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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

 NATO troops, vessels and aircraft took to the frigid North Atlantic Ocean last month to sharpen their skills for a potential future war at sea, whether in the tumultuous Atlantic or in waters closer to their hypothetical Russian adversaries.

The drills — led by U.S. Naval Forces Europe and the U.S. Navy’s 6th Fleet — ”focused on the strategic waterways and airspace surrounding Iceland,” a NATO press release said, an area it described as ”a vital hub in the North Atlantic.” NATO forces practiced tracking enemy naval forces — including submarines — and responding to mass casualty events. […]

In the event of war, NATO aircraft and vessels could launch attacks on Russian territory from within the Baltic region that would ”give Russian air defenses very limited warning times,” Kashual noted.

”There’s a whole range of conundrums that the alliance’s preponderance in the Baltic Sea faces the Russians with,” Kaushal said. ”Reminding Russia of that fact is probably an important goal for the Americans, and for the wider alliance.”

Russia’s Foreign Ministry and the Kremlin have routinely criticized NATO military drills — particularly those close to its border. In July, for example, Moscow hit out at NATO drills in Finland as ”an integral part of NATO’s comprehensive provocative efforts to contain Russia.” Läs artikel