Entrepreneur turned tech investor. Cofounder of Positron Ventures, an early-stage deeptech VC.
Amsterdam
Joined March 2010
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Joseph (Sjef) Peeraer retweeted
How is Russia's network inside Spain organised, and how does it push content?
Our 11-week analysis of Spain's information space shows three layers.
Layer one: the hub. A Telegram channel run from Moscow by Enrique Arias Gil, a Spanish political scientist living under Russian protection. It is small, about 500 readers per post. Its job is not reach. Its job is production: translating Russian hacktivist attack claims into Spanish within the hour, publishing recruitment offers for informants, hackers and soldiers, and doxxing Spanish security personnel.
Everything above it is Russian. Everything below it is built to look Spanish.
Spain votes on Nov 29. Russia is already inside the conversation.
An 11-week OSINT investigation collected 54,737 posts across X, Telegram, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube, mapped 10,773 accounts and 3,284 network links.
The headline isn't "disinformation." It's recruitment. A Spaniard in Moscow is openly hiring his own countrymen as informants, hackers and soldiers. In Spanish. During the campaign.
Around him, a ring of pro-Russian channels with ~500K subscriptions feeds ready-made narratives to ordinary Spaniards, deciding how every crisis gets explained before the facts arrive.
This is a national security problem dressed up as a media problem.
Full report:
Joseph (Sjef) Peeraer retweeted
Today, @thenerve_news publishes a landmark years-long investigation into what may be the biggest online influence campaign ever.
There is credible evidence Israel interfered in UK elections using Kate Middleton to spread anti-Muslim hate.
1/
EXCLUSIVE
Ads warning of a ‘Muslim invasion of Europe’ reached British screens before the 2024 elections and the Southport riots, and kept coming for 2 more years.
Meta and Google took the money, and the trail leads back to Israel, writes disinformation expert @marcowenjones🧵
Joseph (Sjef) Peeraer retweeted
Best bijzonder dat sommigen te hoop lopen tegen grote datacenters die enkele tientallen MW verbruiken, terwijl Nederland deze week 100x zoveel stroom exporteerde naar (o.a. datacenters) bij de buren.
#grafiekvandedag
Joseph (Sjef) Peeraer retweeted
For last 24 hours I’ve seen footage of horrific scenes from Gaza, just absolute human misery. Yet..it’s not there on any news outlet’s home pages, not discussed on our witless political shows. We’re just going to ignore it? Is that the plan?
Joseph (Sjef) Peeraer retweeted
NEW: Trump is a Russian asset. And the UK government is finally waking from its decade-long slumber Read this. And order a wind-up radio.
🔗below
Joseph (Sjef) Peeraer retweeted
Hard to believe, but in March 2022 Pete Hegseth criticized the Biden administration for not "equipping and supplying Ukraine with what it needs" fast enough to "bog down and push back" Putin, who "wants the Soviet Union back, Ukraine back, and Kyiv back."
Joseph (Sjef) Peeraer retweeted
I came to Amsterdam with a goal: to tell Europe about Russian operations in Africa; how they are aimed at creating a migration crisis in Europe and undermine democracy in the EU. I came to ask for partnership with Africa to combat this. I am here for seriousness not complacency.
Joseph (Sjef) Peeraer retweeted
This is probably the most important article of the month: an op-ed by Oman's Foreign Minister, who mediated the talks between the U.S. and Iran, in which he writes that the U.S. "has lost control of its foreign policy" to Israel.
He repeats that a deal was possible as an outcome of the talks (something confirmed by the UK's National Security Advisor, who also attended: teapawt.net/i/status/2034162151871…) and that the military strike by the U.S. and Israel was "a shock."
Interestingly, given he is one of Iran's neighbors and given that Oman has been struck multiple times by Iran since the war began (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_I…), he writes that "Iran’s retaliation against what it claims are American targets on the territory of its neighbours was an inevitable result" of the U.S.-Israeli attack. He describes it as "probably the only rational option available to the Iranian leadership."
He says the war "endangers" the region's entire "economic model in which global sport, tourism, aviation and technology were to play an important role." He adds that "if this had not been anticipated by the architects of this war, that was surely a grave miscalculation."
But, he adds, the "greatest miscalculation" of all for the U.S. "was allowing itself to be drawn into this war in the first place."
In his view this was the doing of "Israel’s leadership" who "persuaded America that Iran had been so weakened by sanctions, internal divisions and the American-Israeli bombings of its nuclear sites last June, that an unconditional surrender would swiftly follow the initial assault and the assassination of the supreme leader."
Obviously, this proved completely wrong, and the U.S. is now in a quagmire. He says that, given this, "America’s friends have a responsibility to tell the truth," which is that "there are two parties to this war who have nothing to gain from it," namely "Iran and America."
He says that all of the U.S. interests in the region (end to nuclear proliferation, secure energy supply chains, investment opportunities) are "best achieved with Iran at peace."
As he writes, "this is an uncomfortable truth to tell, because it involves indicating the extent to which America has lost control of its own foreign policy. But it must be told."
He then proposes a couple of paths to get back to the negotiating table, although he recognizes how difficult it would be for Iran "to return to dialogue with an administration that twice switched abruptly from talks to bombing and assassination."
That's perhaps the most profound damage Trump did during this entire episode: the complete discrediting of diplomacy. If Iran was taught anything, it is: don't negotiate with the U.S., it's a trap that will literally kill you.
The great irony of the man who sold himself as a dealmaker is that he taught the world one thing: don't make deals with my country.
Link to the article: economist.com/by-invitation/…
It's now unarguable that the war on Iran is one of the most blatant crimes of aggression in history.
You now have not 1 but 2 external participants of the US-Iran talks (Oman’s foreign minister and the UK's National Security Advisor) who confirm that the US and Israel attacked despite Iran effectively meeting US conditions for a deal - ensuring it could never build a nuclear weapon, permanently.
As per The Guardian article (theguardian.com/world/2026/m…), Jonathan Powell "believed the path remained open to a negotiated solution to the long-running issue of how Iran could reassure the US that it was not seeking a nuclear weapon," and "UK officials [...] were impressed that Iran was prepared for the deal to be permanent."
Concretely, this means the war wasn't a failure of diplomacy but a deliberate destruction of it.
And it also means that the US and Israel have irresponsibly plunged the entire world in an unprecedented energy crisis, affecting the livelihoods of billions of people worldwide, when it was completely avoidable.
It's beyond me how you can look at this and not conclude that the real threat all along wasn't Iran but the US-Israeli axis - they're the only parties at the table who wanted war and are making every person on the planet pay the price for it.
Extraordinarily, even the UK National Security Advisor is now basically saying this.
Joseph (Sjef) Peeraer retweeted
"Narva People’s Republic"?
Russia launches an information campaign against Estonia.
Narva, Estonia, is separated from the Russian city of Ivangorod by just a bridge across the river. Since late February, social media and messaging platforms have reportedly seen the emergence of accounts and channels promoting the idea of separating Narva and the Ida-Viru region.
The content is presented in various formats - from memes and jokes to maps and symbols of a so-called "Narva People’s Republic." Under slogans such as "We are waiting for Russia," "Russians, we are not alone!", and "Russian land stretches from Narva to Püssi" (another town in northeastern Estonia), individuals in balaclavas are calling for armed struggle.
This is being done to create the appearance of mass support. In reality, most of these accounts are anonymous, with audiences of only around 50-70 followers. Nevertheless, such information drops create the impression that separatist ideas have real backing.
Similar tactics were used by Russia ahead of its armed aggression against Ukraine in 2014. At that time, ideas about creating "people’s republics" were actively circulated on social media. The outcome of that is well known.
The main goal of such actions is not immediate territorial separation, but the undermining of internal stability. This can increase distrust within society, provoke tensions, and create fertile ground for further manipulation.
In addition, this serves as a signal to external audiences. The portrayal of a "troubled region" can be used as a tool of pressure and as justification for potential future actions.
There are also indications that the timing of this campaign is not accidental, as global attention is currently focused on Iran. For now, the activity remains online. But when your neighbor is Russia, vigilance is always necessary.
Russians are actively spying in the Baltic states.
At the Estonian border crossing with Russia, a company owned by Russians has been operating. According to media reports, this is Railservis OÜ, which the Estonian police and border service entrusted with managing the queue at the Koidula border checkpoint with Russia. A company security guard turned out to be an FSB agent, passing information to the Russian intelligence service, including data about employees.
Despite warnings from Estonian counterintelligence, Railservis OÜ also employed individuals with dual Estonian-Russian citizenship who were taking bribes.
The ultimate beneficiaries of Railservis OÜ are Estonian businessman Aleksei Tšulets and his business partner, Russian entrepreneur Sergei Pasters.
They have close ties to the oil and coal industries in Russia and Belarus. Estonian media report that these businessmen are involved in the operations of the Russian "shadow fleet," used for oil trading and targeted by EU sanctions.
Amid Russia’s war against Ukraine and its broader confrontation with the EU, Russian intelligence services have significantly stepped up their activities in European countries, particularly those bordering Russia.
One of the goals of this activity is to collect information on critical infrastructure, logistics routes, border procedures, and personnel who ensure the functioning of strategic sites.
The collected data can be used both to plan sabotage and to organize schemes for circumventing sanctions.
On a broader scale, Russia is preparing for potential aggression in the Baltics, expanding its network of influence.
Source: Andriy Kovalenko, Head of the Center for Countering Disinformation
Joseph (Sjef) Peeraer retweeted
An impoverished Bulgarian “proxy", a convicted German far-right firearms trafficker, and a digital trail leading to the FSB. Read the full OCCRP investigation for an insight into how global disinformation works:
occrp.org/en/feature/spies-l…
Joseph (Sjef) Peeraer retweeted
🚨NEW: Nikki Haley blasts Vladimir Putin
“Today, Putin rejected another plan. He doesn’t want peace. He wants Ukraine. It’s long past time for secondary sanctions against Russia.”
Joseph (Sjef) Peeraer retweeted
Yay!! I couldn’t be there but Sergei & the Westminster Spy Ring just won gold at the APA podcast awards!!
Whole thing was crowdfunded by @allthecitizens to highlight 5-year legal case to get an investigation into Russian interference in UK politics. Power to the people!
Joseph (Sjef) Peeraer retweeted
Yes, I'm angry. We should all be angry. Ukrainians deserve no less for our collective inaction.
Kasparov is 100% right. NATO is a joke, Trump is a grifter selling out Europe’s security, and Ukraine is saving all our butts while we squabble.
Kasparov is totally fed up and says Europe/NATO are a joke for celebrating while Ukraine is doing all the fighting and dying to save them from putin.
He rips into the West's pathetic aid and hesitation, and calls the whole idea of a "deal" to end the war a "real estate deal" to enrich Trump's buddies at Ukraine's expense. He basically says: Stop stalling, NATO is weak, Trump is selling you out, and if Ukraine loses, you guys are next!
“I'm getting desperate. This is the best, you know, show putin can hope for. Not a single straight answer. It's not about how many weapons you have, ammunition. It's: Are you willing to fight and die? Oh, it's nice, you have a Canadian Led Brigade in Latvia. What's the order for this brigade? Will they shoot if Russians cross the border? We know the answer. It will take ages to negotiate. I still didn't hear a clear response to it. It's not, you know, I can't even imagine this. How can we discuss seriously a deal made by Trump's business partner? You know, it's a real estate deal to enrich Trump's family and and and sell Ukraine. And it's it's, yeah, how can we seriously discuss that Ukraine will have to give up fortifications that are saving Europe?
Ah, we're celebrating NATO. NATO is not strong. NATO doesn't exist. It's a fake. It's NATO, four letters.
The reason you are still sitting here and and celebrating it: Ukraine is dying every minute. It’s massive sacrifice. If not for Ukraine, if not for Ukraine standing, Russian tanks would be already in Poland. You all suggested that Ukraine would give up. You offered Zelenskyy a ride, and he said, "I don't need a ride, I need ammunition."
For years, Ukraine is fighting for the whole Europe. NATO was built to fight only one war—not to go to Afghanistan, not to go to Syria—one war: to save free Europe from Russian aggression. Ukraine is the only country that is fighting this war, and we are still discussing: Should we include them or not? Ukraine is the only country that that is fulfilling NATO's destiny. And we we owe them everything. Oh, let's let's let's sacrifice them. But Zelenskyy is making in, I don't know even how to explain this choice. As a Russian, I also feel guilty. That's why I cannot tell him, you know, show Trump, Trump middle finger.
But again, we have how many senators we have here? Are you going to tell Donald Trump that he cannot do that? You have 85. 85. 85 is more than two, yes? If I'm out of 100 senator. So, yes, how how how come that, you know, this bill is still sitting somewhere in in in on on on the floor of the Senate, and it's not still being being done?
putin is seeing all others, they are celebrating it. And by the way, Russia has North Korean, they have Cubans, they have Africans volunteers. So, and we're still talking about escalation. We have everything: military, political, economic powers on our on our side, and we're still losing the war.
It's thanks to Ukraine, Russia is not fulfilling Putin's dream of restoring restoring uh Russian empire. But if, God forbid, Ukraine is forced to make this deal, then, very clear, Putin will will will realize his dream, and then, guys, you're next. But you are not willing willing to fight.” he said.
Joseph (Sjef) Peeraer retweeted
In a normal U.S. administration, Steve Witkoff “would be fired immediately” for working on behalf of an American adversary, @anneapplebaum writes. But now the revelation that the aide helped Russia negotiate a favorable peace deal will go unpunished: theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1…
Joseph (Sjef) Peeraer retweeted
I happened to see an early version of the "peace plan" , about 6 months ago. It was a purely Russian concept and was nearly identical to what we see today (certainly the 50/50 Russian assets + EU investment in Ukraine reconstruction was there).
However two items are glaringly missing.
First, a proposal that US (investors) bail post-war Russia out of a pending cash- and investment-strapped recession, "like in the 90s". This was meant as an inducement for Trump (whether as a legitimate US sweetener or as one for friends and family, that wasn't explicit)
The second "offering" was a new Russia-US alliance against China. A lot of "Christian alliance" demagoguery was included under that item.
I am absolutely certain that this is a Russian, not a jointly developed, proposal. I also cannot imagine the Russians didn't include the 1st of the two extra items. I can see however how that wouldn't be part of the publicly leaked plan.
On item 2, can't be sure if Russia dared to include the anti China offer. Again, if it did, it wouldn't be public.
So all in all, it might be a 30-point plan after all.
Joseph (Sjef) Peeraer retweeted
NEW: Former Brexit MEP/Reform politician Nathan Gill is sentenced to ten and a half years at the Old Bailey on 8 counts of bribery by a Russian agent.
The "ultimate source" of the funds came from "a close friend of Vladimir Putin," said Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb.
Joseph (Sjef) Peeraer retweeted
Moldova’s vote is a clear yes to a European future.
Despite Russia’s massive efforts to spread disinformation and buy votes, no force can stop a people committed to freedom.
We stand with Moldova on their path to the EU.
Joseph (Sjef) Peeraer retweeted
Hello @IgnatiusPost and @washingtonpost: there is nothing “dirty” about self-defence. Ukraine is defending itself against a far more militarily powerful aggressor. Striking military aircraft routinely used by Russia to bomb Ukrainian cities is a rational act of defence.
Criticise the aggressor, not the victim.
Joseph (Sjef) Peeraer retweeted
“Ukraine itself gave Putin the ‘reason’ to go bomb the hell out of them last night. When I saw it (Operation ‘Spiderweb’), I said: here we go..,” – Trump.
NO❗️
Russia has been bombing us every damn day with drones, missiles, guided bombs. Yesterday, the explosions were so close I genuinely thought they’d find me under the windows of the 10th floor in my underwear, because half my bedroom might be gone.
NO❗️
It wasn’t our operation that triggered this.
The only “reason” Russia needs to strike Ukraine is that we exist.
And in their worldview, that alone is already unacceptable.
Joseph (Sjef) Peeraer retweeted
In Spanje komt de discussie weer los over het openhouden van de bestaande kerncentrales. Spanje heeft er nog 5 draaien en de socialistische regering wil ze sluiten.
Het sluiten van goed draaiende kerncentrales is absurd, dom en onethisch.
cincodias.elpais.com/compani…
