In the morning, when I get up, the first thing I see from my bedroom window is North Korea. I live in the heart of Berlin but my next-door neighbor is the embassy of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. In its huge facilities, inherited from when communist Germany (the GDR) existed, German law does not apply. The person who calls all the shots in there is a diplomat named Kim Chol Jun who, according to the German foreign ministry, does not hold the rank of ambassador.

Seguir leyendo

Kaliningrad, the militarized Russian exclave wedged between NATO and EU members Poland and Lithuania and a constant flashpoint between the Kremlin and the Atlantic Alliance, has become the center of Vladimir Putin’s nuclear threat against Europeans. Last week Moscow accused NATO of seeking to block Kaliningrad and threatened to use nuclear weapons if the military organization moves forward with that alleged plan. For the Kremlin, the exclave, which gives it a strategic outlet to the Baltic Sea (it is the only port it can use year-round) and is a key node in its hybrid war against Europe, is an advanced bastion. For NATO, it is a piece on the board that shapes any crisis in the Baltic because it could hinder allied military movements.

Seguir leyendo