Månad: januari 2022

Polish Air Force F-16 fighter jets will take part in NATO training flights over Estonia next week, along with the similar aircraft from Belgium, the country’s defense forces said on Monday.

“From January 10-16, training flights at low altitude in Estonia’s airspace will be carried out not only by the pilots of the Belgian air force F-16 fighters stationed at the Amari airbase near Tallinn, but also by their Polish colleagues who are serving on military aircraft of the same brand in Lithuania,” the Estonian Defense Forces said. […]

On Tuesday, the US Air Force deployed F-16 Fighting Falcon fighter jets in Poland, so that the aircraft “work with the Polish Baltic Air Policing F-16s in Siauliai, Lithuania and enhanced Air Policing Belgian F-16s in Amari, Estonia,” the Allied Air Command said. Läs artikel

Fengslingen av Lars Findsen kom fram under et rettsmøte mandag, der et tidligere navneforbud i saken ble opphevet.[…]

Findsen har ledet Forsvarets Efterretningstjeneste (FE) i seks år og er ifølge Danmarks Radio siktet for lekkasje av «høyt klassifiserte opplysninger». Han ble pågrepet 8. desember og har sittet i varetekt siden.

Den tredje saken de to etterretningssjefene skal ha advart mot å grave for dypt i, var Danmarks samarbeid med den amerikanske signaletterretningsorganisasjonen National Security Agency (NSA). Dette samarbeidet er inngående beskrevet av flere danske medier.

Tilsynet for de danske etterretningstjenestene (TET) rettet i august 2020 hard kritikk mot FE i forbindelse med NSA-saken, og Findsen og fire andre ledere ble tatt ut av tjeneste.

En hemmelig kommisjon gransket anklagene om at FE hadde ført tilsynet bak lyset og utsatt dansker for en uberettiget risiko for overvåking i forbindelse med sitt tette samarbeid med NSA, men konkluderte med at det ikke var tilfelle. Läs artikel

The new threat of war over Ukraine resulting from the Russian demands of December 2021 should focus the minds of U.S. and European policymakers on the unsolved dispute that is responsible for much of the tension between Russia and Ukraine, and that provides the most likely flashpoint for war. The Donbas conflict, which has cost more than 14,000 lives since 2015, is at permanent risk of breaking out again with disastrous results. By the same token, a solution to the conflict would contribute greatly to an improvement in wider relations between the West and Russia.

A solution to the conflict is at hand, in the form of the Minsk II agreement of 2015 calling for autonomy for a demilitarized Donbas within Ukraine, under international guarantees. Actually to establish this settlement will however take intensive pressure by the United States and its allies on Ukraine as well as Russia; for since 2015 Ukrainian governments and parliaments have refused to take the essential first steps to its implementation. Läs artikel

A coalition of both conservative and progressive foreign policy organizations have delivered a letter to the White House, asking the president to pursue a broad diplomatic path with the Russians in the much-anticipated U.S.-Russia talks on Monday and in NATO meetings later next week.

The letter, which was signed by the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, asks the White House to pursue the Minsk agreements which would “demilitarize the eastern Donbas region of Ukraine and guarantee meaningful political autonomy to the region while retaining Ukrainian sovereignty over the area and its borders.” QI fellow Anatol Lieven has detailed the agreement and the promise it would hold for peace in the region here. Läs artikel

Brevet finns att läsa nedan.

While two extraordinary ECOWAS and WAEMU summits devoted to Mali will be held in Accra on Sunday, the Malian transitional authorities and the international community have started a standoff. Who will win?

The Malian dossier is undoubtedly one of the hottest at the start of 2022, for Africa. The military junta, which took power in August 2020, has been in the sights of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) since last May. […]

We are therefore heading inexorably towards a confrontation between Mali and ECOWAS. Assimi Goïta knows full well that, although Mali risks going to clash, especially after the tensions between his country and the sub-regional organization, ECOWAS cannot afford to leave Mali on the sidelines for too long. […]

A military cooperation between Mali and Russia much more assumed by Bamako, from now on. ”We have received new planes and military equipment” from the Russians, the Malian army spokesman told Reuters on Thursday. “It costs less to train in their use on site than there (in Russia, editor’s note). What’s the problem ? », Asks the military official. Läs artikel

Dear President Biden,
On behalf of the fifteen undersigned organizations, we are writing to support your efforts to engage diplomatically with Russia. Continuing engagement is necessary to avert a military conflict that will harm the interests of the United States, harm innocent civilians in Ukraine, and risk spiraling into a potentially catastrophic war between the world’s two leading nuclear powers.
We greatly appreciate your decision to respond to the substantial Russian military deployment near Ukraine by engaging in direct talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and arranging broader talks next week between Russia, the United States, and our NATO allies. We urge you to continue to pursue diplomatic progress, to promote de-escalation, and to seek negotiated solutions to disputes that avoid war.
We agree with Secretary of State Tony Blinken that “[d]iplomacy is the only responsible way to resolve this potential crisis.” We share his view that the “most promising avenue for diplomacy is for Russia and Ukraine to return to dialogue in the context of the Minsk II agreements,” and are encouraged that both the Putin and Zelenskyy administrations have reaffirmed their commitment to Minsk.1 The Minsk II accords would demilitarize the eastern Donbass region of Ukraine and guarantee meaningful political autonomy to the region while retaining Ukrainian sovereignty over the area and its borders. The United States should press both Ukraine and Russia to implement a workable version of the Minsk accords. Läs hela brevet

I Magdalena Anderssons nya regeringsförklaring nämns den feministiska utrikespolitiken, som hade till mål att bidra till nedrustning och trygghet för oss i Sverige och vår omvärld, inte med ett ord. I stället är det samarbetet med Nato som ska fördjupas. Ett samarbete med en kärnvapenallians som vill rusta upp militärt, ökar spänningar i vårt närområde och som urholkar Sveriges alliansfrihet.

Det är en oansvarig historielöshet. Vår militära alliansfrihet har bidragit till att generation efter generation i Sverige kunnat leva i fred. Den har dessutom gett oss ett utrikespolitiskt handlingsutrymme som gjort att vi kunnat spela en viktig internationell roll för fred och nedrustning. Att frångå de framgångarna riskerar att trissa upp spänningarna i vår omvärld. Läs artikel