Foreign Digest: Russian and Serbian Interference in Moldova and Montenegro

Moldova: Moldova has reported heavy Russian interference in the Moldovan parliamentary elections this week and has conducted hundreds of searches and scores of arrests. Russia’s interference includes cyberattacks, fake news, influencing polls, bribing voters in the Moldovan diaspora, intimidation, and even training to cause riots. Moldovans and Romanians were trained in Moldova and Serbia. Orthodox Serbia is a traditional ally of Russia. The Serbian opposition validated the Moldovan accusations about training Moldovans and Romanians to riot against the Moldovan government on election day, and Serbia did arrest two Serbs for conducting the training. The Russian interference in Moldova also included paying Orthodox Priests to preach against the West. Russia’s interference is an attempt to disrupt Moldova’s accession to the European Union. The fake news is disinformation aimed against the West and the EU and in favor of cultural and religious ties with Russia. Moldova is a former Soviet Republic. Russian troops occupy a breakaway territory populated by Russian-speakers. Russian tyrant Vladimir Putin is a former Soviet intelligence officer who is trying to restore the Soviet Union. Montenegro: Montenegro’s only fact-checking platform cites disinformation from Russia and neighboring Serbia as attempting to undermine the former Yugoslav Republic’s integration with the European Union, versus being oriented toward Russia. Serbia had dominated Yugoslavia under Communist rule, until its breakup began in 1991, which led to several wars as the Communist Serbian dictator fomented Serb nationalism, both in Serbia and the other former Yugoslav Republics that became independent. The German Federal Information Office also identified Serbia as the reginal hub for disinformation and misleading information.

Foreign Digest: India, Iran, Cuba, Venezuela, Syria and Russia

India: The Indian Maoists announced last week that they are giving up armed struggle, after a recent government offensive, thereby ending the “Naxalite” rebellion, which began in 1967 and claimed 12,000 lives. The Communist Party of India (Maoist) will enter into dialogue with the Indian Government. Iran: The United Nations Security Council rejected a resolution last week that would have extended the delay since 2015 on the reimposition of sanctions against the Islamic Republic of Iran for advancing its nuclear weapons program. The sanctions will be reimposed later this month, absent any agreement. Cuba: There have often been spontaneous protests by Cubans against the frequent and lengthy electricity blackouts in the failed socialist State and for liberty. As usual, however, the Communist Cuban dictatorship does not tolerate the freedom to assemble peacefully and arrests protestors. Cuba’s energy crisis has been worsening, with often most of the Caribbean island plunged into the dark. Venezuela: An international U.N. Mission sent to Venezuela has reported state repression by the South American State’s Socialist dictatorship. It observes the absence of an independent judiciary and the rule of law, which allows arbitrary arrests, forced disappearances and torture, and then gives impunity to those who commit such acts. Thus, the report determines the state repression is a “crime against humanity.” The Mission’s report calls for international action to restore human rights and justice for victims. Syria: United States forces killed a terrorist leader of the Islamic State terrorist organization in Syria a few days ago. The Islamic State is an offshoot of al-Qaeda, the Islamist terrorist organization responsible for killing nearly 3,000 people in the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks on America, among many other attacks around the Islamic world and beyond. The U.S. led an international mission since 2015 against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, as it had globally against al-Qaeda since 2001 in the War on Terrorism, which succeeded in taking away all of the organization’s territory in Syria and Iraq and killing its leader, who had claimed a caliphate. Some American forces have remained in Syria in support of the Syrian Democratic Forces since the fall of Syria’s tyrannical Assad regime, with the acceptance by the new Syrian Government, and in Iraq in support of the Iraqi Government. In both cases, the U.S. helps protect its ethnic Kurdish allies. Several of al-Qaeda’s affiliates around the Islamic world switched allegiance to the more brutal Islamic State. Despite suffering many hard blows, both organizations remain a threat to America and the world. Russia: The Trump Administration has announced that is cutting back U.S. support for the defense of the Baltic States of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia against Russian aggression, even after recent Russian incursions onto the territory of members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization during the Russo-Ukrainian War. NATO is the defensive alliance led by the United States that has deterred Soviet and Russian aggression against its members since 1949. The Baltic States are NATO members. Russian Federation tyrant Vladimir Putin is an ex-Soviet intelligence officer intent on restoring the Soviet Union and Russian Empire. The Baltic States were the first Soviet Republics to gain independence from the Soviet Union. Russia has invaded the former Soviet Republics of Georgia and Ukraine and kept troops in a breakaway part of the former Soviet Republic of Moldova, while trying to maintain its dominance over other former Soviet Republics and satellite states. Russia had successfully backed the isolationist Trump’s presidential candidacies in 2016 and 2024, as I have posted. The real estate tycoon had done a considerable amount of business with Russians, which, as I have also posted, he falsely denied continuing to do during his first campaign.

Foreign Digest: Guyana, Nicaragua, Nepal, Russia and Brazil

Guyana: The incumbent President of Guyana was reelected in last week’s election I had posted about. He defeated an upstart corrupt businessman who was favorable to the Venezuelan Socialist dictatorship. Venezuela claims most of its South American neighbor’s territory, despite international rulings against it. Nicaragua: Marxist Nicaragua signed commercial agreements with the Russian Federation last week for the Russian-occupied regions of Ukraine that it has conquered and annexed. As I have posted, the Central American State’s dictatorship is one of the few in the world to recognize Russia’s conquest of Ukrainian territory through aggression. Nepal: The Nepalese coalition government of Marxist-Leninists and center-left republicans was overthrown last week in a popular revolution against rampant nepotism and corruption amidst widespread poverty that forced the resignation of the Marxist-Leninist Prime Minister and other officials. The trigger for the uprising was a social media ban because of government policy for regulation that limited free expression and also remittances from Nepalese working abroad sent back to their families in the predominately Hindu State in the Himalayas. The protest met with deadly force, which increased the opposition. Government buildings were burned. I have posted of the rotation between Marxist-Leninist and Maoist-led coalition governments since the decade-long Maoist rebellion and takeover of Nepal and the abolishment of the monarchy in 2008 and establishment of a constitutional parliamentary republic. A former supreme court justice with an anti-corruption record was sworn in as interim prime minister after the military reestablished order. The Nepalese popular overthrow is part of a trend in South Asia, as the governments of Sri Lanka and Bangladesh were also overthrown in popular rebellions in the last few years. Russia: Russia violated Polish airspace last week by launching an attack by 19 drones through Belarus to attack Ukraine, one of which was downed, causing damage to a house. Ukraine, Poland and the European Union determined the incursion was deliberate, not an accidental stray, because of the number of drones and their route. Russia is not only trying to use additional flight corridors for attacking Ukraine, but tests NATO’s defenses. Russia has been engaged in a sabotage campaign against NATO and European Union members during its aggression against Ukraine, in addition to its usual cyberattacks, election interference and attacks on exiles. Russia invaded the former Soviet Republic in 2014 and in a full-scale manner in 2022. Aircraft from Poland’s North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies helped defend the former Soviet satellite State, which was the first time that NATO has engaged in defensive action over its own territory in the defensive pact’s its 76-year history. NATO responded with a mission for better coordination of its air defense along its eastern flank. Russia violated Romanian airspace yesterday with another drone aimed at Ukraine. Romania is also a NATO member. Brazil: The pro-Trump far-right former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro was convicted last week and sentenced to over 27 years imprisonment by a panel of five Supreme Court Justices for leading an attempted coup d’etat in 2022. Bolsonaro had lost re-election in the presidential election, but like Donald Trump after the 2020 United States presidential election, would not accept the results, despite a lack of convincing evidence of fraud, and inspired a mob to take over government buildings. Prosecutors developed abundant evidence of the breadth of the coup. Bolsonaro also plotted a military coup. Part of the conspiracy included murdering the winning presidential candidate and other government officials. His conviction was upheld by the fuller body of Brazil’s highest court. The ex-leader of the South American State already been convicted of fraud and banned from serving in elective office for three years. Bolsonaro was under house arrest for bail violations. Seven military and civilian officials who were leaders of the coup were also convicted and sentenced to lengthy prison terms. Most military stayed loyal to the constitutional representative republic. The Trump Administration interfered in Brazil’s judicial system with sanctions against one of its Supreme Court Justices and increased tariffs against Brazil. As Bolsonaro and his supporters favored the sanctions, the public blamed them for the interference and supported Brazil’s exercise of its independence and sovereignty.

Twenty-Fourth Anniversary of the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks on America

Today is the twenty-fourth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks on America by the Islamist terrorist organization al-Qaeda, which killed nearly 3,00 people. The hijacking of civilian airliners and the crashing of them into the World Trade Center in New York, the Pentagon in Virginia and a field in Pennsylvania (after the passengers attempted to overtake the hijackers) were the deadliest terrorist attacks in world history. The attacks sparked the United States-led War on Terrorism, in which the Taliban militia that was the de facto ruler of most of Aghanistan was overthrown by 2021 for harboring al-Qaeda. Al-Qaeda’s leadership has been decimated, but it remains a threat, as does its offshoot, the Islamic State, even though the latter was deprived of its territory and like its parent organization, its leader was killed. The two Islamist terror organizations have affiliates around the Islamic world. The U.S., which led an international coalition that overthrew the Taliban, is still engaged in military missions, although usually not combat missions, against these and other terrorists in several predominately Muslim States. The U.S. also shares intelligence with allies and leads efforts against the financing of terrorism. The sucess of these efforts and those of the military, intelligence and security agencies, policymakers and even private citizens have prevented any other attack on such a scale. But a major concern is the return to power of the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2021, after the U.S. withdrawal of the 2,500 American troops engaged in a non-combat mission since 2014, after a partial U.S. withdrawal and an end of its combat mission, in support of the Afghan government that was an ally of the U.S. There had been no American troop losses since February 2020. The deal that the Trump Administration negotiated with the Taliban terrorist sponsors legitimized them, undermined the Afghan government that was excluded from the negotiations and reduced Agfhan military morale. Trump’s deal also included the release of 5,000 Taliban prisoners of war and hamstrung the American-led coalition from engaging the Taliban ahead of the promised withdrawal of American forces by August 2021. The Taliban, who are intertwined with Islamist terrorists, promised only not to harbor al-Qaeda again. The head of al-Qaeda took up residence in the Afghan capital of Kabul, however, until the U.S. killed him in a raid under Trump’s successor. The lack of an American presence on the ground in Afghanistan inhibits the ability to gain intelligence against terrorists and to strike al-Qaeda targets along the Afghan-Pakistan border. One consolation was the rescue of many Afghans who had worked for the U.S. or its international or Afghan allies, but the first Trump Administration put up obstacles to refugees trying to flee Afghanistan and the second has ended protections for Afghans in America, leaving them vulnerable to deportation and thus persecution and death at the hands of the Taliban, thereby undermining U.S. security by undermining confidence in the U.S. because of its failure under Trump to protect those who work with us from risk. The second Trump Administration has engaged in combat with other terrorists and talks toughly against other terrorists or overly broadly labels others “terrorists” to invoke measures against them, after Donald Trump had focused on ending (i.e. losing) the War on Terrorism, including the Afghan campaign because of his isolationist views. The threat from al-Qaeda and its affiliates has hardly been mentioned by the Administration, as it had hardly arisen in the 2024 presidential election campaign. Moreover, the Trump deal with the Taliban and the subsequent withdrawal under his liberal Democratic sucessor encourages terrorists to continue to fight the U.S. and ocassionally inflict casualties, as Islamist terrorists believe the American people will tire of what they regard as lengthy wars, or even non-combat support missions, especially if there is not a clear goal of victory, such as destroying the Taliban, which should have been the goal. The Trump deal with the Taliban, based on a lack of American patience, thus rewards the patience of the Islamist terrorists who regard even twenty years as only a brief warin the long course of history, and their sporadic attacks for intimidating Americans to give into their demands of withdrawal so they could sieze power. Greater confidence, patience and willingness to sacrifice are necessary to prevent more deaths and injuries from terrorists. To win the war against Islamist terrorism, instead of only a strategy of defensive vigilance and responding ad hoc to threats from terrorists, a more comprehensive strategy of defeating the terrorists must be adopted. Americans were hit in the bloodiest way in their history 24 years ago, but the day is not only a sad commemoration of a massacre, but the beginning of American-led resistance to global terrorist threats. To prevent another attack on the scale of September 11, or many smaller-scale attacks on Americans and others around the world, the terrorist enemy must be defeated and the threat eliminiated.

Foreign Digest: Russia, Guyana and Venezuela

Russia: The Russian Federation jammed the navigation of the European Union President’s airplane over Bulgaria. The Russians increasingly jam the global positioning system (GPS) navigation of aircraft, ships and drones in Finland, Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia since the full-scale Russian aggression against Ukraine in 2022. The navigation of an aircraft carrying the British Defense Secretary was jammed last year over Eastern Europe and the German Defense Secretary twice this year over the Baltics. Europeans near Russia have been forced to use backup systems to GPS. The jamming is part of Russia’s sabotage campaign that includes vandalism, arson and even attempted assassination. Russian tyrant Vladimir Putin, an ex-Soviet intelligence officer, is trying to restore the Soviet Union/Russian Empire. Guyana and Venezuela: Guyana is conducting its presidential and parliamentary elections today. Two major ethnic-based parties have traded power since independence from the United Kingdom in 1966 in the South American State, but a wealthy gold mine-owning upstart is a major challenger, despite being under United States sanctions for bribery. Control over Guyana’s relatively new oil major resources, which have recently fueled its world-leading economic growth, is at stake. Meanwhile, election commission officials came under fire from Venezuela in the territory the Socialist dictatorship of Venezuela claims. The Venezuelan claim is one of the major issues in the election campaign. As I mentioned in my last post, the United States has dispatched a naval flotilla to the southern Caribbean for anti-drug trafficking operations and also to deter Venezuelan aggression.