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Cyber Partisans and Digital Sabotage
In January 2022, a small group of anonymous Belarusian hackers infiltrated the computer systems of Belarusian Railways and forced the network to revert to paper-based operations. The target was not the railway itself but the Russian military equipment flowing through Belarus toward Ukraine’s northern border in preparation for what Moscow was still calling joint military…
Russia’s Crime-Terror Nexus: How the GRU Weaponized Criminal Networks for Sabotage in Europe
GRU sabotage in Europe no longer runs through intelligence officers under diplomatic cover. Between February 2022 and February 2026, European authorities documented at least 151 sabotage incidents linked to Russian intelligence services. The tally, compiled jointly by the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism and GLOBSEC, represents only cases where completed investigations allow confident attribution. The actual…
Strait of Hormuz Irregular Warfare Analysis
The 2026 closure of the world’s most important energy chokepoint is the clearest case study yet in Strait of Hormuz irregular warfare: a campaign that halted a fifth of the world’s seaborne oil without Iran having to sink a single tanker. The instrument was not the mine or the anti-ship missile. It was the war…
What is Hybrid Warfare? A Comprehensive Guide
Hybrid warfare is the coordinated use of military and non-military tools, including cyber attacks, disinformation, economic coercion, sabotage, proxy forces, and covert action, to achieve strategic objectives while remaining below the threshold of conventional armed conflict. The defining feature is not any single method, but the deliberate integration of multiple domains simultaneously, designed to exploit…
Rail Disruptions at Milano Cortina 2026
Updated August 2026 Since this article was first published, significant developments have clarified the scale and investigative trajectory of the Milano Cortina rail sabotage. Three coordinated incidents struck on February 7, 2026, the opening day of the Winter Olympics, within a four-hour window: electrical cables were severed on the Bologna high-speed corridor, an improvised incendiary…
Lithuania Uncovers GRU-Linked Sabotage Cell
VILNIUS. In a striking public attribution on 16 January 2026, Lithuanian authorities said they have charged six foreign nationals in connection with a Russian military intelligence-linked sabotage campaign targeting infrastructure connected to European security and Ukraine support. This case, and related incidents from Poland to the Baltic Sea, illustrates a pattern of hybrid sabotage that…
The Quiet Weapon of Survival
// Iliana Drakonis, Part Two of Eight ← Part One: No One Is Coming Part Two: The Quiet Weapon of Survival This article is Part Two of an eight-part series by Iliana Drakonis, a child of war who became a skilled participant. In this installment, she turns from the external to the internal battlefield, exploring…
What Large States Can Learn from Small States’ Total Defense Strategies
When Size Stops Being an Advantage Large nations often assume that sheer volume ensures survival. They trust in their populations, economies, and geographic depth to absorb shocks. Yet the last decade has demonstrated that abundance can conceal fragility. Critical systems fail not from external invasion but from slow corrosion of coordination and trust. Small states…