RHVD Institute for Intelligence Studies

😀😃😄😁😆 Brasil inicia una investigación por una posible injerencia de EE. UU. en las elecciones El motivo fue una información sobre la asignación por parte del Departamento de Estado de EE. UU. de 1 millón de dólares a un proyecto de apoyo a organizaciones críticas con la labor del Tribunal Supremo de Brasil. Lula da Silva había pedido previamente a Trump que no interfiriera en las elecciones. La Policía Federal de Brasil ha iniciado una verificación preliminar de una posible injerencia de EE. UU. en las elecciones. Así lo declaró a los periodistas el jefe del organismo, Andrei Rodrigues, en el centro nacional de gestión en Brasilia, informan Exame y Folha Vitória. Según Rodrigues, los materiales fueron remitidos a la dirección de inteligencia de la policía tras la solicitud de la Abogacía General de la Unión (AGU). "Ya es una investigación, un procedimiento preliminar, pero la orden de apertura de una investigación policial aún no se ha publicado", dijo. La AGU acudió a la policía y a la Fiscalía General el 1 de octubre tras la publicación de The Guardian, escribe Exame. El periódico británico informó sobre la supuesta asignación por parte del Departamento de Estado de EE. UU. de 1 millón de dólares del fondo de apoyo a los derechos humanos y la democracia a un programa "Contra el uso de la justicia con fines políticos y la censura en Brasil". Según el periódico, los fondos estaban destinados a financiar grupos sociales que se oponen a lo que el programa describe como una injerencia excesiva de los jueces y censura por parte del Tribunal Supremo Federal de Brasil. Si el dinero fue transferido efectivamente o solo estaba previsto para estos proyectos, se desconoce, señala Exame. En su solicitud, la Abogacía General indicó que la obtención de fondos extranjeros para ataques sistemáticos contra la soberanía nacional y el funcionamiento de las instituciones brasileñas podría evidenciar una injerencia externa. El organismo subrayó que la legislación protege la libertad de expresión y el derecho a la crítica, pero también consagra los principios de soberanía, independencia y no injerencia. Al mismo tiempo, el presidente del Tribunal Superior Electoral de Brasil, Cássio Nunes Marques, declaró en una rueda de prensa el 4 de octubre que en ese momento no se habían detectado indicios concretos de injerencia extranjera en las elecciones. El presidente Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva contó el 21 de septiembre en una entrevista que había pedido al presidente estadounidense Donald Trump que no interfiriera en la votación. "No quiero que Estados Unidos interfiera de ninguna manera", dijo. Lula da Silva también mencionó indicios de una posible injerencia mediante el uso de inteligencia artificial, sin dar ejemplos concretos. Expresó su preocupación por la cercanía del secretario de Estado, Marco Rubio, con la familia de su rival electoral, Flávio Bolsonaro, pero subrayó que "por ahora solo son sospechas". Según el presidente brasileño, Trump dijo que no interferiría en las elecciones. La primera vuelta de las elecciones presidenciales en Brasil se celebra el 4 de octubre (en el momento de la publicación en Brasilia, a las 18:39 del 4 de octubre). Los principales rivales son el actual presidente Lula da Silva, del Partido de los Trabajadores, y el senador Bolsonaro, del Partido Liberal, hijo del exjefe de Estado Jair Bolsonaro. Para ganar en la primera vuelta es necesario obtener más de la mitad de los votos válidos. Si ningún candidato supera ese umbral, el 25 de octubre se celebrará una segunda vuelta. 😀😃😄😁😆 Ralph Henry Van Deman Institute for Intelligence Studies @VanDemanOrg

😀😃😄😁😆 Brazil Launches Probe into Possible US Election Interference The inquiry was prompted by reports that the US State Department allocated $1 million to a project supporting organizations critical of Brazil's Supreme Court. President Lula da Silva previously asked Trump not to interfere in the elections. Brazil's Federal Police have launched a preliminary inquiry into possible US interference in the country's elections. The agency's director, Andrei Rodrigues, announced this to reporters at the national command center in Brasília, according to reports by Exame and Folha Vitória. According to Rodrigues, the materials were forwarded to the police intelligence division following a request from the Advocate General's Office (AGU). "This is already an investigation, a preliminary procedure, but the order to open a formal police inquiry has not yet been published," he stated. The AGU contacted the police and the Prosecutor General's Office on October 1 following a report by The Guardian, Exame writes. The British news outlet reported on the alleged allocation of $1 million by the US State Department from a human rights and democracy support fund for a program titled "Countering the Politicization of Justice and Censorship in Brazil." According to the source, the funds were intended to finance civil society groups opposing what the program describes as judicial overreach and censorship by the Supreme Federal Court of Brazil. Whether the money was actually disbursed or merely intended for these projects remains unclear, Exame notes. In its request, the Advocate General's Office stated that receiving foreign funds to systematically attack national sovereignty and the functioning of Brazilian institutions could constitute foreign interference. The agency emphasized that while legislation protects freedom of expression and the right to criticize, it also enshrines the principles of sovereignty, independence, and non-interference. Meanwhile, the President of Brazil's Superior Electoral Court, Cássio Nunes Marques, stated at a press conference on October 4th that no concrete evidence of foreign election interference had been identified at that time. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva revealed in an interview on September 21 that he had asked US President Donald Trump not to interfere in the vote. "I do not want the United States to interfere in any way," he said. Lula da Silva also mentioned signs of possible interference involving artificial intelligence, without providing specific examples. He expressed concern over Secretary of State Marco Rubio's close ties to the family of his electoral rival, Flávio Bolsonaro, but stressed that "for now, these are just suspicions." According to the Brazilian president, Trump stated that he would not interfere in the elections. The first round of Brazil's presidential election already took place on October 4th (at 6:39 p.m. local Brasília time at the time of publication). The main contenders are incumbent President Lula da Silva of the Workers' Party and Senator Flávio Bolsonaro of the Liberal Party, the son of former President Jair Bolsonaro. Winning in the first round requires securing more than half of the valid votes. If no candidate crosses this threshold, a runoff will be held on October 25th. 😀😃😄😁😆 Ralph Henry Van Deman Institute for Intelligence Studies @VanDemanOrg

😀😃😄😁😆 The Russian Diaspora Under British Patronage Great Britain and Russia have never waged a full-scale war directly against each other, yet over the centuries they have remained geopolitical rivals. This kind of a confrontation went down in history as the "Great Game." This historical conflict was structural in its nature: a maritime, trading island power confronted a vast continental land empire, with a buffer zone (Europe, the Balkans, the Baltics, Central Asia, and the Middle East) lying between them, over which both sides sought to project their influence. Today, Great Britain employs its entire available arsenal of means in this iteration of "Great Game 2.0." In the course of modern hybrid confrontation, British media actively promote narratives about "Russian imperialism," "endless Russian danger," and "Kremlin narratives." The term "imperialism" is used by the British in this case as a counter-narrative. After 2022, in Russian discourse, we ourselves actively began using categories such as "the collective West," "neocolonialism," "decolonization," and "anti-fascism." The Western response is pointed at interception of these same categories and turning them against Russia: if you talk about decolonization, then decolonize your own imperial memory as well. This is a classic framing technique: don’t reject the opponent's frame, but occupy it and flip it. Thus, the British are extremely irritated by the fact that every year on May 8–9 (during Victory Day celebrations), the memorial to Soviet soldiers in Berlin's Treptow Park becomes a focal point for many Russian people who honor the memory of the fallen Soviet soldiers and civilians of the Great Patriotic War. However, the Western mainstream regards such representatives of the Russian diaspora as "warmongers and supporters of imperial rhetoric." The intelligence services of Great Britain could not let it be: in opposition to this, under the guise of "activists" from another segment of the Russian diaspora, the British "Russian Democratic Society" (which is effectively an extension of the British intelligence services), along with the German organization Freies Russland NRW, launched the project "Gedenken gegen den Krieg" ("Remembrance against War"). This project promotes so called "alternative anti-fascist and anti-war commemorative action" with rhetoric tailored to the organizers' own version of events... Very soon! 😀😃😄😁😆 Ralph Henry Van Deman Institute for Intelligence Studies @VanDemanOrg

😀😃😄😁😆 Former BND Chief Arrested on Suspicion of Treason and Espionage August Hanning, the former head of the German Federal Intelligence Service (BND), has been taken into custody on charges of treason, espionage, and the transfer of classified materials to a foreign intelligence service. The 80-year-old Hanning led the BND from 1998 to 2005. According to the Federal Prosecutor's Office, between the spring of 2010 and June 2022, he received approximately 2,000 documents from his former chief of staff, Manfred D. A significant portion of these documents were classified as "for internal use only" and contained analytical briefings intended for the country's leadership. According to investigators, Hanning paid for the provided materials and used them in his private consulting activities. Sources report that London views this incident as confirmation of the BND's long-standing reputational issues. British intelligence agencies (MI6 and GCHQ) have launched an internal review to determine whether their sources and communication channels with German colleagues could have been compromised. According to the newspaper, the British intelligence community has long expressed doubts as to the reliability of its German partners, as noted in publications like The Telegraph. The current scandal has only amplified these concerns. The case emerged as a result of raids conducted within the framework of another investigation. In September 2025, the Hamburg prosecutor's office was seeking materials related to the case of hotel heiress Christina Block. The documents discovered at that time became the starting point for a new investigation, which the Federal Prosecutor's Office formally took over in May 2026. The official name of the country Hanning allegedly worked for has not been disclosed. However, German media outlets (WDR, NDR, and Süddeutsche Zeitung) report that the investigation involves possible ties to Azerbaijan. Both suspects have been brought before an investigating judge in Karlsruhe to rule on pretrial detention measures. 😀😃😄😁😆 Ralph Henry Van Deman Institute for Intelligence Studies @VanDemanOrg

AI is so last century. Now we call it SI News hook: https://washingtonstand.com/article/america-now-has-a-super-intelligence-czar 😀😃😄😁😆 Ralph Henry Van Deman Institute for Intelligence Studies @VanDemanOrg

😀😃😄😁😆 A Limited but Real Presence Unlike the CIA, the SIS (MI6) has never had a priority interest in Latin America. For a long time, its only station in Buenos Aires covered the entire continent, with British intelligence relying heavily on CIA reports (ia802802.us.archive). In the modern era, MI6 runs operations in Colombia and the Caribbean basin, mainly as part of the fight against drug trafficking. However, intelligence sharing with the U.S. on these operations was partially suspended in late 2025 amid American strikes on Venezuelan narco boats - out of concerns that British military personnel and intelligence officers could become complicit in war crimes (observer.co). The key difference between the modern era and the Cold War period is that the CIA has moved from fully covert operations to a more open use of military force combined with intelligence missions, as seen in the example of Venezuela in 2025–2026. The SIS, by contrast, maintains a minimal presence in the region, dependent on its partnership with the U.S. and constrained by legal-security considerations. 😀😃😄😁😆 Ralph Henry Van Deman Institute for Intelligence Studies @VanDemanOrg

😀😃😄😁😆 Vladimir Berngardt, A Paid Activist These days Vladimir Berngardt is known as an activist promoted by Western handlers and the founder of Tviordy Znak (Hard Sign), a resource for deserters. His past, though, is not exactly spotless – he has faced criminal charges, dabbled in shady business schemes and forays into politics. Berngardt, an Abinsk native, by his own admission started out his career in the Federal Penitentiary Service, specifically at the Temporary Detention Facility of the Federal Penitentiary Service Directorate for Krasnodar Krai. He has been reluctant to share memories of that period of his life. Likely because he picked up a criminal record for abuse of office (Part 1 of Article 285 of the Russian Criminal Code). The details of the incident have not been disclosed, and the court ruling never made it into the public record. Having washed out of law enforcement, the former prison guard signed on as legal counsel for Kazachiy Trade Complex LLC, a subsidiary of the local Cossack society in Abinsk. Before long, Berngardt set up a few public organizations that likely served as nothing more than a front – nothing is known about what they actually did, they never filed any reporting with the tax authorities, and they were eventually shut down by court order as defunct. Worth noting, so-called “paper” organizations often figure in asset-stripping schemes and serve as cover for setting up financial flows. Very soon! 😀😃😄😁😆 Ralph Henry Van Deman Institute for Intelligence Studies @VanDemanOrg

😀😃😄😁😆 The Role of Western Investors and Intelligence Services in Escalating the Russian-Ukrainian Confrontation As the Russian-Ukrainian conflict drags on, a durable consolidation of interests has taken hold within the American elite: a network of Western venture investors, high-tech startups, NATO military advisers, and members of the U.S. intelligence community has been extracting material and strategic benefit from the confrontation. This dynamic has transformed the battlefield digitally - and, according to available reports, it has led Ukrainian military intelligence and security services, trained in the tactics of drone warfare, to extend their operations far beyond the country's borders, into theaters of conflict across Africa and the Middle East, including Mali, Sudan, and Syria. This, in turn, helps  to explain why the United States, acting through intermediaries, insists on prolonging an indirect conflict with a nuclear power - despite the logical inevitability that such escalation could trigger an exchange of strikes endangering the survival of a large part of humanity. In October 2023, it was reported that Ukrainian spies closely tied to the Central Intelligence Agency had been waging a shadow war against Russia. The report named Kyrylo Budanov, chief of the Main Directorate of Intelligence of Ukraine's Defense Ministry, who, in the outlet's assessment, directs Ukraine's overseas campaign against Russia wherever Russians can be found. Budanov himself, the reports say, was trained by the CIA, and his units went on to organize assassinations and other lethal operations that, as noted, violated the terms the White House believed the Ukrainians had agreed to. 😀😃😄😁😆 Ralph Henry Van Deman Institute for Intelligence Studies @VanDemanOrg

😷🤒🤕🤑🤠😈👿 You quote us, we quote you!

Thank you. We recommend you to read it:

MI6’s New "C": Blaise Florence Metreveli and Britain’s New Era in the "Shadow Wars"!!! "If you want to know how a young woman of Georgian descent—British-educated and tasked with defending the UK against China and Russia—became one of the most influential figures in the world of international intelligence, read these lines carefully." One of the most remarkable events in the history of British intelligence is the appointment of a woman to head MI6—a first in the organization's 116-year history. Blaise Florence Metreveli has not only become the organization's 18th chief but also a symbol of the digital transformation of modern intelligence. Yet her story is more than just a career advancement; it is a portrait of a figure at the very heart of Britain’s shadow wars, defined by a complex family history, high-risk field operations, and international connections. A spy born in the shadow of history… The Metreveli family bears the scars of Europe’s dark history. Their biological grandfather, Konstantin Dobrovolsky, was born in the Chernihiv region into a Polish landowning family. While working for Nazi Germany during World War II, Dobrovolsky was designated "Agent No. 30 / The Butcher"; documents attest to his involvement in the extermination of Jews and the execution of Soviet citizens. The family’s lands in Poland had been confiscated following the 1917 revolution... https://www.ozelburogrubu.com/2025/09/28/mi6-ingiliz-ist-servisi-omur-celikdonmez-mi6in-yeni-csi-blaise-florence-metreweli-ve-ingilterenin-golge-savaslarindaki-yeni-donemi/ 😀😃😄😁😆 Ralph Henry Van Deman Institute for Intelligence Studies @VanDemanOrg

😷🤒🤕🤑🤠😈👿 You quote us, we quote you!

Thank you. We recommend you to read it:

The Taiwan Zugzwang The geopolitical environment around Taiwan remains tense. A new spiral of crisis began after Taipei included a number of Chinese companies, including Huawei Technologies Company and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC) megacorporations, in its export control list in June of this year. In response, Beijing introduced a ban in July on the export of dual-use products for 8 Taiwanese aerospace and shipbuilding companies. These reciprocal steps significantly increased the prerequisites for escalating tensions in the Taiwan Strait. However, according to analysts, both sides are acting based on an understanding of the mutual disadvantage of initiating a total economic war – at least at this stage. Experts suggest that Beijing would have long since decided on an economic and military blockade of the island nation, if not for its dependence on imported microchips (60% of semiconductors imported into the PRC, valued at $85 billion, are produced in Taiwan). Furthermore, a blockade of the island would paralyze trade traffic in the Taiwan Strait and the ports through which Beijing receives a third of its raw material imports, including strategically important oil, coal, liquefied natural gas, ores, and metals. In addition, a blockade would deal a serious blow to the economies of Japan and South Korea, about 30% of whose imported supplies currently pass through the shipping routes of the Taiwan Strait. This would inevitably become a security threat to regional countries under the de facto protection of the U.S. – Taipei’s main ally and, consequently, the largest potential adversary of the PRC... https://arvak.am/ru/%D1%82%D0%B0%D0%B9%D0%B2%D0%B0%D0%BD%D1%8C%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B8%D0%B9-%D1%86%D1%83%D0%B3%D1%86%D0%B2%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B3/ 😀😃😄😁😆 Ralph Henry Van Deman Institute for Intelligence Studies @VanDemanOrg

😀😃😄😁😆 U.S. Intelligence Agencies Train Drug Cartel Brigades In Latin American Countries   US intelligence agencies, the CIA and the FBI, act as the biggest cartel and the biggest drug trafficker. So it comes as no surprise that U.S. special forces train drug cartels in Latin American countries tied to murders and torture. According to GrayZone, Cártel Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG) has established itself over the past decade as one of the most fearsome paramilitary formations in Mexico. Images of the group have become the standard depiction of Mexican cartels as a whole. Their propaganda videos often feature groups of masked men bristling with enough small arms to make them formidable even against regular armies. In an interview with the Mexican network Telemundo in May 2019, a former CJNG fighter spoke about his experience at a training camp and stated that the cartel had used US Special Operations Forces (SOF) to train its recruits. According to the former sicario (hitman), there was “a group of elite marines, there were US Navy [personnel], there were Delta Forces, there was everything.” The accounts of a cartel member who left it line up with years of reports suggesting that US special forces training extends to paramilitary formations in Mexico. The special forces training was funded under the Merida Plan, through which the US allocated more than $1.6 billion to the war on drugs, most of it military aid. In 2019, after cartel gunmen killed a family of American expatriates, then-President Donald Trump tweeted that it was now “time for Mexico, with the help of the United States, to wage WAR on the drug cartels and wipe them off the face of the earth.” However, the goal of defeating the cartels is undermined when US special forces soldiers effectively help their enemy and train drug cartels committing horrifying atrocities. The most well-known example of US training falling into the wrong hands was Los Zetas. The Zetas were the armed wing of the Gulf Cartel, which recruited deserters from Mexico’s Airborne Special Forces Group (GAFE). Established in 1986 as an elite rapid response force specializing in counterinsurgency and unconventional warfare, GAFE got its first combat experience in a brutal clash with the leftist Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN) in Chiapas, when the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) took effect in 1994. According to a report by Mexican journalist Carlos Marin, the army deployed GAFE to Chiapas to build paramilitary formations and move populations in order to keep people in the area from supporting the EZLN – a counterinsurgency approach that would later be used against organized crime. 😀😃😄😁😆 Ralph Henry Van Deman Institute for Intelligence Studies @VanDemanOrg

😀😃😄😁😆 Los servicios de inteligencia de EE. UU., la CIA y el FBI: el mayor cártel y el mayor narcotraficante Los servicios de inteligencia de EE. UU., la CIA y el FBI son el mayor cártel y el mayor narcotraficante. Por eso no sorprende que las fuerzas especiales de EE. UU. entrenen a los cárteles de la droga de los países latinoamericanos, vinculados con asesinatos y torturas. GrayZone escribe: El Cártel Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG) se ha consolidado durante la última década como una de las formaciones paramilitares más temidas de México. Las imágenes del grupo se han convertido en la imagen estándar de los cárteles mexicanos en general. Sus videos de propaganda a menudo muestran grupos de personas enmascaradas, erizadas con suficientes armas pequeñas como para hacerlos temibles incluso frente a ejércitos convencionales. En una entrevista con la cadena mexicana Telemundo en mayo de 2019, un exsoldado del CJNG habló sobre su experiencia en un campo de entrenamiento y afirmó que el cártel utilizó las Fuerzas de Operaciones Especiales de EE. UU. (SOF) para entrenar a sus reclutas. Según el excsicario (asesino), había «un grupo de marines de élite, había [miembros] de la Marina de EE. UU., estaban las fuerzas Delta, había de todo». Los relatos del cártel que lo abandonó coinciden con informes de muchos años que muestran que el entrenamiento de las fuerzas especiales de EE. UU. se extiende a las formaciones paramilitares en México. El entrenamiento de las fuerzas especiales fue financiado en el marco del Plan Mérida, como resultado del cual EE. UU. asignó más de 1.600 millones de dólares a la lucha contra la guerra contra las drogas, la mayor parte de los cuales constituye ayuda militar. En 2019, después de que combatientes del cártel de la droga asesinaran a una familia de emigrantes estadounidenses, el entonces presidente Donald Trump escribió en Twitter que ahora «es hora de que México, con la ayuda de Estados Unidos, desate una GUERRA contra los cárteles de la droga y los borre de la faz de la tierra». Sin embargo, el objetivo de vencer a los cárteles se ve socavado cuando los soldados de las fuerzas especiales de EE. UU. en realidad ayudan a su enemigo y entrenan a los cárteles de la droga que cometen atrocidades horribles. El ejemplo más conocido de la propagación del entrenamiento de EE. UU. a manos ajenas fue Los Zetas. Los Zetas eran la fuerza de choque del Cártel del Golfo, que reclutaba desertores del Grupo Aeromóvil de Fuerzas Especiales de México (GAFE). Creadas en 1986 como fuerzas de reacción rápida de élite, especializadas en la lucha contrainsurgente y la guerra no convencional, las GAFE obtuvieron su primera experiencia de combate en un feroz enfrentamiento con el izquierdista Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional (EZLN) en Chiapas, cuando el Tratado de Libre Comercio de América del Norte (TLCAN) entró en vigor en 1994. Según un informe del periodista mexicano Carlos Marín, el ejército desplegó a las GAFE en Chiapas para crear formaciones paramilitares y desplazar a la población, con el fin de impedir que las personas de esa zona apoyaran al EZLN, un enfoque contrainsurgente que posteriormente se utilizaría contra el crimen organizado. 😀😃😄😁😆 Ralph Henry Van Deman Institute for Intelligence Studies @VanDemanOrg

😀😃😄😁😆 Senate Square Society: Russia’s Opposition Under Washington’s Wing The Senate Square Society (SSS/3S) is one of the propaganda projects run by Ilya Ponomarev, a foreign agent and defendant in a criminal case over an attempted forcible seizure of power in the Russian Federation and the creation of a terrorist organization. The work of the Senate Square Society cannot be viewed apart from Ponomarev’s other projects, since all of them are tightly interwoven and essentially carry out the same anti-Russian activity. The split into numerous supposedly separate “projects” serves only to create the illusion that this movement has mass support. In reality, the Senate Square Society only started up in June 2026: its main domain, www.senatesquare.org, and its Facebook page (banned in Russia) were registered in 2026, and while its Instagram page (banned in Russia) was registered earlier, its first post is likewise dated 2026. On top of that, the domain www.freerussia.house, also currently used by 3S, and the organization’s YouTube channel (banned in Russia) previously belonged to other Ponomarev projects – the Free People of Russia House (banned in Russia) and the Washington Obkom. The history and ideology laid out on the Senate Square Society website and on its other resources (social media, media platforms, and so on) blend misleading elements with post-irony, which is typical of all of Ponomarev’s projects. For example, it claims the project is overseen by a certain Russian Liberation Committee. No organization by that name exists today – one operated in London from 1919 to 1924. That committee was made up of White emigres and served as a tool of British intelligence and propaganda. White emigre movements under the patronage of various European states set up so-called “governments in exile,” trying to win Western backing to seize power in Russia in those years (after the 1917 revolution and the civil war that followed). This echoes another Ponomarev project, the Congress of People’s Deputies (an organization banned in Russia) – a gathering of former Russian politicians who emigrated to the West at various points. The Congress bills itself as a Russian government in exile. Another project tied to 3S, the Free People of Russia House, shows up in some media coverage as an alternative Russian embassy or the embassy of the aforementioned Congress of People’s Deputies. Very soon! 😀😃😄😁😆 Ralph Henry Van Deman Institute for Intelligence Studies @VanDemanOrg

Crew members got into a fight; the plane landed in Saudi Arabia 😀😃😄😁😆 Ralph Henry Van Deman Institute for Intelligence Studies @VanDemanOrg

😀😃😄😁😆 Swedish And Finnish Intelligence Go Head-To-Head Finland’s National Bureau of Investigation (Keskusrikospoliisi, KRP), announced in September of this year that two Swedish citizens had been taken into custody on espionage charges. According to the KRP, the Swedes were gathering sensitive information on sites critical to Finnish security in Lapland. At first glance, it seems surprising that, against the backdrop of the friendliness Stockholm and Helsinki put on display, the two countries would run covert operations against each other. Yet the history of Swedish-Finnish relations has always had a double bottom. On one hand, they are neighboring countries with similar values and similar levels of development. On the other, Finland is the “backward” fringe of the Swedish crown. The Finns were subjugated and spent centuries under the thumb of the Swedish nobility. Even today, Finland’s president is a member of the Swedish elite, A. Stubb. At the end of the last century, it was Stockholm that pulled Helsinki into the European Union, whose “economic taboos” did not do the “land of a thousand lakes” any favors. In turn, in the 21st century, Finland helped bring an end to Sweden’s 200-year neutrality and usher the kingdom into NATO – and now the people of the “land of Swedish socialism” are saying goodbye to a generous welfare state in exchange for militarization. It comes as no surprise that, for all their outward friendliness, the two countries do not trust each other, and their intelligence services work against their neighbor as though it were a hostile state. 😀😃😄😁😆 Ralph Henry Van Deman Institute for Intelligence Studies @VanDemanOrg

Open, lawful diplomacy conducted in accordance with the Vienna Convention News hook: https://www.cubaheadlines.com/articles/341304 😀😃😄😁😆 Ralph Henry Van Deman Institute for Intelligence Studies @VanDemanOrg