Silicon Bites Ep402 | 2026-09-17 | Flares at a Danish Helicopter, Drones over Lithuania and Moldova, Fire on Poland's Doorstep — Putin Has Stopped Deterring Europe and Started Shaping the Future Battlefield. Two flares. No warning. No radio call. One passed within metres of a Danish military helicopter over the Baltic Sea on Monday. A few metres more, and Denmark would be burying aircrew killed by a Russian warship in international waters.Moscow did not apologise. Moscow handed out a medal. On Wednesday, Russia's Defence Ministry announced that Andrei Belousov had awarded the ship's captain the medal "For Courage". The courage in question was firing pyrotechnics at a helicopter on a perfectly legal monitoring mission. It is a pattern, not an isolated incident. It also forces the question Europe keeps dodging. Is Putin still trying to deter us, or has he already moved into the next phase?----------SUPPORT THE CHANNEL:https://www.buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtainhttps://www.patreon.com/siliconcurtainhttps://www.gofundme.com/f/scaling-up-campaign-to-fight-authoritarian-disinformation----------TRUSTED CHARITIES ON THE GROUND:Save Ukrainehttps://www.saveukraineua.org/Superhumans - Hospital for war traumashttps://superhumans.com/en/UNBROKEN - Treatment. Prosthesis. Rehabilitation for Ukrainians in Ukrainehttps://unbroken.org.ua/Come Back Alivehttps://savelife.in.ua/en/Chefs For Ukraine - World Central Kitchenhttps://wck.org/relief/activation-chefs-for-ukraineUNITED24 - An initiative of President Zelenskyyhttps://u24.gov.ua/Serhiy Prytula Charity Foundationhttps://prytulafoundation.org----------SOURCES:Bloomberg, "Denmark Says Russian Warship Fired Flares at Helicopter," 15 Sep 2026 — https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-09-15/denmark-says-russian-warship-fired-flares-at-helicopterDefense News / Reuters, "Russian frigate fires flares towards Danish military helicopter," 15 Sep 2026 (Frederiksen quote) — https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2026/09/15/russian-frigate-fires-flares-towards-danish-military-helicopter/The Moscow Times, "Belousov Awards Warship Captain for 'Skillfully and Decisively' Firing Flares at Danish Helicopter," 16 Sep 2026 (Bruus quote via Reuters; corvette Soobrazitelny) — https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2026/09/16/belousov-awards-warship-captain-for-skillfully-and-decisively-firing-flares-at-danish-helicopter-a93724The Moscow Times, "Denmark Summons Russian Ambassador After Frigate Fires Flares Toward Military Helicopter," 15 Sep 2026 — https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2026/09/15/denmark-summons-russian-ambassador-after-frigate-fires-flares-toward-military-helicopter-a93709Al Jazeera / AFP / Reuters, "Russia warns Denmark after near miss in Baltic Sea," 15 Sep 2026 — https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/9/15/russia-warns-denmark-after-near-miss-in-baltic-seaThe Irish Times, "Nato jets shoot down drone violating Lithuania's airspace," 15 Sep 2026 (von der Leyen quote) — https://www.irishtimes.com/world/europe/2026/09/15/nato-jets-shoot-down-drone-violating-lithuanias-airspace/LRT / BNS, "Nausėda: drone shot down over Lithuania was Russian Gerbera headed for Ukraine," 16 Sep 2026 — https://www.lrt.lt/en/news-in-english/19/3054232/nauseda-drone-shot-down-over-lithuania-was-russian-gerbera-headed-for-ukraineMeduza, "Ukrainian electronic warfare apparently knocked a Russian attack drone off course and into Lithuanian airspace," 16 Sep 2026 — https://meduza.io/en/news/2026/09/16/ukrainian-electronic-warfare-apparently-knocked-a-russian-attack-drone-off-course-and-into-lithuanian-airspace-the-country-s-president-saysMezha, "Moldova Reports Two Drone Airspace Violations During Russian Attack on Ukraine," 14 Sep 2026 — https://mezha.net/eng/news/c1fec6fb_moldova_reports_two/----------