Månad: juni 2023

Sverige har skänkt tungt vapenstöd till Ukraina motsvarande en halv brigad.

Nu säger ÖB Micael Bydén att stödet måste fortsätta.

– Det jag ansvarar för, där lägger vi egentligen inga begränsningar på särskilda system.

Sverige har i en historisk satsning gett ifrån sig försvarsmateriel för totalt 17 miljarder kronor till Ukraina. Det handlar bland annat om tio Leopardstridsvagnar, 50 stridsfordon 90 och artillerisystemet Archer.

Men enligt ÖB krävs det mer för att Ukraina ska kunna stå emot Rysslands fullskaliga anfallskrig.

– Vi har förstått och vet att det behövs mer. Och det kommer mer, säger överbefälhavare Micael Bydén. Läs artikel

Der lå et tungt ansvar på skuldrene af Hans Blix for 20 år siden, og emnet for hans overvejelser handlede om krig og fred, hvor den svenske diplomat havde en hovedrolle.

Efter Iraks invasion af Kuwait i 1990 og krigen året efter blev Irak ramt af omfattende FN-sanktioner, og Iraks daværende diktator, Saddam Hussein, blev afkrævet at udlevere sine masseødelæggelsesvåben og fortælle om sine programmer for masseødelæggelsesvåben. […]

Hans Blix sagde i marts i anledning af 20-års-dagen for angrebet, at invasionen viste, at udenlandsk intervention normalt ikke virker særlig godt, skriver The Guardian.

»En lære fra Irak-krigen er behovet for at holde fast i kendsgerninger. Anarki kan være værre end terror,« sagde han. […]

Hans Blix har også kritiseret Danmark efter angrebet.

»Den danske regering stolede på den amerikanske regering, hvor lande som Tyskland og Frankrig lyttede mere til våbeninspektørerne,« sagde han i et interview med TV2 News i 2007. Läs artikel

Russia has again issued warnings to both seafarers and pilots to stay away from a large area just east of Grense Jakobselv and the maritime delimitation border between the two countries in the Varanger fjord.

“This is a somewhat unusual location for a Russian NOTAM,” says Kristian Åtland, an expert on Russian military with the Norwegian Research Defence Establishment (FFI). He has for years studied how the Northern Fleet uses military NOTAM-warnings (Notice to Airmen) as a signaling tool to neighboring countries.

The area now marked for artillery shooting is exactly similar to the one from June 1 and 2.

“The Northern Fleet’s training activities usually take place further east, typically east of the Rybachy Peninsula, and often further from the shoreline. This is pretty close to the shore and not far from the maritime border between Norway and Russia,” says Åtland to the Barents Observer.

He underlines that Russia is not doing anything illegal. Every country has the right in accordance with the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea to conduct such activities in international waters. Very few, though, do so just next to the shores of a neighboring country. Unless it is aimed at sending a military signal. Läs artikel

– Der udestår rigtig mange beslutninger. Der udestår, hvad vi skal bruge alle pengene til. Jeg havde gerne set, at vi var kommet længere i retning af at gøre det endnu mere konkret.

En af de centrale diskussioner i forhandlingerne har været, hvad der skal ske med værnepligten.

Her er partierne blevet enige om, at værnepligten fremover skal styrkes ved, at der skal være flere værnepligtige, og at værnepligten skal vare længere end i dag.

Men heller ikke på det område er der lavet en endelig aftale. Hvad der konkret skal ske med værnepligten. Det skal partierne forhandle om til efteråret.

Der har blandt andet været diskussioner om, om der skulle indføres værnepligt for kvinder på samme måde som for mænd, men det er der ikke taget en beslutning om i aftalen. Läs artikel

Google-översatt

[…] Enligt Kivinen finns det många öppna frågor relaterade till Rysslands utveckling i framtiden.

A large fleet of NATO and Ukrainian warships arrived in Glasgow ahead of the 22nd iteration of Exercise Sea Breeze.

The annual multinational maritime exercise, named Alba Breeze this year, is traditionally hosted in the Black Sea by the US Sixth Fleet and the Ukrainian Navy. Still, recent geopolitical developments have shifted the venue to Glasgow. […]

NATO warships usually patrol the Black Sea for approximately two-thirds of the year, but current circumstances make this impossible. Turkey closed the Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits to all warships following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, affecting even those countries bordering the Black Sea. However, the NATO-Ukraine joint exercise continues undeterred, with Glasgow as its new backdrop. Läs artikel

This article examines the precedential value of Russia’s ‘special military operation’ against Ukraine in February 2022 for the purpose of interpreting the rules of jus contra bellum. Following the methodology set down by the ICJ in its Nicaragua judgment, self-defence is identified as the legal basis explicitly invoked by Russia in order to justify its operation in Ukraine. The authors then examine closely the reactions by third states with respect to the legality of Russia’s military operation and establish that the legal arguments put forth by Russia – including, more specifically, an innovative reading of the right to self-defence of entities unilaterally recognized as states – have been overwhelmingly rejected by third states. On that basis, the authors conclude that this precedent does not challenge the established understanding of the prohibition to use force in international relations and of its exceptions. Läs artikel

[…] Between 15 August 2021 and 30 May 2023, when UNAMA’s data set for this report ends, it recorded 3,774 civilian casualties, 1,095 people killed and 2,679 wounded.^[2] The figures for that 21 month period were substantially lower, in terms of the average monthly civilian casualty toll, than for any single year since 2009 when UNAMA began systematically recording civilian casualties. In 2009, the average number of civilian casualties per month was almost three times greater than in those 21 months; in 2016, it was more than five times higher.[…]

Over the twelve and a half years between 2009 and 30 June 2021, when UNAMA published their final pre-takeover report, they recorded 55,041 civilians as having been killed or injured in the conflict. These are the casualties that UNAMA was able to verify – the actual figure will be even higher.The respite from conflict-related violence, which came with the Taleban’s return to power, was for most people, immediate and has been lasting. Many have been able to travel for the first time in years, to farm without fear of artillery shells or air strikes and shop or go to work without fear of attack. However, not everyone has seen the risk of attack reduced. Although violence is now at much lower levels, it is far more targeted at particular communities. Moreover, most civilian casualties appear to be not collateral damage in attacks on military targets but the result of deliberate attacks on civilians and civilian objects. […]

Roughly three-quarters of the total number of civilians killed and injured in the period covered by UNAMA’s report, 15 August 2021 to 30 May 2023, were victims of IED attacks; UNAMA includes in this category both suicide attacks (IEDs fixed to the person) and IEDs fixed to vehicles or laid on roads or in buildings. That high number is why it has focused this report on IEDs and the “casualties of indiscriminate IED attacks in populated areas, including places of worship, schools and markets.” […]

UNAMA attributes the majority of casualties from IEDs in the 21 month period under study to ISKP (Islamic State in Khorasan Province) (1,701), but says “[a] significant number of casualties (1,095) … resulted from IED attacks which were never claimed and/or for which UNAMA was unable to attribute responsibility.” The increase in ISKP-authored attacks came after a period in which their use of this means of attack had reduced (see chart below). Läs artikel

Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom said his country supports Türkiye’s efforts against all threats to its national security and condemns all terrorist organizations, including the PKK, as Stockholm awaits Ankara’s approval of its NATO membership.

Speaking at a joint news conference with British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly in Gotland, Billstrom noted that Sweden’s new anti-terror law will facilitate their cooperation with Türkiye as well as with other NATO and EU countries.

”Sweden fully supports Türkiye against all threats to its national security and condemns all the terrorist organizations, including the PKK, which carry out attacks against it,” he noted.

Billstrom went on to say that Sweden stands ready to be an ”active and loyal ally,” and to contribute to the security of NATO from day one. Läs artikel