Månad: juli 2018

De finländska pionjärerna har understött andra vapenslags strid, främst infanteriets strid, redan under hundra års tid. Under ett sekel har Finland blivit en stormakt i fråga om spärrning och vi har en mångsidig kompetens inom främjande av rörelse, främjande av skydd och skyddsverksamhet. Den finländska pionjäryrkeskunskapen befinner sig på en mycket hög nivå och har fått internationell erkänsla.

Pionjärvapenslagets årsdag i det självständiga Finland firas den 25 juli för att hedra det segerrika slaget vid Schmarden. Sedan vapenslaget grundades har vi färdats en lång väg. Vår militära verksamhetsmiljö har förändrats. Detta innebär utmaningar även för pionjärerna: en modern pionjär måste kunna spärra och befästa på stridsfältet snabbare än tidigare. Dessutom måste vi ha förmåga att främja de anfallande delarnas rörelse i omedelbar anknytning till striden. Tidigare hade man tid att förbereda åtgärderna i en månad eller fler, nu talar vi om dygn. Under den senaste tiden har vi i synnerhet förbättrat vår stridsberedskap och vår situationsmedvetenhet, som har avgörande betydelse för stridsberedskapen. Vi har nu en god uppfattning om vår förmåga under undantagsförhållanden. Läs artikel

[…] När vi går till val i september finns atombomben med i ett hotande dramatiskt säkerhetspolitiskt systemskifte. Ett skifte som kraftigt skulle begränsa vår utrikespolitiska handlingsfrihet, öka Sveriges osäkerhet och dessutom gå emot en stark folklig opinion.

Det handlar om Sveriges roll i kampen mot den nya nukleära kapprustningen och om medlemskap i Nato, frågor som är organiskt sammanflätade. Hittills har dessa ödesfrågor fått föga utrymme i valdebatten. Däremot går som en följetong i borgerliga och militära kretsar det osannolika hotet om en enskild rysk invasion av Gotland som ska bemötas med hjälp av US marines och det svindyra, ­sekunda amerikanska Patriotsystemet.

Systemskifte ska smygas in, under medborgarnas radar. Partikanslierna har ju sett folkets dom: en förkrossande majoritet stöder regeringens avsiktsförklaring att skriva under FN-konventionen om ett kärnvapenförbud. Så ville enligt Sifo i oktober 2017 nästan nio av tio svenskar. Motståndet mot Nato är också tydligt: 44 procent sade i januari 2018 nej till medlemskap, en ökning med 4 procent sedan 2107, 31 procent ja.  Men med sitt nej till FN:s konvention och ja till kärnvapenalliansen Nato har de borgerliga partierna dragit in atombomben i valrörelsen. Läs artikel

• We reaffirm our commitment to the United Nations, as the universal multilateral organisation entrusted with the mandate for maintaining international peace and security, advancing global development and promoting and protecting human rights.
• We reaffirm our commitment to the purposes and principles enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, and support for the United Nations as the universal intergovernmental organisation entrusted with the responsibility for maintaining international peace and security, advancing sustainable development as well as ensuring the promotion, and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms.  […]
• We reaffirm our commitment for a political resolution of the conflict in Syria, through an inclusive ”Syrian-led, Syrian-owned” political process that safeguards the state sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Syria, in pursuance of United Nations Security Council Resolution 2254 (2015) and taking into account the result of the Congress of the Syrian National Dialogue in Sochi. We reiterate our support for the Geneva process and the mediation offered by the UN, as well as the Astana process which has been showing signs of positive developments on the ground, and stress the complementarity between the two initiatives. We reaffirm our commitment to a peaceful resolution in Syria and our opposition to measures that run contrary to the UN Charter and the authority of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) and that do not contribute to advancing the political process.
• Recalling the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on the Iranian nuclear programme we call upon all parties to fully comply with their obligations and ensure full and effective implementation of the JCPOA to promote international and regional peace and security. Läs deklarationen

As the 10th annual Brics summit draws to a close on Friday, South Africa can look back at the event as one of relative success.. Heads of state from Brazil, Russia, India and China all visited Mzansi this week, taking part in policy discussions and hammering out a strategy going forward. […]

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed by all Brics members. The agreement has been put in place to ensure closer collaboration in the promotion of matters related to air quality, water, biodiversity, climate change and waste management

In terms of the MoU, the participants also agreed to additional arrangements that ensure effective implementation of environmental cooperation.

The defining piece of legislation from the summit is the Johannesburg Declaration. It features 102 individual commitments signed by all five countries, that vow to support each other in tackling everything from terrorism to drought. Läs artikel

Försvarsminister Peter Hultqvist: Hans Wallmark har frågat mig om regeringen avser att påbörja ett arbete för att söka riksdagens godkännande av det samförståndsavtal som undertecknades mellan Sverige och Finland i Åbo den 9 juli. […]

Exempel på detta kan vara hävdandet av respektive lands territoriella integritet eller utövande av rätten till självförsvar enligt artikel 51 i FN:s stadga. Sådan planering bör vara ett komplement till, men skilt från, respektive lands nationella planering. Samarbetet innebär en möjlighet till gemensamt agerande, men inte några utfästelser.[…]

Det aktuella samförståndsavtalet mellan Sverige och Finland är ett övergripande politiskt ramverk där ambition och målsättning med försvarssamarbetet klargörs. Det innehåller dock inga juridiskt bindande förpliktelser och utgör därmed inte en sådan internationell överenskommelse som avses i regeringsformen. Riksdagens godkännande av samförståndsavtalet krävs därmed inte. Läs protokollet

USA och EU tänker inte handelskriga mer, åtminstone inte under överskådlig framtid. Det meddelade Donald Trump och EU-kommissionens ordförande Jean-Claude Juncker på onsdagskvällen efter ett hyfsat produktivt möte i Vita huset. […]

Article 5 isn’t a tripwire for war and four other misunderstood facts about the Western defense alliance. […]

If one actually reads Article 5, it says: “The Parties agree that an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all and consequently they agree that, if such an armed attack occurs, each of them, in exercise of the right of individual or collective self-defence … will assist the Party or Parties so attacked by taking forthwith, individually and in concert with the other Parties, such action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force, to restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area” (my emphasis).

Translation: While an attack on a NATO member is to be viewed as an attack on all of them, this would not apply if a NATO member starts the conflict. More importantly, Article 5 does not commit any of the parties to use military force, although the use of force is clearly an option. Rather, it calls upon all the parties to “assist” the members that were attacked, but it does not specify the precise form such assistance would take.

To be sure, in many scenarios the use of force would be appropriate, as it was when the United States invoked Article 5 after the 9/11 attacks and its NATO allies sent their own troops to Afghanistan and adopted other measures to counter al Qaeda. But NATO has declined to use force to help member states in the past, and whether it does so in the future would depend on the specific scenario involved, the options available, and the interests of the members at that time. That is why Article 5 was written as it was. Läs artikel

This is exceedingly unusual in NATO’s 69-year history. Almost immediately before the NATO summit in Brussels, US President Donald Trump criticized Germany for being ”captive” to Russia and called the other NATO member states ”delinquent”. Hours before his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Trump described the European Union as one of his greatest ”foes”. Earlier, he had said, ”frankly, Putin may be the easiest of all” to talk with.

Such remarks, appalling for US allies, could be deliberately made as tactics to force the NATO allies to increase their defense spending. None of Trump’s predecessors could push the US’ NATO allies to spend more on defense to share the collective defense burden. But a merciless Trump seems to have done that. He said NATO members have added $41 billion extra for defense spending; NATO will be taking in an additional $33 billion or more and at least 17 NATO member states have pledged to reach the target of spending 2 percent of GDP on defense by 2024. […]

The US’ security focus today is China, which the latest US National Security Strategy report described as primary strategic competitor. Even if Trump has seemingly adopted ”anything but an Obama” policy, his administration has followed the Barack Obama administration’s ”rebalancing” toward the Asia-Pacific strategy, but sells it as an ”Indo-Pacific” policy. Whatever that might be, 60 percent of all US Navy ships, 55 percent of the US Army and about two-thirds of its Marine forces are already assigned to the US Indo-Pacific Command, and soon, 60 percent of American overseas tactical aviation assets will also be assigned to this theater. Läs artikel