Sir Richard Moore and Bill Burns did not list examples but there has been a spate of mysterious sabotage and arson attacks on infrastructure in the UK, Germany and in the Baltics.

Sir Richard Moore and Bill Burns did not list examples but there has been a spate of mysterious sabotage and arson attacks on infrastructure in the UK, Germany and in the Baltics.

Russia is waging a “reckless campaign of sabotage” across Europe, the heads of MI6 and the CIA have warned in their first-ever joint remarks.

Sir Richard Moore and Bill Burns also said the UK and the US faced an “unprecedented array of threats”, and said the entire world order was under the most serious strain since the Cold War.

In a newspaper article, the spymasters pointed to Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine, while also describing China as “the principal intelligence and geopolitical challenge of the 21st century”.

  • BearGun@ttrpg.networkEnglish
    582·
    3 months ago

    I’m sorry, but those poses by the guards are cracking me up. what is up with that lmao

    • BaroqueInMind@lemmy.oneEnglish
      362·
      3 months ago

      Those guards are ceremonial and deliberately trained to pose like that and follow their gaze towards an elected leader of the Russian Federation with their entire head while the leader is within view.

      It’s called tradition, you silly bitch, and you are correct to laugh at it because it indeed looks stupid as fuck. It mirrors the traditions and stupidity that the general Russian government and military still maintain to this very day (see the three-day Ukraine “Special military operation” that has somehow lasted two years and is spilling into their own borders as evidence).

      • ulterno@lemmy.kde.socialEnglish
        2·
        3 months ago

        I am starting to understand why stealth games portray guards as easily head-flippable.
        It’s because they already have it halfway there for the player.

      • drathvedro@lemm.eeEnglish
        1·
        2 months ago

        It’s called tradition, you silly bitch, and you are correct to laugh at it because it indeed looks stupid as fuck

        I think this applies to all ceremonial military stuff: The queen’s guard, the India-Pakistani border guards (at least they own it), the french foreign legionnaires who go out with a fucking axe and an apron, the US also has a tendency to flash ancient rifles on parades and then… juggle them? And so does Russia, aside from whatever that shit in the OP-post is, always brings out an old WW2-era tank on parades, alongside with the only available prototype sample of a new one, which then proceeds to stall in the middle of it and has to be towed out with said WW2-era tank.

        • BaroqueInMind@lemmy.oneEnglish
          13·
          2 months ago

          the US also has a tendency to flash ancient rifles on parades and then… juggle them?

          Please show me one video of a modern US military parade where they juggle rifles, otherwise you just made this bullshit up

          • drathvedro@lemm.eeEnglish
            3·
            2 months ago

            Here ya go.

            Before you go on to tell anything,

            A military parade is a formation of soldiers whose movement is restricted by close-order manoeuvering known as drilling or marching […] parades may also hold a role for propaganda purposes, being used to exhibit the apparent military strength of a country.

            The United States Marine Corps Silent Drill Platoon is a 24-man rifle platoon led by a Captain and Platoon Sergeant of the United States Marine Corps (USMC). Often referred to as The Marching Twenty-Four, the unit performs a unique silent precision exhibition drill. The purpose of the platoon is to exemplify the discipline and professionalism of the Marine Corps

            This is definitely a parade. Don’t think I need to argue that synchronously throwing rifles at each other counts as pass juggling.

    • Anyolduser@lemmynsfw.comEnglish
      8·
      3 months ago

      The position of attention is usually heels together, gut in, chest out, etc.

      The raised chin is kind of old fashioned and only used for ceremonial purposes by some countries. Russia is one of those countries.

      That being said, dude on the left looks like he put a little meth in his cereal that morning.

    • Anyolduser@lemmynsfw.comEnglish
      10·
      3 months ago

      Standing at attention is supposed to keep you a little off balance - not that much, but a little. Some people lock their knees when they stand, which will ultimately make you faint. Standing “gut in, chest out” makes you to lean forward slightly, forcing your knees unlock.

      Because these guys are ceremonial guards they crank the whole thing up to eleven and it tends to look ridiculous at times.

    • ScrolloneEnglish
      141·
      3 months ago

      Everyone except the masses. See what happened with COVID and no-vax people.

      The problem is finding the right balance between freedom of speech and national security.

      • ziggurat@lemmy.worldEnglish
        10·
        3 months ago

        The problem is not free speech, the problem is the absence of teaching critical thinking and healthy scepticism

    • Buddahriffic@lemmy.worldEnglish
      5·
      3 months ago

      Guessing they are talking about it more loudly now to try to redirect the rising anti-conservative sentiment before it threatens the status quo.

        • Buddahriffic@lemmy.worldEnglish
          4·
          2 months ago

          From my perspective, things have shifted in recent years. In the past, there seemed to be a general consensus that both the right and left were interested in building a system that benefited society at large, they just disagreed on what that looked like. Seems like more and more people are realizing that all conservatives want to conserve is their power and access to wealth.

          It’s also becoming more apparent that even conservative social issues aren’t intended to improve anything for anyone but are just about controlling people and making them more vulnerable. Like it’s no longer a secret that the drug war was more about racism than public health. The abortion ban and their plans for divorce laws are clearly about making women either more dependent on men or unable to leave them if they can’t prove fault.

          All that plus the red wave that was supposed to take over Europe didn’t.

          It’s too early to tell for sure and it might just be the pendulum swinging this way before it swings back that way. It could also be more of a reaction to the far right than conservatism in general, since the far right has seized so much control over conservative political groups. But I do hope that this sentiment sticks.

    • ayyy@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      5·
      3 months ago

      People around me still look at me like I’m wearing a tinfoil hat when I point out the obvious facts.

          • wurzelgummidge@lemmy.worldEnglish
            47·
            3 months ago

            The bots job us to assert that only sources that follow approved narratives are reliable. It even insists that CIA propaganda network Radio Free Asia and its siblings are unbiased and trustworthy.

            Rule 3: Sources that have (what it considers) a Low or Very Low factual reporting rating or MBFC Credibility Rating may be removed.

            italics mine

          • ms.lane@lemmy.worldEnglish
            69·
            3 months ago

            Apparently unless the bot is completely anti-Semitic and calls for the death of Israel, it’s Israeli biased.

            • Aurenkin@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
              54·
              3 months ago

              The ‘methodology’ for rating biases that it uses is little more than one person’s opinion which means it is necessarily biased.

                • Aurenkin@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
                  53·
                  3 months ago

                  Yes it is. It’s literally “pick a few numbers between 0 and 10 then take the average”, mate. Can you really say it’s a robust methodology? Hey, if unbiased was something on offer I’d gladly take it but it’s simply not possible. MBFC does nothing but add another bias into the mix.

    • pandapoo@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      24·
      3 months ago

      Doesn’t mean they’re wrong, just that they also engage in a similar activities, albeit with different targets and objectives.

      Still, not sure how relevant that is to mention when the subject being reported on is active FSB/GRU operations.

      • hark@lemmy.worldEnglish
        15·
        3 months ago

        Spy agencies calling adversary countries bad is a given. They didn’t even bother to list examples, it’s just a “Russia bad and also China bad btw” article, so they’re not even reporting on active FSB/GRU operations, just that they exist, which again, is a given and is also a given for western agencies. How does this qualify as news?

  • gcheliotis@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1067·
    3 months ago

    In the meantime, the most damaging act of sabotage that we know of on European ground was perpetrated (it seems) by Ukrainians. Many were pointing the finger in Russia’s direction when that happened, even if it didn’t make much sense. Just saying, we shouldn’t take spooks at their word, you never quite know who is really behind covert attacks on infrastructure. At best we, the general public, can speculate. It usually takes a hell of a long time for any serious investigation to take place, if that is even going to be conclusive.

    • GreyEyedGhost@lemmy.caEnglish
      151·
      3 months ago

      Sabotage against an enemy in war is a long-held tradition, and can be a very effective tactic if it causes economic (or other) damage to their enemy. It will still cost less than rebuilding entire cities, but I guess that doesn’t matter as much since it wasn’t (scary hand gestures) sabotage.

    • Valmond@lemmy.worldEnglish
      151·
      3 months ago

      Lol good riddance of that nordstream pipeline, and also it was, probably, the russians shooting themselves in the foot, you russ-bot.

    • Zoboomafoo@slrpnk.netEnglish
      124·
      3 months ago

      Ukraine did in one day what decades of Greenpeace fucking around couldn’t accomplish