Sir Richard Moore and Bill Burns did not list examples but there has been a spate of mysterious sabotage and arson attacks on infrastructure in the UK, Germany and in the Baltics.
Sir Richard Moore and Bill Burns did not list examples but there has been a spate of mysterious sabotage and arson attacks on infrastructure in the UK, Germany and in the Baltics.
Russia is waging a "reckless campaign of sabotage" across Europe, the heads of MI6 and the CIA have warned in their first-ever joint remarks.
Sir Richard Moore and Bill Burns also said the UK and the US faced an "unprecedented array of threats", and said the entire world order was under the most serious strain since the Cold War.
In a newspaper article, the spymasters pointed to Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine, while also describing China as "the principal intelligence and geopolitical challenge of the 21st century".
Those guards are ceremonial and deliberately trained to pose like that and follow their gaze towards an elected leader of the Russian Federation with their entire head while the leader is within view.
It's called tradition, you silly bitch, and you are correct to laugh at it because it indeed looks stupid as fuck. It mirrors the traditions and stupidity that the general Russian government and military still maintain to this very day (see the three-day Ukraine "Special military operation" that has somehow lasted two years and is spilling into their own borders as evidence).
It’s called tradition, you silly bitch, and you are correct to laugh at it because it indeed looks stupid as fuck
I think this applies to all ceremonial military stuff: The queen's guard, the India-Pakistani border guards (at least they own it), the french foreign legionnaires who go out with a fucking axe and an apron, the US also has a tendency to flash ancient rifles on parades and then... juggle them? And so does Russia, aside from whatever that shit in the OP-post is, always brings out an old WW2-era tank on parades, alongside with the only available prototype sample of a new one, which then proceeds to stall in the middle of it and has to be towed out with said WW2-era tank.
Standing at attention is supposed to keep you a little off balance - not that much, but a little. Some people lock their knees when they stand, which will ultimately make you faint. Standing "gut in, chest out" makes you to lean forward slightly, forcing your knees unlock.
Because these guys are ceremonial guards they crank the whole thing up to eleven and it tends to look ridiculous at times.
Spy agencies calling adversary countries bad is a given. They didn't even bother to list examples, it's just a "Russia bad and also China bad btw" article, so they're not even reporting on active FSB/GRU operations, just that they exist, which again, is a given and is also a given for western agencies. How does this qualify as news?
In the meantime, the most damaging act of sabotage that we know of on European ground was perpetrated (it seems) by Ukrainians. Many were pointing the finger in Russia’s direction when that happened, even if it didn’t make much sense. Just saying, we shouldn’t take spooks at their word, you never quite know who is really behind covert attacks on infrastructure. At best we, the general public, can speculate. It usually takes a hell of a long time for any serious investigation to take place, if that is even going to be conclusive.
Sabotage against an enemy in war is a long-held tradition, and can be a very effective tactic if it causes economic (or other) damage to their enemy. It will still cost less than rebuilding entire cities, but I guess that doesn't matter as much since it wasn't (scary hand gestures) sabotage.