Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at hoax bomb threats targeting airlines in Europe, another national security conviction in Hong Kong, and the resignation of Paraguayan President Santiago Peña.
Hybrid Warfare?
Hoax bomb threats targeted at least 27 different flights across Europe on Thursday, forcing planes to make unplanned landings or be escorted by fighter jets to their destinations. This was the second such incident to impact the continent this week, affecting thousands of travelers.
Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at hoax bomb threats targeting airlines in Europe, another national security conviction in Hong Kong, and the resignation of Paraguayan President Santiago Peña.
Hybrid Warfare?
Hoax bomb threats targeted at least 27 different flights across Europe on Thursday, forcing planes to make unplanned landings or be escorted by fighter jets to their destinations. This was the second such incident to impact the continent this week, affecting thousands of travelers.
Although it is still unclear who is responsible for the massive air traffic disruption, several European officials and aviation experts suspect that Russia may be at least partly to blame.
Moscow has stepped up its hybrid warfare tactics on Ukraine and its European allies in recent months, from launching drone strikes to sabotaging critical infrastructure. That includes a failed drone attack on Germany’s Leipzig/Halle Airport in August as well as repeated incursions into Denmark, Estonia, Lithuania, Poland, and Romania.
“Russia remains aggressor No. 1,” Ken McCallum, the head of the United Kingdom’s internal security service, said last month in a speech highlighting the threat of Moscow’s hybrid warfare.
In many instances, though, NATO members have struggled to concretely prove that Russia is behind these attacks. “Identifying state sponsors of gray-zone acts is extremely difficult—by design,” FP columnist Elisabeth Braw argued in September, as these operations are often cheap to execute, easy to deny, and not expected to trigger armed retaliation.
This week’s bomb threats appear to have fallen into that category. Flights impacted included ones coming from or heading to Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Spain, and the United Kingdom.
Many of those countries have also suffered recent cyberattacks on their supermarket refrigeration systems. Last month, hackers seized control of cooling systems across hundreds of French grocery stores, spoiling food and sparking fires. And on Monday, hackers targeted fridges and freezers at dozens of stores in Belgium, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Sweden.
This was a “deliberate attempt to disrupt our food supply chain and undermine consumers’ confidence in it,” said Christophe Hansen, the European Union’s commissioner for agriculture and food.
Investigators have yet to determine who is behind the cyberattacks, and so far, there has been no established link between Monday’s supermarket hacks and this week’s airplane bomb threats. However, the back-to-back incidents have raised European authorities’ concerns about other potential vulnerabilities in the continent’s security.
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What We’re Following
10 years in prison. A Hong Kong court on Thursday sentenced pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong to 10 years in prison for collusion with foreign entities under the country’s national security law. Wong was convicted of working with self-exiled activist Nathan Law and other individuals to ask foreign governments to impose sanctions on China.
Wong, long considered one of the faces of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement, was first detained in November 2020 after pleading guilty to inciting and organizing an unauthorized anti-government rally the previous year. “I have never advocated Hong Kong independence, nor have I ever promoted the ‘collapse of China’ or regime change,” Wong said ahead of Thursday’s sentencing, though he admitted to mistakenly believing that his actions abided by the law.
Nearly all of Hong Kong’s national security cases result in convictions, prompting many activists to plead guilty in the hopes of receiving a reduced sentence. In February, a Hong Kong court sentenced pro-democracy activist Jimmy Lai to 20 years in prison after he pleaded not guilty to similar charges.
Risk of impeachment. Paraguayan President Santiago Peña resigned on Thursday in the face of a looming impeachment vote over the collapse of Ueno Bank, a digital moneylender that millions of residents use. “I do so with the stability of our country, social peace, and the need to preserve our democratic institutions in mind,” Peña said.
On Monday, the Central Bank of Paraguay voted unanimously to seize Ueno after the company’s solvency ratio fell below half the legal minimum; regulators argue that this was largely driven by massive insider loans. The seizure abruptly locked around 3 million customers (or roughly 60 percent of Paraguay’s adult population) out of their accounts, plunging the country into financial turmoil.
Lawmakers immediately took notice of Peña’s ties to Ueno, including his decision to remain a business partner of the conglomerate that owns the moneylender, and argued that the seizure was a conflict of interest. Legislators also accused Peña of institutional cover-ups and the misuse of pension funds. Peña and the bank have denied any wrongdoing.
Although Peña initially appeared ready to fight the allegations, the president quickly surrendered his post after Congress President Basilio Nuñez and Colorado Party President Horacio Cartes withdrew their support—making it all but certain that the impeachment vote would pass. Vice President Pedro Alliana will now take Peña’s place.
Diplomatic row. Tensions between Ethiopia and Sudan escalated on Wednesday, with both countries shuttering their consulates and expelling each other’s diplomats. The tit-for-tat moves were made in response to recent allegations that both governments are aiding rebel forces in each other’s territory.
On Friday, Sudan filed formal complaints to the United Nations Security Council and the African Union Peace and Security Council, accusing Ethiopia of providing the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) with logistical support. Khartoum also claimed that Addis Ababa was hosting launching pads for RSF drone strikes on Sudanese electricity and fuel facilities. Ethiopia has denied supporting the RSF in Sudan’s deadly civil war.
Meanwhile, Ethiopia has accused Sudan of backing rebel forces fighting in its northern Tigray region, which has also suffered a devastating humanitarian crisis. Khartoum has similarly rejected allegations that it has aided armed groups in Tigray.
The accusations and diplomatic expulsions risk pulling Ethiopia and Sudan into a more direct conflict. “The Sudanese government remains committed to its right to defend its territory. Nevertheless, it is making every possible effort to avoid an open war with Ethiopia,” said Amjad Farid, a senior advisor for Sudan’s Transitional Sovereign Council.
Odds and Ends
Star soccer player Cristiano Ronaldo announced on Thursday that he is retiring from playing for Portugal, ending a 23-year international career defined by record-setting games and intense rivalries. “The day has come back for me to hand back the number 7 shirt of our national team,” Ronaldo said in a video on social media. With the men’s soccer record of 234 international appearances and 146 goals for Portugal, Ronaldo is largely seen as one of the greatest soccer players of all time. He will continue to play as a forward for al-Nassr in the Saudi Pro League, in a move that has drawn allegations of sportswashing for Riyadh’s poor human rights record.
