
Stays COLD today, tonight, tomorrow, Sunday Monday Tuesday. As forecast
according to a study by the German Society for Foreign Policy (DGAP), If the war in #Ukraine is frozen, #ruZZia will have 6 years to prepare its troops for a direct conflict with #NATO,
Analysts believe that an attack is most likely to take place in one of the #Baltic states.👀
This is to start a small #noflyingtrip 🧵 just to demonstrate one can comfortably have meetings on the shores of the #Baltic 🇩🇪 and the #Mediterranean 🇫🇷 the same week and not fly.
The idea with this #noflyingtrip 🧵had been to demonstrate how conveniently one can travel between the #Baltic and the #Mediterranean, but, well, let's stay positive and also with the facts. The TGV9583 stopped before Karlsruhe in the middle of a field, and delay accumulated just enough to miss my connection in Frankfurt. So I followed the recommendation by the DB app, got off in Mannheim and am now in this ICE276, without reservation but comfortably seated, heading the right way: north!