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Russia has been involved in covert sabotage operations in Europe for more than a decade [1][2]. You can learn more about this from investigative journalist Chri
by david-gpu 8mo ago
Russia has been involved in covert sabotage operations in Europe for more than a decade [1][2]. You can learn more about this from investigative journalist Christo Grozev [3].
What are the chances that the high-speed rail crash that occurred in Spain a few weeks ago was also caused by them? [4]
[1] https://www.csis.org/analysis/russias-shadow-war-against-west https://www.csis.org/analysis/russias-shadow-war-against-wes...
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GRU_Unit_29155 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GRU_Unit_29155
[3] https://m.youtube.com/@thechristofiles/videos https://m.youtube.com/@thechristofiles/videos
[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_Adamuz_train_derailments https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_Adamuz_train_derailments
- zerochance 8mo ago[flagged]
- direwolf20 8mo agoNone, because they don't exist. However, Russia has been involved in covert sabotage operations in Europe for over a decade.
- zerochance 8mo ago[flagged]
- enterprisetalk 8mo ago[flagged]
- throw10920 8mo agoRussia is a candidate, but it's far from the only candidate, and it's not clear how this advances their interests. Why not China, for instance? Or a random terrorist group? Speculation is fun but it's important to actually make statements grounded in reality.
- cindyllm 8mo ago[dead]
- colejhudson 8mo agoNo, Russia is the prime (if not only) candidate. Why? They've been developing a system of "single-use agents" to overwhelm European governments and keep them on their back foot. This is likely a test run. A lovely article on this was recently published in The New Yorker that you may enjoy: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2026/02/09/to-build-a-fire https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2026/02/09/to-build-a-fir....
- Telemakhos 8mo agoI'd suggest that radical left-wing elements indigenous to Italy, such as those behind the Turin protests that left 100 police officers wounded a few days ago, are a perfectly plausible candidate; not every attack comes from without. There was another protest against the Olympics in Milan itself last night by left-wing elements who believe the games are economically and socially unsustainable [0] [0] https://www.cnn.com/2026/02/07/europe/italy-protests-rail-damage-latam-intl https://www.cnn.com/2026/02/07/europe/italy-protests-rail-da...
- ben_w 8mo agoUnfortunately with stuff like this, nation states will use groups like that as proxies. Lots of governments. For example, there's some other news at the moment that the USA is financing pro-MAGA groups across Europe, which I mention more because of Jan 6 happened at all than due to any specific evidence that the US government has knowingly given state support for terrorists.
- sozforex 8mo agoIsrael is another candidate, given that Israel has beef with Spain for Spanish government not supporting/approving the genocide in Gaza.
- 8mo ago
- aucisson_masque 8mo agoFrance had the same kind of sabotages during the JO. It was later confirmed to have been sponsored by Russia.
- kome 8mo agowhat? they were local anarchist. what the hell are you saying?
- Nextgrid 8mo agoWith social media encouraging and promoting divisive bullshit it’s really not hard for a hostile power to influence local groups to do their bidding. Social media should be the main target of all these defense groups, but sadly politicians themselves derive their power from it so it’s unlikely anything tangible will be done.
- LorenPechtel 8mo agoBut how do you do actually deal with it? The bad actors are not in reach of law enforcement.
- Nextgrid 8mo agoThe bad actors here are the social media platforms who host and promote divisive content since it generates more engagement thus ad revenue. Those are very much in reach of law enforcement and regulations can be passed to forbid such engagement-maximizing behavior. Simply moving back to chronological feeds of accounts the user explicitly chose to follow would be a big first step in curbing the spread of propaganda.
- LorenPechtel 8mo agoBut this imposes an effectively impossible burden on them. You can't build a platform with anything resembling free expression without inherently creating a platform that can be used for evil.
- AmbroseBierce 8mo agoEurope should stop tolerating these sabotages and go to war with Russia and take advantage of their weakened military due to their war with Ukraine
- ddorian43 8mo agowill you go to the frontline?
- deleted 8mo ago[deleted]
- AmbroseBierce 8mo agoYou know what, yeah, I will, in exchange for EU citizenship and it must be fully financed so we have available the best weaponry money can buy (and a written contract that has a big payout for my parents if I die in combat)
- Nextgrid 8mo ago[flagged]
- direwolf20 8mo ago20% extra tax doesn't seem that high a price for not being sent to fight in a war
- Nextgrid 8mo agoOnly if you can’t fly to a neutral low-tax country and enjoy low tax and not being sent to war. But you do you, I do me. (And of course, if they don’t have a problem with stealing over half of the fruits of your labor, do you really think they won’t send you to fight for them when the chips are down anyway?)
- 8mo ago
- gman83 8mo agoThere was also a spree of migrants attacks in Germany, just before the election, which greatly swung public opionion to the AfD.
- Gud 8mo agoSource for these claims?
- unfitted2545 8mo agoI was coming out of Barcelona on a train to France on the 18th, and through the window spotted a blacked-out quadcopter just hovering quite high over the tracks. No incidents happened in that area of Spain though so I'm wondering why it was there, I suppose it could be civilian or police?
- Nextgrid 8mo agoAnyone can fly a quadcopter though? You can buy one right now for a couple hundred bucks off Amazon (and strap explosives to it if you wanted to). If anything, the fact we’re not seeing random drones carrying explosives and diving into groups of people on a daily basis shows the vast, vast (99.999%) majority of people is actually well-meaning and has no desire to kill or hurt anyone. If you’re legitimately baffled by a random guy being able to fly a quadcopter around without any kind of government approval or oversight, I encourage you to buy one and play around (without explosives please!), just make sure to not fly it over places where people could be standing - terminal velocity is real and even a light one could cause serious injury if it were to lose control and fall on someone’s head.
- direwolf20 8mo agoOr it shows mass surveillance is working so well as a deterrent. If we got rid of the cameras everywhere, someone might rig a drone with explosives.
- tatersolid 8mo agoPerhaps it was actually an authorized drone? Here in the USA quad-copter drones are used to inspect powerlines and other infrastructure; I see them a few times per year in my area. I don’t see why they wouldn’t use drones to visually inspect train tracks as well. Very cost effective and energy efficient alternative to manual inspection in a vehicle of some kind.
- ted_bunny 8mo agoRussia has its back against the wall and has little reason to invite retaliation. Israel has the means, motive, opportunity, and lack of restraint to punish its critics with these means, as well as the sway to cover their tracks with nonsensical disinformation. Media is pushing hard for the Russia Orc narrative and it says a lot about the people who are happy to buy it.
- ThePowerOfFuet 8mo agoWhat would Israel stand to gain from having any remaining sympathy eliminated upon the discovery that they were behind it?
- ThePowerOfFuet 8mo ago>What are the chances that the high-speed rail crash that occurred in Spain a few weeks ago was also caused by them? As someone who works in the industry: quite slim.