Author: Goga Akhalkatsi

Russia has trained its troops for a potential attack on Japan and South Korea, according to a report by the Financial Times. Leaked military files show detailed plans for strikes on civilian infrastructure in event of war. The British outlet reviewed 29 Russian military documents and uncovered a strategy devised by Moscow to target the two Asian nations. The email, dated March 17, was sent by the agent, dubbed the Wind of Change, to Vladimir Osechkin, a Russian human-rights activist who runs the anti-corruption website Gulagu.net, and is now exiled in France. The FSB agent writes regular dispatches to Osechkin, revealing…

Donald Trump on the sidelines in France where he attended the re-opening of a change of direction of U.S. involvement in helping NATO and Ukraine. This was also confirmed by the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov speaking at the OSCE conference in Malta. The Russian take the signaling of the European and U.S. as concerning. Trump is perceived as the rising star on the foreign affair domain as a tough negotiator. The toughness becomes evident with the former Lithuanian prime minister becoming the first dedicated defense commissioner this month, tasked with turbocharging Europe’s defense industry and the stuttering push to…

Everything resembles a thriller novel. Early one morning in December last year, after months of undercover investigation and wiretapping, Belgian police officers raided dozens of locations across Brussels. Over the next 3 days, in apartments, hotel rooms and offices, they seized laptops, mobile phones and nearly 1.5 million euros in cash. The following week, 4 people were arrested on corruption charges, including 2 representatives, a former member of parliament and a current member of the European Parliament. Antonio Panzeri, a retired MEP from Italy, who eventually admitted that he was the mastermind of the corruption scheme. Meanwhile, Eva Kaili, vice-president of the…

Suspects allegedly interfered with EU Sakharov Prize nominations to help foreign governments, leaked police files suggest. The EU’s highest honor for human rights work was targeted by an allegedly corrupt network operating on behalf of foreign governments at the heart of the European Parliament, according to a cache of leaked documents. The annual Sakharov Prize was among the aspects of parliamentary work mentioned in a file where one of the key suspects logged activities that were allegedly part of the biggest corruption scandal in the history of the EU’s Parliament. The award, which hands €50,000 to an individual or group that has…

Attack on police training academy and nearby airport one of the worst since unrest began more than a decade ago. More than 70 people are thought to have been killed in an attack by an al-Qaeda-linked group on Mali’s capital Bamako earlier this week, according to diplomatic and security sources. Hardline fighters from the Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wa al-Muslimeen (JNIM) carried out the attack on an elite police training academy and the nearby airport on Tuesday, prompting shock and anger in the West African country. A security source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the AFP news agency that 77 people had…

A prominent rights group in Georgia is sounding the alarm over the use of political violence and intimidation during the run up to the country’s October 26 parliamentary elections. The Georgian Young Lawyers Association (GYLA), a Tbilisi-headquartered NGO, has documented numerous “incidents of violence, verbal confrontations, and obstruction of campaigning” since the start of the election season in August, according to a September 30 press release. A majority of the recorded incidents involved actions taken against opposition politicians challenging the incumbent Georgian Dream party. “Conducting elections in a peaceful and safe environment should be a priority for the country,” the GYLA assessment…

Footage has confirmed that at least one of the German-supplied Leopard 2A6 main battle tanks captured from Ukrainian forces has been sent to Russia’s main tank manufacturing facility, Uralvagonzavod, for study. Russian media outlets have reported that specialists are analysing the tank’s components, systems, and subsystems for intelligence on its capabilities, including “to assess the actual military-technical level of various systems and the captured vehicle itself.” Unlike Ukraine’s American supplied M1A1 Abrams tanks, which have also been captured in the past, Leopard 2A6 tanks sent to the country were not built specifically for export, and were instead taken directly from German Army…

Poland’s Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski urged EU governments to stop providing social support to Ukrainian men of fighting age who are refugees in their countries. During the Yalta European Strategy, a forum for discussing Ukraine’s European future which was held in Kyiv, Sikorski said that to “help Ukraine’s war effort”, there should be “no financial incentives for avoiding the draft in Ukraine.” He referred to Russian drones crossing into NATO members’ airspace as reasons for EU governments to stop paying social security benefits to men of draft age and strengthen defence efforts against Russia. Airspace violations in Latvia and Romania…

Austrian, 19, arrested alongside 17-year-old for allegedly planning Islamist attack at Vienna venue The 19-year-old prime suspect in an alleged plot to attack a Taylor Swift concert that led to the cancellation of the singer’s three-night run in Vienna had collected chemicals with the intention of building a bomb, senior Austrian security officials have said. The Austrian suspect was arrested along with a 17-year-old who recently started working for a services company providing support for the concerts, on suspicion of planning an Islamist attack. A third person, 15, was taken into custody late on Wednesday in connection with the investigation. Authorities said…

Israel kept up its bombardment of Gaza Thursday (8 August), killing more than 18 people in strikes on two schools, the emergency services said, as Iran accused it of wanting to spread war in the Middle East. Western governments pressed efforts to defuse tensions in the region, sky-high after the killing of two top militant leaders in attacks blamed on Israel that the militants and their Iranian backers have vowed to avenge. Gaza’s civil defence agency said Israeli strikes hit two schools in Gaza City, killing more than 18 people. The Israeli military said it struck Hamas command centres. “The…