Månad: mars 2021

Five of the nation’s biggest defense contractors — Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon Technologies and General Dynamics — spent a combined $60 million in 2020 to influence policy, according to a new report from the Center for Responsive Politics.

The paper, ”Capitalizing on conflict: How defense contractors and foreign nations lobby for arms sales,” details how a network of lobbyists and donors steered $285 million in campaign contributions and $2.5 billion in lobbying spending over the last two decades, as well as hiring more than 200 lobbyists who previously worked in government. Läs artikel

Et russisk jagerfly ble onsdag sendt til å følge to av de fire amerikanske B-1B Lancer bombefly som for tiden er stasjonert i Ørland.

Det opplyser det russiske forsvaret til nyhetsbyrået Interfax.

– Mannskapet på det russiske jagerflyet identifiserte luftmålene som B-1B strategiske bombefly av det amerikanske luftforsvaret og fulgte dem over Østersjøen, sa det russiske nasjonale forsvarskontrollsenteret i en uttalelse. […]

Ifølge nyhetsbyrået Reuters fløy et av de fire amerikanske flyene over de tre baltiske hovedstedene for å vise solidaritet med de baltiske landene Estland, Latvia og Litauen.

Flyene av typen B-1B Lancer, landet i Norge mandag. De blir værende i Norge en måneds tid. Läs artikel

Det er vinterkaldt, koronatid og tause spekulasjoner om hva som skjer med oss som bor her ved grensa mot Russland hvis konflikten med NATO/USA eskalerer. Samtidig har vi en regjering som ikke løfter en finger for å demme opp mot fraflyttinga fra grenseområdene. […]

Det er neppe en hemmelighet at forholdet mellom Russland og USA blir stadig kjøligere. Vi som sitter i grenseland her nord føler at vi er på full fart inn i en ny kald krig. Vi ser at etterretningsvirksomheten øker og vet at hvis det kommer til en konflikt, sitter vi i skuddlinjen.

Vi ser at det blir flere ansatte i etterretningstjenesten. Ikke at noen forteller oss det, men det blir flere biler på parkeringsplassen og flere leiligheter som leies ut til forsvarsfolk. I Vardø blir det stadig flere globuser og stadig flere amerikanere og i Kirkenes forteller folk om ubehagelige møter med norske hemmelige tjenester i forbindelse med reiser de har hatt i Russland. […]

Fra rikspolitisk hold er det enten bortforklaringer eller taushet når det kommer til forsvar og etterretning i våre områder. Men for de (få) som leser stortingsmeldinga om nordområdene er ikke utviklinga til å ta feil av: Her legger regjeringa opp til mer alliert tilstedeværelse i nord. Läs artikel

USA kommer att skicka en flygdivision med 18 stridsflygplan till Luleå, för att delta i den internationella flygövningen ACE21, rapporterar Norr media.

Från början skulle årets upplaga av övningen omfatta uppemot 140 militära flygplan, men på grund av pandemin har övningens omfattning minskats.  Det är femte gången som den internationella flygövningen genomförs över Nordkalotten. Läs artikel

In Norwegen kreuzen sich drei groβe Kraftlinien: die deutsche, die sowjetrussische und die englische», rapporterte den tyske sendemannen i Oslo til Berlin i desember 1938. Nordmennene hadde staket ut en pro-britisk kurs, kommenterte han, i håp om å nøytralisere tysk og sovjetisk kraft. På dette tidspunktet hadde Oslo-statene – Benelux og de nordiske landene – allerede erklært seg løst fra Folkeforbundets militære sanksjonsbestemmelse. Hensikten med «flukten fra Genève», som Nils Ørvik kalte prosessen, var å utvide småstatenes politiske handlingsrom i krigen mange fryktet var under oppseiling.

I det konfliktfylte internasjonale klimaet og den rivende militærfaglige utviklingen på 1930-tallet grodde det fram en ny norsk tradisjon for sikkerhetspolitisk og strategisk tenkning. Den ble drevet fram av det behovet for nyorientering mange mente var påkrevet når landet hadde kommet i klem mellom stridende stormakter. Det militærintellektuelle miljøet i Norge var både sterkt og splittet fordi den internasjonale og militære utviklingen innbød til nytenkning, samtidig som mange tviholdt på gamle ordninger. Uansett, dvaletiden for den operative virksomheten ga offiserene tid til å engasjere seg i studier og teoretiske debatter. Läs artikel

Al-Sistani är shiamuslimernas andliga ledare i Irak, men också en av världens viktigaste shiitiska ledare. Efter den USA-ledda invasionen av Irak och efter att Saddam Hussein störtats 2003 har al-Sistani också haft stort politiskt inflytande de gånger han blandat sig i politiken.

Då det blodiga kaoset tagit överhanden har han vid några tillfällen försökt skapa reda i det, med varierande framgång. Han åtnjuter stor respekt bland irakierna. […]

Vatikanen gav ut ett pressmeddelande efter mötet i Najaf.

”Den Heliga Fadern mötte Storayatolla Sayyid Ali Al-Husayni Al-Sistani i morse i Najaf. Under besöket, som varade cirka 45 minuter, betonade den Helige Fadern vikten av samarbete och vänskap mellan religiösa samfund så att vi genom att odla ömsesidig respekt och dialog kan bidra till Iraks, regionens, och hela mänsklighetens bästa”

Enligt Vatikanen tackade påven storayatollan för att han ”har höjt sin röst till försvar av de svagaste och mest förföljda och bekräftat människolivets helighet och vikten av det irakiska folkets enhet”. Läs artikel

On 16 February, during a two-day summit of leaders from west Africa in N’Djamena, Chad, French President Emmanuel Macron appeared via video link from inside the gilded Elysée palace to give France’s view on the region’s rampant insurgency.

After addressing heads of state from Mali, Burkina Faso, Chad, Niger and Mauritania, Macron, who recently increased the number of French troops in the Sahel to more than 5,000, told journalists the leaders had agreed that they could not negotiate with the commanders of two of the region’s most notorious armed groups. They ”are enemies,” he said, referring to Iyad Ag Ghali, the Tuareg leader of Ansar-ud Deen, and Amadou Koufa, the head of Katiba Macina, both Malians. ”In no way whatsoever are they discussion partners.”

He was reiterating a long-standing French position: ”no negotiation with terrorists”.

Three days later, however, Moctar Ouane, Mali’s interim prime minister, revealed that his government had created a body to lead talks with the militant groups, which have devastated areas in north and central Mali and elsewhere across the Sahel.

”More and more voices in Mali are calling for dialogue with our brothers who have joined radical groups,” he said. Läs artikel

[…] In 2013, when President François Hollande launched the largest French foreign military operation in Mali since the Algerian war, the goal was to rout the jihadists in the north of the country.

It was supposed to take a few weeks. Eight years later, with the escalation of the conflict, there is no end in sight. The fighting spread across Mali and into neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger, a battlefield four times the size of France itself. Last year was the bloodiest yet, killing some 6,200 people. […]

“At present, it does not seem that local forces can stand on their own feet,” says Elie Tenenbaum, researcher at the French Institute of International Relations. “They suffer from endemic corruption, incompetence in the upper echelons and material deficiencies – they still badly need French and foreign aid.”

But Macron said he did not intend to wage an “infinite war” in the Sahel and called on EU countries to offer more support for the operation, both to help him to lead the campaign and to give it international coverage. […]

The growing resentment in these countries towards the former colonial power risks driving more people into the arms of the jihadists. The conundrum is that they have to stay long enough to provide some stability, but the more they do, the greater the fuss for them to leave.

With the presidential election slated for a year from now, Macron’s party will become increasingly wary of how this protracted war would play out in an election campaign. Although support for the operation was high at first, it steadily declined as the French forces became more bogged down. A recent poll shows that a small majority of the public is now opposed to the operation. Läs artikel

Support for military conscription in Estonia stands at 90 percent, the Ministry of Defense says.

Estonia has conscription in place via two tiers of eight- or 11-month stints, depending on the , though exemptions can be obtained, including for those in higher education, whose conscription is deferred indefinitely. […]

Defense minister Kalle Laanet (Reform) says the defensive will of Estonia’s residents – 77 percent of residents believe that Estonia must provide armed resistance in the event of an attack – is similarly high.

”More than half of the Estonian population is prepared to personally defend the country in the event of an attack,” Laanet said, via a press release. […]

NATO membership continues to be largely supported, while the presence of NATO personnel in Estonia is also largely appreciated, the survey found. Kalle Laanet said: ”NATO’s role in ensuring Estonia’s security continues to be considered important – 52 percent believe that if a conflict breaks out, NATO will provide direct military assistance, while forty-five per cent believe that NATO membership will prevent military conflict.” Läs artikel

With the Biden administration’s stated intention of restarting the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, a welcome opportunity to reengage with diplomacy in a troubled part of the world could well be on the horizon. Even if that intention is imperiled by recent actions in Syria, it is imperative that no more such provocations occur for the long-term interests of U.S.-Iranian relations. From being able to exit various proxy wars to normalizing trade in the Persian Gulf, the necessity of using diplomacy first to engage with Iran is becoming more apparent to many in Washington, DC. What should also be considered, in addition to the immediate benefits of reconstituting the nuclear deal, are the long-term geopolitical opportunities that would open up throughout Eurasia if and when U.S.-Iranian relations are ever properly normalized. Läs artikel

The British Royal Navy recently posted photos of its HMS Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier strike group on social media, demonstrating the core maritime force it is determined to form. According to an official agreement previously signed by the British and American defense officials, a combined strike group, led by the aircraft carrier Queen Elizabeth, will be deployed to the Asia-Pacific in the spring of 2021.

London’s decision to merge forces with Washington to form a new carrier strike group has captured extensive attention. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson told the parliament, “Next year HMS Queen Elizabeth will lead a British and allied task group on our most ambitious deployment for two decades, encompassing the Mediterranean, the Indian Ocean and East Asia, where we will carry out joint military exercises and patrols with our allied naval ships.”

There are two reasons why the UK is eager to deploy its newly formed combat force to the Asia Pacific. For one thing, it is intensifying its “presence” by enhancing and showcasing its military strengths and participating in global hotspot issues. Worried about its increasing isolation from the international community since Brexit, the country is anxious to restore its international standing in a proactive or even aggressive posture. In 2019, the then Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson said Britain might build new military bases in the South China Sea and the Caribbean Sea, which would get his country back to the international stage as a ’true global player’. Läs artikel

China increased its 2021 defense budget by 6.8 percent to 1.35 trillion yuan ($209 billion) in a quicker pace than last year’s growth, which analysts believe is normal, steady and restrained as the country resiliently emerges from the wreckage of COVID-19 pandemic.

The budget increase, released in a draft budget report issued at the opening of the annual session of the National People’s Congress (NPC), the country’s top legislature, on Friday, is slightly higher than the 6.6 percent hike in 2020 when the country and the rest of the world were still struggling to fight the unprecedent COVID-19 pandemic that upended the globe. […]

China has kept its defense spending at around 1.3 percent of its GDP in recent years, which is far below the average global level of 2.6 percent, data shows.
The US, by far the world’s top military spender, has spent about four times China’s figure in recent years. A US defense budget proposal in February 2020 for fiscal year 2021 requested $740.5 billion for national security, $705.4 billion of which is for the US Department of Defense. Läs artikel