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An employee of the Cologne Foreigners' Authority is suspected of being part of a smuggling gang that organized forged residence permits for money, with a sham marriage between a Bulgarian and an Indian being at the center of the investigation. #Scheinehen #Schleuserbande #Ausländeramt (translated)

A flight of Austrian Airlines between Tel Aviv and Vienna made an emergency landing in Bulgaria after receiving a bomb threat, although no risks were found after an inspection and it subsequently continued its journey to Vienna. #AustrianAirlines #AmenazaDeBomba #AterrizajeDeEmergencia (translated)

Ivan Kleber reported that a flight from Israel to Vienna made an emergency landing in Sofia, Bulgaria, following a bomb threat. According to him, the aircraft was carrying 51 passengers and six crew members. Kleber added that the incident was still under investigation. #Israel #Viena #SegurançaAérea (translated)

Approximately at 2 o'clock, an attempt was made to ignite the satellite antennas and control unit. Various-sized cans with flammable liquid were found - ranging from three to ten liters. The fact is that this was clearly an attempt at sabotage or diversion, as we see similar actions repeating across Europe. It is evident that this is part of Russia's hybrid warfare, which includes acts of sabotage. Similar incidents have already occurred abroad, also in Poland and Bulgaria, Sinkevich later said to the media organization LRT, linking this incident to Russia's hybrid war against Europe. #Lietuva #Starlink #hibrīdkarš (translated)

Marco Setaccioli challenged Marco Travaglio's calculations on European and Russian military spending, stating that Travaglio had indicated 450 billion euros for Europe and 150 for Russia and had argued that Russia had reason to fear Europe, which had invaded it four times in the last 200 years. According to Setaccioli, in the current year Russia would have spent around 17 trillion rubles on defense, equivalent to 181 billion euros, a figure indicated, according to him, by most analysts. He noted that the nominal comparison did not take purchasing power into account: applying indices developed by specialized research centers, Russian spending would rise to 574 billion international dollars, compared to about 700 billion for the entire EU. He added that the EU would have three and a half times the population of Russia and a GDP nine times greater. Setaccioli argued that the Russian federal budget did not show all military costs. He cited studies by economist Craig Kennedy, according to which part of the spending would be financed through subsidized loans and would thus remain on the banks' balance sheets. He also recalled an investigation by Dozhd', which, according to him, had documented pressures on private companies to hire people before signing contracts with the military and to supplement salaries with corporate funds. He added that at least three militias would be linked to Gazprom, which would cover part of the costs. For these reasons, he dismissed as false the claim that Russia spent less than the EU. Historically, Setaccioli criticized Travaglio's reconstruction, according to which the Napoleonic and Nazi invasions, along with interventions in Crimea and support for the Bolsheviks, would justify Russian fears toward Europe. Setaccioli listed Russian troop interventions in Poland in 1939, Finland in 1939-1940, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Romania in 1940, Bulgaria in 1944, Hungary in 1956, Czechoslovakia in 1968, Moldova in 1992, Georgia in 2008, and Ukraine in 2014 and 2022. He stated that there were no Russian regions occupied by European countries, while eight regions—one in Moldova, two in Georgia, and five in Ukraine—would be under Russian control. Finally, Setaccioli accused Travaglio of presenting a selective and misleading reconstruction to make Russia appear not dangerous, portray Europe as a threat, and argue that rearmament was unnecessary and risky. In his view, that reasoning could legitimize a potential Russian attack on Europe and constituted a form of collaborationism. #Russia #Europa #Difesa (translated)

The author considered the proposal a good start and suggested next sending a battle group composed of NATO countries' naval forces to Romania and Bulgaria's economic waters to protect the area's maritime traffic, including Ukraine's maritime traffic. According to him, this way Russia would understand that provocation is not always worthwhile. #Nato #Meriliikenne #Ukraina #RO #BG #UA #RU (translated)