🔥 Reality Rattled for the NATO Alliance Following 'Civil War' Over Elections in France

Good Morning. 

Estonian drone companies have reportedly revised their approach to the combat drone market observing the conflict in Ukraine, and, as such, have redirected their focus towards military uses in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Companies like Milrem are providing crucial aid, including THeMIS vehicles for medical evacuation and route clearance.

Estonia has also handed over Mistral man-portable air defense systems as part of its renewed aid effort, the Estonian Ministry of Defense confirmed in a post to X on July 6.

— 🐈‍⬛ Acoustic Kitty

THE BOTTOM LINE UP FRONT

Election turmoil in France, described as a "kind of civil war," has exposed growing tensions within NATO and the European Union.

The narrow victory of a leftist coalition over the far-right National Rally has raised concerns about political stability in France and its impact on the EU, particularly worrying Germany.

This political shift is mirrored across Western nations, including the UK and potentially the US, as 2024 shapes up to be a year of significant political changes.

As NATO prepares for its summit in Washington, D.C., critics argue that the alliance is prioritizing appearance over substance, especially regarding its delayed response to Ukraine's membership bid.

INTERNATIONAL SECURITY & DIPLOMACY

Counterterrorism

• Taliban forces in Afghanistan claim to have killed a key Islamic State commander in Nangarhar province, amid ongoing concerns about the presence and activities of terrorist groups in the country.

• A Russian court sentenced a playwright and a theatre director each to six years in prison for "justifying terrorism" over a production of a play called "Finist, the Brave Falcon", about Russian women who marry Islamic State fighters.

• China and Belarus began joint anti-terrorism exercises in Belarus, that will last for 11 days and will involve conducting drills in “hostage rescue operations and counterterrorism missions.”

Military & Defense

• Russia launched its largest missile attack on Ukraine in months, striking a children's hospital in Kyiv and other cities, killing at least 33 people and injuring over 100 on the eve of a NATO summit where support for Ukraine will be a key issue.

• Recent reports of potential North Korean troop deployment to Ukraine highlight the growing and concerning alliance between America's adversaries, including Russia, China, North Korea, and Iran.

• The U.S. Treasury is proposing to expand the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States' jurisdiction to review land sales near 56 additional military sites, bringing the total to 227, as part of efforts to enhance national security by scrutinizing foreign land purchases near sensitive locations.

• Despite increased global defense spending, America's large defense contractors are underperforming compared to their European counterparts due to capacity constraints, changing procurement practices, and increased competition from nimble tech-focused startups.

Cybersecurity

• Microsoft is requiring its employees in China to switch from Android to iPhones for work purposes starting September, citing security concerns and the need to access mandatory security apps unavailable on Chinese Android platforms.

• Hackers have leaked 30K additional Ticketmaster ticket barcodes for upcoming events, bringing the total to 640K leaked tickets, and shared a tutorial for creating counterfeit physical tickets.

• OVHcloud mitigated a record-breaking 840M packets per second DDoS attack in April, largely originating from compromised MikroTik routers, signaling a potential new era of high-intensity packet rate attacks that could challenge existing anti-DDoS infrastructures.

Counterintelligence & Espionage

• Number stations, encrypted radio broadcasts used by spy agencies, remain prevalent and have increased in use since the mid-2010s due to their relative security compared to modern, potentially compromised digital communication methods.

• A Chinese student pleaded guilty to espionage misdemeanors for drone photography near a U.S. naval facility, facing potential imprisonment in a rare Espionage Act case.

Transnational Organized Crime

• The Jalisco New Generation Cartel reportedly launched a coordinated attack, including drone strikes and heavy artillery, on the indigenous community of Santa Maria Ostula in Michoacan, Mexico, escalating the ongoing conflict between drug cartels and local self-defense groups in the region.

• Haiti's new Prime Minister Garry Conille addressed the UN Security Council, welcoming a Kenyan-led international police mission to help combat gang violence and restore security in the nation.

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

Europe is preparing to launch its new Ariane 6 rocket, developed by Arianespace, in an effort to reduce its dependence on SpaceX for space access.

This comes after delays and malfunctions left Europe unable to launch its own satellites, forcing reliance on Elon Musk's company.

The Ariane 6 is set to launch on Tuesday from French Guiana, marking Europe's first rocket launch in a year.

While European nations are divided on how to respond to SpaceX's dominance, with France strongly backing Arianespace and Germany more open to competition, the success of Ariane 6 is seen as crucial for Europe's space autonomy and competitiveness in the global launch market.

In other news…

China has unveiled a new J-31B Gyrfalcon stealth fighter jet, which appears to have enhanced missile capacity compared to the F-22 and J-20, signaling China's growing capabilities in advanced military aviation and potential for export markets.

A new study published in Nature Microbiology found unique biological markers in the gut microbiome of children with autism, potentially leading to a more objective diagnostic tool for autism spectrum disorder in the future.

China has formed a committee to accelerate its brain-computer interface (BCI) program, aiming to become a global leader in brain chip technology, after successfully demonstrating a monkey controlling a robotic arm through a brain implant.

DEALS & FUNDING

NATO is backing a $2.5M research project called HEIST to develop a system for rerouting internet traffic from undersea cables to satellites during attacks or disasters.

Led by international academics, the project aims to create an automated method to detect cable disturbances and switch to satellite bandwidth.

This initiative comes amid growing concerns about potential sabotage of undersea communications infrastructure by Russia or China.

The project, which is set to launch with a symposium at Cornell University, involves commercial and government partners and could benefit countries like Iceland and Sweden, as well as companies like Viasat.

In other news…

HongShan, formerly Sequoia Capital's China unit, has raised a new $2.5B start-up fund in China, demonstrating its continued influence in the country's tech investment landscape despite challenges faced by other venture capital firms.

Paramount has agreed to merge with Skydance, ending the Redstone family's long-standing control of the company and injecting $8B in cash, with David Ellison set to lead the new entity in a bid to adapt to the changing media landscape.

BYD has agreed to a $1B deal to build a production plant in Turkey, aiming to increase its European presence and circumvent potential EU tariffs on Chinese imports.

Sentient Labs, a Singapore-based AI-crypto startup, has raised $85M in seed funding led by Peter Thiel's Founders Fund.

BAE Systems has been awarded a $579.3M contract to produce M109A7 Paladin self-propelled howitzers and M992A3 ammunition carrier vehicles for the U.S. Army, with work to be completed by January 2029 across multiple states.

Brookfield-backed Data4, a French data center group, is seeking $2B in financing to expand its operations amid surging demand for data processing infrastructure driven by AI and cloud computing.

DARPA has selected Scout Space to participate in its BRIDGES program, which aims to connect innovative companies with classified defense research, providing Scout access to secure facilities and networks to advance autonomous in-space threat response technologies.