The proposal of an extensive rearmament of the Navy in the North is not just about military capacity. It is just as much about the security policy approach to Russia and who will keep their hands on the wheel in the Arctic. […]
Norway and Russia know each other. Russia’s attack on Ukraine has not changed that, although much of the knowledge deteriorated when the direct contact between the countries is at an absolute minimum.
The Norwegian approach to Russia has been and should still be a combination of deterrence and reassurance. Yet, the US has gradually gripped increasingly more decisively around the Norwegian security policy in the Arctic as well, reinforced by the somewhat invasive bilateral agreements with the new NATO countries Finland and Sweden.
Following a short hearing, Norway’s renegotiated supplementary defense cooperation agreement with the US is now being processed by parliament. At the same time, the parliaments in Sweden and Finland will decide on bilateral defense agreements with the US for the first time.
It is problematic, and it happens almost entirely without political debate.
As Rear Admiral Oliver Berdal says, strengthening the navy in the North is necessary for the low tension we still desire in the North.
Giving away expertise and control in the North is a bad security policy. Läs artikel