Arctic Circle Jerks

“For the past few years, civilian life in northern Norway has been under constant, low-grade attack. Russian hackers have targeted small municipalities and ports with phishing scams, ransomware, and other forms of cyber warfare, and individuals travelling as tourists have been caught photographing sensitive defense and communications infrastructure. Norway’s domestic-intelligence service, the P.S.T., has warned of the threat of sabotage to Norwegian train lines, and to gas facilities that supply energy to much of Europe. A few months ago, someone cut a vital communications cable running to a Norwegian Air Force base.” To quote Allen Iverson, we talkin’ about practice. The New Yorker: Russia’s Espionage War in the Arctic. “For years, Russia has been using the Norwegian town of Kirkenes, which borders its nuclear stronghold, as a laboratory, testing intelligence operations there before replicating them across Europe.”

+ “We’ve warned Iran publicly, we’ve warned Iran privately, that taking this step would constitute a dramatic escalation.” Iran didn’t heed those warnings from Antony Blinken. U.S. says Iran is sending ballistic missiles to Russia in a ‘dramatic escalation.’