The Economist: ‘Russia’s campaign of sabotage against Europe has escalated so drastically in recent months that on September 18th Emmanuel Macron, France’s president, summoned French party leaders and presidential candidates to the Elysée Palace to brief them on the threat of civilian casualties.’

And: ‘In many cases acts of sabotage are conducted by local proxies or criminal gangs. Many may not know that their paymaster is Russia. The advantage of using freelance saboteurs is that it is harder to point the finger at Russia’s intelligence services.’

As well: ‘The havoc on the Dutch railways was a good illustration. Dutch authorities have not said whether the sabotage was linked to Russia or was conducted by angry farmers, who had blocked roads during protests on the same day.’

Saboteurs for hire. See the war in Iraq. The insurgents paid Iraqis to place IEDs; the Americans paid them more not to place them.

(a sf 2241)