Minna Ålander 🌻
@alanderminna.bsky.social
Analyst @sceeus-ui.bsky.social at @uisweden.bsky.social | Associate Fellow @chathamhouse.org | @cepa.org Fellow. Plot twist: not from Åland. 📸 Stas Kartashov 🎙️ co-host Mildly Alarmed ✍️ Northern Flank Notes: https://open.substack.com/pub/minnalander
🎙️Mildly Alarmed will be back from the summer break this week ! Meanwhile, ICYMI @frhoffmann.bsky.social was our July MVP and recorded two episodes: 🚀 on missiles with a fellow missile nerd, Etienne Marcuz (link below) 🇪🇺 on European defence with Teun Janssen open.spotify.com/episode/6PUE...
Europe playing catchup on drone and missile capabilities
Mildly Alarmed · Episode
open.spotify.com
Much fuss about basically nothing ? The Ceuta situation once again showed that if European leaders could have waited a day or so before reacting, the whole thing could’ve basically been solved amicably. The real-time outrage loops and need to react to everything IMMEDIATELY is a huge issue
Gee. From the math, sounds like about 2.5 years current production rate used in five months, though only about equal to the planned production rate in 2030
Stars and Stripes@starsandstripes.bsky.social · 6d agoIran war has consumed nearly 67% of US Patriot interceptor stockpile, report says
Morale is high in the local Swedish press: ”Boarding the shadow fleet works — keep going”
LEDARE: Att borda skuggflottan funkar – det är bara att fortsätta
Mariestads-Tidningen håller dig uppdaterad dygnet runt med blåljus-, sportnyheter och andra lokala nyheter från Mariestad, Gullspång och Töreboda.
mariestadstidningen.se
Oslo airport the first two things you see in a souvenir shop are Moomin mugs and Marimekko homeware. I was like wait I thought I just left Helsinki
Jonatan Hildén@jhilden.bsky.social · 6d agoThe cruise passengers were right all along. Moomins are available in all souvenir shops (admittedly haven't confirmed this recently for Iceland and Denmark)
An idea that got reinforced on this summer’s road trip: for an relative outsider all the Nordics are more or less the Same Country, with some tiny exceptions like Icelandic not really being mutually intelligible, Finnish in a different language family, and the Danish not having an alcohol monopoly
Minna Ålander 🌻@alanderminna.bsky.social · last wk.After soon 2 years living in Sweden as a Finn, two profound insights: 1. Swedes are as awkward as Finns, just better dressed 2. Both suck at smalltalk, but in Sweden being silent isn’t as socially accepted as in Finland, so Swedes sometimes pretend not to have seen you to avoid awkward smalltalk
Can Finland into middle power?
Finland Polandball Animation
ALT: Finland Polandball Animation
static.klipy.com
Minna Ålander 🌻@alanderminna.bsky.social · 7d agoNow they’ve done it… Mark Carney and Alex Stubb actually wrote ”middle powers of the world, unite!” 😅 Also, it should give Americans some pause that they basically suggest that Canada’s geographical predicament with its border with the US compares to Finland’s with Russia…
Now they’ve done it… Mark Carney and Alex Stubb actually wrote ”middle powers of the world, unite!” 😅 Also, it should give Americans some pause that they basically suggest that Canada’s geographical predicament with its border with the US compares to Finland’s with Russia…
the hyperfixation on drones may have led everyone to overlook an interesting fact: the world is entering an unprecedented age of ballistic missile proliferation (a free link for you, the people) www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
A New Dawn of Missiles Shapes Battlefields From Ukraine to Iran
The world is on the cusp of a third missile age, with conventional ballistic weapons proliferating at unprecedented speed in the wake of widespread, battlefield-warping deployment in Iran and Ukraine.
bloomberg.com
Denna bok var kul sommarläsning på semester i Skåne, för att Skåne har en kortare historia som en del av det svenska riket än Finland 😄
Still looking for a summer read? I have just the thing! Thrilled that "Military Exercises and Threat Perception in Europe" is now out! What was the (un)intended role of ex in signalling, and why did the right message rarely get through? Unfortunately prescient... www.routledge.com/Military-Exe...
Military Exercises and Threat Perception in Europe: NATO, Russia, and the Politics of War Games, 1975–2018
This book explores the politics of military exercises in Europe between 1975 and 2018, revealing how NATO, the Soviet Union, and Russia have used exercises as political tools and how these activities ...
routledge.com
After soon 2 years living in Sweden as a Finn, two profound insights: 1. Swedes are as awkward as Finns, just better dressed 2. Both suck at smalltalk, but in Sweden being silent isn’t as socially accepted as in Finland, so Swedes sometimes pretend not to have seen you to avoid awkward smalltalk
It’s Stockholm Pride Week, and the Swedish Armed Forces will be proudly marching in uniform “to defend your right to be who you are.”
Russian shadow tanker CAROLINE BEZENGI is breaking up in a nature reserve of the Omani coast. All the beneficiaries whose coasts she passed last year thanks their lucky stars. Odds are against them though, there are about another 1000-1500 running around the world. Tick, tock.
Aaron Brakel@junolocal.bsky.social · 2w agoCaroline Bengezi, a Russian dark fleet oil tanker is abandoned and aground off the coast of Oman. Say a prayer for the safe recovery of the oil aboard. It’s fully laden but for one tank and is taking on sea water. youtu.be/O--aNQYuF9I?...
Mitäpä jos nyt ei vain ostettaisi Venäjän verinikkeliä ja -ammoniakkia.
Uutissuomalainen: Suomen tuonti Venäjältä kasvoi pakotteista huolimatta
Uutiset nopeasti ja luotettavasti.
yle.fi
Can't get numb to this: The United States is stuck in a war it started, cannot end, and may further escalate to no avail, having dismantled its diplomatic apparatus, depleted its military stockpile, and destroyed its credibility. A historic strategic mistake harming millions in many different ways.
Andy Burnham’s wife is Dutch. Nick Clegg’s wife is also Dutch. The Dutch royal family is still in the line of succession for the English throne. The Dutch queen is Argentinian. The Dutch First Gentleman is also Argentinian. Buenos Aires playing the long game.
Viime yönä Venäjä iski Ukrainaan ilmeisesti suurimmalla määrällä ballistisia ohjuksia täysimittaisen sodan alkamisen jälkeen. Juuri ohjuksia Ukrainan on vaikea torjua puutteellisen ilmatorjuntakyvyn takia. Ukraina tarvitsee kipeästi apua vahvistaakseen ilmatorjuntaansa.
Ukrainan sota | Venäjä teki yhden suurimmista ohjusiskuistaan Kiovaan
Yksi ihminen on kuollut ja ainakin 16 haavoittunut yöllisissä iskuissa Ukrainan pääkaupunkiin.
hs.fi
🇭🇺⚖️ Sulyok does the paradox and signs the constitutional amendment that's removing him from office. He really had no choice; the Tisza majority would do him in one way or another. The coast is clear for Peter Magyar to exercise unrestrained power and demolish the house that Viktor Orbán built. 1/
Reuters@reuters.com · 3w agoHungary's president signs law change ending his term in office reut.rs/4fmrjjA
The entire power vertical of Orbán was completely unprepared for the outcome in which the opposition would secure a constitutional supermajority and ruthlessly turn all the legal weaponry that Fidesz had set up for itself against its creators. 4/
Depuis Kirkenes, on peut deviner la péninsule russe de Kola, qui abrite des sous-marins nucléaires. Et pendant ce temps, Macron avance avec son initiative de «dissuasion nucléaire avancée» @alanderminna.bsky.social @alaindeneve.bsky.social @eriksolli.bsky.social www.letemps.ch/monde/europe...
Dans le Grand Nord, Emmanuel Macron fait miroiter son concept de «dissuasion nucléaire avancée» - Le Temps
D’Helsinki à Kirkenes, une question s’impose: comment renforcer la dissuasion face à Moscou alors que les Européens se préparent à un désengagement américain? Les pays nordiques lorgnent désormais Par...
letemps.ch
"By coupling Ukraine’s (and Moldova’s) accession to a Nordic enlargement round, the EU can change the narrative into a net positive one. Especially Norway could tip the scale if it decided to link its accession to Ukraine’s." 👏 ↪️ the importance of 29.8.26 🇮🇸 #referendum on #EU negociations. 🇪🇺 🇺🇦
Minna Ålander 🌻@alanderminna.bsky.social · 4w agoIn this slightly longer summer read, I make the case for how Norway could change the game in Ukraine’s EU accession by joining the EU in the same enlargement round. If ever there was a win-win-win situation, this would be it ! (Worth reading to see a meme I made about Norway’s EU policy)
”Satellitnavigeringen i Östersjöområdet utsätts nu både för kontinuerlig jamming och mer systematisk spoofing, alltså störningar från främmande makt.” www.svt.se/nyheter/loka...
Störningar av navigationssystem på Östersjön ökar
Satellitnavigeringen i Östersjöområdet utsätts nu både för kontinuerlig jamming och mer systematisk spoofing, alltså störningar från främmande makt. Manipulerade GNSS‑signaler sprider sig geografiskt ...
svt.se
"The jamming and spoofing in Baltic Sea is now more or less continuous and affects both flight and naval safety." Swedish Transport Agency Glad to hear official institutions acknowledging these facts. Especially the safety aspect, which took institutions a few good years to get on board with.
Krigsplacerad@krigsplacerad.bsky.social · 3w ago”Satellitnavigeringen i Östersjöområdet utsätts nu både för kontinuerlig jamming och mer systematisk spoofing, alltså störningar från främmande makt.” www.svt.se/nyheter/loka...
Current timeline: Finnish internet never getting over the Kesko truck at Ayatollah Khamenei’s funeral and Norwegians enjoying a mass rowing psychosis (I’m so here for it !). What a time to be online
The Funeral Cameo No Brand Team Asked For: A Grocer At Khamenei’s Funeral
A grocery truck at Khamenei’s funeral became a viral lesson in modern brand risk, resale, and crisis stewardship.
forbes.com
