00:00 intro nieuws
05:42 Sade in Rennes
07:50 Banksy doet bankje
09:50 banaan bestond al
11:46 is het erg?
13:16 rotstekeningen
15:08 poort verkeerde kleur
17:55 niet langer betalen voor OV
20:00 kantelen in jaren ’60
33:44 kantelmoment
37:10 conferentie K-buurt
38:30 niet bang zijn
40:55 het was zinloos
43:17 geen contact Mandelakids geweest
46:02 doeners en laters
51:00 WAH spoedontruiming
53:02 toestand in parkeergarage
55:30 justitie wil groep weg hebben
57:20 winteropvang met registreren
1:01:00 zorgen over Bolivia
1:02:57 Bolivariaanse beweging
1:04:47 Lithium
1:10:50 nieuws en censuur via Facebook
1:13:00 extreemrechtse families
1:17:00 Blok en Curaçao
1:20:20 Lutkemeernieuws WOB en samenwerkingsovereenkomst
1:23:00 2,6 miljoen uitkoopsom
1:24:20 Haarlemmerplein groenstrook ER
1:26:11 scheggenmanifest
Mark Galeotti posted: “There are so many more salient questions – what will this mean for British politics, for the post-Brexit trade negotiations, for the NHS? – but it is perhaps worth dwelling briefly on first thoughts about possible implications for UK-Russia relations. Is”
There are so many more salient questions – what will this mean for British politics, for the post-Brexit trade negotiations, for the NHS? – but it is perhaps worth dwelling briefly on first thoughts about possible implications for UK-Russia relations.
Is the weaponization of Russia done for the moment? Russia’s role in the election campaign was solely instrumental, mobilised by both main parties to smear the other. Johnson’s decision to shelve the Intelligence & Security Committee’s report on Russian influence, of which more below, probably because of embarrassing detail about links between the Conservatives and sundry rich Russians, some of whom may have got their money through questionable means, inevitably left him open to allegations that he and his party were all but bought and paid for. In response, after generally portraying Jeremy Corbyn as soft on Russia (not without grounds: his initial response to the Salisbury attack was, in my opinion, disgraceful), the Tories were able to use the claim that Russian-linked web accounts had been used to publicise a leaked report on UK-US trade talks to suggest that he had been played by Moscow, or even somehow in cahoots with the Kremlin. The Tories and their media cheerleaders gleefully demanded he “come clean” as if the leak had not been out openly on the internet for weeks before Labour came across them.
Of course it was never very likely that there would be a meaningful debate about Russia policy in the election, and it means nothing that there was not. Essentially, this was a debate kept squarely within the iron triangle of Brexit, the NHS, and leaders’ personalities. However, that supposed and darkly-speculated Russian connections were deployed so freely as smears speaks to a depressing degradation in the language of politics but also a worrying caricaturing of Russia and its role in the world. This may have just been campaign knock-about, but it risks getting in the way of subsequent proper policy debate. Russia is a challenge but it is not a mortal enemy, and the UK is a serious international player and its ambitions to be “Global Britain” should make it more, not less important that its leaders embrace and understand nuance. Washington has already succumbed to the pathology of viewing Russia almost entirely through the lens of domestic politics, and the hope must be that London can resist following.
Will Britain get soft on Russia? This is an inevitable concern, but I suspect not. Nor, though, do I think London will see any reason to adopt a stronger line on Moscow. The issue that I think will emerge is that a “swashbuckling” post-Brexit UK may well quietly roll back some of the progress in addressing the dirty money flowing into London – not just Russian – especially as the economy suffers from the inevitable dislocations. I deeply regret this, but it is hard not to assume this is a given. Of course, that facilitates the activities of all kinds of dodgy characters, from gangsters to oligarchs, money launderers to corruption brokers. However, I have seen no serious evidence that this actually has a meaningful impact on policy. We’ll see what the ISC report says when it eventually comes out, but I suspect that such influence/corruption as may exist tends to operate at a personal, not national level – individuals lobby for outcomes that help their own interests, not part of any coordinated Kremlin campaign.
So UK plc may well be soft on dirty Russian money, but not Russia itself. After all, Johnson was the foreign secretary on whose watch the coordinated post-Salisbury expulsion blitz was engineered by British diplomacy, and the UK remains a key practical backer of Ukraine. The UK strategy will remain managing and containing Kremlin mischief in the immediate term, while hoping to build more positive relations in the longer. That generally is assumed to mean post-Putin, but it would be interesting to see if Moscow has the imagination to launch a charm offensive now. (I suspect not.) Barring that, I doubt there will be any change, although it could be that a UK government feeling to need to demonstrate its international clout might try to position itself as a champion against Russian adventurism. I honestly hope not, though (unless there is some new casus belli, a second Salisbury or the like), because this would likely be driven, as noted above, by domestic considerations more than the needs of the international situation.
So will it affect European relations with Russia? Brexit will, frankly, be bad for the security of Continental Europe, especially as relates to Russia. NATO will endure (it is not so much brain dead as mildly concussed, and it will get over it), but the challenge from Moscow is not of tanks rumbling through the Suwalki Gap, but a continuing campaign of political war, of undiplomatic diplomacy, of overt pressure and covert subversion, of disinformation and discombobulation. While many countries are seeking to address this, and the EU is to an extent, this is a struggle which puts particular weight on good and tough diplomacy, on strong intelligence and security services, and on agility and a sneaky imagination – all of which are British strengths.
(Which is just as well, as Johnson’s promises of tax cuts, more money for the NHS, more police, etc, doesn’t look like it will leave much for increases to regular defence spending.)
Whatever the platitudes about “our European friends,” as the Brexit negotiations move into the detailed trade and political talks, the likelihood is that these will get tough and possibly nasty. This will inevitably have an impact on London’s willingness – and ability – to work with its European neighbours outside the NATO context on tricky security matters. I suspect this is one aspect of Brexit that Europe will come especially to regret.
Anyway, those are my first thoughts and like all hot takes will no doubt be overtaken by events. The assumption seems to be that there will be no major reshuffle, but it will be interesting to see who will occupy the positions of foreign and defence secretary. We’ll see.
Kürzlich ist der Termin zum Verbot von bekannt geworden: Das Bundesverwaltungsgericht in Leipzig hat die Verhandlung auf den 29.01.2020 datiert (Ersatztermin ist der 20.01.2020).
Wir rufen dazu auf, am Tag (((i))) nach Leipzig zu kommen, Solidarität mit linksunten.indymedia.org zu zeigen und sich dem Verbot zu widersetzen!
Wir treffen uns am 25.01.2020 um 17:00 Uhr auf dem Simsonplatz vor dem Bundesverwaltungsgericht.
Hoe onmenselijk kan je zijn, 5 kinderen jonger dan twee stierven afgelopen week nog in de kampen van Syrië. Deze regering weigert vrouwen en kinderen met IS verleden terug te halen en laat ze liever verrekken.
Verrek zelf hufters. (Wat achtergrond: Turkije schept een “oplossing”:, Syrische vluchtelingen dankzij een containment overeenkomst tussen eu en Turkije nu in Turkije, kunnen “terug” naar een schoongeveegd gebied in noordoost Syrië, dat ze daar helemaal niet vandaan kwamen is niet aan de orde). Er komen steeds meer “vluchtelingen”, gezien de abominabele omstandigheden waarin het midden oosten en Afrika verkeren. Daar moeten jullie hufters eens beleid op gaan voeren! Waar blijven jullie hufters nu het er op aan gaat komen? Achter de linies is het veilig toch? Dat willen we zo houden hė! War against government now …
Der Transport von weiteren 600 Tonnen Atommüll von der Urananreicherungsanlag(UAA) der Firma Urenco in Gronau nach Russland wurde für 8 Stunden blockiert.
Kletteraktivist*innen hatten sich auf beiden Seiten der Urananreicherungsanlage Gronau über den Schienen abgeseilt und so den Zug mit Atommüll zwischen Gronau und Metelen gestoppt.
Mit der Aktion machten die Aktivist*innen darauf aufmerksam, dass die UAA Gronau unbemerkt und illegal gefährlichen radioaktiven Müll nach Russland verschiebt. Illlegal, da das abgereicherte Uran als Wertstoff deklariert wird, um das Exportverbot von Atommüll zu umgehen. auch ueber Amsterdam:
Der #Urantransport ist in #Amsterdam Westhaven auf dem Holland Cargo Port angekommen. Das Uranhexafluorid wird dort vermutlich auf das dort liegende Schiff “Mikhail Dudin” Richtung Russland verladen, welches schon in der Vergangenheit durch #Atomtransporte aufgefallen war.
consensusdecisionmaking posted: ” ENGLISH BELOW ” Du Mur d’apartheid israélien sur les terres palestiniennes au Mur de la honte étasunien sur les terres indigènes à la frontière du Mexique en passant par le Mur marocain qui traverse le Sahara occidental du Nord au Sud et les nombreux m”
ENGLISH BELOW ” Du Mur d’apartheid israélien sur les terres palestiniennes au Mur de la honte étasunien sur les terres indigènes à la frontière du Mexique en passant par le Mur marocain qui traverse le Sahara occidental du Nord au Sud et les nombreux murs anti-migrants dans le monde, ce sont près […]
Client-side scanning might seem like a way to screen out harmful content without breaking end-to-end encryption. But unfortunately, it’s not that simple. It’s impossible to build client-side scanning without creating a censorship mechanism. As part of a messaging app, software would scan your message and check it against a database of “hashes,” or unique digital fingerprints, usually of images or videos to filter out harmful content. While it may technically maintain some properties of end-to-end encryption, client-side scanning would render the user privacy and security guarantees of encryption hollow. As a consequence, even a well-intentioned effort to build such a system will break key promises of a messenger’s encryption itself and open the door to broader abuses. Encryption is one of the best tools for people to assure their privacy from government and corporate actors.
Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg was called back to Capitol Hill to speak about the company’s impact on the financial and housing sectors—particularly in light of its proposal to launch a cryptocurrency wallet, Calibra, and its involvement in the creation of the Libra cryptocurrency. We’ve criticized Facebook onmanyfronts for years, and we share the wide ranging concerns of lawmakers who want to ensure their constituents’ privacy and rights are protected from Facebook’s abuses as it looks to expand its reach.
The House of Representatives has voted in favor of the Copyright Alternative in Small-Claims Enforcement Act (CASE Act) by 410-6 (with 16 members not voting). The CASE Act creates a new body in the Copyright Office which will receive copyright complaints, notify the person being sued, and then decide if money is owed and how much. This new Copyright Claims Board will be able to fine people up to $30,000 per proceeding. Worse, if you get one of these notices (maybe an email, maybe a letter—the law actually does not specify) and accidentally ignore it, you’re on the hook for the money with a very limited ability to appeal.
With the ongoing protests in Hong Kong, mainland China has been undertaking pervasive attempts to disrupt and discredit the movement globally. This has including attempts to extend its so-called “Great Firewall”—a system of surveillance and blocking technology that prevents Chinese citizens from viewing websites outside the country—beyond its own borders.
By every measurement, fiber connections to homes and businesses are, by far, the superior choice for the 21st century. It is not even close. Transitioning the “last mile” into fiber will require a massive effort from industry and government—an effort the rest of the world has already started.
As part of Open Access week, EFF is conjuring a hypothetical: What if “Sesame Street” were open access? What if the show’s public funding had come with a requirement that it be made available to the public?
An academic publisher should widely disseminate the knowledge produced by scholars, not hold it for ransom. But ransoming scientific research back to the academic community is essentially the business model of the world’s largest publisher of scientific journals: Elsevier.
A series of newly unsealed rulings from the federal district and appellate courts tasked with overseeing foreign surveillance show that the FBI has been unable to comply with even modest oversight rules Congress placed on “backdoor searches” of Americans by the FBI. Instead, the Bureau routinely abuses its ability to search through this NSA-collected information for purposes unrelated to Section 702’s intended national security purposes.
Internet Lab, the Brazilian independent research center, has published their fourth annual report of “Quem Defende Seus Dados?” (“Who defends your data?”), comparing policies of their local Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and how they treat users’ data after receiving government requests. Vivo (Telefónica) still takes the lead, but Tim is not far behind. Claro/NET (América Móvil), SKY (DirectTV/AT&T), and Oi also show progress compared to 2018’s report.
The EFF-Austin, a local organization in the Electronic Frontier Alliance, (not EFF) will host this event: Local startup Civitech is creating software with the aim of making it easier for people to register to vote and get their friends and neighbors registered to vote. Their CEO Jeremy Smith has spoken at the EFF-Austin monthly meetup, and EFF-Austin board member and president Kevin Welch is a current employee. They are hosting monthly happy hours with the goal of outreach to other activist organizations in town. We are encouraging EFF-Austin members and followers to join us for November’s happy hour – if you have opinions and ideas about how technology can be leveraged to increase civic participation, this would be a great event to come out to and have conversations with the technologists working in this space. 11/6, 5:00pm. Austin, Texas.
Join us on November 7th in Oakland for our fall Speakeasy meet-up at Original Pattern Brewing! Raise a glass with EFF and discover our latest work defending your freedom online. This event is a free, all-ages, casual gathering to give you a chance to mingle with local EFF supporters and meet the people behind the world’s leading digital civil liberties organization. If you have a topic that you are interested in knowing more about, let us know! EFF staff will be in attendance to discuss our work and we would love to hear from you! This event is our chance to thank you, the EFF members who make this work possible. Send us a note at events@eff.org if you’re interested in attending, and we’ll send you the registration details. 11/7, 6:00pm. Oakland, California.
The Tech Learning Collective, a local organization in the Electronic Frontier Alliance, (not EFF) will host this event: This beginner-friendly introduction to digital safety will cut through the fear, uncertainty, and doubt generated by the frenetic news cycle and the latest Internet privacy listicle, and offer an opportunity to ask the Tech Learning Collective’s cybersecurity trainers your most pressing online privacy and digital security questions. 11/9, 3:30-5:30pm. New York, New York.
Join EFF’s Manager of Policy and Activism, Katharine Trendacosta at the 22nd ACM Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing for the closing keynote, “Beyond Code: Why You Can’t Just ‘Nerd Harder.'” 11/13, 4:30pm. Austin, Texas
The Portland’s Techno-Activism 3rd Mondays, a local organization in the Electronic Frontier Alliance, (not EFF) will host this event: Cyrus Farivar has written a great book, called Habeas Data, that examines 10 pivotal legal cases that have shaped our current rights related to privacy and also explores surveillance tools in use today. He brings those cases to life and will show us how the litigation and related tools affect our lives in 2019. Join us for a fascinating trip through legal and privacy history and into the present day to learn how law enforcement agencies and companies can collect and use our private details, often without our knowledge. 1/18, 6:30pm. Portland, Oregon.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is seeking applicants for the full-time position of Help Desk Lead to join our Technical Operations team. The Help Desk Lead guides the Help Desk side of the Technical Operations team, setting strategies and keeping initiatives on track, in close coordination with the Techops Director. This person triages incoming support tickets and responds personally as appropriate. Our ideal applicant is someone who has strong technical skills, is a resourceful and creative problem solver, and will make a meaningful contribution to our seven-person team.
The Organizer will support the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s local advocacy efforts, and engage in outreach to community groups, with a focus on technical communities and hackerspaces. Working closely with the Activism team, the Organizer will spend part of their time traveling throughout the US to speak at events and facilitate workshops, and part of their time at our home office in San Francisco working to grow our national network by developing remote relationships with organizers and coordinating outreach to new groups.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is seeking a full-time Community Manager to work with our Organizing team. This team supports the Electronic Frontier Alliance (EFA), a grassroots network of community and campus organizations across the United States working to educate their neighbors about the importance of digital rights and security The Community Manager role is a full-time position based in EFF’s San Francisco office.
We’re looking for a Development Director to lead the organization’s fundraising programs and join EFF’s senior leadership. The Development Director will take charge of EFF’s eleven-person Development Team in their efforts to raise over $13 million each year. The Development Director will lead, support and build the capacity of our growing development team, manage all aspects of our development strategy, and have a strong focus on building our individual major donor and grant fundraising capacity.
As part of the New York Times’ Privacy Project, Clare Garvie of the Georgetown Center on Privacy and Technology explains the harms of face recognition.
A new report from Defending Rights & Dissent discusses political espionage conducted by the FBI in recent years and connect that to the Bureau’s longer history of surveillance against activists.
In this op-ed, EFF’s Activism Director Elliot Harmon writes about how changing section 230 of the Communications Decency Act would hinder free speech online and help only the largest tech companies.
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Editor: Matthew Guariglia, Policy Analyst editor@eff.org
EFFector is a publication of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. eff.org
The Electronic Frontier Foundation is the leading organization protecting civil liberties in the digital world. Founded in 1990, we defend free speech online, fight illegal surveillance, promote the rights of digital innovators, and work to ensure that the rights and freedoms we enjoy are enhanced, rather than eroded, as our use of technology grows. EFF is a member-supported organization. Find out more at eff.org.
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consensusdecisionmaking posted: “(English below) Un homme nigérien de 24 ans a été retrouvé mort ce matin rue des Huttes à Calais. Le jeune homme serait décédé accidentellement, vivant dans les conditions de vie dangereuses et insalubres des éxilé-e-s à Calais causées par les politique”
(English below) Un homme nigérien de 24 ans a été retrouvé mort ce matin rue des Huttes à Calais. Le jeune homme serait décédé accidentellement, vivant dans les conditions de vie dangereuses et insalubres des éxilé-e-s à Calais causées par les politiques municipales racistes dans le but de renforcer la frontière. Un rassemblement aura lieu […]
Current lithium prices are a major stumbling block for the future of lithium-ion in grid-scale storage
Lithium-ion batteries are used in everything from smartphones to electric cars
The lithium-ion battery has played an integral role in powering the modern-day world – but questions remain about its environmental impact.
The rechargeable batteries, which are used in everything from mobile phones to electric cars, hit the news this week after three scientists behind its development were awarded the 2019 Nobel Prize for chemistry.
John B Goodenough, 97, became the oldest ever Nobel laureate and he shared the nine million Swedish kronor ($904,000) award with fellow researchers M Stanley Whittingham and Akira Yoshino.
The Nobel Committee said: “Lithium-ion batteries are used globally to power the portable electronics that we use to communicate, work, study, listen to music and search for knowledge.”
Despite the accolade, lithium-ion batteries have their critics. Here we take a look at how they operate and the issues that surround them.
What makes the lithium-ion battery different to other batteries?
Batteries are an integral part of life in the 21st century, providing the world with electricity in a convenient, portable format.
But the main flaw with a number of batteries – including lead acid and nickel cadmium – is that they tend to run flat relatively quickly and are then, ultimately, thrown away.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the US alone throws away more than three billion batteries each year.
This means it’s not just the pockets of the average person taking a hit, but also the environment.
That is where rechargeable batteries, like the Nobel Prize-winning ones that use the reactive alkali metal lithium, strive to resolve that issue.
It was during the global oil crisis of the 1970s that the foundation of the lithium-ion battery was laid on, when Nottingham-born M Stanley Whittingham worked to develop energy technologies that did not rely on fossil fuels.
After constructing the cathode, which is the positive terminal in a lithium battery, Whittingham then made the anode – the battery’s negative terminal, from metallic lithium.
The resulting device was able to release just over two volts, but given that the metallic lithium made it explosive, John B Goodenough decided to use cobalt oxide to boost the battery’s potential to four volts in 1980.
Using the cathode as a basis, Akira Yoshino created the first commercially viable lithium-ion battery in 1985, leading to Sony releasing the first edition of the product in 1991.
Professor of chemistry Olof Ramström recently said that lithium-ion batteries had “enabled the mobile world”.
In the present day, everything from our smartphone, iPad and laptop to electric cars would not be possible without being powered by lithium-ion batteries.
There have been many questions raised, though, with regards to whether the batteries should continue to be a big player as the world moves towards a greener future.
Issues with environmental impact of lithium-ion battery
The price of lithium-ion could be a stumbling for battery power usage in grid-scale storage Photo: courtesy of 41330/Pixabay.
There are huge question marks surrounding whether lithium-ion batteries can be used for large grid-scale storage in an attempt to clean up the grid and replace fossil fuel plants.
Although this may be the best economical solution, the main question surrounding the future of lithium-ion batteries in grid-scale storage is the costs involved.
A study in early 2018 by the Energy & Environmental Science journal found that, in order to meet 80% of US electricity demand with wind and solar, it would require either a nationwide high-speed transmission system that can balance renewable generation over hundreds of miles or 12 hours of electricity storage for the whole system.
At current prices, a battery storage system of that size would cost more than $2.5tn.
A 2016 report on the value of energy storage in decarbonising the electricity sector by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the University of Chicago’s Argonne National Lab found there are potential problems with using batteries for grid-scale storage.
The study found steeply diminishing returns when a lot of battery storage is added to the grid.
It concluded that coupling battery storage with renewable plants is a “weak substitute” for large, flexible coal or natural-gas combined-cycle plants – ones that can be tapped at any time, run continuously, and vary output levels to meet shifting demand throughout the day.
Polluting rivers and killing wildlife
There have been huge problems reported from the surrounding areas of the Ganzizhou Rongda lithium mine in Tibet.
Protestors from the nearby town of Tagong took to the streets in 2016, after fish from the nearby Liqi River were found dead on mass following a toxic chemical leak from the mine.
The area has seen a sharp rise in mining activity in recent years, which has led to two similar incidents in just a seven-year period. Fish and other livestock have been found dead after drinking the polluted water.
Chinese automotive firm BYD (Build Your Dreams), which is the world’s largest supplier of lithium-ion batteries for smartphones and other forms of technology, is one of the companies which undertakes mining operations in the area.
In Salar de Atacama, mining activities consumed up to 65% of the region’s water, causing havoc for local farmers
In Chile, the world’s second-biggest lithium producer after Australia, is also feeling the effects of mining.
In order to begin operations, miners drill holes into salt flats to pump salty, mineral-rich brine to the surface.
The holes are then left for a period of up to 18 months so the liquid can evaporate, before returning to scoop up the lithium carbonate, which can then be turned into metallic lithium.
But this leaves the potential situation similar to the one in Tibet, destroying local habitats and polluting nearby grasslands and rivers, with hydrochloric acid being used in the lithium process.
One of the main issues in Chile, though, is the water consumption associated with lithium mining. For every tonne of lithium produced, 500,000 gallons of water is used.
In Salar de Atacama, mining activities consumed up to 65% of the region’s water, causing havoc for local farmers.
Elsewhere in South America, Argentinians in the Salar de Hombre Muerto natural salt pan have expressed concerns over the lithium mining in the region, citing contamination to streams and the irrigation of crops.
There have been reports that lithium operations are also damaging soil which farmers use to herd livestock in the region.
A report on lithium by the Friends of the Earth Europe charity said: “The extraction of lithium has significant environmental and social impacts, especially due to water pollution and depletion.
“In addition, toxic chemicals are needed to process lithium.
“The release of such chemicals through leaching, spills or air emissions can harm communities, ecosystems and food production.
“Moreover, lithium extraction inevitably harms the soil and also causes air contamination.”
Quick thoughts about the GRU’s Unit 29155 > by Mark Galeotti > The New York Times has an interesting piece about a GRU unit known as Unit 29155, which is describes as “an elite unit inside the Russian intelligence system skilled in subversion, sabotage and assassination.” Apparently, its job is to “destabilise Europe.” > > I am perfectly prepared to believe such a unit exists, but I have to say that attempts to frame it as some kind of all-Europe, all-roles kind of force sound a little bit of a stretch. > > If this is the destabilising super-unit (and let’s set aside how far “destabilising Europe” as such really is Russia’s aim – I think it’s a bit more nuanced than that), then the implication is that it is behind everything from killings to hacks to disinformation. That means a massive and wide skill and capacity set. Apart from the fact that the GRU, perfectly sensibly, tends towards have specialist sections that do one thing well rather than jack-of-all-trades, the need to keep interacting with other units responsible for aspects of that would make keeping it “so secret, according to assessments by Western intelligence services, that the unit’s existence is most likely unknown even to other G.R.U. operatives” impossible. > The GRU tends to be quite strong in maintaining the integrity of operations within its territorial directorates, and the operations mentioned would cross the jurisdictions of the First Directorate (Europe) and the Second (Anglosphere). For specific, targeted missions such as a killing or a hack, that’s not an issue, but for quite complex and coordinated operations this gets into the unexciting but serious questions of jurisdiction and security. At the very least, keeping this a unit “so secret” is again going to be hard in such circumstances. > Was the attempted Skripal hit really about destabilising Europe? What was this “destabilization campaign in Moldova”? > The members of the unit cited and the nature of the operations to which one can plausibly link Unit 29155 look to me much more indicative of a dedicated Spetsnaz special forces unit committed to mokrie dela, ‘wet work’ assassinations and sabotage. Sometimes officers might be deployed in ones and two, as in the Skripal case, sometimes what is sometimes called a boevaya gruppa, a larger ‘combat group’ such as for Montenegro. Ultimately, though, heavies deployed as and when needed in the pursuit of wider goals and typically charged by the territorial or other directorates (which, movie-style exaggerations notwithstanding, do not all have their own supplies of hard-eyed gunmen ready to sally forth at a moment’s notice). > > This is a noteworthy story, I should stress, although others had already noted the existence of Unit 29155 before. But before Unit 29155 becomes the modern-day SMERSH, behind every real and alleged Russian covert operation, it is worth keeping it in perspective. The Russians are not unique (or “organically ruthless”) – although I wouldn’t want to draw too sharp a parallel, one could mention the Paramilitary Operations Officers within the CIA’s Special Activities Center – and the presence of such a team is an interesting insight but tells us nothing about Russian intents we didn’t already know. Moscow considers itself in a state of political war, and its various covert agencies as key operators in that conflict. However, that does not mean that they want to bring down the whole foundations of the international order, or bring anarchy to Europe… > > Mark Galeotti | October 9, 2019 at 4:03
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