Månad: juni 2022

Turkey has rejected invitations by NATO to participate in trilateral talks with Finland and Sweden aimed at finding a solution to Ankara’s opposition to the Nordic countries’ applications to join the western military alliance, Financial Times reported. […]

A trilateral meeting mediated by NATO officials was the “ultimate objective . . . but we’re not there yet,” a senior official from the alliance told the Financial Times, citing Turkey’s unwillingness to participate and a lack of clarity regarding Ankara’s demands of the two applicants.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday reiterated his demand for concessions from the two Nordic nations. “Until Sweden and Finland show clear, concrete and decisive steps we will definitely not change our stance on the NATO issue,” he said.

Asked about a failure to hold trilateral talks, NATO secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg said this week that “we have a process now where there have been meetings in different formats.” Läs artikel

Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar and Greek MPs engaged in an intense confrontation in Istanbul on Tuesday during the joint meeting of the Political Committee of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly (NATO PA) and the Mediterranean and Middle East Special Group.

Livanos asked him, “How is it possible for Turkey on the one hand to invoke the NATO Alliance and on the other to threaten Greece with a casus belli?” He also stressed that Turkey speaks about sovereignty of states, “while it is the one that has invaded Cyprus.” Läs artikel

Guðlaug­ur Þór Þórðar­son the Minister of the Environment, Energy and Climate and Peter Hultqvist the Defense Minister of Sweded signed a mutual agreement about the cooperation of Iceland and Sweden in security and defense matters. […]

In the agreement the focus is on strengthen the cooperation between the countries to meet the security challenges in the vicinity of both countries, in the North Atlantic and the North, as well as multilevel threats. Furthermore, the countries want to be on the same page when it comes to cyber security and targeted information dissemination and work together on the implementation on Security Council Resolution 1325 about women, peace and securityis reported in a press release from the Foreign Mininstry in Iceland. Läs artikel

Det svenska försvaret kommer att växa snabbt framöver. Med medlemskapet i Nato så kan utformningen av det bli en annan än vad som hittills är tänkt.

ÖB Micael Bydén säger till Ekot att ”vi kan vara mer offensiva, vi kan vara tuffare från början…för vi vet att där bakom kommer någon och fyller på”.

Svensk trupp kan tränas för att strida på plats i våra grannländer under Natos ledning. Läs artikel

The U.S. announced it will send an additional $1 billion in military aid to Ukraine, as America and its allies provide longer-range weapons they say can make a difference in a fight where Ukrainian forces are outnumbered and outgunned by their Russian invaders.

President Joe Biden and his top national security leaders said Wednesday the U.S. is moving as fast as possible to get critical weapons to the fight, even as Ukrainian officials protest that they need more, faster, in order to survive.

The latest package, the U.S. said, includes anti-ship missile launchers, howitzers and more rounds for the High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) that U.S. forces are training Ukrainian troops on now. All are key weapons systems that Ukrainian leaders have urgently requested as they battle to stall Russia’s slow but steady march to conquer the eastern Donbas region. Läs artikel

As NATO members work to figure out what Turkey will accept in exchange for allowing Sweden and Finland to join the alliance, an emerging question is whether Turkey would be allowed back into the F-35 program as part of the negotiations.

The answer, as far as the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee is concerned, is pretty clear: “Turkey’s not coming back into the F-35 program,” Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., told reporters this morning at an event hosted by the Defense Writers’ Group.

Turkey was an early partner in the F-35 program, and helped fund the development of the jet. The plan was for them to purchase 100 of the F-35A models, which have been bought by a number of NATO countries. However, a decision by Ankara to purchase the Russian S-400 air defense system set off alarm bells, with the US and others raising concerns that the Russian system would be used to gather information about the F-35 for Moscow. Läs artikel

The Russian military said it used long-range missiles Wednesday to destroy a depot in the western Lviv region of Ukraine where ammunition for NATO-supplied weapons was stored, and the governor of a key eastern city acknowledged that Russian forces are advancing in heavy fighting.

In the Lviv region near the border with NATO member Poland, Russian forces used high-precision Kalibr missiles to destroy the depot near the town of Zolochiv, Russian Defence Ministry spokesperson Igor Konashenkov said.

Konashenkov said shells for M777 howitzers, a type supplied by the United States, were stored there. He said four howitzers were destroyed elsewhere and that Russian airstrikes also destroyed Ukrainian ”aviation equipment” at a military aerodrome in the southern Mykolaiv region.

Ukrainian officials did not immediately comment on the Zolochiv strike. Läs artikel

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg was accused by Greece’s opposition on Tuesday of acting like “Erdogan’s Ambassador” to the Alliance.

PASOK-Movement for Change leader Nikos Androulakis criticized Stoltenberg for his statements on Turkey’s provocations against Greece and the objections he expresses regarding the accession of Sweden and Finland to the Alliance.

“Unfortunately, this is not the first time that Mr. Stoltenberg has chosen to justify the authoritarian Erdogan regime, even Turkey’s extortionate attitude towards Sweden and Finland,” Androulakis said, adding: “It should be absolutely understood by everyone that it will be the last. He can not be both Erdogan’s ambassador and NATO Secretary General.” Läs artikel

[…] Question: Johannes Ledel, AFP. I have a question. One question each for you. Prime Minister Andersson, I was wondering out of the sort of concrete demands that have been circulated from Turkey such as extraditions, are there any of those demands that we’ve seen that Sweden is willing to agree to? And I was also wondering Mr. Stoltenberg, if you can, maybe as, if Sweden and Turkey would not be able to reach an agreement on these demands, what can NATO and other NATO members offer Turkey as recompense?

Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson:

We take the Turkish concerns very seriously and other issues and not at least there’s security concerns when it comes to the fight against terrorism. And we have a bilateral and trilateral dialogue with Turkey ongoing right now and we will of course, very clearly, state how we are working against terrorism and how we are fighting against terrorists. We have, we have changed our laws during the last years and have a much stronger legislation against in the fight against terrorists than we had before. And also during my years as Minister of Finance, we have a much stricter regulation when it comes to financing of terrorism. And we will also the first of July have even stronger legislation when it comes to the fight against terrorism. So here there are no questions about how strongly Sweden sees on terrorism and that we are willing to contribute to the fight, fight against terrorism. When it comes to the question of arms export. If you listen to the declaration that the Foreign Minister had last week in Parliament, you can also see that as a member of NATO, the current legislation we have might be viewed, might make the decisions that independent agency, might view it differently. Läs referatet från mötet

Republikens president och statsrådets utrikes- och säkerhetspolitiska ministerutskott slog söndagen den 15 maj 2022 fast att Finland ansöker om medlemskap i Nordatlantiska fördragsorganisationen Nato efter att riksdagen har hörts.

President Niinistö sade: ”Mycket har hänt. Det här är en historisk dag. En ny tid börjar. Jag vill fästa särskild uppmärksamhet vid hur demokratin har fungerat i Finland. Med det avser jag folket, de politiska partierna, regeringen och riksdagen i Finland. Tillsammans har de visat demokratins styrka.”

Man kan fråga sig om demokratin fungerade klanderfritt. Avgörande var gallupdemokratin. Det blev ingen folkomröstning.

President Niinistö konstaterade alltså att ”en ny tid börjar”. Han sade inte, när den nya tiden börjar. Det verkar nu som att tidpunkten kommer att bestämmas av Turkiets president.

Mot bakgrund av ovanstående skulle jag vilja fråga Niinistö om han fick (före den 15 maj) Turkiets presidents uttryckliga löfte om att Turkiet accepterar Finlands ansökan om medlemskap? Och minister Haavisto: Fick han (före den 15 maj) ett liknande löfte från den turkiske utrikesministern? Om de inte fick det, kommer de att avgå på grund av att de vilselett det finska folket? Läs artikel