Informeret - June 21
Sweden will miss its climate goals. Mosquito borne diseases rising in Europe.
**Editor’s Note - Due to a family event on one weekend and volunteering at the Heartland Festival the next week/weekend I haven’t been able to publish the newsletter as initially planned. The woes of being a one man operation. Thanks for understanding.**
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Brace for more torrential downpours across Denmark. The Danish Meteorological Institute has issued a cloudburst and heavy rain warning across southern Denmark. The agency says the warning will remain in place tonight and into Saturday morning. It is anticipating that up to 35 millimetres of rain will fall, but it warns that some areas of the country will see twice that amount of rain.
The front will sweep into Denmark tonight from Germany hitting southern Denmark first. In places, there may also be thunderstorms.
The institute says the downpour could fall as so-called “blood rain” due to dust from the Sahara blowing through at the same time. So don’t be surprised to find a reddish brown coating left behind by the rainfall.
🇩🇰
The Danish government has released a series of recommendations so that people across the country are better prepared in the event of a national crisis and can, if need be, subsist on their own for at least three days.
The recommendations are:
Each household should have nine litres of water in reserve for every person in the home. The Danish Emergency Management Agency estimates that each person uses three litres of water daily. It says that if you have pets, then have a little extra water on hand for them. The agency advises storing the water in a dark, cool place and replacing it when each container’s best-before date has expired.
Households should also keep enough food in stock to feed each person in the home for three days. Food that does not require refrigeration is best. So things like canned goods and other food items that have a longer shelf life. Also, the food should be able to be eaten without the use of a stove or oven, assuming there is no electricity. Stored food should also be regularly checked and replaced when its shelf life has expired. The agency advises homeowners to have a camp stove or other stand-alone external cooking device for making meals or, in the event, drinking water has to be boiled.
If you take medicine, then it is also important to ensure you have enough at all times to last at least three days. The emergency management agency also recommends making sure each household has a fully stocked first aid kit. It also advises that iodine tablets be stocked up for use by everyone in the home under the age of 40 and for pregnant and breastfeeding women. This is, of course, in the event of a nuclear incident.
Other items to stock up on include toilet paper, hand sanitizer, soap, wet wipes, and, for women, female hygiene products. As well as batteries, flashlights, matches, and candles.
It is also recommended to have some emergency cash tucked away somewhere.
The agency also advises having a battery-operated radio in order to be able to get information in the event of a crisis. A power bank for your devices, phones, or other electronic items is also a wise call. In the event of a national emergency, Denmark’s national broadcaster will be supplying critical information by radio.
The agency also advises that in the event of any crisis, people should remain calm and be hyper vigilant about misinformation.
“It is a great help if you share confirmed information during a crisis and are aware of preventing the spread of rumours, disinformation, or misinformation. Therefore, always check a second time whether the source is trustworthy before sharing information in your network.”
You can see the whole brochure issued by the emergency management agency on crisis preparedness (in Danish) HERE.
People seem to be heeding the advice as businesses across Denmark reported a rush on many of the items and food people have been advised to stock up on. Spejder Sport said business “exploded” after the announcement with big increases in the sales of water canisters, camping ovens, first aid kits, and so many emergency radios that they were briefly out of stock.
🍃Environment & Energy⚡️
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June’s wild weather has taken a toll on strawberry crops in Denmark, especially in fields in Jutland. With massive downpours of rain and, in some spots intense hailstorms, a sizable portion of strawberry crops in southern and northern Jutland have been lost. All the hail and rain have been a bitter one-two punch, with hailstones battering the sensitive berries and then all the water expediting rot. On just one large strawberry farm near Grenaa, about 20 tonnes of strawberries, or about half the crop, have suffered severe hail damage.
Strawberry Farmer Peter Drejer tells DR that it has been a tale of two starkly different weather-related challenges over the last two years. Last June, they were irrigating like mad due to a brutal drought. This June, his berry fields have been swamped due to massive downpours.
“The weather has become colder. Now we are experiencing more intense summer rain. This year, we watered approximately 10% of what we watered last year. We only managed to water once before the weather turned really bad, and then we had just under three weeks of really bad weather until today.”
Danish strawberry farmers are also making a fairly major shift due to climate change driven severe weather events. More and more farmers are growing their strawberries in large covered outdoor areas. In the future, this is a shift that will continue with fewer strawberries grown in open fields like we are used to seeing.
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If you have been thinking that June has been really cold, you aren’t wrong. After sizzling temperatures in May, Denmark is experiencing its coldest June in the last nine years, and if it weren’t for two days this month reaching 27 degrees, this might have been the coldest June ever. Due to a polar front blowing across the country, average daily temperatures have been a mere 12.8 degrees over the first two weeks of the month. So, not an amazing start to the summer.
So far, it is also the second-wettest June in the last 13 years. As of June 19, roughly the entire average amount of monthly rainfall has already fallen. So far, Denmark has seen an average of 64.3 millimeters of rain this month, making it the wettest first 19 days of June since 2011. For context, last year, there wasn’t a single raindrop anywhere in Denmark over the first 19 days of June.
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A freak storm recently rolled over Western Sweden. There was torrential rain, resulting in flooding along with thunder, lightning, and a huge amount of hail. Emergency Services in Trollhättan responded to 32 calls about flooded basements in just one hour.
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The environmental crisis unfolding in Denmark’s inland waterways seems to have claimed more victims. Last Monday, thousands of dead herring drifted onto the coast of the Limfjord near Thisted. At the moment, the official cause of the fish death remains unknown, pending testing results. However, Danish Environmental Protection Agency Biologist Mikael Hjorth Jensen says it is likely due to one of two scenarios.
“One is that it is related to oxygen depletion. The second is that it relates to the plankton in the water, which can be toxic.”
The Limfjord has long suffered from a lack of oxygen due to agricultural fertilizers seeping into the waterway, driving up nitrogen levels. Biologists have taken water samples from the area with the hope that the results will shed some light.
🇸🇪
Sweden is not on track to meet its greenhouse gas emission reduction targets. According to the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, the country’s emissions decreased by just 2% last year, which is far less than the 52% drop in 2022 and well shy of the 7% annual decrease required to reach Sweden’s climate goals.
A closer look reveals that while industrial emissions fell the most, the transportation sector is falling well short due to a much slower electrification process than anticipated. In particular, emissions from commercial trucks and buses actually increased last year.
Most worrying is that the agency is forecasting Sweden’s emissions to “increase significantly” this year. It is forecasting greenhouse gas emissions to increase by as much as four million tonnes in 2024.
Boiled down, all this means that, barring drastic measures being taken, Sweden won’t come close to reaching its emissions reduction goals.
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Wetlands and bogs are often hailed as nature’s super weapons in the fight against climate change due to their ability to sequester mammoth amounts of carbon. However, new research from Sweden’s University of Gothenburg is pouring some cold water on wetlands and bogs, providing a quick fix in battling climate change. University researchers found that restoring, or rewetting, bogs and wetlands only resulted in a small reduction in Sweden’s carbon dioxide emissions.
The Swedish government has prioritized wetland restoration projects as part of its environmental agenda. It is sinking hundreds of millions of Swedish kroner every year into such projects. However, the university’s investigation found the pace of wetland restoration is much slower than planned and has so far resulted in almost negligible emissions reductions. If the pace picks up, researchers estimate that in about 20 years, at best, wetland restoration will reduce about one million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions each year.
Gothenburg University Peat Researcher Amelie Lindgren says without a doubt bogs and wetlands play a pivotal role in sequestering emissions. But while wetlands must be preserved and restored, it is also important that they are not portrayed as being a magic bullet in the fight against climate change.
“I think that it has acquired an over-inflated reputation for lack of anything else. It's a good idea, but it won't be enough in the long run to rewet all of Sweden's ditched peatlands as a cure-all in dealing with Sweden’s greenhouse gas emissions.”
A peat bog the size of a football pitch can sequester more carbon than an entire rainforest. Conversely, when a bog or wetland is dried out and developed, it releases all the greenhouse gases it has stored away back into the atmosphere.
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Swedish clothing chain Gina Tricot is being accused of greenwashing. Back in 2022, the company promoted an initiative promising that it would use part of its profits to plant its own forest in order to help fight climate change. An investigation by Swedish national broadcaster SVT found that in the end, just 503 trees were planted, all at a plantation near Kalundborg in Denmark.
Sweden”s Agricultural University Professor Emeritus Matts Lindbladh says the company took advantage of climate change concerns in order to bolster sales.
As for the clothing chain, a spokesperson apologized for what it said was “unfortunate wording” in its so-called climate campaign.
🇪🇺🇩🇰🇸🇪
The EU’s nature restoration legislation has finally been adopted. The regulation had been at the centre of a bitter back and forth before finally making it across the finish line this week.
Denmark’s Environment Minister Magnus Heunicke called it a “big day for Europe.”
“Despite several attempts by other countries to postpone the adoption of the nature restoration regulation, we have now finally adopted it, and this means, among other things, that by 2030 all EU member states must have initiated the restoration of at least 20% of the EU's land and marine areas. There is a huge amount of work ahead of us, and we are already well underway in examining which initiatives we should start in Denmark so that we can have more nature and better nature areas.”
The nature restoration law reached the 20-country majority threshold to get across the finish line, thanks to some high drama. Austria’s Environment Minister Leonore Gewessler voted in support of the regulation, going against her own conservative government in doing so. Austria’s Chancellor Karl Nehammer is furious and has threatened to challenge the vote result in the European Court of Justice.
Sweden was also among the countries opposing the legislation.
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Moose are making a comeback in Denmark. The country has very little large wildlife, with deer being the biggest animal roaming the land, but that won’t be the case much longer. A majority of the board at Naturnationalpark Gribskov has voted to reintroduce moose into the wild. The plan is to capture six to eight moose in Sweden and then release them into the 1,300-hectare large nature reserve on the island of Sjælland. If all goes according to plan this will happen in the beginning of 2026.
🇪🇺/ 🇨🇳
The European Union is finally taking action to counter a flood of Chinese-made electric cars flowing into Europe. In order to protect European car makers and try to level the playing field against a country that heavily, and in the EU’s eyes, illegally, subsidizes its EV industry, the EU has introduced punitive tariffs on Chinese EV car makers. The tariffs will range from 17.4% to 38.1% for Chinese electric vehicles being imported into the EU. This is on top of the already existing 10% tariff.
At first blush, the Managing Director of Mobility Denmark, Mads Rørvig, isn’t sure if the move will, or will not, result in increasing EV prices. Rørvig says some Chinese EV manufacturers may give up on Europe, while others will adapt.
“But other manufacturers may decide that they will pay the bill themselves until they build car factories in Europe. There are several who already have made plans for that.”
China responded by placing tariffs on European pork products.
🇺🇸🇩🇰⚡️🚙
Electric car maker Fisker filed for bankruptcy this week. The American EV maker, founded by Danish automotive designer Henrik Fisker, has been facing mounting financial woes. The company’s stock was also recently delisted. The company says it was forced to declare bankruptcy after negotiations with a “major car manufacturer” collapsed.
Meanwhile, if you want to take a gamble, the company is selling its highly rated Fisker Ocean EV at a steep discount.
🇺🇸
A new study report from Consumer Reports attempted to quantify the financial impacts climate change will have on children in America born this year. It concluded that those children will face cost increases over their lifetime of over $700,000.
Analyst Chris Harto says the financial impact of climate change they calculated is likely an underestimate.
“Life will become more difficult and more expensive. We think our figure is on the low side. We have only looked at the biggest categories with the biggest costs.”
Researchers looked at housing, energy, and food costs in making their calculations. Also factoring into the report was the impact of climate change on extreme weather events causing damages to buildings and infrastructure and the resulting higher taxes and insurance rates needed to cover those costs.
Climate change is also expected, and indeed already has, increased the cost of food as rising global temperatures and extreme weather impact supply in a variety of ways.
🇨🇦
Environment Canada has issued a summer heat advisory warning that it expects above-average temperatures across the country this summer. It warns that “these conditions are likely to result in other severe weather events.”
The spring months were already exceptionally warm with drought conditions and, in the two western provinces of British Columbia and Alberta, wildfires.
“Climate change is affecting Canadians’ health, safety, and quality of life. We are already facing record-breaking climate conditions, with wildfires and extreme heat becoming more frequent.”
Already this week, parts of Ontario and Quebec are experiencing punishing heat waves.
🇸🇪 🇩🇪
In a blow to European energy integration, Sweden has formally rejected a proposal to construct an undersea power cable connecting it with Germany. The project, known as the Hansa PowerBridge, aimed to link Skåne in southern Sweden with the Güstrow substation in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Germany. This ambitious endeavour, has been in the works for about 14 years. It was supposed to enhance the Nordic and European electricity markets by providing greater interconnectivity between key renewable energy players in the region. The proposed 105-kilometer submarine cable, including 25 kilometers within the German Exclusive Economic Zone, was expected to be operational by 2026, promising increased electricity market trade and secure power imports, especially as Sweden decommissions its nuclear power plants in Ringhals and Oskarshamn.
However, the Swedish government, in an official statement, cited multiple concerns with the German energy system as the primary reason for halting the project. Stockholm highlighted that Germany's electricity market currently lacks the necessary mechanisms to provide accurate price signals and manage significant bottlenecks effectively. Sweden's Energy and Industry Minister, Ebba Busch, emphasized that the South Sweden zone already faces a substantial electricity deficit. Linking this precarious zone to Germany’s inefficiently functioning market could jeopardize Sweden's energy stability and lead to higher electricity prices and a more unstable market. As a result, Sweden determined that maintaining a secure and predictable energy supply was paramount, ultimately outweighing the potential benefits of the Hansa PowerBridge project.
This rejection marks a setback for the European Union’s broader goal of creating a cohesive and interconnected energy grid driven by renewable energy sources. Despite numerous successful interconnection projects within Europe and between EU and non-EU countries, Germany’s failure to secure Swedish participation highlights the challenges of unifying diverse national energy systems under a single, continent-wide framework.
🦠Outbreaks🦠
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The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control is raising the alarm over increases in mosquito-borne diseases. The agency says more people are contracting mosquito-borne illnesses such as dengue fever and West Nile virus. The number of locally acquired dengue cases has surged significantly, with 130 cases reported in 2023, compared to only 71 in 2022. This is a dramatic rise from the total of 73 cases reported over the entire decade from 2010 to 2021. Imported dengue cases are also skyrocketing, reaching over 4,900 in 2023, up from 1,572 the previous year. This increase is the highest recorded since the EU began tracking these cases back in 2008.
The rise in mosquito-borne diseases is attributed to several factors, including climate change and increased international travel, according to ECDC Director Andrea Ammon:
“Europe is already seeing how climate change is creating more favourable conditions for invasive mosquitoes to spread into previously unaffected areas and infect more people with diseases such as dengue. Increased international travel from dengue-endemic countries will also increase the risk of imported cases and inevitably also the risk of local outbreaks. Personal protective measures combined with vector control measures, early detection of cases, timely surveillance, further research, and awareness-raising activities are paramount in those areas in Europe most at risk.”
In 2023, West Nile virus cases were reported in 123 regions across nine EU countries, affecting 713 people and resulting in 67 deaths. Although fewer cases were reported compared to 2022, the virus is spreading to new areas, suggesting wider geographical circulation.
Experts warn that climate change will continue to facilitate the spread of these diseases by creating favourable environments for mosquitoes carrying these diseases.
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The ECDC is keeping a close eye on the EURO 2024 Football Championships, where it concerns potential virus spread due to mass gatherings. In its latest update, published on Tuesday, the agency says it has registered “no relevant public health events” in relation to the event so far. The ECDC is working with German health authorities and the WHO’s regional European office to monitor the big sporting event for any outbreaks.
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COVID activity continues to increase in Denmark, according to the latest wastewater surveillance results from the Statens Serum Institute. The SSI continues to emphasize that virus activity remains “at a low level” and that circulation among the population is also low. That said, the institute’s ability to monitor the actual situation remains severely handicapped due to a total lack of testing.
The Statens Serum Institute has been working with large companies in Denmark to voluntarily test workers who are sick. The SSI regularly releases the results of this testing, with the latest update below. It provides another avenue to get some sense of virus activity, including COVID, in the country.
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The Swedish Public Health Agency hasn’t updated COVID hospitalizations since June 9. However, ICU numbers are up to date. Currently, there are no coronavirus patients in intensive care.
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COVID activity is also increasing slightly in Norway. The Norwegian Institute of Public Health says while coronavirus activity is currently low, cases have been increasing for over a month now.
The NIPH says whooping cough remains an issue, with the number of infections still increasing, as they have been for well over a month now. The institute says young people are being especially hard hit.
Overall, respiratory virus-related hospitalizations are still decreasing, with the health institute noting that admission levels are “somewhat lower” than they were at this point last year and levels seen prior to the pandemic.
🇺🇦Ukraine/ Russia War 🇷🇺
Russian missile and drone attacks have destroyed a full half of Ukraine’s electricity production capabilities. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj told a security conference in Berlin that rebuilding the country’s energy sector is a top priority.
“As a consequence of Russian airstrikes with missiles and drones, nine gigawatts of our capacity have been destroyed. Last year, electricity consumption peaked at 18 gigawatts. So half of the capacity no longer exists.”
Russia has taken advantage of a massive slowdown in weapons donations and deliveries, largely because of MAGA Republicans stonewalling aid in the United States, to attack Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.
In a press conference after the speech, Zelenskyj told reporters that allied nations shouldn’t skimp on weapons donations now. He said that Russia will only choose peace when its ability to wage war has been severely incapacitated.
During the conference, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced that the country is sending additional air defense systems, drones, and ammunition to Ukraine.
🇳🇴🇺🇦
Norway is sending another donation to Ukraine. The Norwegian government is donating 1.1 billion Norwegian kroner (about $142 million Cdn) to Ukraine to specifically help restore the country’s power grid, which has been heavily damaged by Russian attacks. The money will be used to rebuild critical electrical infrastructure, including for hospitals, in and around the battered city of Kharkiv.
Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre:
“Russia is carrying out massive and systematic attacks to destroy the energy supply, while the Ukrainians continue to work to ensure that the population has power for only the most necessary. We have a close dialogue with Ukraine about how the funds can best be used. They are the ones who know the needs best. But it is important to get started quickly on repairing the infrastructure, before winter comes. With this support, Norway wants to help mitigate the extent of the damage and ensure electricity in Ukraine.”
According to new estimates, more than 50% of Ukraine’s electricity production capacity has been destroyed by Russian attacks.
Norway’s Foreign Affairs Minister Espen Barth Eide says they are especially concerned about the situation at the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant. It has been occupied by Russian troops for most of the war. The International Atomic Energy Agency mandates that during war, seven pillars of nuclear security must be observed to prevent a catastrophe. Pillar number four states that nuclear power plants must have a secure link to the energy grid. The Zaporizhzhya plant has had its external power supply severed eight times since Russia invaded. This increases the risk of a nuclear meltdown.
“Nuclear power plants need a secure power supply for cooling, so Russia's attack is also a threat to nuclear safety in Ukraine and Europe. International support for nuclear safety and energy security in Ukraine must be linked more closely.”
🇨🇭🇺🇦
A Ukraine Peace Summit hosted in Switzerland last weekend resulted in 80 countries signing off on a road map to ending the war. However, Russia did not attend the conference, and major global powers like China and India, as well as countries like Brazil, did not sign off on the peace proposal.
Significantly, the 80 signatory countries agreed that Ukraine’s territorial integrity must remain intact for the war to end. This is a slap in the face to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who floated a ceasefire, but only if the current boundaries of the war are frozen. Meaning Russia gets to hold swaths of occupied Ukraine.
The pact also specified that power plants, including nuclear ones, must be protected and remain under Ukrainian control. The document also specifies that all prisoners of war be released and that food cannot be used as a weapon in the conflict. It also requires that all Ukrainian children illegally deported to Russia - a war crime, by the way - must be returned home. The Ukrainian government says that approximately 20,000 children have been abducted into Russia or Russian-controlled territories since the invasions began in 2022.
🇩🇰/ 🇷🇺
A Russian citizen living in Denmark has been arrested and charged with abetting a foreign intelligence service, Russia, to operate in Denmark. The woman was among those identified in a European wide investigative journalism collaboration lifting the veil on Russia’s efforts to carry out intelligence activities and fund various efforts to destabilize western society. According to the investigation, the woman received a substantial sum of money from a Russian office specializing in funding the spread of misinformation and other initiatives to push pro-Russia agendas in western society. Danish authorities have charged her with violating a section of the country’s criminal code, which, among other things, is aimed at those helping foreign intelligence services within Denmark.
University of Copenhagen Professor Emeritus of Criminal Law Jørn Vestergaard tells DR that this is the first time a person has been charged under this section of the criminal code.
“Criminal liability for influence activities presupposes a demonstrable collaboration with a foreign service, either directly or indirectly through an intermediary.”
The head of the Center for Cold War Studies at the University of Denmark, Thomas Wegener Friis, says this signals a level of seriousness about Russia’s activities within Denmark that hasn’t been seen before.
“It is a serious signal to send, that the police are now making arrests in full public view. And when money flows across national borders, they really have something tangible to grasp.”
The woman arrested, hasn’t been identified by police, but she is reported to be a high profile person in Denmark’s Russian community, and has helped coordinate Russian national celebrations, and has even received awards for her work directly from the Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry. According to DR, she has even dipped her toe in municipal politics in Denmark, running for the Enhedslisten party.
Thomas Wegener Friis says that in the past, it has been difficult to ascertain if people are speaking out publicly or running for office for personal reasons or if they are acting on behalf of a foreign intelligence service.
If all the Russian bluster and faux outrage in reaction to the arrest are any indication, Danish police seem to have struck a nerve. Russia’s Ambassador to Denmark, Vladimir Barbin, took to social media to call the arrest a “brazen provocation” and demanded that Danish authorities "immediately release our citizen.” Spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry, Maria Zakharova, who is no stranger to saying outrageous things, told Russia’s state run news agency Tass that the arrest means every Russian citizen in Denmark is now under threat. If that wasn’t silly enough, she took it another ten steps further.
“Denmark, which claims to be a state governed by the rule of law, has in fact begun to purge its own population.”
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So far in 2024, Danish fighter jets have had to scramble to deal with potential aerial threats 31 times. In March alone, jets were scrambled 12 times to intercept Russian military planes that were skirting Danish airspace. Overall, the number of aerial alerts is higher in the first four months of the year than in the same period over each of the last two years.
🇸🇪🇫🇮/ 🇷🇺
In the last week, Russian military aircraft have violated both Swedish and Finnish airspace. At least one Russian SU-24 fighter jet violated Swedish airspace near the strategically important island of Gotland. Swedish Gripen fighter jets were scrambled to intercept and repel the aircraft.
Swedish Air Force Chief, Major General Jonas Wikman:
“The Russian action is not acceptable and shows a lack of respect for our territorial integrity. We followed the entire process and were ready to intervene.”
Four other Russian military aircraft also violated Finnish airspace in the Gulf of Finland, near the town of Loviisa. They were reportedly at least two and a half kilometers inside Finnish territory for about two minutes before being intercepted and chased off.
The intrusions come not only on the heels of the peace conference in Switzerland but also during major NATO exercises in the Baltic.
🇨🇦🇩🇪🇳🇴
Canada, Germany, and Norway are exploring the possibility of reaching a trilateral defense and security agreement that would cover the Arctic and North Atlantic. The CBC is reporting that Canadian Defense Minister Bill Blair has acknowledged discussions with his Norwegian and German counterparts on a possible security pact. However, Blair added that a number of important areas require a lot more research before anything concrete can be done.
Germany and Norway are cooperating on the building of new submarines, something Canada very much has on its wishlist.
🇩🇰
As Danish security agencies raise the threat level due to the increased risk of potentially damaging cyber attacks and physical sabotage, Denmark’s Energy Agency is also increasing its threat preparedness. Energistyrelsen has raised its threat level from green (low threat) to yellow (medium threat). The agency has a five-tier colour-coded threat level system, with only orange (high threat) and red (very high threat) being more serious. A yellow threat alert means that hostile actors or state sponsored agencies have an intent to conduct malicious activity without any evidence yet of specific plans or intelligence indicating an imminent threat.
The agency says the heightened alert is a reflection of the current security situation and that companies across the energy and gas sectors need to increase security. The shift in status also allows energy and gas companies to increase their own security by adding fencing, limiting entry to facilities, and increasing or adding physical security around critical sites as they see fit.
Amid all of this, Green Power Denmark’s Technology Director, Jørgen S. Christensen, says for industry, the threat assessments need to be a lot more precise. He says authorities need to really spell out what to do in various situations.
“We must have a closer dialogue about who it is we must contact if we see something on the surveillance cameras, and whether they are ready to accept our information and react with appropriate means of force.”
🇩🇰🇩🇪🇳🇱🇳🇴 🇺🇦
Denmark is part of a four-country coalition that has teamed up to send Ukraine 100 Patriot missiles. The other three countries are Norway, Germany, and the Netherlands. According to the Norwegian Ministry of Defense Norway alone is throwing in 932 million Danish kroner (about Cdn). Denmark is adding close to a million Danish kroner, according to Danish Foreign Affairs Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen. Denmark itself does not use the Patriot missile system, so it is helping out with the cash donation.
🇷🇺
Russia continues to bluster and make threats in response to continuing support and the flow of weapons from western countries to Ukraine. Russia announced on Wednesday that it will hold drills on the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons in areas of the country bordering Finland, Norway, Poland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.
NATO/ 🇷🇺
As Russia makes nuclear threats, NATO’s nuclear arsenal is ready to respond. That is according to the military alliance’s Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. He made the comments prior to a meeting of NATO defense ministers in Brussels, Belgium. Stoltenberg says this does not mean any changes have been made, but rather that NATO’s nuclear arms have always been ready to respond to any nuclear threat from Russia or China.
“We have seen dangerous nuclear rhetoric and several nuclear exercises from the Russian side, and China has greatly upgraded the country's nuclear arsenal. That is why we must clearly communicate that our nuclear arsenal is ready.”
NATO
Getting closer. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg says that 20 of the alliance’s 32 member nations have now met the requirement to spend at least 2% of their GDP on defense. Five years ago, there were less than ten countries meeting the target. The notable increase is also a reflection of European countries suddenly finding a new passion for revitalizing their military due to a more aggressive Russia and its invasion of Ukraine.
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It looks like NATO will soon have a new Secretary General. The man currently holding the office, Jens Stoltenberg, has had his term extended several times due in part to the challenges of finding his successor. That challenge appears to be over. Outgoing Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte will be the next NATO Secretary General after he convinced Hungary to support his candidacy. Turkey’s President Erdogan is also supporting Rutte, along with the two heavyweight nations in the alliance, the USA and the United Kingdom. All 32 member nations must vote yes for Rutte to officially take the post.
Hungary’s pro-Russian government made a deal with Stoltenberg that it would stop blocking donation packages and funding to Ukraine if Hungary was not required to take part. Rutte promised he would continue to honour that agreement in order to secure Hungary’s support. Think of that what you will.
🇩🇪🇺🇦🇸🇪
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj addressed the German parliament last week, but there were a few notable absences. Politicians on the German far right and far left decided to boycott Zelenskyj’s speech. Both the extreme left Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance and the extreme right AfD refused to attend the speech due to their respective pro-Russian stances.
The boycott did not go unnoticed in nearby Sweden, where the country’s Prime Minister, Ulf Kristersson, blasted the German politicians who refused to attend the speech.
"Parliamentarians from the German extreme left and extreme right refused to listen to President Zelensky when he spoke in the Bundestag. He is fighting for the freedom of his country and for the whole of Europe. A freedom that these parliamentarians themselves are protected by but which they obviously despise. Pathetic.”
🇸🇪🇺🇸
The Swedish parliament has given its approval to Defense Cooperation Agreement (DCA) reached with the United States. The agreement allows American troops, personnel, and equipment to be stationed at 17 military bases on Swedish soil. 266 parliamentarians voted to approve the DCA, and 37 voted against it.
The DCA specifies that the United States must come quickly to Sweden’s aid in the event of a war or crisis. It is also a mechanism to allow NATO to operate within its member nations. Sweden is the alliance’s newest member.
🇩🇰
A sign of the times. A Danish pension giant, Arbejdsmarkedets Tillegspension (ATP), is making a giant investment in Terma, a Danish defense company. ATP is investing billions of kroner into the company, so much money that it is now a minority owner with a seat on the board. Terma is Denmark’s largest defense company, producing, among other things, parts for the new F-35 fighter jets.
In the press release, ATP says that the investment creates both "the opportunity to create an attractive investment return for our members and to invest in a growth company that creates new Danish jobs."
🇳🇴/ 🇷🇺
Liquor stores in the Norwegian town of Kirkenes in the country’s far north experienced a run on expensive champagnes this year. With EU sanctions banning the export of luxury items from Europe into Russia over the invasion of Ukraine, Russians had to get creative in getting their bubbly. Hence the run on a Norwegian state liquor store in one of the few border crossings that was still open to Russians. The store reports that in the first four months of the year, it sold 150 bottles of Dom Perignon and Cristal champagne. Almost every bottle was sold to Russians doing some cross-border shopping.
However, the party is now over after Norway introduced much stricter entry requirements in May, preventing most Russians from crossing the border.
Odds & Ends
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Mystery still surrounds the case of a man who remains under arrest for making a bomb threat at Billund airport last April. The Danish police said this week that the man will remain in custody for at least four more weeks. All other details, including what the man might be charged with, remain a secret.
What we do know is that the man, who is in his 30s, handed an object to police at the airport, claiming it was an explosive. The airport was evacuated, and all flights were cancelled for about ten hours until the all clear was sounded. The night before, a bank machine near LEGOland was also blown up. The police are not saying if that event is connected or not.
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The Danish Health Authority has issued screen time guidelines for children, adults, and families. The agency says that for everyone over the age of 18, they should limit their screen time to three hours a day and no more.
Prevention Head Niels Sandø Petersen:
“If we are absorbed by the screen and spend three, four, five, or six hours a day on it, then it goes without saying that it goes beyond everything else that is important.”
For children two to four years old, the health authority recommends a maximum of one hour of screen time per day, adding “and preferably less.” It says there should also be no screens right before bedtime, no screens during meals, and for children under two years old, they should never be on a screen alone.
For those five to 17 years old, the agency recommends one to two hours of daily screen time “depending on age.” It says parents should set rules about how late at night a child or young person can be on a screen. Phones and iPads should not be used as alarm clocks. Parents should also prioritize physical get-togethers with their children’s friends and family.
The recommendations are a result of studies showing that reduced screen time results in better sleep, improved mental health, and increased physical activity.
“Because when you are sitting with the screen, you are sitting still, and that time must also be limited, so it is about the screen taking time away from other important things.”
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Less vegetables and greens, and more meat and fat. That is the trend among takeout meals in Denmark over the last 20 years, according to a new study from the DTU Food Institute. Researchers compared 726 takeout meals and then compared them with what people in Denmark were ordering 20 years ago.
Project Manager Marija Langwagen:
“The takeaway meals are typically less green, without whole grains, and contain a high proportion of animal fat from meat products and cheese.”
The study found that over the last two decades, vegetables in takeout meals have declined by 24%, while the amount of cheese has increased by 39% and bacon is up 54%.
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If you are a fan of Samyang brand chili noodles, you may have a much harder time purchasing them. The Danish Veterinary and Food Administration has banned a number of the brand’s chili noodles for having too much capsaicin. In a press release, the agency says that capsaicin levels in some of the noodles are so high that they can cause acute poisoning, and the noodles pose a health hazard, especially for children.
Unit Head Henrik Dammand Nielsen:
“Possible symptoms include burning and discomfort, nausea, vomiting, and high blood pressure. That is why we are now demanding that the shops remove the products from their shelves.”
The noodles are the subject of a social media trend where young people and even children are challenged to eat them and film it.
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This is the world we live in now. There is a massive run on cottage cheese in Norway because of recipe trends on TikTok, where cottage cheese is a primary ingredient. Norway’s national broadcaster NRK says that Norwegian dairy giant Tine has had to put its cottage cheese production on overdrive in order to meet the suddenly crazy demand. It is now cranking out cottage cheese at an unprecedented rate as sales rocket upward by 35%. According to NRK, there are no less than 93 million videos on TikTok where cottage cheese makes an appearance.
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The world’s oldest still-liquid wine has now been confirmed to have been found in a grave in the town of Carmona in Spain. Back in 2019, the remains of a cremated man, a gold ring, and a reddish brown liquid were discovered. The University of Córdoba has finally revealed testing results confirming the liquid is, in fact, 2,000-years-old wine. Microbiological examination confirmed the wine was not toxic, but it was a challenge to find anyone willing to try it, mainly because it had been in close contact with human remains. Apparently, a chemist finally volunteered and said it had a rather salty taste.