Månad: september 2024

Som statsminister besøkte Erna Solberg president Donald Trump i Det hvite Hus 10. januar 2018. I Trumps takkebrev etter besøket var det Norges rolle som «øyne og ører» i nord som ble først framhevet i Trump-administrasjonens takk til Norge.

Tidligere forsvarsminister Anders C. Sjaastad skrev i sin bok Den kalde krigen og Norges sikkerhet at etterretningssamarbeidet mellom USA og Norge var Norges viktigste militære bidrag til vestlig samarbeid under den kalde krigen. […]

Tiden det vil kunne ta for Russland å forberede og gjennomføre et militært angrep på Norge eller USA er drastiskredusert. Det betyr at behovet for å følge alle militære bevegelser kontinuerlig har økt kraftig. Samtidig er detåpenbart at det amerikansk-norske etterretningssamarbeidet utvides. Her er noen eksempler:

• USA bygger nå i samarbeid med Etterretningstjeneste den første bakkestasjonen utenfor USA for et nytt nett av flere hundre satellitter for etterretning og andre militære oppgaverpå Andenes i Nordland.
• NTOC, en cyber-avdeling i den amerikanske etterretningsorganisasjonen NSA, har rangert Etterretningstjenesten som en av sine to nærmeste utenlandske partnere. Etterretningstjenesten og NSA innhenter og deler cyber-data om det russiske politiske lederskapet.
• De siste årene har USA brukt 10 milliarder kroner på en ny radar i Finnmark. Globus-systemet i Vardø er verdens mest avanserte, ifølge Etterretningstjenesten. Läs artikel

Researchers with the Business Index North (BIN) project have investigated Russia’s Arctic investments. According to a new report, they have found that Russia accounts for 50-60 per cent of all Arctic investments. The rest is divided among the seven other Arctic nations; Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Iceland, USA and Canada.

The research indicates Russia’s strategic positioning in the Arctic region and the importance of following developments closely in the years to come.

”There is a strong will from Russia to develop the region”, says Andrey Mineev, head of the BIN project, in a press release from the High North Center for Business and Governance.

The largest investments take place in the Yamalo-Nenets, in the far north-west of the Siberian plain. Together with the regions of Sakha (Yakutia), Krasnoyarsk, Komi, Nenets and Murmansk, these areas account for 80 per cent of Arctic investments. The investments are linked to, among other things, mineral extraction, production and transport. Läs artikel

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is engaged in his largest push yet to get more long-range Western missiles along with the permission to use them deep inside Russian territory. […]

The Ukrainian effort comes as NATO remains divided on aspects of its approach to the war with Russia, particularly on the use of long-range weapons that could escalate the conflict.

Ukraine is already using long-range missiles, fighter aircraft and other high-grade weaponry provided by its Western allies to hit Russian targets in Crimea and other occupied areas inside Ukraine. […]

From the US, Ukraine wants more of the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS). The system can shoot ballistic missiles that can carry cluster munitions up to a range of 300km (190 miles).

This means that they can hit Russian military bases and runways from which Moscow launches attacks against Ukrainian bases, along with towns and cities and energy infrastructure.

The Storm Shadow missiles of the United Kingdom, which are cruise missiles launched from aircraft, are also capable of reaching targets deep inside Russia as they boast a range of up to 250km (155 miles). The French equivalent of these missiles, known as Scalp, has similar capabilities. Läs artikel

Riksdagen sa ja till regeringens förslag om att skänka ytterligare försvarsmateriel och ge ekonomiskt stöd till Ukraina.

Försvarsmateriel ska skänkas i form av exempelvis luftvärnsrobotar, stridsbåt 90, utbildningsmateriel, stridsvagnsminor och pansarskott. Försvarsmakten bedöms kunna avvara försvarsmaterielen under en begränsad tid. Det ekonomiska stödet omfattar bland annat insatser för utbildnings- och övningsverksamhet i Ukraina samt bidrag till fonder.

Sammantaget innebär förslagen att statens utgifter för 2024 ökar med cirka 0,8 miljarder kronor och att regeringen under 2024 får vidta åtgärder som innebär utgifter om ytterligare cirka 3,8 miljarder kronor för år 2025 och senare. Läs protokollet

Finland har nå vært medlem av Nato i snart et og et halvt år.

–  Vi er inne i en lang læringsprosess, og det er mye arbeid å gjøre, sier generalmajor Sami Nurmi, strategisjef i det finske forsvaret.

Blant grepene som Finland arbeider med, er etablering av en framskutt alliert landsstyrke (Nato Forward Land Force, FLF) på finsk jord. Sist uke ble det kjent at Sverige er beredt til å påta seg rollen som rammenasjon for denne styrken.

– Som Nato-medlem og en frontlinjestat vis-à-vis Russland, er det logisk at vi ser på mulighetene for mer regelmessig alliert nærvær i Finland, sier Nurmi til High North News. […]

Norge har en selvpålagt restriksjon på alliert militær aktivitet øst for 24. lengdegrad, som går like øst for Hammerfest. Hva er det finske perspektivet på alliert militært aktivitet nær grensa til Russland?

– Det nåværende regjeringsprogrammet beskriver godt at Finland ikke har satt noen restriksjoner på sitt Nato-medlemskap. Så vi har ingen geografiske begresninger for allierte tropper som beveger seg i ulike deler av landet, svarer Nurmi og fortsetter:

– Vi bruker alle øvingsområdene som egner seg for større internasjonale øvelser. Dessuten er spørsmålet om geografisk innramming annerledes i Finland ettersom nesten alt er nært den lange grensen til Russland.

– Samtidig provoserer vi selvsagt ikke. Vi søker å gjøre alliert aktivitet til hverdagslig virksomhet der vi ikke «banker» på grensen, men bruker våre øvingsområder, som Rovajärvi i Lappland, på regelmessig basis. […]

Finland har samtidig, lik Norge, åpne militære kommunikasjonskanaler til Russland for å unngå misforståelser og utilsiktet eskalering.

– Vår hotline til det russiske forsvaret testes hver uke, og den russiske siden svarer. Samtalen er svært kort. Den finske grensevakten opprettholder også jevnlige kontakter på passende nivåer med sine motparter i Russland, forteller generalmajoren. Läs artikel

Barely noticed in the U.S. — but very much noticed in Germany — was an agreement between Washington and Berlin at the NATO anniversary summit in July. For the first time since the 1980s, Germany agreed to the stationing of three types of U.S. missiles (under U.S. command) on its territory, starting in 2026: The Tomahawk Block 4 cruise missile, with a range of just over 1,000 miles; the Standard Missile-6 (SM-6), with a range of 230 miles, and intended chiefly for an air-defense role; and a Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon (LRHP) which is still under development, and will have a range of more than 1,800 miles.

Two of these missiles will be able to strike deep into Russia, and both will be able to hit Moscow. They are conventionally armed, but nuclear-capable, though to convert them to this role would require a new agreement. This agreement however said nothing about whether Germany will have any control over the missiles on its soil.

The stationing of the Tomahawks and LRHPs is in violation of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear (INF) Treaty of 1987, which bans the stationing of ground-based missiles with a range of between 500 and 5,000 kilometers (310-3,400 miles). However, the Trump administration withdrew from the INF in 2019, and Russia then suspended its own compliance. The Biden administration has made no attempt to negotiate a return to the treaty.

Both the Trump and Obama administrations alleged that the Russian SRBM Iskander ballistic missile (nuclear-capable but not nuclear-armed), with a declared range of under 500 km (within the INF treaty limit) and stationed in Kaliningrad (the isolated territory on the Baltic Sea, adjacent to Poland and Lithuania and 327 miles from Berlin) in fact had a longer range and thus violated the treaty. But this allegation was never independently confirmed, and, after the Russian seizure of Crimea in 2014, the deterioration of U.S.-Russian relations made it impossible to resolve this question through negotiations.

Rather strangely (in a democracy), the latest German government agreement to station the new missiles was made without any prior discussion in the German parliament, the Bundestag, or any prior national debate. This has contributed to the resulting controversy in Germany. Läs artikel

This is Russian warship, you need to leave the area”, was the message chief mate Øystein Orten got over the radio as his crew was about to take the fishing gear up from the water.

It was news online FriFagbevegelse that first talked with the crew of the fishing boat Ragnhild Kristine about the scary confrontation with the Russian navy in the Barents Sea.

The incident happened on September 12th in the maritime border areas north of the Varanger Peninsula. Outside territorial waters, but in Norwegian Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). Here, Russia’s Northern Fleet had pre-annonced live shootings as part of the large-scale strategic exercise Ocean-2024.

But the military exercise and the order to sail away didn’t at first scare the Norwegians. “I replied that it was out of question for us to move. We had longlines to take onboard,” Orten told to FriFagbevegelse. […]

“Norwegian authorities must put pressure on Russia so that they stop sabotaging Norwegian fisheries and shipping,” says Øystein Orten in the interview with FriFagbevegelse.

“Ideally, the Russians can place the firing range further north, east and in their own area. They should not be allowed to close Norwegian fishing areas,” Orten says. Läs artikel

I förra veckanröstade FN:s generalförsamling om en resolution som bland annat kräver att Israel ska följa beslutet från Internationella domstolen i Haag och avsluta ockupationen av palestinsk mark. Domstolen slog också fast att Israels bosättningar på Västbanken är illegala.

Resolutionen fick överväldigande stöd. 124 länder röstade för, 14 länder röstade emot och 43 valde att avstå från att rösta.

Vi socialdemokrater uppmanade före omröstningen den svenska regeringen att stödja resolutionen. Länder som Frankrike, Spanien, Finland, Grekland, Portugal, Belgien, Norge, Japan, Island, Estland och Lettland röstade för resolutionen. Både Finland och Lettland hänvisade i sina röstförklaringar till sin egen nationella historia av att ha varit utsatt för ockupation av främmande makt. De uttryckte att för dem var det därmed särskilt viktigt att markera kraftfullt stöd för folkrätten och internationell lag.

Resolutionen är ett uttryck för målet om en tvåstatslösning, där Israel och Palestina kan existera sida vid sida som två självständiga stater inom internationellt erkända gränser.

Men Sverige lade ner sin röst i denna viktiga omröstning. Det var bara ytterligare ett exempel på när Sverige lämnar walk-over i viktiga ställningstaganden gällande Mellanöstern. Det är numera mer regel än undantag att Sverige lägger ned sin röst i FN. Läs artikel

[…] Rosemary A. DiCarlo, Under-Secretary-General of the Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs, recalled that on the afternoon of 17 September, many communication devices, or “pagers” — primarily used by members of Hizbullah — exploded simultaneously across Lebanon.  Similar explosions were also reported in Syria, while on the following day, a second wave of smaller-scale but more lethal explosions was reported throughout the same areas of Lebanon involving two-way handheld radios. […]

“These attacks represent a new development in warfare, where communication tools become weapons,” said Volker Türk, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.  Highlighting the fundamental distinction between civilian and military targets, he said that simultaneously targeting thousands of individuals, whether civilians or members of armed groups, without knowledge as to who is in possession of the targeted devices, violates international human rights law. Läs artikel

The government leaders from the two new NATO member states last week met in Stockholm to discuss a comprehensive extension of cooperation. They were accompanied by several ministers from both sides.

“It’s wonderful to see how close we are and how much we can cooperate both internationally and bilaterally,” Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo underlined as he met his Swedish colleague Ulf Kristersson.

The declaration signed during the visit includes a number of priorities, among them defense cooperation, civil preparedness, emergency planning, and security of supply.

Also Arctic research is on the list, and the two countries intend to jointly develop a new icebreaker.

“Sweden and Finland have Arctic expertise to jointly explore the development of a state-of-the-art research icebreaker to ensure sustainable and independent Arctic operations,” the document reads.

The new vessel is to help strengthen the two countries’ presence in the Arctic. According to the declaration, the ship will “facilitate the roll-out and repair of subsea cables, and geopolitically strengthening our presence in the region.” Läs artikel

Mellan 9-16 oktober övar stora delar av marinen på syd- och ostkusten, koncentrerat till Blekinge skärgård och Hanöbukten. Förutom Sverige deltar fartyg från Tyskland Finland och Norge.

Marinövning Höst 24 är höstens stora maringemensamma övning. Övningen genomförs i en tid av osäkert omvärldsläge där intresset för Försvarsmaktens verksamhet är stort. I övningen ingår 3.sjöstridflottiljen, 4.sjöstridsflottiljen, MarinB, Marinstaben, Flygstaben, F17, Helikopterflottiljen i Ronneby samt allierade från Tyskland, Finland och Norge.

Övningen fokuserar på ytstrid, luftförsvar samt minröjning med lufthot. I internationella sammanhang benämns övningen Marex Autumn 24.

Marinövning Höst genomförs på syd- och ostkusten. Dessutom deltar utländska enheter i form av fem tyska minjakter, ett tyskt lag/stödfartyg, en finsk robotbåt samt ett norskt minröjningsfartyg. Totalt deltar ett 20-tal fartyg samt helikoptrar och stridsflyg ur Flygvapnet. Sammanlagt övar cirka 900 personer varav 350 från våra allierade. Läs pressmeddelande