NATO

Russia massing nuclear fleet in Arctic circle ‘for war with Nato’

Russia is amassing nuclear weapons and attack submarines in the Arctic Circle as it prepares for war with Nato, Norway’s defence minister has warned.

In an interview with The Telegraph, Tore Sandvik said Oslo had detected increased weapons development on Russia’s Kola peninsula, where its prized Northern Fleet and parts of its nuclear stockpile are based.

He also said that Vladimir Putin was trying to gain full naval control over the Arctic region so that he could block Nato allies’ access to two key shipping routes that would help resupply Western forces in wartime.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inNATO, Russia

In preparing for the end of NATO, Canada falls behind Europe

For months, Canada’s European allies have been actively preparing for the end of NATO as we know it. They’re wondering if Ottawa is fully on board.

The defence ministers of Germany and Norway were in Ottawa this week to pitch a fleet of 12 submarines to Canada (they’re competing with South Korea) which would, by their own words, strengthen a transatlantic alliance that can continue to operate in the absence of the United States.

NATO without the US is the Maginot line.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inCanada, NATO

NATO shouldn’t exist, China told MEPs

Chinese lawmakers told members of the European Parliament that NATO shouldn’t exist, and spouted Russian talking points about the war in Ukraine at a rare meeting in Brussels on Thursday.

The three-hour meeting between the EU Parliament’s China delegation and members of China’s National People’s Congress was the first of its kind in seven years, and came after Beijing’s decision earlier this year to lift sanctions on current and former MEPs.

But rather than a diplomatic thaw, the meeting was tense and testy, marked by the Chinese side challenging NATO’s legitimacy.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"China - Communist Slave State", NATO

Jens Stoltenberg: Why did I flatter Trump? I wanted to save Nato

Trump and weasel Jens Stoltenberg

“It’s important to understand that President Trump is a different politician than most leaders we work with in Nato,” says Jens Stoltenberg. It would be tempting to say this is both obvious and an understatement, but Stoltenberg knows better than most exactly how different Trump is.

As secretary-general of Nato from 2014 until last year, he played a critical role in holding the alliance together when he feared it might collapse during Trump’s first term.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inNATO

What next for Nato — the inside account of its fight to survive

Last year, as Nato prepared to mark its 75th anniversary, its defence college in Rome published an anthology of science fiction stories imagining what the alliance might look like in 2099, another three quarters of a century in the future. One of the authors envisaged a Chinese artificial superintelligence going rogue and killing 450 million people before it was imprisoned on the Moon. Another imagined a utopia in which Nato would dedicate its energies to nature conservation and schlep cadets across the North Pole in “Thunberg-class” transport ships.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inNATO

Is Russia laying groundwork for strike on Nato?

Any Nato staff hoping for a quiet September must be feeling disappointed. Estonia has sought consultations with other Alliance members after three Russian fighter jets violated its air space on Friday morning. Lest this appear a one-off accident, Russian drones this month breached Poland’s and Romania’s skies, bringing Nato — in the words of Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk — “the closest we have been to open conflict since World War Two”.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inNATO

Can Trump force Nato to get tough on Russian sanctions?

The pipelines would be sealed off. The supertankers would be left in the ports, and the wells would have to be capped. When Russia invaded Ukraine three years ago, it was confidently assumed that sanctions on Moscow’s oil and gas industry would be so punishing for its fragile economy that it would quickly force Vladimir Putin to plead for a settlement. Unfortunately, it has not worked out like that. Instead, the sanctions against Russia have been widely flouted. In response, President Trump has demaned that Nato makes them stick. But would sanctions really work and cripple Putin’s war machine?

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Ukraine - Russia", NATO

Europe is a paper tiger

Europeans are being forced to confront their lack of political will for their own security

“The purpose of NATO,” Lord Hastings Ismay, the alliance’s first secretary general, once quipped, was “to keep the Americans in, the Russians out, and the Germans down.” That formula defined Europe’s security for decades, and it worked because US power anchored the alliance. But as President Donald Trump’s administration demands its European allies carry their share of the burden, shows little appetite for sending troops to Europe and worries more about the Southeast Asian theater, Europeans are being forced to confront their lack of political will for their own security, underinvestment in defense and dwindling public appetite to fight for their country.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inNATO

NATO’s rearmament reignites age-old defence debate of quantity vs. quality

As NATO nations, including Canada, ramp up rearmament, they are increasingly confronted with various ghosts of the Cold War, notably the resilience of Russian industry and its capacity to be able to deliver weapons — that while often technologically inferior to the West — are “good enough” to wage war.

Moscow’s ability to produce en masse drones, missiles, aircraft and other weapons of war has been hampered by sanctions and a long-term erosion of quality is taking place.

NATO?

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"CAF - Canadian Armed Forces", Canada, NATO

Rearmament Without Warriors? A Pointless Exercise in Impression Management

Until the West overcomes its addiction to post-heroic values, NATO’s programme of rearmament will do little to provide its nations with genuine security

At international summits and in the media, all the talk is about increased defence spending and rearmament. At the recent Hague summit, the NATO allies agreed to increase their defence spending to 5% of their GDP. And yet, all the publicity about finally taking national defence and security seriously comes across as dishonest posturing. Why? Because the leaders of most NATO member states are fully aware that their military forces are not ready for a serious fight. Worse still, the population of Western societies has embraced a post-heroic culture that regards the defence of their nation as not their concern. Young people have been turned off from embracing the values of patriotism, courage, and duty, and, consequently, many of them feel little responsibility for defending their nation.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inNATO

Is Canada beating ploughshares into swords with its NATO 5% pledge? Not likely

By anyone’s measure, $150 billion a year is an eye-watering amount of money to spend on anything — let alone defence.

While it pales in comparison to the inflation-adjusted appropriations of the Second World War, it is potentially, for this generation, the very definition of beating ploughshares into swords.

Or is it?

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"CAF - Canadian Armed Forces", Canada's Corrupt Liberal Government, NATO

It won’t be easy but here is how Mark Carney can pay for his promise to hike defence spending

Last week, Prime Minister Mark Carney and our North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allies agreed to a new defence investment pledge — investing 5 per cent of annual gross domestic product (GDP) by 2035. That figure includes 3.5 per cent on core military capabilities and 1.5 per cent on defence and security-related infrastructure, such as ports and emergency preparedness systems.

This is an historically significant commitment and is rationalized by NATO political leaders in the context of rising global security threats and a need to increase contribution from non-U. S. members.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"CAF - Canadian Armed Forces", Canada's Corrupt Liberal Government, NATO

NATO’s history of running hot and cold on Ukraine is running cold again

There was a particularly telling moment at a bygone NATO summit about four years ago, which perfectly captured the sometimes capricious way the Western military alliance regards Ukraine.

The secretary general of the day, the often unflappable Jens Stoltenberg, was asked about the Eastern European country’s long-standing bid to join the allies.

At that point, Ukraine had been waiting more than a dozen years for admission.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Ukraine - Russia", NATO

Over 70% of Western Europeans don’t trust US on security … says poll conducted by Carney linked Eurasia Group

Over 70% of Western Europeans think America isn’t a reliable guarantor of European security, according to a new survey. With the Nato summit in the Hague ending today, polling by the Eurasia Group has revealed a crisis of confidence in the Western security apparatus. This comes as Donald Trump has this week cast doubt on his commitment to the alliance’s Article 5 — the commitment to mutual defence when one member is attacked — telling journalists on Air Force One that “it depends on your definition”. Nato Secretary-General Mark Rutte has today insisted that Trump is on board with the agreement, something which the US President has himself now affirmed.

The poll was conducted by a branch of the Eurasia Group calling itself the Institute for Global Affairs.

Western European nations as with Canada inspire little confidence as allies. Trump is right to doubt them.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inNATO, USA

NATO members step up spending, but doubts about US remain

From the perspective of European NATO allies, it all went to plan: A short, one-page and five-point declaration, a nice group photo and even dinner with the Dutch king and queen. At the NATO summit at The Hague, US President Donald Trump was also in good spirits.

When he addressed the press, Trump claimed credit for ending the war in Iran and for getting NATO allies to increase their defense spending to 5% of their national GDPs by 2035.

He praised European members of the alliance for “the love and passion they showed for their countries,” but also said they needed the US. He hailed the new pledge as a “big win for Europe and for western civilization.”

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inNATO