“The NATO alliance is brain dead,” French President Emmanuel Macron said in November last year. The withdrawal from Afghanistan had been a disaster, and many shared the view that the alliance was over. In that case, it has now resurfaced. There has been a historic buzz over the summit in Madrid, the Western leaders said in unison: – This is the biggest overhaul of our collective defense since the end of the Cold War, said Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg when he arrived at the summit on Wednesday morning. “This is an incredible day for NATO,” said British Prime Minister Boris Johnson a few hours later. – It is a historic day for NATO, the Nordic countries and Norway, said Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre. Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks to the press about NATO during a visit to Ashgabat in Turkmenistan, Wednesday 29 June. Photo: SPUTNIK / Reuters Russia, a direct threat Many of the meeting’s achievements can be mentioned: a multiplication of the emergency forces, great support for Ukraine, and of course, two new members in Sweden and Finland. And if one thing is clear, it is where NATO is drawing attention. “Russia is the most significant and direct threat to the security of the Allies,” NATO’s new strategic concept states in black and white. And the threat is considered very real: “We can not write off the possibility of an attack on the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Allies” designated as major challenges and competitors in red, and other countries causing concerns in yellow. China, the troubled competitor Another novelty in the concept is that China is described as a competitor. “The stated ambitions of the People’s Republic of China and the use of coercive measures challenge our interests, values, and our security.” This is the first sentence about China in the Madrid concept. AMBITIOUS: China’s third and newest aircraft carrier, the Fujian, will be launched in Shanghai on June 17. China has plans to build a world-class navy, and thus needs many of these aircraft carriers. Photo: Li Gang / AP Of particular concern are China’s ever closer partnership with Russia, and the two countries’ “attempts to undermine the world order rule”. In the previous concept from 2010, China was not mentioned in a word. A lot has happened since then. Russian President Putin and Chinese President Xi shake hands at the Brics meeting in Brasilia in 2019. Photo: Ramil Sitdikov / AP More and more evidence of retraining camps in Xinjiang has emerged. Hong Kong has had to bow to the new security law. The threats of “reunification” with Taiwan have come more frequently. Trade wars and strategic competition have put the country on a collision course with the United States. China, on the other hand, is not completely depreciated yet, and NATO remains “open to constructive cooperation”. What does NATO’s new strategic concept contain? Photo: Screenshot / NATO What are the threats and where to draw attention? Russia is identified as a threat, and China as a competitor. Unrest is noted in connection with Syria, North Korea, and Iran’s possible use of weapons of mass destruction. In general, authoritarian actors are identified as those who challenge the Western world. Terrorist groups, including in the Middle East, North Africa and the Sahel regions, are still considered important threats. In addition, NATO says it will help combat climate change, war crimes, and sexual violence. How to combat these threats? Efforts will be made to increase flexibility, speed, preparedness and interoperability for NATO forces. This means that NATO forces will be able to move out faster, work better together, and exchange materials more easily. NATO will become a more united force. More emphasis will be placed on cyber defense, defense against information warfare, and defense against other hybrid threats. The war therefore no longer takes place only on the battlefield, and NATO must be better able to handle this. Deterrence through nuclear weapons remains a central part of NATO’s defense capability, although it is desired that the work on disarmament should continue. Which countries should be allowed to join the alliance? NATO’s “open door” policy is considered a success, and the alliance is positive that it will grow larger. Sweden and Finland are formally invited to join the alliance. Relations with countries wishing to join NATO, ie Ukraine, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Georgia, will be strengthened. Source: NATO / news GOOD TONE: Russian President Dmitry Medvedev talks with Obama and Sarkozy in 2010. Medvedev stepped in for Putin while the latter waited for the restriction for mandates between 2008 and 2012. Photo: POOL / Reuters From Lisbon to Madrid, and from Kabul to Kyiv NATO’s strategic concept is the roadmap the allies are aiming for to define their security policy. About every ten years, they gather to agree. What threats do we face and how should we deal with them? they ask themselves. We go back in time to 2010, when NATO had completely different problems. NATO had become a defense alliance faced with diffuse threats from obscure terrorist groups and abstract climate change. Where should one pay attention? AFGHANISTAN: The fight against terrorism and the war in Afghanistan were key elements of NATO’s strategy in 2010. Afghanistan’s President Karzai is in talks with Barack Obama during the Lisbon summit. Photo: Pablo Martinez Monsivais / AP It was in this context that the previous concept was adopted in Lisbon, Portugal. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev was invited. He seemed to be enjoying himself with US President Obama and French President Sarkozy, with good reason. The concept expressed hope for a “genuine strategic partnership between NATO and Russia.” At the same time, the 2010 document stated that “the threat of a conventional attack on NATO territory is low”. GAME OVER: Protesters lie on the ground outside the Lisbon summit in 2010, covered in red paint with a banner that reads “NATO Game Over”. Photo: Francisco Seco / AP The Nordic unit One of the most important things that happened in Madrid was that an agreement was finally reached between Turkey, Sweden and Finland. Swedish, Finnish and Turkish diplomats meet in Madrid on Tuesday, just before they reached an agreement. Photo: TT NEWS AGENCY / Reuters Sweden is leaving behind more than 200 years of neutrality, Finland 75. With that, all the Nordic countries are united in one and the same defense alliance. It is in this region that the border with Russia lies, and the region will be central in the coming years. US President Joe Biden says NATO has been strengthened. – Putin wanted to see a Finnishization of NATO. Instead, he got a NATOization of Finland, Biden said when he spoke at the last day of the NATO summit on Thursday afternoon. “Finlandisation” means that a powerful state has great influence over the policies pursued in a smaller neighboring state. NATO will now hold several major military exercises in the Nordic region. Minister of Defense Bjørn Arild Gram (Sp) has said that they will develop the Cold Response exercise into a Nordic Response exercise. Cold Response was held in Norway in March this year, and gathered 30,000 NATO soldiers in one of the alliance’s largest exercises ever. Jens Stoltenberg visits Bardufoss during Cold Response 2022. Photo: YVES HERMAN / Reuters The door remains open And it is not only Sweden and Finland that can slip into NATO. The door remains open, the alliance concludes. Ukraine, Georgia, Bosnia and Herzegovina want to join. NATO is positive about it, and will strengthen the partnership with these countries. “The security of the countries that will become members of the alliance is intertwined with our own,” it said. “We want to strengthen the political dialogue and cooperation with those who want to be part of the alliance,” it continues. In addition, cooperation with Asian partner countries is strengthened. Leaders from Japan and South Korea attended a NATO summit for the first time. For a few hours, NATO leaders took time to stroll around the Museo del Prado to view ancient masterpieces. Macron and Støre stopped in front of Peter Paul Rubens Diana and the Nymphs Surprised by Satyrs (1640). Photo: Bertrand Guay / AP
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NATO’s new course is set – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
