Månad: mars 2019

[…] Braut-Hegghammer, som forsker på sikkerhetspolitikk, kjernevåpen og ikke-spredning, viser imidlertid til at det er oppnådd gode resultater gjennom dagens avtaleverk, hvor ikkespredningsavtalen NPT er en bærebjelke. 188 stater er tilsluttet NPT.

Hun frykter den nye forbudstraktaten skal komme i veien for arbeidet med dagens avtaler.

– Det vi er vitne til, er at de eksisterende avtalene forvitrer, fordi de store statene ikke ser det som i sin interesse å videreføre dem. Det er alvorlig, sier Braut-Hegghammer.

[…] 122 av FNs medlemsland stemte sommeren 2017 for atomvåpenforbudet. Men verken atommaktene eller NATO-landene, blant dem Norge, er med på forbudet.

I regjeringens utredning heter det at Norge ikke kan slutte seg til forbudet «uten å komme i konflikt med våre NATO-forpliktelser».

– NATO forblir en kjernefysisk allianse så lenge land utenfor alliansen har kjernevåpen, skriver Utenriksdepartementet.

Braut-Hegghammer mener Norge må bruke sin stemme i NATO til å styrke nedrustningsarbeidet.

– Norge bør gjøre mer for å ta tak i dette problemet. Norge burde legge seg i selen i NATO for å hindre rustningskappløp. Det trenger ikke være noen motsetning her, men det må tas grep for at ikke forbudstraktaten skal komme på kant med NPT. Läs artikel

[…] President Trump is said to doubt the value of continued participation in NATO, even though his national security strategy has returned Russia to its past status as a top security concern of U.S. military planners. But much of the reporting about Trump’s views fails to explain why he is so ambivalent about the alliance.

The reason, as he himself has put it, is that some of America’s overseas partners have “taken advantage” of the U.S. on both trade and military relations. The president has made it clear that he thinks Germany is one of the top offenders in that regard.

Germany is the linchpin of NATO, a country that because of its history, location and economic strength is central to the integrity of the Atlantic alliance. But the president has good reason to wonder whether Berlin cares as much about collective security as Washington does. Läs artikel

The Trump administration’s campaign to topple the government of Venezuela raises the issue of whether the U.S. government is willing to adhere to the same rules of behavior it expects other nations to follow. […]

Article 19 of the OAS Charter states clearly:  “No State or group of States has the right to intervene, directly or indirectly, for any reason whatever, in the internal or external affairs of any other State.”  To be sure, the Charter, in Article 2(b), declares that one of the essential purposes of the OAS is “to promote and consolidate representative democracy.” But this section continues, in the same sentence, to note that such activity should be conducted “with due respect for the principle of nonintervention.”  The U.S. government, of course, is an active member of the OAS and voted to approve the Charter.  It is also legally bound by the Charter, which is part of international law. […]

The United Nations Charter, also formulated by the U.S. government and part of international law, includes its own nonintervention obligation.  Attempting to outlaw international aggression, the UN Charter declares, in Article 2(4), that “all Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations.”  Although this wording is vaguer than the OAS Charter’s condemnation of all kinds of intervention, in 1965 the UN General Assembly adopted an official resolution that tightened things up by proclaiming:  “No State has the right to intervene, directly or indirectly for any reason whatever, in the internal or external affairs of any other State.” Läs artikel

Både politikere og militære forestiller seg at det går an å bygge forsvarsstrukturen opp eller ned i takt med skiftende utenriks- og sikkerhetspolitiske konjunkturer. Det er feil.

I et intervjumed Aftenposten den 13. februar forsvarer Forsvarssjefen nedbyggingen av Forsvaret med at den ble basert på forutsetninger som ble gitt for fire år siden – underforstått at de har endret seg nå. Forsvarsminister Bakke-Jensen peker på det samme.

[…] Meanwhile, the U.S. is strangling the Venezuelan economy with its sanctions. The authors warn that U.S. sanctions will end up starving the population if they remain in place for very long:

Even without military intervention, US sanctions policies, if sustained, are bound to create a famine . By cutting off Venezuela’s oil trade with the US and threatening to sanction non-US firms that do business with Venezuela’s state-owned oil company, the Trump administration has created one of the most punitive economic sanctions regimes in recent history.

But rather than provoking a coup, economically isolating a country that essentially feeds itself with its oil export revenues could lead to mass hunger instead.

Sanctions are always punitive, but as Rodriguez and Sachs point out the sanctions on Venezuela are unusually so. In both the Iranian and Venezuelan cases, the ones to suffer from the punishment inflicted on their countries are the poorest and weakest among the civilian population. […]

An administration that was genuinely concerned with the welfare of the people wouldn’t strangle their economy with sanctions, but that is exactly what this administration has done to Venezuela. At the very least, the U.S. should not be making the hemisphere’s worst humanitarian and economic crisis even worse, but that is what our policy is doing. Läs artikel

Det sedan länge emotsedda mötet mellan president Donald Trump och den nordkoreanske ledaren Kim Jon Un ledde inte fram till någon överenskommelse. Parterna stod för långt ifrån varandra. Nordkorea vill få sanktionerna hävda, medan USA kräver större eftergifter för att göra det än vad Kim Jon Un accepterar.
Ändå är mötet inte en ren besvikelse. De bägge länderna kommer att fortsätta sina samtal. Dessutom tycks relationen mellan Trump och Kim Jon Un fortfarande vara god. Och det kanske allra viktigaste är att Nordkorea lovat att inte genomföra några kärnvapenprov. Läs ledaren

Merparten av Försvarsmaktens förband med förmåga inom funktionen indirekt eld har under en knapp vecka samlats för att befästa och utveckla sina förmågor i Bodenområdet. Återigen var Artilleriregementet, A 9 värd för landets största artilleriövning, Brigadunderstödsövning 19. En övning som hördes väl i centrala Boden när Archerpjäserna avfyrades. Läs pressmeddelande

Beväringarnas försvarsvilja och förnöjsamhet med sina förmän ligger på en hög nivå, framgår det av slutenkäten för de beväringar som hemförlovades i april och juni 2018. […]

Beväringar på väg att hemförlovas har en hög försvarsvilja (nu redan 4,2 – skala 1-5). Även tjänstgöringsmotivationen har ökat från nivå år 2010 (3,2) till 3,7. Bästa vitsordet i beväringarnas slutenkät får Uppskattningen av personalen” (4,3).

På basis av beväringarnas inledningsenkät meddelar nästa tre av fyra att tjänstgöringen inleddes med positiva förväntningar. Endast knappt 10 procent hade annan åsikt, de övriga någonstans mitt emellan. Vid sidan av de positiva förhandsförväntningarna hade rekryterna en stark vilja att klara av tjänstgöringen så bra som möjligt. Vid tjänstgöringens slut hade beväringarna många positiva erfarenheter och förnöjsamheten med ”armétiden” på en hög nivå (4,2). Läs artikel

Opening a door to peace in Syria hinges on creating a constitutional committee that can forge ways to advance the political process with a view to ending the eight-year-long conflict, the new Special Envoy of the Secretary‑General for that country told the Security Council today.

Sharing a plan to move along a path to peace amid the current volatile situation on the ground, Special Envoy Geir Pedersen said his team would focus on maintaining direct and effective communication with the Government and stakeholders, strengthening international support and working on ways to alleviate the suffering of the Syrian people.  After recent discussions, he said he sensed a wide acceptance among parties of convening a credible and balanced constitutional committee as soon as possible, which can be “a door‑opener to a deeper dialogue and genuine negotiations”. Läs artikel

Samröre med terrororganisationer kan bli olagligt redan i augusti i år. Men tunga namn kritiserar regeringens förslag i SVT:s Rapport.

– Det finns en risk för rättssäkerheten, säger Anna Skarhed, tidigare justitiekansler. […]

Med terroristorganisation avses i denna lag en sammanslutning av personer som begår särskilt allvarlig brottslighet eller gör sig skyldiga till försök, förberedelse, stämpling eller medverkan till sådan brottslighet. Även Lunds universitet (Juridiska fakulteten) anför att flera av de begrepp som förekommer i promemorians lagförslag är anmärkningsvärt vaga. Enligt universitetet är det så oklart vad som avses med begreppen ”deltagande”, ”verksamhet” och ”terroristorganisation” att det måste betraktas som stridande mot den straffrättsliga legalitetsprincipen.

Även Lunds universitet (Juridiska fakulteten) ifrågasätter om det finns något behov av ett deltagandebrott. Enligt universitet är den utvidgade kriminaliseringen en del av en spiral av ökad repression utan påvisbar effektivitet, som i sig utgör ett hot mot straffsystemets legitimitet.Läs artikel

The second meeting of the week on the situation in Venezuela, took place in the UN Security Council on Thursday, during which competing resolutions produced by the United States and by Russia were presented. Neither text was adopted as the US draft was vetoed and the Russian draft failing to secure enough votes in favor. […]

The US draft resolution called for the holding of new elections and a recognition of self-proclaimed interim President Guaidó. Nine voted in favour (Germany, Poland, Peru, US, United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Dominican Republic, Kuwait), three against (Russia, China, South Africa) and there were three abstentions (Equatorial Guinea, Indonesia, Côte d’Ivoire). […]

Russia’s draft called for a dialogue between the Government and the opposition, in line with the Montevideo mechanism – a forum for talks, launched by Mexico and Uruguay earlier this February. The text produced four votes in favour (Russia, China, South Africa, Equatorial Guinea), seven against (Germany, Poland, Peru, US, United Kingdom, France, Belgium) and four abstentions (Côte d’Ivoire, Dominican Republic, Indonesia, Kuwait). Läs artikel