Månad: juli 2024

If Washington pressures European capitals to join its campaign to limit China’s power and influence, it could yet again estrange the U.S. from its most important allies. Confronting China as a merry band of democratic countries may feel emotionally satisfying, but over the long term, it is unwise. Europeans are already disillusioned by their involvement in the interminable post-Sept. 11 wars and wary of America’s tendency toward military interventions. President Biden should be careful to not drag them into a more expansive global contest to which they neither want to nor can contribute.

Disputes about trade and technology accompany these military and political differences. America’s Inflation Reduction Act and the European Union’s proposed carbon border tax, for instance, create tensions. Economic disagreements pale before the overriding imperative of deterring Chinese or Russian aggression against Taiwan or NATO territory, but considering all these factors, the U.S. and Europe should split their attention. As it concentrates forces in the Pacific, the U.S. should encourage Europe to bolster its defenses closer to home. European allies should double down on deterring Moscow rather than dilute their efforts in a far-off region where they can make little difference. Läs artikel

Strategin pekar ut tre fokusområden för arbetet med nationell säkerhet.
Det första – Ett säkert Sverige – fokuserar på skyddet mot yttre hot. Det behandlar vår utrikes-, säkerhets- och försvarspolitik, vår Natointegration och vårt agerande som allierad, försvaret
av Ukraina, vår roll i EU samt arbetet för att upprätthålla den regelbaserade världsordningen.
Det andra området – Ett tryggt, öppet och sammanhållet Sverige  handlar om skyddet av öppenhet, demokrati och sammanhållning i det svenska samhället. Det innefattar värnandet av mänskliga
fri- och rättigheter, rättsstatens principer och stärkandet av samhällsviktiga institutioner, bekämpandet av den systemhotande organiserade brottsligheten och av våldsbejakande extremism och terrorism, motverkande av parallella samhällsstrukturer, inklusive genom förebyggande  åtgärder.
Det tredje området – Ett motstånds- och konkurrenskraftigt Sverige – behandlar åtgärder för att stärka det svenska samhällets motståndskraft, både mot en ständigt pågående hybridpåverkan och mot de extraordinära prövningar som kriser och krig medför. Området omfattar också åtgärder för att säkra och stärka svensk konkurrenskraft och försörjningsberedskap, vilket är grunden för vår förmåga att värna vår säkerhet, för snabb anpassning till förändrade förhållanden samt för arbetet med klimatanpassning. Läs strategin

Ett fly av typen Boeing E-6B Mercury fra det amerikanske forsvaret var på besøk på Rygge flystasjon og reiste over til Vestlandet før det dro tilbake til Rygge.

Søndag 23. juni var den amerikanske ubåten USS Tennessee rundt 35 kilometer fra det norske fastlandet. […]

Nei til Atomvåpen kom med denne pressemeldinga i samarbeid med ICAN Norge og Leger mot Atomvåpen (NLA):

Søndag 23. juni var den amerikanske ubåten USS Tennessee rundt 35 kilometer fra det norske fastlandet. Standard utrusting på slike ubåter er rundt 20 Trident-II-missiler, som ifølge atomvåpeneksperten Hans Kristensen er utstyrt med 4-5 stridshoder hver. Skipet er dermed sannsynligvis utstyrt med 90 kjernefysiske stridshoder, og det er første gang et slikt skip kommer til overflaten i norsk økonomisk sone siden slutten på den kalde krigen.

Nå øver USA aktivt med atomvåpen rett utenfor Norge, og kritiske deler av amerikansk atomvåpeninfrastruktur opererer fra militærbaser i Norge. Nå står vi midt i en apokalyptisk standoff som vekker minner fra Cubakrisen, hvor stormaktene bruker Norge som arena for å true med og demonstrere sine atomvåpen, sier Philippe Bédos Ulvin, politisk rådgiver i Nei til Atomvåpen. Läs artikel

Först Ukraina, sedan Ryssland, och nu Kina. Ungerns premiärminister Viktor Orbán, som nu sitter på ordförandeposten i Europeiska rådet, har fortsatt med sin ostämplade diplomati.

”Fredsuppdrag 3.0”, står det i ett inlägg på X som visar Ungerns premiärminister Viktor Orbán på en flygplats i Beijing. Några timmar senare skrivs det på Orbáns flöde att han har rest till Beijing för att diskutera fred i Ukraina med Kinas president Xi Jinping.

Ungern innehar det roterande ordförandeskapet för Europeiska rådet, vilket Orbán nu verkar utnyttja för att starta sin egen medlingskampanj. Men bland andra EU:s utrikeschef Josep Borrell har understrukit att han inte talar för unionen.

Tidigare besökte Orbán Ukraina, och strax därpå Ryssland. Mötet med Putin har väckt stark kritik.

Timingen för mötena passar även in i tidtabellen för Natos 75-års jubileum, årsdagen markeras med ett toppmöte som går av stapeln på tisdag. Läs artikel

På måndag 8. juli 2024 inleder de nya rekryterna sin tjänstgöring vid Försvarsmaktens och Gränsbevakningsväsendets truppförband. I kontingent 2/24 börjar cirka 12 000 nya rekryter, varav cirka 600 kvinnor, sin tjänstgöring.

Av dem som nu inleder tjänstgöringen börjar omkring 10 000 vid Arméns truppförband. Cirka 1 600 värnpliktiga inleder sin militära karriär vid Marinen. De övriga fördelar sig på Gränsbevakningens och Flygvapnets truppförband. De flesta svenskspråkiga rekryter inleder tjänstgöringen vid Nylands brigad.

Det finns över 660 olika uppgifter inom militärtjänstgöringen, och varje rekryt kan hitta en uppgift som motsvarar hens kunnande och funktionsförmåga. Dessutom utvecklas viktiga civila färdigheter i tjänstgöringen, såsom färdigheter att fungera i grupp och som ledare. Läs artikel

The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), a regional security bloc founded in 2001, is increasingly positioning itself as a counterbalance to Western influence in Eurasia. At its annual meeting in Astana, Kazakhstan, the organization’s leaders, particularly Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin, emphasized the group’s growing importance in reshaping the global order.[…]

President Xi Jinping’s call to resist “external meddling” underscores the SCO’s primary objective of reducing Western influence in the region. His metaphor of “small yards with high fences” likely alludes to what the bloc perceives as Western attempts to isolate or contain SCO member states. Xi’s emphasis on safeguarding the “right to development” suggests a narrative that positions the SCO as a guardian of its members’ sovereign interests against external pressures.

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s proposal for a new set of Eurasian collective security treaties marks a bold attempt to reshape the region’s security architecture. While details remain limited, Putin’s suggestion that this system should be open to all countries on the continent, including NATO members, while aiming to remove external military presence (particularly American) from Eurasia, reveals Russia’s ambition to diminish U.S. influence in the region. Läs artikel

The president insisted that his campaign would continue and that he was the best candidate for the job in an interview with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos on Friday.

Rejecting calls for him to step aside, Biden defended his determination to remain in the race by using one of his favorite foreign policy talking points, the conceit that America is the indispensable or essential nation. Building on the idea expressed by then-Secretary of State Madeleine Albright a quarter century ago, the president said, “You know, not only am I campaigning, but I’m running the world. Not — and that’s not hy — sounds like hyperbole, but we are the essential nation of the world. Madeleine Albright was right.”

Later in the interview, Biden also maintained that there was no one else who could lead as well as he could. He asked Stephanopoulos, “who’s gonna be able to hold NATO together like me? Who’s gonna be able to be in a position where I’m able to keep the Pacific Basin in a position where we’re — we’re at least checkmating China now? Who’s gonna — who’s gonna do that? Who has that reach?” Läs artikel

Just when heads of Western military alliance Nato will be meeting in a summit from July 9 to 11 in Washington next week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be the guest of Russian President Vladimir Putin in Russia on July 8-9. […]

The most unmistakable message from the Modi-Putin summit will be that Russia is not isolated in the face of a united West. Days before the Nato Summit and meeting Modi, Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban has met Putin in Moscow in a show of rare solidarity because Hungary is a Nato member. Orban’s visit has been heavily criticised by EU leaders. Modi’s visit could be another occasion for Russia to project the failure of the West to isolate it. Läs artikel

[…] Taken together, these challenges cast a long shadow over the future of the Atlantic Alliance. The U.S., the linchpin of NATO, is increasingly focused on the rise of China and the complex security challenges of the Indo-Pacific region. This shift in focus could lead to a decreased American commitment to European security, further straining the Alliance’s cohesion.

In and of themselves, these challenges could well prove fatal to NATO. But I would argue that the inevitable demise of the Alliance has even deeper roots — roots having to do with the shift in polarity over the past decade or so.

NATO was conceived in a bipolar world to address the reality of superpower competition. The rigid alliance structure and focus on collective defense were well-suited to deterring Soviet aggression.

With the demise of the USSR in 1991, NATO adapted to the new realities of the so-called “unipolar moment.” The absence of a major peer competitor allowed the U.S. to maintain its dominant position within the Alliance, and NATO morphed into an instrument of American primacy.

But the unipolar moment has definitively passed and we have entered a new geopolitical era — one defined fundamentally by multipolarity. The rise of China, a resurgent Russia, a more assertive India and the rise of other regional powers has created a more complex, chaotic and competitive security environment. Läs artikel

NATO is approaching a watershed moment. It is worth remembering that the most successful military alliance in world history started as a peace project, and its future success depends on its ability to maintain peace. But today, instead of peace, the agenda is the pursuit of war; instead of defense it is offense. All this runs counter to NATO’s founding values. Hungary’s historical experience is that such transformations never lead in a good direction. The task today should be to preserve the alliance as a peace project.

On those occasions when we need to make statements about NATO, we Hungarians are in a special position. Our accession to NATO was the first time in several centuries that Hungary had voluntarily joined a military alliance. The significance of our membership only becomes clear in light of Hungary’s history. Läs artikel