Kim Gerlev Pedersen

🔭🔬⚗️🧨🔋🛢📡⏳⛈🌩🔥🌤🌈

[Carl Bildt @carlbildt]

I have to say that I agree with this rather somber assessment of the situation. What applies from the 🇬🇧 perspective applies at least as much from the 🇸🇪 one.

[Eva Gregersen @evagps]

I går i Deadline undveg @Elias_Lamrabet det gentagne spørgsmål fra @RStoklund om, hvad der skal ske med frafaldne i kalifatet.

Lamrabet har ordet i sin magt og fik rig lejlighed til at svare (jeg deler en udskrift af sekvensen i kommentarsporet), men bemærk, hvordan han i stedet endte med at appellere til studievært @chrbennike om hjælp til at komme ud af situationen.

Jeg forstår godt undvigelsen.

Sandheden er, at hvis vi levede i Lamrabets idealsamfund, ville en åbenmundet eksmuslim som Mustafa Sayegh @MusseExmuslim - der forleden stod foran Hizb ut-Tahrirs hovedkvarter og uddelte flyers for Foreningen Frafalden - ikke skulle mødes med argumenter og diskussioner. Han ville skulle henrettes.

Det er en intellektuel falliterklæring for islam, som Lamrabet ikke evner at bortforklare.

Islams voldelige intolerance over for frafald er så pinlig og svær at forsvare, at det ironisk nok i sig selv er velegnet til at få muslimer til at indse, at islam ikke er perfekt.

Derfor gælder det for Lamrabet om at undgå at tale om det, præcis som vi ser i Deadline.

Og derfor gælder det for os andre om at udstille undvigelsen og sætte maksimal fokus på islams dødsstraf for frafald.

[Denys Shtilierman @DenShtilierman]

The Wall Street Journal has concluded a year-long investigation and released a documentary titled “Infiltrated” — about how North Korea makes money within the U.S. economy. The world’s most isolated country, where nearly all foreign trade is subject to sanctions, has found a product that Americans buy every day, willingly and at a high price. That commodity is the labor of North Korean programmers operating under stolen American identities.

The film illustrates the scale of the operation using FBI figures: thousands of North Korean workers apply for jobs across the United States and pose as Americans. Journalists tracked one cell from the inside — through leaked browser histories, emails, calendars, and screen recordings from their own computers. In just over three months, this single cell applied to more than a thousand companies and infiltrated at least eight American firms. Axios, citing cybersecurity experts, adds: “Virtually every Fortune 500 company has inadvertently hired a North Korean IT worker.”

The operation is structured like a full-fledged corporation, with a division of labor, subcontractors, and its own logistics.

First — stolen identities. Operators purchase the personal data of real Americans — names, Social Security numbers, documents — and use them to pass employment background checks. A single person manages several aliases and holds multiple jobs simultaneously.

Second — artificial intelligence. It is used to generate “flawless resumes, cover letters, and application materials tailored to specific job openings,” which create a “wow effect” for recruiters. Screen recordings revealed that during interviews, candidates read answers generated by AI in real time and later switched to deepfakes — replacing their faces right during video calls. The filmmakers’ conclusion: “It’s impossible to tell the difference visually.”

Third — American accomplices. A corporate laptop sent to a “new employee” doesn’t go to Pyongyang, but to a “laptop farm”: an American keeps it turned on at home, while a North Korean connects to it remotely. Intermediaries open bank accounts, process payments, and personally attend job interviews and corporate meetings. A man from Ohio told reporters that he attends work meetings, “while the North Koreans do all the actual work” — they split the $75,000 annual salary evenly.

According to the U.S. Department of the Treasury, a single such employee “can earn over $300,000 a year, with the state receiving up to 90% of their salaries.” In total, the U.S. Treasury estimates that these schemes have brought Pyongyang approximately $800 million a year.

These funds are directed “toward programs for the production of weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles.”

The damage isn’t limited to money. U.S. authorities warn that some employees used their work access to install malicious software and steal trade secrets. “This is not a petty payroll scam, but a systemic threat to corporate and even national security” — coordinated through state-sponsored hacking groups and a network of front companies in China.

And the third group of victims consists of ordinary Americans. A Georgia resident, whose data was put up for sale online, had been “working” across the country for years without knowing it. The consequences: “He cannot open a bank account, get a loan, or even rent an apartment.”

The Ukrainian component here is specific. Pyongyang has supplied Russia with millions of artillery shells — according to some estimates, at certain times accounting for up to half of the ammunition Russia uses on the front lines — and KN-23 ballistic missiles regularly strike Ukrainian cities. Some of this ammunition was financed with money stolen from the United States. And considering that North Korean spies have been stealing technological secrets from American companies for years, it’s entirely possible that Pyongyang’s missile program itself is largely built on stolen American designs. In other words, America unwittingly paid for — and likely designed — the weapons now flying over Ukraine.

There are several conclusions. A regime barred from cross-border trade has monetized what doesn’t cross borders: code and stolen identities. Sanctions do not work on their own — they must be administered and enforced. Verifying who is on the other side of the screen has evolved from a formality into a matter of national security. And Silicon Valley, without even realizing it, is co-funding the missile strikes on Kyiv.

[Jürgen Nauditt 🇩🇪🇺🇦 @jurgen_nauditt]

The cargo carried by the sanctioned shadow fleet tanker TIBURON (9283291) is highly likely to be Russian crude oil (Urals from Primorsk; draft: 15 m).

Germany and Denmark are watching.

The Coast Guard is tailing the vessel—but nothing is happening.

The reason given: the legal situation is "delicate."
This is exactly how sanctions evasion works in the Baltic Sea.

And there’s champagne on the Russian tanker today.

[Arpe @Arpe_DK]

Jyllands-posten har ingen skam i livet, i en ny artikel udgivet her til morgen kæder de Elon Musk' fars tur til Moskva sammen med at Elon nu skulle være gode venner med Putin...

Elon har mødtes med sin far 2 gange de sidste 10 år. At kæde hans udflugter sammen med Elons bedrifter er direkte manipulerende og hører ingen sted hjemme.

Starlink er en væsentlig del af at der stadig er noget som hedder Ukraine. Måske man skulle have undersøgt sagen inden man skrev en artikel på et forkert grundlag.

[Bad Baltic Takes @BadBalticTakes]

It was at this moment she knew… she fucked up.

Megan Romer is co-chair of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA / @DemSocialists).

They advocate for a world in which ordinary working people in all countries have full control over their own society and future.

Terms and conditions apply. Offer not valid in Eastern Europe.

Because DSA has a weirdly specific obsession with one issue: Opposing security alliances for smaller European democracies that happen to border Russia.

It doesn’t make much sense.

Especially when you compare it with their militant anti-imperialist position on a very select few other international causes.

And it is particularly baffling to Europe’s democratic socialists who have had a key role supporting NATO since its founding, exactly because it fits with all their lofty goals based on international cooperation.

More recently, both Finland and Sweden had democratic socialist-led governments when they initiated their process to join NATO.

To be fair, the Democratic Socialists of America may not recognise their European counterparts because they are unfamiliar with the whole concept of getting elected and doing actual work, rather than just shouting vague slogans and hoping no one asks follow up questions.

And this is where Romer gets repeatedly stuck in this interview with David Remnick, host of The New Yorker Radio Hour.

Romer says they would “tax the hell out of millionaires” so is asked some very simple questions that allow her to provide substance to that as a tax policy.

“Uhh, yeah, you know, again, I don’t have like a solid [answer], but…” Romer says, laughing nervously.

Remnick asks whether she should know the answer as a leader of the organisation.

“Um, that’s a good question,” she says, flustered.

It’s important to note, therefore, that Romer is at least capable of some shame.

Then, on the issue of Ukraine, she sets her own trap and walks straight into it.

DSA has been heavily criticised for amplifying Russian propaganda, especially since the build up to Russia’s full scale invasion of Ukraine.

Their argument is basically that if Eastern Europeans don’t want to be attacked then they shouldn’t act so provocatively.

Knowing how much criticism they got for that, Romer was keen to somehow regain a moral high ground so she quickly tries to switch the subject from not supporting to Ukraine to not liking Putin’s Russia either …from a strictly socialist perspective.

The problem with Russia, she says, is that it’s “right wing” and “hyper capitalist” so of course it’s a danger.

Yeah, very insightful analysis, Romer. Except wasn’t there famously a left wing version of it too, relatively recently, which also invaded neighbours?

Remnick asks the more relevant follow up question.

Isn’t this precisely why those countries [facing Russian aggression] wanted to join NATO?

In the next excruciating few seconds, we see her shame again, but perhaps also a brief moment of introspection.

Until now, denying agency of non-Americans has been the real core of Romer and the DSA’s worldview.

She thinks that she and her fellow Americans are solely responsible for everything, everywhere, all at once.

“We created Putin,” she has said.

In fact, “damn near every supervillain of the past 50 years was our creation.”

The goal of US foreign policy should be simply to “not create more Putins”, according to Romer.

It’s a comforting delusion because it offers an easy answer for every complex problem. Just do nothing.

But - maybe, just maybe - before Romer scrambled to arrange her words, we may have witnessed a brief flash of realisation that people living in other countries also have agency and also like security.

And we all benefit more from that when we cooperate as countries, regardless of where we all fit on the great horse shoe spectrum of politics.

[Masih Alinejad @AlinejadMasih]

Islamic Republic in Iran hangs 24-Year-old woman who defended herself from sexual assault

Yesterday the regime executed Marziyeh Neyri yesterday, a young woman who was forced into marriage at age 17 and hanged for fighting back against her attacker.

Marziyeh was 18 years old when her husband's associate attempted to sexually assault her in her own home, in front of her husband. She grabbed a kitchen knife to defend herself. Her husband died in the struggle.

She told the court she had been repeatedly assaulted by her husband's associates before that day. Iran's courts didn't care.

The regime rejected her self-defense claim. Her attacker, who survived, took the stand and called her a murderer. The court believed him over her.

She was sentenced to death.

No clemency. No mercy. The sentence was carried out at Chubindar Prison in Qazvin.

Marziyeh Neyri never had a chance. Forced into marriage as a child under Iran's Islamic laws, she spent the few years of her adult life in a courtroom, fighting for her life after defending it.

She lost.

This is the Sharia Laws in Islamic Republic of Iran where a woman can be hanged for surviving.
💔

[Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський @ZelenskyyUa]

For the first time in its history, Russia cannot wage war without reinforcements from North Korea. It is now preparing to deploy an additional North Korean contingent on its territory. It has also received additional ballistic missiles from North Korea. Everyone around the world must understand what this means.

This is not only about the lives of people in Ukraine, and not only about the threats we face. North Korea’s ballistic missiles and other weapons are being improved through its collaboration with Russia. The more North Korean strikes there are here in Ukraine, in Europe, the more their missiles and soldiers are used, the more they correct their shortcomings and blind spots, the greater the danger will later be for Japan, the Republic of Korea, the Philippines, and other countries in the region.

That is why, when we speak about the need for joint action, for coordination and mutual support, when we speak about the need to help us strengthen our air defense, we are also, in fact, speaking about taking away North Korea’s appetite and any interest in coming here – to our land and into our skies – with its weapons in order to learn how to wage war. Everyone across the globe who respects human life must stand together in taking action to protect people.

From the evening address.

[NOELREPORTS 🇪🇺 🇺🇦 @NOELreports]

North Korean female labor brigades are being sent to Russia through outsourcing companies. The workers are being placed on assembly lines, in sewing factories, kitchens and farms, with wages advertised from 480 rubles, about $6, per hour. Their movement is reportedly tightly restricted and they remain under strict supervision while working in Russia. #Russia

[OSINTdefender @sentdefender]

The U.S. State Department has informed Congress under the Arms Export Control Act of a proposed plan by Turkey to transfer nearly $300 million in Turkish-held U.S.-produced weapons to Ukraine, in the largest such sale ever to Ukraine by the Government of Turkey. As part of the transfer, Turkey will immediately sell and transfer the following weapons to the Armed Forces of Ukraine:

- 70 ATACMS Tactical Ballistic Missiles
- 12 M270 MLRS Launchers
- 2,524 M26 DPICM Cluster Missiles
- 47,000 203mm DPICM Artillery Shells

[Tymofiy Mylovanov @Mylovanov]

Fedorov: I spoke with Musk a few days ago.

The hard task is getting permission to use Starlink to destroy Russian ballistic missile launchers.

1/

[auonsson @auonsson]

A UK P8 maritime patrol aircraft spent 6 hours finecombing SW Baltic Sea for enemy units, above and below surface, before command would let the ship ARK GERMANIA leave Køge port for a transport of military units across Baltic Sea. Another P8 covering ahead.

Threat level, raised?

[Vatnik Soup @P_Kallioniemi]

Sweden is handing over the seized cargo ship Caffa to Ukraine.

The vessel was detained off Trelleborg in March at Ukraine’s request over suspected links to Russia’s shadow fleet.

This needs to happen more, thank you Sweden!

[auonsson @auonsson]

This is Mechernich, where two 4 meter drones flew for hours yesterday. And Leipzig, where an armed drone only by luck failed to blow up a plane with ammo.

Ie, drone cells are operating with impunity targeting arms transports and doing recon on key military sites. On EU soil.

[Katrine Daugaard @KatrineDaugaard]

DR løfter ikke sin journalistiske opgave her.

I stedet for kritisk at undersøge, hvordan Danmark bruger næsten 23 milliarder kroner på udviklingsbistand, bruger P1 Morgen kræfterne på at mistænkeliggøre den anonyme kritiker og B.T. som gav ham taletid.

Journalistik handler om at efterprøve kritikken – ikke om at forsøge at afspore den. Gå efter bolden, DR. #dkpol

[Saint Javelin @saintjavelin]

“As long as I’m alive, I will keep searching.”

Oleksii Yukov, the head of the Platsdarm search and recovery team, has been killed.

For years, Yukov and his team risked their lives recovering the bodies of fallen Ukrainian defenders from active front lines, minefields, and occupied territory, ensuring families could finally bring their loved ones home and lay them to rest with dignity.

Even under constant artillery fire and FPV drone attacks, they never stopped.

He also made a promise to every Ukrainian soldier:

“Come home alive. But if the worst happens, we will find you. We will bring you home. One hundred percent.”

Rest in peace, Oleksii. Thank you for bringing so many heroes home.

[Laura Loomer @LauraLoomer]

WATCH:

Following my trip to Ukraine, it appears that Vladimir Putin’s personal media advisors, including Russian TV host Vladimir Solovyov, are having a total meltdown over how to contain their messaging and propaganda to convince the world that they are “winning the war” with Ukraine.

They are foaming at the mouth that I had the audacity as Jew to interview the founder of Azov Battalion (who they call a Nazi) and the head of Ukraine’s 3rd Army Corp @ab3army, and now these Russian state media operatives are calling for me to be assassinated because I dared to ask Ukrainian General Andrii Biletskyi, “why is Putin still alive 5 years into the war”?

Am I really the first person to ask this question on camera in the era of modern warfare?

Seems like I really rattled these Russian propagandists and Putin’s personal Presstitutes…

Additionally, Vladimir Solovyov further defended Russia assisting Iran in attacking American soldiers during the Iran war and said “of course” Russia is going to help Iran fight against the United States.

Russia is a terrorist state and Vladimir Putin is the biggest terrorist in Europe. He’s killed more European civilians than ISIS and Al Qaeda combined. This is numerically and factually correct.

He wants to hold the entire world hostage with nuclear weapons and all of Europe is next if Ukraine doesn’t win.

Putin is an incompetent “leader” whose countrymen are being slaughtered daily by his own hubris so he can satisfy his ego.

He is a toddler with a nuclear arsenal.

Watch this video. His own “followers” don’t even believe the Pravda they spread. They are literally crying in this video about Russian citizens seeing the truth about how vulnerable Russia is.

If Russia is so great, why did Putin send his daughter to live in Paris with African migrants? 🤔

[John Spencer @SpencerGuard]

Fact! I’ve never studied a war or battle where one country not participating in the conflict had the ability to save thousands of civilians (easily letting the international community create a displaced person camp just on the other side of the Egypt Gaza crossing at Rafah) and not only didn’t, but deployed military forces to the border and built a new wall to make sure not a single civilian escaped (unless the civilian paid about $10,000 - an estimated 100,00 civilians got out if they paid). The fact that the UN, UNSC, and even U.S. did not put major pressure on Egypt to do so is also a story not told.

[Rob Lee @RALee85]

“The Russian Rassvet satellites operated by Bureau 1440 already provide at least two “communication windows” per day over Ukraine, each lasting more than an hour.

Satellite communications expert Volodymyr Stepanets told Militarnyi this based on an analysis of the Russian satellites’ trajectories.

As of July 31, 2026, the satellites of the Russian company Bureau 1440, launched in late March 2026, had completed their deployment into operational formation in orbit. Twelve of the 16 launched satellites have already reached their operational altitude of 550 kilometers; three more are gradually ascending; and one satellite burned up, presumably due to a manufacturing defect.”
https://t.co/K9otwAip4f

[Олег Володарський @volodarskijo]

Цей хлопець у 16 копав окопи, у 18 пішов у розвідку, у 19 тягнув пораненого побратима 2 км під обстрілами, а у 20 загинув.

Денис Волинець народився 2005 року на Житомирщині. Батьки розлучилися, коли він був зовсім малим, а з відчимом стосунки не склалися.

Його виховували мама й бабуся - на 860 грн дитячої допомоги. Мама працювала ночами, аби син мав усе необхідне.

Коли почалася війна, Денисові було 16. Він бігав до військкомату, охороняв училище та копав окопи.

Щойно виповнилося 18, він пішов до військкомату. Мама благала, погрожувала, навіть обіцяла купити "Жигулі", аби не йшов.

Він служив у розвідці 100-ї бригади, став оператором дронів. Командир тоді писав мамі: "Якби моя воля - я б дав йому всі нагороди".

У грудні 2025-го Денис вперше приїхав додому у відпустку. Зробив фотосесію з мамою.

А 22 лютого 2026 року загинув під Костянтинівкою.

Йому було лише 20.

Його тіло було обгорілим і понівеченим. Мама впізнала сина за татуюванням і годинником.

Побратими привезли їй його фронтову кішку - вона пройшла з Денисом весь Донецький напрямок. Тепер кішка живе вдома і чекає на нього.

Найбіл��ше Денис хотів нагороду "Золотий Хрест" і отримав її - посмертно.

А ще він знайшов на війні те, чого не мав удома - батька. Фронтового, побратима Миколу з позивним "Блондин".

Той має четверо своїх дітей, а Денис став для нього п'ятим сином.

Микола возив йому гамбургери, навіть суші, на позицію. Балував, як міг. Востаннє Денис попросив привезти гамбургери - за кілька годин до смерті.

Микола не встиг. Він тричі заїжджав, щоб вивезти тіло. Першу машину підбили, друга не пройшла, і лише втретє вдалося.

Він мріяв освідчитися дівчині, побудувати будинок та просто жити. Але не встиг.

Сьогодні його фронтовий батько досі не може повірити, що Денис не повернеться. Йому здається, що той просто поїхав у відпустку.

Вічна пам'ять Герою.