Månad: oktober 2021

The hits just keep coming. When Barack Obama’s administration, along with Washington’s NATO allies, launched an air war to overthrow Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi in 2011, expectations were high for the future of that country once Qaddafi was gone. Instead, the result has been an ongoing horror story.

Feuding factions have waged power struggles that created repeated flows of desperate refugees, many of them trying to make the perilous journey across the Mediterranean in overloaded, small boats to reach sanctuary in Europe. Other countries, including Egypt, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Russia have become parties to the conflict, backing their favored political and military players, thereby adding to the bloodshed and chaos. Today’s Libya is an arena for cynical proxy wars between the clients of those outside powers.

A new report from the United Nations highlights the extent of the tragedy that U.S. leaders helped unleash. The UN’s fact-finding mission identified war crimes and crimes against humanity on the part of multiple parties just since 2016. “Our investigations have established that all parties to the conflicts, including third States, foreign fighters and mercenaries, have violated international humanitarian law, in particular the principles of proportionality and distinction, and some have also committed war crimes,” Mohamed Auajjar, chair of the fact-finding mission, said in a statement. Läs artikel

NATO exercises “Iron Wolf – 2021 II” begin at the training ground in the Lithuanian city of Pabrade near the border with Belarus, they will last about two weeks, Sputnik Lithuania reports with reference to the press service of the republic’s army.

“In Lithuania, the international exercises” Iron Wolf – 2021 II “(Geležinis vilkas 2021 II) will begin, which will last about two weeks… It is reported that the mechanized infantry brigade of the Lithuanian armed forces” Iron Wolf “announced an increase in combat readiness,” writes Sputnik. […]

“The exercise will last about two weeks, it will be attended by 3,000 soldiers and a thousand pieces of military equipment that are already on their way to Pabrade. The exercises will be attended by servicemen from Lithuania and other NATO countries – Belgium, Czech Republic, Great Britain, Spain, USA, Latvia, Poland, Luxembourg, Norway, the Netherlands and Germany, as well as soldiers from Ukraine. The main operations that the soldiers will be trained in are attack and defense,” adds Sputnik. Läs artikel

Finland deltar i den Natoledda stabsövningen Steadfast Jupiter 2021 under tiden 19 – 28.10.2021.

Stabsövningen Steadfast Jupiter 2021 (STJU21) leds av Nordatlantiska försvarsorganisationens (Natos) styrkor Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) 19 – 28.10.2021. Från Försvarsmakten deltar ca 30 stabsofficerare i övningen, av vilka ca en tredjedel arbetar i Norge, i Stavanger och resten som förbindelseofficerare i olika stabsstrukturer inom Nato.

Finland deltar i övningen i rollen som kompanjonsland. STJU21 erbjuder Finland en möjlighet att öva samverkan mellan staber med Nato i störningssituationer under normala förhållanden och utvecklar samtidigt samarbetet med flera för Finland viktiga kompanjonsländer och organisationer som deltar i övningen.

Statsrådets försvarsredogörelse ”Finland stärker försvarssamarbetet och utvecklar samverkansförmågan med de mest centrala partnerna för alla säkerhetssituationer som påverkar Finland. Finland bör ha en förmåga att agera tillsammans med sina viktigaste partner, då särskilt beslut om det fattas, även i krissituationer.” Läs pressmeddelande

[…] A significant legal problem faced by the US-administration after the September 11th attacks, as well as by previous US administrations, was that policing risks and punishing wrongdoings unilaterally in the periphery had been outlawed by the UN Charter. The UN Charter had deliberately closed legal loopholes for unilateral great power interventions by setting out a broad prohibition of the use of force in Art. 2 (4) and by restricting exceptions to collective action authorized by the Security Council and to a narrowly worded right to self-defense.

Ironically, it was the US delegation which at the San Francisco Conference in 1945 insisted that Art. 51 UN Charter should be constructed as restrictively as possible. […]

In other words, the endless post-9/11 debates about whether or not Art. 51 UN Charter allows for measures of self-defense against terrorists obscured that the re-interpretation of Art. 51 UN Charter in this context was just another attempt to re-introduce legal justifications for outlawed forms of great power interventionism in the periphery, whenever vital interests of a great power were at stake. Accordingly, subsequent US interventions in the Middle East, including the 2018 missile strikes punishing the Syrian government for chemical attacks in Douma, and the more recent US killing of the high ranking Iranian general Soleimani in Iraq proved that the application of the new cored self-defense doctrine was by no means limited to threats created by non-state actors. Unfortunately, this claimed right to police und punish in the periphery on the basis of undisclosed intelligence information about potential threats as “self-defense” would bring back the old “measures short of war”, at a time when great powers like the Russian Federation and China have begun to assert regional prerogatives in a much more robust fashion. Without a concerted rejection of a right of unilateral military self-help, retaliation and punishment as “self-defense”, the 2001 US intervention in Afghanistan could eventually go down in history as the beginning of the end of the assertion of a broad UN-Charter based prohibition of the use of force. Läs artikel

Over 100 state delegations attended a ceremony here on Monday marking the 60th anniversary of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), issuing a joint call for multilateralism in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic and in international relations in general.

The event, co-organized by Serbia and Azerbaijan, opened at the Belgrade Fair complex on Monday in front of the presidents, prime ministers and foreign ministers of the NAM member countries, representatives of the observer countries and nine international organizations.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, who is the current chair of the NAM, addressed the participants via a video link. He said that his country ”will spare no effort” to strengthen the NAM’s role in ”addressing global challenges in international relations and defend justice and international law,” especially when it affects the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the NAM member states.

”Unfortunately, double standards and selective approaches applied in respect to the norms and principles of international law and the decisions of international organizations have been negatively affecting the just and fair settlement of conflicts throughout the world,” he said. […]

The Non-Aligned Movement, which today includes 120 member states and 18 observer states, was established in Belgrade in 1961. Läs artikel

In June 1945, the Soviet Union was at the peak of its power: Nazi Germany had been defeated, the whole of Eastern Europe was firmly inside Moscow’s sphere of influence, and the Red Army, the strongest in the world at the time, was preparing to enter the war against Japan and deliver a decisive blow.

In these circumstances, the Soviet leadership believed it was high time to exert diplomatic pressure on Turkey, with which it had a number of important military, political and territorial disputes. The Soviets’ newfound authority and enormous influence, as well as the fact that the Western allies desperately needed Soviet help in the war against the Japanese, convinced Stalin that dealing with Ankara would be like taking candy from a baby. Subsequent events proved otherwise. Läs artikel

Joe Biden’s China policy is unnecessarily adversarial. It is impractical and dangerous. It plays out as if it is being run by WWII reenactors.

China was artificially reimagined as an enemy-in-a-box as the wars of terror sputtered out and America needed a new villain. Biden envisions China as an autocratic foil for democracy to wage a global struggle against. “On my watch,” Joe said, “China will not achieve its goal to become the leading country in the world, the wealthiest country in the world, and the most powerful country in the world.” Biden went on to claim the world was at an inflection point to determine “whether or not democracy can function in the 21st century.” In Biden’s neo-Churchillian view, the U.S. and, what the hell, the whole free world he believes he is president of, are in a death match with China. […]

China and Taiwan make sport out of lofting rhetoric at each other, all the while maintaining a robust economic relationship that defines modus vivendi. Between 1991 and March 2020, Taiwan’s investment in China totaled $188.5 billion, more than China’s investment in the United States. In 2019, the value of cross-strait trade was $149.2 billion. Pre-Covid, travelers from China made 2.68 million visits to Taiwan. China is Taiwan’s largest trading partner. China might one day buy Taiwan, but until then what incentive would it have to drop bombs on one of its best customers? […]

In an end run timed to mock the American submarine deal with Australia, China applied in September to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership. A week later, with no opposition voiced by Beijing, Taiwan applied to join as well. Radio silence on both applications from Washington, who, as a non-participant in the group, doesn’t even have a vote on the matter. And Biden has made clear he has no plans to join in the future. Läs artikel

Med et stort glis, og norske og amerikanske flagg i både for- og bakgrunnen, undertegnet forsvarsminister Frank Bakke-Jensen i april en kritisert og omstridt militæravtale med USA.

Av regjeringen blir avtalen beskrevet som en «modernisering» av Norges forsvarssamarbeid med USA. Av kritikerne blir den beskrevet som et knefall for verdens største militærmakt.

Nå vedgår også regjeringen, ved Forsvarsdepartementet, at det kan være problematiske sider ved avtalen. […]

Pensjonert flaggkommandør i Sjøforsvaret, Jacob Børresen, er kritisk til avtalen av flere årsaker.

– Amerikanerne skal etablere banker, postvesen og egne butikker her. De skal ikke lenger være omfattet av krav om diplomatisk klarering og de slipper visumplikt. Samtidig får de rett til å bygge bygninger i henhold til amerikanske byggeforskrifter, som vi seinere kan overta, men neppe kan bruke fordi de ikke overholder norske krav, sier Børresen. Han legger til:

– Nei, jeg liker ikke dette, og synes avtalen går altfor langt i møte med amerikanernes krav.

Først og fremst er den tidligere flaggkommandøren kritisk til avtalen fordi den kan ses på som et brudd med en av hovedlinjene i norsk sikkerhetspolitikk de siste 70 åra: Den norske basepolitikken. Läs artikel

Det finns alltid skäl att bli misstänksam då regeringen en fredag smyger ut ett pressmeddelande.

Inte minst gäller det då det inte framgår av rökpuffarna från justitiedepartementet att den nya spionerilagen, strimlad av remissinstanser, efter några års tystnad plötsligt ska träda i kraft. En lag som innehåller inskränkningar i grundlagen och som mycket väl kan göra det svårare för tidningar, radio och tv att avslöja grova förbrytelser som begås i andra länder.

För att förstå varför regeringen använder sig av denna sluga hysch-hysch-taktik behöver vi först bege oss tillbaka till februari 2018.

Det var då utredningen om det nya brottet utlandsspioneri presenterades. En nykriminalisering som säkerligen är behövlig, då det handlar om att skydda internationella samarbeten om fred och säkerhet mot figurer som är lika ljusskygga som snokande. Men enligt förslaget skulle också nyhetsrapportering som allvarligt skadar Sveriges relation med andra länder kunna leda till upp till åtta års fängelse.

Detta gällde även avslöjanden om insatser utförda av organisationer som EU, Nato eller FN. Läs artikel

Lovordene satt løst fra pressefrihetsforkjempere etter nyheten om at Nobels fredspris 2021 går til Maria Ressa fra Filippinene og Dmitrij Muratov fra Russland. […]

NUJP skriver i en pressemelding at de gratulerer Ressa og Muratov med prisen:

«Denne prisen er ikke bare en anerkjennelse av deres arbeid, men også av pressefrihetens og ytringsfrihetens betydning, ikke bare i deres land, men i hele verden», skriver NUJP, og roser Ressa og Muratov for å forsvare disse frihetene under stadig mer utfordrende forhold. […]

– Vinnerne fortjener all den støtta de kan få. Ressa har med store omkostninger opponert mot et voldelig regime, mens Muratov blant annet har skrevet kritisk om Vladimir Putins krigføring i Tsjetsjenia, sier Rune Ottosen, professor emeritus ved Institutt for journalistikk og mediefag på Oslomet.

– De er begge verdige vinnere, slår han fast.

Samtidig legger ikke Ottosen skjul på at han også er skuffet. I januar nominerte han og kollega Elisabeth Eide Wikileaks-grunnlegger Julian Assange til årets fredspris.

I nominasjonsteksten skrev Ottosen og Eide blant annet følgende: «Julian Assange har ved å publisere dokumenter om krigsforbrytelser fra USA og alliertes side bidratt til en global offentlig debatt om deres krigføring, med spesiell vekt på krigene i Afghanistan og Irak.»

– Assange hadde fortjent prisen enda mer. Han er også en publisist som har risikert mye og avdekket viktige krigsforbrytelser og betalt en stor pris for det, sier Ottosen. Läs artikel