Monday Morning News & Notes

Severe weather batters Europe. Vaccine time approaches in Denmark.

🍃Environment & Energy⚡️

🇦🇹🇵🇱🇨🇿🇷🇴

Tens of thousands of emergency responders in Austria, Poland, Romania, and the Czech Republic worked to set up sandbags and facilitate evacuations due to flooding, as massive amounts of rain came down. A number of regions in the eastern part of the Czech Republic declared a state of emergency over the weekend due to flooding and in the Czech Republic alone more than 10,000 people have been evacuated. Emergency responders were working frantically to set up sandbags in the capital of Prague as the Vltava River began to spill over its banks.

Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala issued an urgent appeal on Sunday for people to heed the instructions of emergency responders and evacuate if asked.

“We are facing some troubled days. The situation is really dangerous, it cannot be underestimated. We come across cases where people refuse to evacuate.”

The town of Jesenik in the Czech Republic is being described as an apocalypse after a nearby river suddenly poured over its banks Sunday morning. The flooding inundated the town of some 10,000 people, sweeping away cars and causing widespread destruction. The flood waters have taken out virtually every road and highway into the town, cutting it off from the outside world.

Some of the hardest hit areas are forecast to see about a third of the entire country’s annual rainfall over a matter of days.

The situation in neighbouring Austria is just as dire. The Austrian government has asked that people should avoid traveling to Austria at the moment unless their trip is essential.

Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer posted on his social media accounts to say his country is facing a disaster of “unprecedented proportions.”

“The peak has not yet been reached, and the coming days will be extremely difficult and challenging for the affected population and the emergency services.”

In the capital of Vienna, the Danube river had reached a critically high level as of Saturday, posing a major flooding risk. In lower Austria flood waters have overwhelmed at least one dam and others are in bad shape.

In Romania, flooding has already claimed four lives.

President of Romania Klaus Iohannis:

“We are once again facing the consequences of climate change, which is increasingly taking place on the European continent with dramatic consequences. We must strengthen our preparedness against extreme weather conditions.”

It is not just rain, but snow also arrived in force in some areas of Central Europe, catching tourists without proper winter clothing and no snow tires on their vehicles.

The rainfall is severe. By Saturday, 231 millimetres of rain had already fallen in parts of the northern Czech Republic. 209 millimetres had come down in Austria and 164 millimetres in Germany. Some forecasts are calling for up to 400 millimetres of rain to hit the ground when it is all said and done. For context, that would be half of the average annual rainfall for Denmark. The storm isn’t expected to break until sometime on Tuesday.

🇳🇴🇸🇪

Climate change is driving extraordinary weather events across Europe this month. For the first time ever in September both Sweden and Norway recorded temperatures of 30°C or more. In both cases, those are not just new temperature records but they smashed the old records by a huge margin.

The record high in Norway is a full 2° higher than the previous hottest September record of 28.6°C seen in 2021 and again in 2023. In Sweden’s case, the previous high was 29.1°C back in 1975.

🇩🇰

While September sizzles, Denmark has recorded an extremely wet summer. According to the Danish Meteorological Institute, the country saw 295 millimetres of rainfall, making it the sixth wettest summer on record. July was by far the wettest summer month (sorry tourists).

DMI says there were also 702.7 hours of sunlight this summer, slightly above normal. It was especially sunny on Bornholm, which saw 830 hours of sunshine. For contrast, central Jutland saw 650 hours of summer sunshine.

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Another weather record was broken last Monday. The overnight temperatures on the Danish island of Bornholm never fell below 20°C. That has never happened before in Denmark this late in the year.

The Danish Meteorological Institute says people in Denmark better get used to hot summer-like September weather. Its climate modeling shows that due to global warming there will be a minimum of a 50% increase or a maximum of over 300% more days in the future meeting the criteria of a heat wave in September. The outcome depends on whether CO2 emissions are reduced or if they continue to increase. The projections cover the years 2071 to 2100.

The hottest day in September so far was 30.2°C recorded in Rønne on September 4. DMI says in the first week of the month, 70% of the country met the heat wave criteria.

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The searing hot start to September has turned out to be a blessing for the grape harvest on the Danish island of Bornholm. The cold and wet summer had set back grape vines with fears the harvest would be a complete write-off this year. But the roaring September heat arrived, and the grapes have ripened in record time.

Winemaker Jesper Paulsen:

“The warm nights caused the grapes to go through the ripening process right around the clock, thus making up for the days they were behind. We have never experienced anything like this before.”

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It begins. With summer weather fading away and with the winter rains approaching communities around Denmark are already worried about flooding. In Holstebro Kommune water levels are already high. The Kommune is on track to record its wettest year ever with 400 millimetres of rain falling so far this year.

Across Denmark, due to the very wet summer groundwater levels are, on average, roughly 40 centimeters higher than is usual for this time of year.

🇸🇪

Weather records also fell across Sweden this month. A swath of southern Sweden recorded nighttime temperatures never falling below 20°C. This has never happened in Sweden this late in the year.

The thermometer also reached 31.1°C in Lund and Helsingborg last week, breaking temperature records set in 1975.

🇫🇮

Finland recorded its 71st day crossing the ‘heat’ threshold. That breaks the previous record of 65 days over the heat threshold recorded in 2002. Eight of those 71 days have occurred this month, according to the country’s weather service, Foreca. In Finland, any day where temperatures exceed 25°C is classified as crossing the heat threshold.

🇭🇺🇷🇸

Drought conditions have resulted in Danube river levels to such lows in Hungary and Serbia that old shipwrecks are seeing the light of day for the first time in many decades. Among them, a German battleship from the Second World War has emerged from the river near the town of Prahovo in Serbia. The Nazis sank a number of their own ships in the Danube in 1944 when they were fleeing from advancing Russian forces.

🇩🇰

Politicians in Copenhagen have agreed to set aside millions of kroner for carbon capture and storage. A new budget agreement includes 450 million Danish kroner (about $90 million Cdn) to give the city a stake in an effort by HOFOR, a water utility and central heating company, to capture carbon emissions from its big central heating plant. The plant in Copenhagen burns wood pellets to generate heat, which also produces carbon emissions. The municipal funding makes it much more financially feasible for the company to adapt technology, stripping away the CO2 emissions and then compressing it into a liquid for storage.

HOFOR plans to collect 900,000 tonnes of CO2 each year using this method. The city says that is roughly equivalent to vehicle emissions across the Danish capital.

Carbon capture and storage is crucial for Copenhagen to reach its climate goals. The city had to abandon its initial climate target of being carbon neutral by 2025 because a similar carbon capture and storage proposal fell through.

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Copenhagen is taking aim at drivers in order to try and change behaviours. Beginning next year, parking prices in the Danish capital will increase from 25 to 43 Danish kroner per hour, and free parking on Sunday will be reduced to one hour. Copenhagen’s acting mayor Lars Weiss says the changes are designed to discourage people who do not live in the city from using their cars when they visit.

🇸🇪

The Swedish government is moving to throw a lifeline to wind energy companies. It is proposing a one billion Swedish kroner package to help shore up investment support for onshore wind power. The fund would compensate municipalities if they choose to facilitate the expansion of onshore wind power. The funding is available for new wind turbine projects but also includes help for existing projects.

Funding is also being set aside to help nuclear power projects and for green electricity production.

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Swedish municipalities are harnessing the power of artificial intelligence to save energy. AI is being used in district heating, where homes are heated using a central municipal facility, to reduce energy usage and costs.

Electricity and heating of homes and buildings account for about 40% of all energy use in Sweden. So far, AI pilot projects in several municipalities have helped reduce energy consumption by 10 to 20%.

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Electric car sales have stalled in Sweden. There were roughly 54,000 newly registered EVs across the country as of August, a 21% year-over-year decline. Sweden’s struggling economy, a lack of government incentives, and the falling price of gas and diesel are all getting the blame.

Mobility Sweden CEO Mattias Bergman

“It is sad to see that the curve is no longer growing as it should. We thought a couple of years ago that we had a fairly straight growth curve, but now it has flattened out. Policy instruments are needed until the market is more mature. We would have liked to have seen the tax on electricity on charging stations removed and then targeted support for private individuals who cannot afford to buy an electric car.”

The European Union has mandated that the sale of new gas and diesel-powered vehicles will be banned as of 2035. With a shade over 10 years to go just 6% of all vehicles on the road in Sweden are electric.

“It is not possible to wait until 2035 to change the ecosystem. You have to build a charging infrastructure, you have to have an electricity grid, a service market, and tow trucks.”

🇨🇳 🌎

Chinese drivers are opting for electric vehicles in numbers so high that they are driving down the global price of oil. That is according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). Oil consumption in China, which has been increasing for years, has suddenly begun to go in the opposite direction over the last four months. The switch from gas and diesel vehicles to electric, along with substantial investments in high-speed trains as a substitute for air travel, are driving down China’s thirst for oil.

🇮🇸

The possibility of changes to ocean currents due to climate change could mean catastrophic impacts on Iceland’s climate. Environmental scientists have warned that even a partial disruption of ocean currents could have a serious impact on Iceland’s weather. Scientists say that a breakdown in North Atlantic Ocean currents could mean as much as a 10-degree drop in winter temperatures.

Iceland’s Minister of the Environment, Energy and Climate Guðlaugur Þór Þórðarson is taking the warnings seriously and will present a memo to his cabinet colleagues assessing the threat.

“We have been made aware of this and it’s on our radar.”

The Icelandic government introduced a new climate plan earlier this year. It has pledged to reduce carbon emissions by 55% below 1990 levels by 2030. However, about half of the proposed measures to achieve that goal are still being hashed out.

🇬🇱

If a giant tsunami hits a deserted coastline and no one is around to see it, does it make an impact? Last September, a massive tsunami some 200 meters high smashed into a deserted section of Greenland’s coast. A new article from the National Geological Surveys for Denmark & ​​Greenland (GEUS) blames climate change for the tsunami. It says that a huge section of ice, some 1.2 kilometers high, split from a glacier, triggering the giant wave. Because it happened in a fjord, powerful waves sloshed back and forth in the basin for nine full days before the tsunami lost its power.

The incident is sparking concern in Greenland, where most of the population lives along the country’s coast.

Arctic Command Chief of Operations Brian Jensen:

“If such an incident occurs in a populated area, it would have catastrophic consequences.”

It is not just populated areas, as cruise ships sometimes traverse the area. Had one been there when the tsunami occurred, the consequences could have been tragic. Jensen says the area is remote, and in one case years ago, when a cruise ship ran aground not far from there, it took four days for the nearest vessel to reach it.

🇩🇰🇳🇴🇬🇱

An astounding amount of water is being produced as the earth’s ice caps continue to melt. The National Geological Survey for Denmark and Greenland (GEUS) says the melt is producing enough water to fill three swimming pools every second of every day all year round. In the last year alone, billions of tons of ice have melted away.

This year also marks the 28th consecutive year the polar ice caps have been shrinking.

GEUS Chief Consultant Andreas Ahlstrøm says year after year climate scientists try to raise the alarm over the polar ice melt, and year after year those warnings are ignored.

“We say the same thing year after year, and then we seem to lack any action. It's frustrating.”

The impacts of climate change are extremely obvious in Svalbard, one of the world’s most northernly inhabited areas.

Svalbard University Delartment Head Maria Jensen has been living and working in Svalbard since 2008. She spoke to Denmark’s P1 Morgen.

“We notice, for example, that there is much less sea ice in the winter and considerably warmer in the summer.”

Last month, Svalbard recorded its hottest August ever with an average temperature of 11°C. Temperatures in the summer have reached 20°C, and temperatures have remained above freezing with rain in the winter, weather unheard of for the region just a decade or two ago.

🇩🇰

Danish grocery store chain Coop is no longer selling frying pans, baking tins, and roasting pans that contain PFAS, or so-called forever chemicals. Coop has pledged to phase out all products that contain PFAS chemicals. Coop is behind the grocery stores Kvickly, SuperBrugsen, Dagli’Brugsen, and 365discount.

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Denmark’s Consumer Ombudsman will be increasing vigilance on companies that are engaging in greenwashing, claiming products and services are environmentally friendly when they are not.

Ombudsman Torben Jensen:

“Unfortunately, we have seen quite a few violations where companies have marketed themselves as greener than they are.”

In a sign of the times, the agency will also increase supervision of online influencers who have many underage followers. It says they too have a responsibility to follow the rules set out by Denmark’s Marketing Act when they promote products and services to their followers.

“Should violations occur, I will intervene to a greater extent today than before.”

🇳🇴🇫🇮

There are a few big hurdles left, but Finland and Norway have reached a preliminary agreement on carbon capture and storage. Pending a number of international agreements, and if the proposal passes a vote in the Finnish parliament, then a memorandum of understanding would be signed. The idea is to collect carbon emissions and ship them to Norway, where they would be permanently stored under the seabed.

Finnish Environment and Climate Minister Kai Mykkänen:

"Finland has a lot of potential in the capture and use of biogenic carbon. In addition, we want to make it possible to store carbon dioxide permanently. The cooperation to be launched with Norway will improve the conditions for the clean growth of companies and for the development of technological solutions.”

Finland’s soil is unsuitable for carbon storage, and Norway is the closest country where it can be done. Norway has been converting carbon dioxide into liquid and injecting it under the seabed for the last quarter of a century. The technology is controversial, extremely costly, energy intensive, and problematic, with concerns about CO2 leakage.

🇫🇮

The unprecedented marine heat aversion isn’t just impacting the world’s oceans; in Finland, lake temperatures are significantly higher than normal for this time of year, according to the Finnish Environment Institute. The agency says water temperatures range as high as 20°C in the south to between 12 and 15°C in the north. Ocean temperatures around Finland are also between 15 and 20°C, which is much warmer than usual for September.

🇩🇰

A huge proposed Power-to-X project announced in 2020 has been put on hold. The Green Fuels for Denmark project, which was backed by Danish energy giant Ørsted, is facing some rough fiscal waters with rising costs, according to the company. Ørsted says another problem is that an offshore wind farm that would have supplied the project with electricity has also been paused. The company said the project isn’t dead in the water yet as work continues to “find other ways forward.”

Last month, Ørsted pulled the plug entirely on another proposed Power-to-X project.

Power-to-X technology converts electricity to hydrogen, which can then be stored and reconverted back to electricity on demand.

🦠Outbreaks🦠

🇩🇰

Danish health authorities are preparing for this fall’s vaccination campaign. Beginning October 1, COVID vaccine booster doses and flu shots will be offered to all seniors over 65, pregnant women, people with chronic diseases, and those in vulnerable populations. The Statens Serum Institute says vaccination invitations are already being sent out and vaccination centers are being set up and stocked with vaccine doses so they can hit the ground running on October 1.

Senior Physician Bolette Søborg:

"In connection with the start of the season on October 1, we are scaling up the monitoring of COVID and influenza. We do this to be ready when the next infection wave comes. At the same time we make sure to communicate data from the monitoring on our website, so that everyone can follow developments and the healthcare system can be prepared when infection numbers increase.”

This fall’s vaccination campaign will run until December 20. People can get vaccinated at regional vaccination centers or at the Danish Doctors' Vaccinations Service.

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A new Nordic study has again confirmed that COVID booster doses offer valuable protection against severe infection and death. The study focused on people with compromised immune systems in Denmark, Finland, and Sweden in the fall of 2022. At the time, variant specific vaccine doses were targeted at first the BA.1 variant and then updated to focus on the BA.4 and BA.5 strains.

Statens Serum Institute Department Head Anders Hviid:

"Our study has shown that vaccination with one of the updated booster vaccines prevented many serious cases of illness in the immunocompromised persons.”

The study found that the BA.1 variant-specific booster doses reduced the risk of hospitalization by 43% and for the BA.4-5 dose by 34% compared to people who refused to get the top-up dose. The risk of dying from a COVID infection was reduced by 54% and 58%, respectively.

The study emphasizes this is a pretty strong level of protection for people who are immunocompromised. They would include cancer patients, recipients of organ transplants, and those being treated with immunosuppressive drugs. These vulnerable populations do not obtain the high level of protection that vaccines offer healthy people.

"The good news, however, is that the protection that vaccines provide after all prevents many cases of serious illness and death. This is simply because immunocompromised people are more exposed to becoming seriously ill when they become infected, and there is therefore a great potential for prevention.”

The study estimates that in the winter of 2022, the BA.4-5 COVID booster dose prevented 224 hospitalizations and saved 134 lives for every 100,000 vaccinations. For the BA.1 booster dose, the corresponding numbers were 385 fewer hospitalizations and 221 lives saved for every 100,000 vaccinations.

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Bavarian Nordic, a Danish pharmaceutical company, has announced it is prioritizing producing large quantities of the mpox vaccine for the rest of the year. This means a number of other orders will be pushed back. Bavarian Nordic has orders from the WHO and others to produce two million doses of the vaccine before the end of the year. It has also informed UNICEF and the international vaccine cooperative GAVI that it can deliver 13 million doses of the mpox vaccine by the end of 2025.

Last week, the first mpox vaccine doses landed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which is at the epicentre of the current mpox outbreak.

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The global avian flu outbreak is making its presence felt in Denmark again. A herd of over 6,000 organic ducks and chickens on Lolland will have to be put down after avian influenza was confirmed.

Danish Veterinary and Food Administration Director of Veterinary Medicine Charlotte Vilstrup Castle says this is the ninth avian flu outbreak among farmed bird populations in the country this year.

“But it is the first time this autumn, when we typically see an increase in the infection among both wild birds and in flocks, as the autumn bird migration has gradually started.”

🇸🇪

A whooping cough epidemic continues in Sweden. Since May, whooping cough infections have been rising sharply with no end in sight yet. The Swedish Public Health Agency says that there have been 1,236 confirmed cases so far this year. Last month, there were another 497 whooping cough infections, with 35 among infants less than a year old. Whooping cough infections can be life threatening for young children.

The health agency says that the outbreak appears to be centered in the regions of Stockholm, Skåne, and Västra Götaland, which account for 65% of all cases so far.

Vaccination Unit Head Tina Crafoord says the COVID pandemic is directly to blame for the major increase in whooping cough infections.

“The large increase in the number of cases is also comparable to the years before the COVID pandemic, where it was at very high levels. It is a consequence of the fact that immunity in the population is lower now, after the pandemic, because we had significantly less circulation of whooping cough during it.”

The Swedish Public Health Agency recommends whooping cough vaccinations for pregnant women and infants.

🇺🇦Ukraine/ Russia War🇷🇺

Russian ammunition superiority is diminishing. A year ago, Ukraine was begging for artillery shells as MAGA Republicans held up American military aid. As ammunition supplies dried up, Russia boasted a major artillery advantage, outshooting Ukraine ten to one. But now Ukraine is rapidly closing the gap and is firing one shell for every two coming from Russian forces.

🇱🇻🇷🇴🇺🇦/ 🇷🇺

As Russia continues to bombard Ukraine, some of its armed drones have again crashed in neighbouring NATO countries. Over the weekend, an armed drone crossed into Romania and crashed. The drone was being shadowed by Romanian fighter jets, but they lacked the authority to shoot it down. Meanwhile, another armed drone crossed from Belarus and crashed in Latvia. The country’s armed forces said it was an Iranian drone carrying explosives.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine, Russian drones and missiles have crossed into or crashed in Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia, and now Latvia.

On Sunday, NATO’s Deputy Secretary-General Mircea Geoana said the latest incident is “irresponsible and potentially dangerous,” but it also does not seem to be a deliberate attack on a NATO member country.

These latest incidents have given fresh life to arguments from countries like Poland who are lobbying to be able to shoot down Russian missiles and drones that are even approaching NATO airspace.

🇩🇰🇺🇦

Ukraine will receive its next delivery of Danish F-16 fighter jets before the years’ end. That is according to Denmark’s Ministry of Defense Troels Lund Poulsen, who has just been to Ukraine to get a first-hand look at the situation.

Denmark has pledged to donate 19 F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine. The first donated warplanes arrived in Ukraine at the beginning of August. Danish authorities wouldn’t say specifically how many planes have been given to Ukraine to date. In its initial pledge, Denmark had said its first shipment would be six fighter jets, with the rest coming in batches later.

🇸🇪🇺🇦

Sweden is sending more military support to Ukraine. A 4.6 billion Swedish kroner (about $610 million Cdn) donation package announced last week includes six combat boats and money to procure ammunition for combat vehicles Sweden has already donated. It is also setting aside money to procure more air defense systems. It also includes grenades, drones, and winter gear for Ukrainian soldiers.

This is Sweden’s 17th military donation to Ukraine.

Swedish Defense Minister Pål Jonson says the country is not yet ready to donate any JAS Gripen fighter jets, but at the same time the groundwork is being laid for possible future donations of the Swedish warplanes.

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Ukrainian police are receiving training in Sweden. Police canine units from Ukraine are being trained on detecting hidden explosives, weapons, and ammunition. They are also being trained on emergency medical care for injured dogs. The training program takes about two weeks.

🇫🇮🇺🇦

Make it 25. Finland is sending another military donation to Ukraine, its 25th such aid package. As is the tradition in Finland no details were given about what exactly is in this latest weapons donation other than it is valued at €118 million.

Defence Minister Antti Häkkänen:

"Developments in the war in Ukraine continue to be serious. As promised, Finland will continue to provide material assistance. Our message to partner countries is that we must not give up.”

🇳🇴🇺🇦

Norway is contributing 570 million Norwegian kroner (roughly $71.7 million Cdn) to get more drones and air defense systems to Ukraine. Norway is working with Great Britain, the Netherlands, and Lithuania on the donation. The funding will flow through the British-led International Fund for Ukraine.

Defense Minister Bjørn Arild Gram:

“Ukraine has an urgent need for more military equipment to protect itself against the Russian war of aggression. Together with other countries, Norway will do what we can to contribute.”

🇪🇸🇺🇦

Spain is donating another HAWK air defense system to Ukraine. The country’s defense minister also pledged more military donations to come. Spain has also joined the IT coalition led by Estonia and Luxembourg to help Ukraine fend off cyber attacks. Not done there, Spain has also joined the maritime coalition being led by Norway to help build up Ukraine’s navy.

🇺🇸🇺🇦

Another $250 million weapons donation package is en route from the United States to Ukraine. The package includes air defense missiles, Stinger missiles, HIMARS and other artillery ammunition, Bradley fighting vehicles, M113 armoured personnel carriers, patrol,boats, small arms and ammunition, javelin and other anti-armour missile systems, grenades, and lots more.

🇸🇪

The Swedish military has been called in to help investigate after possible drone sightings disrupted traffic at Arlanda Airport in Stockholm last week. The sightings occurred over three days, and the police immediately launched a probe. The armed forces were called in because they have special equipment to disrupt, track, and trace drones and their pilots. Radio Sweden is reporting that NATO has also been informed about the incidents, possibly indicating another potential avenue in Russia’s use of hybrid warfare.

🇬🇧🇺🇸🇩🇪🇺🇦

Arguments continue to rage among countries donating weapons to Ukraine about whether these weapons should be allowed to hit targets deep inside Russia. While countries like Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia allow Ukraine to use donated weapons as they see fit, others, like the United States and the United Kingdom, are engaged in heated debates about lifting restrictions allowing Ukraine to hit targets within Russia.

While those arguments continue, Germany says it will not allow Ukraine to use donated weapons on Russian targets within Russia. According to Chancellor Olaf Scholz, that decision will stand regardless of what other countries do.

“I don't want to do it because I think it's a problem.”

Germany is second only to the United States in military support for Ukraine.

On Friday, UK Prime Minister Keir Stamer met with U.S. President Joe Biden to discuss, among other things, this very issue.

🇷🇺/ 🇬🇧

Russian President Vladimir Putin is falling back to his primary weapon, bluster and threats, as the debate continues whether Ukraine can use donated weapons to hit targets deep inside Russia. Putin made veiled threats about retaliation and that it would mean that NATO is effectively declaring war on Russia if Ukraine is given permission to use long-range missiles to hit Russian targets. This is of course familiar ground for Putin, who has said variations of the same thing over and over again when it was decided that Ukraine would be given Leopard tanks, then long-range missiles, and again when F-16s began to arrive.

While Putin blusters, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer perhaps had the most succinct response.

“Russia started this conflict. Russia illegally invaded Ukraine. Russia can end this conflict immediately.”

🇩🇪🇺🇸🇩🇰🇺🇦

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz raised some eyebrows last week when he suggested that it is time for peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine to end the war. He made the comments in an interview with the German TV channel ZDF. A somewhat similar sentiment has also been expressed by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.

However, this is not a viewpoint shared by Denmark. Danish Foreign Affairs Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said only Ukraine gets to decide if and when negotiations are an option to end the war.

“It's about giving Ukraine the strongest possible starting point and also letting them define when they think the time has come to go that route. It is Ukraine that has been attacked. We cannot allow Putin to walk away with a strategic victory. Our task is to stand on the side of the Ukrainians and argue that more support is needed with fewer conditions.”

Rasmussen says the focus should be on getting more western countries to do more for Ukraine and for military donations to continue. He said it is also important that Ukraine continues the processes that will see it join both the European Union and NATO.

NATO/ 🇷🇺

Outgoing NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg is walking back comments he made just two years ago when he said that serious cyber attacks on a NATO member nation would trigger Article 5, NATO’s all-for-one and one-for-all defense trigger. Speaking to Denmark’s national broadcaster DR, Stoltenberg said despite repeated cases of cyber attacks, arson, espionage, and sabotage orchestrated by Russia on NATO member nations, Article 5 is not yet on the table.

“We are not there now, where it is a theme. What is important is that we make many countermeasures against Russian hostile actions against NATO countries.”

Russian hybrid warfare tactics have been reported in Great Britain, Poland, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, and Lithuania.

This raises the question of what would trigger Article 5? Stoltenberg wouldn’t specify, adding that is a strategic choice.

“We will never give Russia, a possible adversary, the privilege of defining exactly where the border for Article Five is.”

In Denmark, the country’s national intelligence agency and the Centre for Cyber Security have both warned of the risk of Russian espionage. The threat level for destructive cyber attacks was also raised from law to medium last June.

🇫🇮/ 🇷🇺

Proposed legislation that would enact a blanket ban on Russian citizens from buying property in Finland has passed its first hurdle. Finland’s Chancellor of Justice has ruled that the draft proposal is largely sound.

The legislation proposes to ban the sale of real estate to the citizen of any country that the European Union has determined is engaging in warfare infringing on another state’s sovereignty.

An investigation from Finnish national broadcaster Yle recently found that Russians living in Finland have been buying up property at bargain prices from their countrymen in Russia. Crippling sanctions and Finland closing its land border with Russia have made it untenable for many Russians to continue to manage properties outside the country.

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Finland shares the longest land border with Russia of any country, as it runs 1,343 kilometres long. While the border has been closed indefinitely and Finland is working to secure it with a new border fence, the border remains fairly porous. As an example, some Finnish schoolchildren out on a field trip last week crossed into Russia on a lark. The Finnish Border Guard noted the crossing and apprehended the kids. The class was on a field trip to the site of a former dam on a river containing the largest population of landlocked freshwater salmon. The kids reportedly crossed the border, even filming themselves doing so.

The Finnish Border Guard has begun an investigation into the illegal crossing.

🇩🇰🇳🇴🇮🇸🇸🇪🇫🇮🇱🇻🇱🇹🇪🇪🇵🇱/ 🇷🇺

The finance ministers of the Nordic and Baltic countries, Denmark, Norway, Iceland, Sweden, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia, along with Poland, have all written to the International Monetary Fund over its reopening of relations with Moscow. The finance ministers warned IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgeiva of the risks to the reputation of the agency if it stays the course and begins online consultations with Russia this week. The IMF is also indicating it will send a mission to Moscow in October, all while Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine continues.

🇨🇦🇫🇷🇩🇪🇺🇸🇬🇧🇯🇵🇮🇹/ 🇮🇷🇷🇺

The Foreign Affairs Ministers of the G7 nations have condemned Iran’s sale and delivery of ballistic missiles to Russia. In a joint statement released on Saturday, the ministers demanded Iran stop its efforts to support the Russian war machine.

“Iran must immediately stop all support for Russia's illegal and unjust war against Ukraine. Because they [the missiles] pose a direct threat to the Ukrainian people and to European and international security.”

In the statement, the ministers also demanded Iran end all transfers of not just missiles but also drones and other military technology to Russia.

The G7 nations consist of Canada, France, Germany, Great Britain, Japan, Italy, and the United States.

🇸🇪🇺🇸

Over 200 U.S. marines wet in Sweden this month to practice amphibious landings in the Stockholm archipelago. The training is part of a larger overall military exercise called Archipelago Endeavor 24. The training is being led by Sweden’s armed forces.

🇩🇰/ 🇷🇺 🍺

Russia continues to play dirty pool. After Russian President Vladimir Putin passed a decree allowing him to seize foreign companies, he not only took control of Danish beer giant Carlsberg’s Russian assets, but the two former chief executives of the brewery’s Russian subsidiary were also arrested and are facing charges. Both men face up to four years in prison.

Carlsberg continues to deny that their employees did anything wrong.

Since then, Russia has employed the rather tilted playing field of its court system to try and inflict damages on Carlsberg. The Russian subsidiary, now controlled by Russian authorities, has launched a number of lawsuits against the Danish beer giant. In just one of these cases, Carlsberg is being sued for 6.24 billion Danish kroner. For its part, Carlsberg refuses to acknowledge the legality of decisions made by Russian courts, saying that those claims need to be tested by international courts where it feels they will stand on firmer ground.

🇷🇺🇨🇳

A joint Russian and Chinese naval drill has begun in the Pacific Ocean. The two countries will test their navies to see how combat-ready they are as well as testing high-precision weapons.

The naval flex in the Pacific is also a not so subtle warning to the United States.

Odds & Ends

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If you are travelling into Germany, bring your passport and prepare to get stopped. Germany has reinstated border controls between it and all neighbouring countries, including Denmark. According to Germany’s Ministry of the Interior, border controls will be reintroduced for a six-month period to protect against "acute dangers from Islamist terrorists and serious cross-border crime.”

Immigration is a hot topic in Germany, an argument being fueled by the country’s far right parties. Recently, ISIS claimed responsibility for a knife attack in the German city of Solingen that killed three people.

Germany shares borders with Austria, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Poland, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Denmark.

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It will soon cost a little more to travel to the UK for anyone not holding a British passport. Travellers from the United States and Canada will require an Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA) to travel to the UK beginning January 8, 2025. For those holding EU passports, the ETA requirement begins on April 2, 2025.

The ETA will cost £10, or around €12, or about $18 Cdn. It will be good for multiple trips to the UK over a two-year period, or until the passport you are holding expires. People with a valid ETA can travel for up to six months for tourism, business, short-term study, or for family reasons.

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A movement is underway in Sweden to change what time of day robot lawnmowers can operate in order to save hedgehogs. The little creature is considered endangered in Sweden and automated lawnmowers running in the evening when hedgehogs are most active, are killing and maiming the little creatures.

The Nature Conservation Association Bjäre is spearheading the move and says that a simple change to operate robot lawnmowers between 10 and 4 during the day, when hedgehogs are sleeping, will help keep them safe.

The last hedgehog count conducted by the World Wide Fund for Nature tabulated 30,000 hedgehog sightings across Sweden.

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People are moving to Finland in droves. In 2021, Finland saw some 30,000 people immigrate into the country compared to the more than 70,000 immigrants that arrived just last year. A population forecast from the consulting firm MDI indicates that if the immigration trend continues, Finland’s population could reach nearly six million by 2040.

As is the case in other western countries, Finland’s birth rate has hit historic lows, and immigration now plays a key role in population growth.

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A stolen portrait of Winston Churchill with an interesting history has popped up in Italy. The portrait was swiped from the historic Château Laurier hotel in the Canadian capital of Ottawa just two years ago. The thieves exchanged the original for a forgery. Police in the Italian city of Genoa have confirmed the portrait was recovered. They have arrested and charged a 45-year-old man for theft and fencing stolen artwork.

The Churchill portrait was done in 1941, when the English Prime Minister was in Ottawa to address the Canadian parliament.

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Third time is the charm? Back in 2021 then British Prime Minister Boris Johnson promised to ban advertising for unhealthy foods on TV. The initiative would then be postponed, a pattern repeated by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s government. Now with a wholesale change at  Westminster, new British Prime Minister Keir Stamer is taking another crack at it. The advertising ban is due to come into force as of October 1, 2025. It will also ban the advertising of any food products with a high content of fat, salt, and sugar.

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As gifts go, this one is a whopper. Den Gamle By, a major tourist attraction in Aarhus, has received almost 100 million Danish kroner (just over $20 million Cdn) which was willed to them by a Danish couple. The outdoor museum, a fantastic visit if you haven’t been, will use the money to help enhance buildings in their 1927 quarter.