@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 ✍️ Northern Flank Notes: https://open.substack.com/pub/minnalander
Another wind in the sails of the European defense industry www.politico.com/news/2026/03...
Exhibit (Tol)K(ien)
At least we had the memes…
Huima ketju! 😀
Yksinkertaisia ratkaisuja monimutkaiseen ongelmaan. Tai toisin päin.
Ah good - the best solutions have been brought together in a single thread.
Exhibit J
🇺🇸⚖️🇵🇱🇭🇺 American judges discover that exceptionalism is dead and things that happen elsewhere can happen in the US, too, episode 56.
Let's be clear: you would not be pulling THAADs from South Korea and moving a Marine Expeditionary Unit from Japan to the Gulf two weeks after launching a war on Iran if you had properly anticipated the fallout it would be likely to cause.
Exhibit I
Exhibit H
Exhibit G
Exhibit F
So much finding out going on here
A grim parallel between US escalating a trade war w/ China & realising that China has serious leverage in the form of rare earths & US launching a war vs Iran & realising Iran has serious leverage in the form of being able to blow up the world economy. Failure of statecraft.
"We have an excellent stickpile of weapons, sir."
"Don't you mean stockpile?"
"I do not."
We are entering the next stage of the strategic breal-up between Europe and the US:
Exhibit E
Yes
Kim Jong Un:
"I don't know what weapons the next war will be fought with, but the one after that will be with sticks."
"Because of nukes, right?"
"No, because we decided logistics was woke."
The unilateral decision by the US to lift sanctions on Russian oil exports is very concerning, as it impacts European security.
Increasing economic pressure on Russia is decisive for it to accept a serious negotiation for a just and lasting peace.
Senaste veckan har Kustbevakningen och Polisens nationella insatsstyrka bordat två fartyg som misstänks vara statslösa.
Operation Svart kaffe är ett tecken på att ett aktivare Sverige nu inte längre bara tar emot i hybridkriget.
En svensk tiger tiger inte.
Påtår?
www.svd.se/a/V6z5Bl/nu-...
Versteckt unter dem Dach des Kalaschnikow-Konzerns hat Russlands Militärgeheimdienst offenbar eine Miniarmee erschaffen: Hacker, Scharfschützen und Spione. Sie machen auch Jagd auf Dissidenten im Westen. Die SPIEGEL-Recherche.
The Dardanelles are open for transit, First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill said. "The only thing prohibiting transit in the straits right now is the Ottomans shooting at the fleet," he said. "It is open for transit should the Ottomans not do that."
✋ Former USG war crimes lawyer here.
Apropos of SecDef's remarks this morning:
Denial of quarter—even the declaration of no quarter—is a war crime.
And recognized as such by the US Government.
From DoD's Manual for Military Commissions.
WTF
So the US has further eased sanctions on Russian oil, now across the board. Should the US now be considered a NATO/EU ally or a Russian ally? No doubt this will be a high agenda item when Emmanuel Macron hosts Volodymyr Zelensky at the Elysee today.
When Swedish military equipment shoots live ammunition for the first time, it recieves a "baptism" (sometimes with an actual priest involved).
This Archer Mobile Howitzer was baptized as "No Time to Die," as seen here in northern Finland during the Cold Response Arctic exercise.
Exhibit D
