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Balloons cause Lithuania to declare national emergency
Sweden Herald ^ | 12/5/25 | Staff

Posted on 12/06/2025 10:25:56 AM PST by Roman_War_Criminal

The balloons, which in some cases are reported to have weighed up to 50–60 kilograms and can fly just over a mile, have repeatedly forced the airport in the capital Vilnius to close during the autumn.

Lithuania claims that the balloons are deliberately sent to disrupt Lithuanian airspace and thus constitute an attack on civil aviation, and EU chief Ursula von der Leyen threatened this week to target Belarus with sanctions after what she calls “hybrid attacks.”

At the end of October, Lithuania closed the border with Belarus. Ruginiene said at the time that intruding balloons would be shot down.

According to analysts, smugglers use weather balloons to transport Belarusian cigarettes, which are then sold in the EU, where tobacco is more expensive. But Lithuania has also leveled accusations at Russia, which it says is behind the “hybrid psychological operations.”

(Excerpt) Read more at swedenherald.com ...


TOPICS: European Union; Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: balloons; eu; lithuania
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1 posted on 12/06/2025 10:25:56 AM PST by Roman_War_Criminal
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To: Roman_War_Criminal

Funny, I am with Belarus on this one!


2 posted on 12/06/2025 10:28:14 AM PST by rod5591
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To: Roman_War_Criminal

Lithuania what self-righteous BS they offer the world these days about Russia.

Lithuanians did their part to help Nazis murder Jews in the day.

In the same camp as the Ukrainian Nazi Nationalists.


3 posted on 12/06/2025 10:28:32 AM PST by Nextrush (FREEDOM IS EVERYBODY'S BUSINESS, REMEMBER REV; NIEMOLLER)
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To: Roman_War_Criminal

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKkNlwpajNk


4 posted on 12/06/2025 10:29:55 AM PST by dfwgator ("I am Charlie Kirk!")
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To: Roman_War_Criminal

American leftists have TDS. European leftists have PDS. As a result scores of random irrelevant actions get interpreted as a sinister scheme by the boogeyman they can’t get out of their head.


5 posted on 12/06/2025 10:29:59 AM PST by EnderWiggin1970
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To: Roman_War_Criminal

6 posted on 12/06/2025 10:33:14 AM PST by dfwgator ("I am Charlie Kirk!")
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To: Roman_War_Criminal

They weigh up to 50 to 60 pounds. Is it up to 50 pounds or up to 60 pounds? I hope they teach AI better grammar than these college graduates.

They weigh as much as 60 pounds. They weigh in a range of 50 to 60 pounds. They weigh between 50 and 60 pounds They weigh as much as 50 pounds and possibly even 60 pounds.


7 posted on 12/06/2025 10:34:39 AM PST by webheart (Notice how I said all of that without any hyphens, and only complete words? )
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To: dfwgator

8 posted on 12/06/2025 10:39:44 AM PST by T.B. Yoits
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To: T.B. Yoits

“Everyone’s a Captain Kirk!”


9 posted on 12/06/2025 10:40:32 AM PST by dfwgator ("I am Charlie Kirk!")
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To: webheart; T.B. Yoits
Beware of balloons with AI built in.


10 posted on 12/06/2025 10:43:35 AM PST by C210N
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To: Roman_War_Criminal

Cue Crazy Kat ... or was it Wild Eagle?


11 posted on 12/06/2025 10:48:36 AM PST by NonValueAdded (First, I was a clinger, then deplorable, now I'm garbage. Feel the love? )
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To: Nextrush

The German Nazis offered the Balts an opportunity to kill Russian Communists. (The Balts had their own Soviet caused genocide* Just not as well known as say Holodomor! ) Something the Allies couldn’t offer even if they wanted to. All they had to do was kill Jews too. A devil offering them an opportunity to kill in their minds a greater devil Stalin’s Communists. Same deal the Ukrainians got. Its an ugly world out there! Things like moral issues particularly in war don’t separate cleanly like on TV or in the movies.

* The USSR kept an internal security (KGB) division in each of the Baltic States up until the USSR fell apart.

Final point: No one and I mean no one can accuse me of being anti Israel or antisemitic! Check my posts!


12 posted on 12/06/2025 10:48:59 AM PST by Reily
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To: Reily

Confirmation of the notion “All have sinned”.


13 posted on 12/06/2025 10:50:05 AM PST by Nextrush (FREEDOM IS EVERYBODY'S BUSINESS, REMEMBER REV; NIEMOLLER)
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To: C210N

14 posted on 12/06/2025 10:51:25 AM PST by dfwgator ("I am Charlie Kirk!")
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To: C210N
I tried to watch that film on Criterion Network but I didn't get it.   The French are odd people.
a shiny red balloon that seems to have a mind of its own—until the harsh realities of the world interfere, setting the stage for a deeply moving finale.
Yeah right.   But then, Jerry Lewis was a national hero to the Frenchies.
15 posted on 12/06/2025 11:05:52 AM PST by higgmeister (In the Shadow of The Big Chicken! )
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To: Roman_War_Criminal
Hmmm. Rover?


16 posted on 12/06/2025 11:28:42 AM PST by FreedomPoster (Islam delenda est)
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To: webheart

I agree with you on the wording, but it was 50-60 kilos. (110lbs to 132lbs)


17 posted on 12/06/2025 11:41:37 AM PST by TangoLimaSierra (⭐⭐To the Left, the Truth is Right Wing Violence⭐⭐)
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To: Roman_War_Criminal

I’ll never understand the weird fixation at FR defending states like Belarus and Russia.


18 posted on 12/06/2025 11:46:01 AM PST by lonestar67 (America is exceptional)
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To: Reily

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUXYqTZ9tUI

The annual Latvian SS veterans parade.


19 posted on 12/06/2025 11:48:47 AM PST by DesertRhino (When men on the chessboard, get up and tell you where to go…)
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To: Reily

“The German Nazis offered the Balts an opportunity to kill Russian Communists.”

Latvians and Ukrainians didn’t just seek out communists, they killed every Jew they could, of any age and sex. They stripped them naked and shot them, they gassed them in vans and in chambers.

Are you suggesting that if someone is given the chance to exterminate communists, it naturally follows that you would kill all the Jews you could. That’s rather problematic.


20 posted on 12/06/2025 11:52:53 AM PST by DesertRhino (When men on the chessboard, get up and tell you where to go…)
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