Latest / Combat Veteran News / Why Are DOZENS of European Flights GROUNDED!?

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Why Are DOZENS of European Flights GROUNDED!? · Combat Veteran News

• 0:01
  Another crazy sign of the times: It appears
• 0:03
  that a slew of European flights, over
• 0:05
  a dozen in total, have been canceled due to a wave of
• 0:07
  fake bombing reports
• 0:10
  from angry misogynists.
• 0:13
  Yes, that's, well, pretty close to the truth.
• 0:16
  This is true, but the situation is more complicated.
• 0:18
  Let's be frank. We'll talk about what's
• 0:20
  really going on, at least what
• 0:23
  I think about it. Let's
• 0:24
  discuss this. So, today at least
• 0:27
  13 flights across Europe received
• 0:29
  bomb threats. This is the second wave
• 0:31
  after Tuesday, when 10 planes
• 0:33
  were also targeted by bomb threats.
• 0:37
  Ireland-based airline Aer Lingus said a flight from Dublin
• 0:40
  to Rome had been diverted to the
• 0:42
  Evreux military base in France. All passengers and
• 0:44
  six crew members are safe.
• 0:46
  In fact, all these threats turned out to be
• 0:48
  false. In another incident,
• 0:50
  Italian fighter jets escorted a
• 0:52
  Finnair flight to Rome. Flights
• 0:54
  were also threatened, diverted or
• 0:56
  inspected in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Austria
• 0:58
  and Italy.
• 0:59
  No explosives were found on any of the affected planes, and no
• 1:01
  one has claimed responsibility.
• 1:03
  But the situation is even more interesting because these fake
• 1:05
  reports of bombings seem to be
• 1:07
  spreading again. A total of 21 aircraft were
• 1:10
  targeted by threats, again,
• 1:12
  flights to Austria, Belgium,
• 1:15
  Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, France, Poland, and
• 1:17
  Romania were affected.
• 1:19
  And there are some interesting details here.
• 1:21
  For example, in one case, an Aer
• 1:23
  Lingus pilot was diverted to a French
• 1:25
  military base and is now under
• 1:27
  investigation by French prosecutors
• 1:29
  because he allegedly refused to land at the
• 1:31
  military base, preferring a
• 1:33
  civilian airport, until
• 1:35
  two fighter jets were scrambled to provide escort. They are now
• 1:37
  investigating why the pilot refused
• 1:38
  to comply with the landing order and whether
• 1:40
  such a refusal could be a criminal offense
• 1:42
  .
• 1:44
  This is a bit annoying because the safety of the plane
• 1:46
  is the pilots' top priority, and it's
• 1:48
  understandable if the pilot says, "Listen
• 1:51
  , I don't know how to land on a military
• 1:53
  base."
• 1:55
  Although I think that's probably not the
• 1:57
  point here. Again, there's probably
• 2:00
  more to it than that.
• 2:02
  But, um, what I find interesting is that
• 2:05
  these are clearly false threats.
• 2:09
  But we'll talk about who I
• 2:11
  think is really behind this. But
• 2:14
  interestingly, I'm trying to find it.
• 2:17
  Oh, there it is. One
• 2:20
  security correspondent noted that the
• 2:21
  caller or individuals making
• 2:23
  the threats identified themselves as “fighters of the male
• 2:25
  state” who allegedly sent
• 2:27
  an email to authorities in Rome
• 2:29
  threatening to “paint the sky red,
• 2:31
  ” a likely reference to the
• 2:33
  far-right Russian group
• 2:35
  Moscow Legion or the Male
• 2:37
  Legion. But even if it were
• 2:39
  real, it is unlikely to give
• 2:40
  authorities the clues they need to expose
• 2:42
  these hoaxes.
• 2:44
  So, again, “fighters of the male
• 2:46
  state,” “Male Legion”—this is an
• 2:48
  incredibly meaningless name for Russians.
• 2:52
  And before we talk about why I
• 2:54
  think this might be related to
• 2:56
  Russia, I want to remind you, of course, friends
• 2:57
  : if you want to support the channel and
• 2:59
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• 3:01
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  combatvetnews.com. We just released
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• 3:07
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  ten-year-old footage and compared
• 3:12
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  become a member.
• 3:31
  I would like to point out that these fake
• 3:32
  reports of mining look very Russian in their
• 3:34
  scale and effectiveness
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  .
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  Because, first of all, pay attention: all the countries
• 3:41
  at which these threats are directed
• 3:44
  support Ukraine.
• 3:45
  Right?
• 3:50
  And again, if some
• 3:52
  ultra-nationalist misogynistic group were doing this,
• 3:54
  they would be going after other governments.
• 4:01
  Bulgaria is not an ultra-left government,
• 4:04
  okay?
• 4:06
  The scale and scope of these attacks look like
• 4:09
  something Russia would do. Why?
• 4:13
  Here's another example: a
• 4:14
  supermarket chain in Europe whose refrigerators
• 4:17
  were allegedly hacked by Russia
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  .
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  This malfunction caused all the
• 4:23
  food in these refrigerators to spoil
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  .
• 4:28
  Of course, this will not destroy European
• 4:31
  infrastructure, but it is a sign of
• 4:33
  Russia's hybrid war against Europe.
• 4:36
  In fact, refrigerators in supermarkets in
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  nine EU countries went down on
• 4:40
  Monday: the cyberattack hit stores in
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  France, then in Belgium, Luxembourg,
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  Sweden, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands
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  , Estonia, Finland and Romania.
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  There is a significant overlap between these flights
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  and the hacker attacks on supermarkets.
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  This was, and I quote, "a deliberate attempt to disrupt
• 4:57
  our food supply chain." And it's
• 4:59
  worth noting that, again, this
• 5:01
  is not part of a larger campaign.
• 5:05
  Well, let's say, spoilage of products–this is
• 5:07
  certainly annoying for buyers and expensive for
• 5:10
  supermarkets, but it will not undermine the
• 5:12
  European economy.
• 5:16
  This will not plunge the European economy into
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  darkness. But this serves certain purposes for Russia
• 5:21
  .
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  First, punish the average
• 5:25
  European for supporting Ukraine.
• 5:29
  And I think historically that's something that
• 5:32
  backfires.
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  Usually, when people feel that the enemy is
• 5:37
  directing actions against them personally, they
• 5:40
  only become more determined in their resistance
• 5:42
  .
• 5:44
  But I also think it's important to point out
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  that this shows the European
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  public that their governments are incapable of
• 5:51
  protecting them.
• 5:52
  And I think that the
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  importance of this fact should never be underestimated. One
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  of the issues that I talk about a lot is that
• 5:59
  for many
• 6:01
  Americans, whether
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  they realize it or not, as an
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  American, you, I would say, at this
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  point, everyone I talk to, I would
• 6:09
  say, 10 to 15 times a day, get
• 6:12
  spam calls. And, I would say, they are pretending to be
• 6:14
  government agencies or debt collectors
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  , trying to scam you out of money. They are
• 6:20
  almost always AI-powered, but
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  some of these scams impersonating
• 6:24
  government officials look
• 6:26
  remarkably realistic. Again,
• 6:28
  I had a
• 6:30
  family member who got a call from someone
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  claiming that he had missed a
• 6:34
  jury summons and that there was a
• 6:36
  warrant out for his arrest. And he said, you know,
• 6:38
  usually, three or four years ago, these kinds of
• 6:40
  scammers were pretty easy to spot.
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  They were using terms that didn't
• 6:44
  make sense and weren't part of the real
• 6:46
  legal system, but he said, "No,
• 6:48
  this time they sounded exactly like a
• 6:49
  real government agency." And of course,
• 6:52
  he finally understood when they
• 6:54
  started saying, "Don't hang up, under
• 6:56
  any circumstances." He said, "That's
• 6:58
  not true." "I can always talk to a
• 7:00
  lawyer." "I'm hanging up now."
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  But what I think is important here is that
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  when the government can't even
• 7:07
  stop other people from pretending to be the
• 7:09
  government, the government itself looks
• 7:11
  weak.
• 7:13
  We saw this in Iraq and Afghanistan, where
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  the government was constantly humiliated by its
• 7:18
  failure to stop even the most
• 7:20
  brazen forms of violence, like armed
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  gangs at checkpoints.
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  You know, the inability to stop someone
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  calling you and pretending to be a police officer
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  .
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  You know, I would say, don't try to
• 7:33
  do this in real life, okay? Well,
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  try pretending to be a cop in your
• 7:37
  neighborhood and start arresting people, and
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  see how long you can last
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  until the real cops put you in your
• 7:43
  place. This is part of the Russian model of
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  behavior.
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  It consists in devaluing in
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  the eyes of the people the feeling that their governments are
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  effective in at least something elementary
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  .
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  And the ability to ensure a basic safe
• 7:57
  supply of food is the cornerstone of the
• 8:00
  functioning of the state, isn't it?
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  You know, a stable food supply is something
• 8:07
  that, again, was a fear for
• 8:09
  developing countries 30 years ago.
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  It's just not a problem now unless you're
• 8:16
  in Gaza and under blockade.
• 8:20
  But for countries not ruled by Hamas, this
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  isn't a real problem, right?
• 8:26
  And well
• 8:28
  , as they say, I think Politico is
• 8:30
  doing really well. If it
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  walks like a duck and quacks like a duck,
• 8:34
  most people assume it's Moscow
• 8:36
  . It could also be Iran, China, and
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  North Korea. Russia is one of four
• 8:40
  countries that frequently attack Europe with
• 8:42
  state support. But this pattern of goals
• 8:44
  and methods excludes the other three. We
• 8:46
  firmly believe that this activity
• 8:48
  is attributed to a
• 8:49
  Russian state-sponsored threat, as a
• 8:51
  European cybersecurity expert says,
• 8:53
  right? The company's research collects data
• 8:55
  on attacks on so-called "deterrents" or "
• 8:57
  traps" that indicate a
• 8:59
  state-sponsored group.
• 9:03
  Now, the exact way that this is done
• 9:05
  , again, the specific fingerprints of the
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  break—that's one thing.
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  But I want to point out that the scale of this
• 9:14
  problem is exactly what Russia likes to do
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  , isn't it?
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  We see that just yesterday Sweden
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  stated that Russian hybrid threats
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  make internal
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  border checks necessary, which is simply
• 9:25
  madness. Sweden has said it
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  will conduct border checks
• 9:27
  for the next 6 months to
• 9:29
  prevent sabotage and other hybrid
• 9:30
  attacks by hostile actors linked to
• 9:32
  Russia. Suspicions of hybrid warfare on
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  European soil have gained attention
• 9:35
  after Germany accused
• 9:36
  Russia of an airport attack in September. This is
• 9:38
  really crazy for Europe—to say, “
• 9:40
  Listen, we’re implementing regular
• 9:42
  police checkpoints to detect
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  Russian subversive operations”—that’s a
• 9:47
  huge escalation, right? Again,
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  these are internal border checks.
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  Identifying hostile actors
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  moving and operating within the
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  Schengen area. Huge increase in
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  measures.
• 10:01
  And this solution, again, is to call
• 10:03
  European airlines via VPN or
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  something like that and make bomb threats.
• 10:12
  This is a purely Russian operation in terms of scale
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  . This creates a real sense of fear
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  among the European public. This
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  creates a real sense of intimidation.
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  This is incredibly disruptive to flights and
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  costs the Russian government nothing.
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  Nothing. They can literally spend
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  $4.99 on a voice forwarder or a
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  fake e-SIM card, and that's it.
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  This is extremely effective, cheap, and
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  safe, because even if the Europeans
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  find the culprits, as long as they don't leave
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  Moscow, they have nothing to worry about.
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  And we see again that this is part of the new
• 10:49
  Russian norm. Even one of the sources
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  we often use for
• 10:53
  English-language news in Ukraine, the Kyiv
• 10:54
  Independent, was also subjected to a cyberattack,
• 10:56
  sending out emails with
• 10:58
  fake statements in Russian and
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  English, right? They
• 11:02
  said, “Listen, hackers have gained
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  access to the site’s content management system
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  . One of the services that Kyiv
• 11:07
  Independent uses to distribute
• 11:09
  news.
• 11:10
  And although this happened to Kyiv Independent for
• 11:12
  the first time, we see again that this is a common
• 11:15
  occurrence.
• 11:18
  This shouldn't be...this, this is how Russia operates.
• 11:21
  And as Americans, I would urge you to be
• 11:23
  aware of this when you read other
• 11:26
  things.
• 11:28
  Uh, like…
• 11:33
  Yeah, I think that’s what we’ll see in the
• 11:36
  future, right? The
• 11:38
  enemies of the United States—Russia, China,
• 11:40
  Iran, North Korea—are seeing that these are
• 11:43
  highly effective attacks, and I think you're
• 11:45
  going to see more of them. So I wouldn't be
• 11:48
  surprised at all if this turns out to be
• 11:51
  Russia-related, and it's certainly part of a larger
• 11:53
  campaign. Anyway, thanks to
• 11:55
  Colin, Dan, Debra, Don, Douglas,
• 11:57
  Gabriel, G Matt, James—everyone at the
• 11:58
  lieutenant level. We really appreciate you
• 12:00
  guys and we'll see you all. Oh,
• 12:02
  click "subscribe." Click.