NORWAY and Sweden are getting nervous. They’ve just upped their defence postures amid fears President Trump will not come to their aid if Russia attacks.
Russia’s increasing military presence on the Arctic nations’ borders have not gone unnoticed.
Nor has President Vladimir Putin’s return to Cold War style sabre-rattling, with aggressive and unannounced military exercises appearing to target their territories.
So now the small European states of Norway and Sweden are reinforcing their defences.
And the European Union is itself beginning to strengthen its ability to act as an independent fighting unit, separate from the command and control of the United States.
It’s all part of the political fallout of President Donald Trump’s apparent determination to forge a new friendship with Russia, even at the risk of cold-shouldering its old allies.
He’s repeatedly suggested the US may ignore its treaty obligations. He’s called NATO ‘obsolete’ on several occasions.
He’s done little to project a change of heart since taking office in January.
SWEDEN’S CALL TO ARMS
Sweden yesterday approved a defence budget boost its Minister for Defence, Peter Hultqvist, called a “good signal to the Swedish people, a good signal to the armed forces and a good signal to the surrounding world”.
It was an admission the strategic environment of the Baltic nation had changed.
Sweden is not a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), but its relations with the US-European defence group has strengthened in recent years.
It’s a move that has drawn President Putin’s unrestrained ire.
He’s sent several ‘messages’ of his displeasure, including simulated air and sea attacks on key Swedish facilities.
Now Sweden is preparing to fight back.
It recently announced it was reintroducing conscription, compelling its young men and women to undergo military training.
Yesterday it passed a new emergency budget measure.
An injection of some SEK 75 million ($A11 million) will go immediately into local governments to improve cyber security. More money will go boosting defence capabilities, particularly on the strategic island of Gotland.
Sweden’s government alliance is now warning voters a bigger bill is yet to come:
“The parties behind this deal agree that a further strengthening of the resources will be needed 2018,” Hultqvist told local media yesterday.
“The budget request from the Armed Forces needs to be analysed further, and this will be the subject of further talks during the spring, ahead of next year’s budget.”
Military estimates put this figure at SEK 6.5 billion ($A1 billion).
But it’s also not enough to meet President Trump’s requirement that its European allies at least 2 per cent of their incomes on the military. Sweden would have to double current levels to achieve that.
NORWAY FEELS THE CHILL
Left to right: James Mattis (US Secretary of Defense) and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg
It’s a nation that has experienced military occupation within living history: Norway was seized by the Nazi’s in World War II. It was used in an attempt to strangle Russia’s northern ports and launch attacks against Europe’s vital Atlantic supply routes.
It knows it remains strategically significant even today.
Russia’s been making that obvious.
It has increased the size and readiness of its northern fleet. Military facilities have been upgraded. Troop numbers have increased. New bases are being built in the Arctic Circle.
When Moscow moved on Ukraine in 2014, Norway — like many other small European nations — took notice.
Its northern air base at Bodo is now on constant alert. Incursions by Russian military aircraft in Norwegian airspace has soared in recent years.
And recent cyber attacks on the Norwegian government have been blamed on Russian espionage agencies.
In response, Norway is getting some 300 extra US Marines as part of a permanent boost of its NATO strength. It’s also hosting a new round of large-scale military exercises.
It has also just extended compulsory military conscription to women.
That is on top of a considerable boost in defence spending, with an extensive shopping list including new submarines as well as new combat and surveillance aircraft.
“What is most important to us right now is to have both a predictable and a very clear policy on Russia,” Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg recently said. “The earlier and the clearer that the new (Trump) administration comes out with this, the better it is, also for European security.”
Norway’s boosted defence budget of ($A7.8 billion) remains below the 2 per cent GDP commitment demanded by President Trump
EUROPE GOES IT ALONE?
The European Union has overnight approved the creation of a headquarters for its own military operations, outside of NATO control.
German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen said that the EU foreign ministers “founded, or put in motion, today a European command centre for foreign missions.”
EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini said it would provide a “more efficient approach to the existing military training missions we have.”
Von der Leyen said the idea is that those EU members who don’t want to join in directly could have an observer mission.
“For those who are not members of the European Union, like for example Norway or the British, there will be the possibility to join in selectively with certain projects or missions,” she said. “The Norwegians have great interest in this, the British have great interest in this.”
Britain is among those who say the EU must not waste money by doing similar things to the NATO alliance with the US.
Arriving for the meeting, British Defense Secretary Michael Fallon said just that, urging his European partners “to co-operate more closely with NATO to avoid unnecessary duplication and structures.”
Von der Leyen, however, said establishment of such a command centre “was long overdue.”
“We took a very important step toward a European security and defence union, because we have become very concrete,” von der Leyen said.
(townsvillebulletin)
Barnevernet became Human Rights Violations and systematic and institutionalised abuse towards families in Norway.
It’s also interesting to note, that many parents who have lost their children in Norway also once thought that it only happened to parents who in some way or another systematically abused their children, not to parents who love and care and do whatever they can for them.
The main problem with Kai-Morten Terning’s defence of the indefensible is this. There is no credibility in what he says, leading me to accept he is not a man of integrity.
And Norway calls this a cultural misunderstanding. It certainly is – 100% correct!
Barnevernet has you exactly where it wants you – powerless. The children, in the majority of cases are never given back to the single parent. Remember, a single parent is one of those who are in the target group that Barnevernet hunts down in the first place.
The best interest of the child is almost always to be with the parents. Only in extreme and exceptional cases, where the child can come to serious harm because of the parents’ behaviour, should a child be taken away temporarily from the parents. We need to intervene to support families so that they can remain together and children can be with their families. Removing children from their parents should be done only as a last resort and for a very short period.”
Bitcoin has been portrayed as the most favored currency among the criminal kind. Thanks to increased usage of the likes of Bitcoin among the darknet marketplaces. However, the pseudonymous nature of Bitcoin leads to criminals getting caught on a regular basis. But usually, those who face the trial usually end up having their cryptocurrencies, devices confiscated, sentenced to jail time with or without a monetary penalty slapped on them.
Autonomous cars are all the rage these days, but autonomous boats? While automobiles are certainly among the most popular forms of transportation, they’re not the only form. As we’ve begun to normalize the notion of a driverless future, other methods of transportation are looking to adopt the same concept. In Norway’s Trondheim Fjord, you can now find a testing site for water-based drones. Because land and air-faring machinery shouldn’t be the only ones having autonomous fun, right?
Russian military inspectors will begin a visit to a designated district in Norway to check military activity in the area, a military official has said.
USG/ERC Stephen O’Brien Statement to the Security Council on Missions to Yemen, South Sudan, Somalia and Kenya and an Update on the Oslo Conference on Nigeria and the Lake Chad Region.
The composer Edvard Grieg laid the foundation for the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra in 1879. In 2013 Russian Vasily Petrenko was appointed its music director. For this trip to Taiwan, the orchestra will present a selection full of Scandinavian and Russian flavours. Truls Mørk, one of the world’s most popular cellists, will also present Russian Shostakovich and British Elgar’s Cello Concertos.
Russian officials have banned a Norwegian journalist from entering the country for the next five years. The Barents Observer, a website based in Norway, says the Federal Security Service told editor Thomas Nielsen that he’s been declared “undesirable” in Russia, despite a valid multi-entry journalist visa.
Sweden has the world’s third fasted broadband internet speed, while South Korea still leads the race with an average connection speed at 26.1 Mbps, a new study by Akamai Technologies shows. Norway was ranked second.
Odd Einar Dorum, a Norwegian politician with a resume stretching to the late 1970s, spoke at UND’s Center for Innovation for the better part of an hour Thursday, remarking on Norwegian defense, NATO and President Donald Trump.
Norway faces the challenge of crafting a national defense strategy for the 21st strategy in the face of Vlad Putin’s more aggressive Russia.
The Norwegians I spoke with on my recent trip underscored the importance of the NATO Treaty’s Article III as a key for the next phase of the alliance’s development, shaping effective ways to defend the nation in a way that allows for greater capability to work with allies. In all the debate about Article V, the importance of Article III as a key to being able to uphold the overall Treaty is often forgotten.
Commentary from the Embassy of the Russian Federation in Norway to «Dagbladet» in connection with the joint Norwegian-US development of parameters for the Norwegian contribution to the missile defense system of NАТО.
For the first time more electric and hybrid vehicles are being sold in Norway than petrol and diesel vehicles. The new milestone in the rapid growth of EVs is largely the result of incentives offered by the Norwegian government in a bid to phase out sales of new oil-powered cars by 2025.
Norway is moving to allow recreational hunting of its “critically endangered” population of wolves, prompting furious condemnation from animal rights campaigners.
Bringing together ministerial representatives from 70 delegations, including from the EU and the region but also the wider international community, the United Nations, major donors and civil society, humanitarian and development organisations, the conference will address the situation in Syria and the impact of the crisis in the region. The conference will assess where the international community stands collectively in fulfilling commitments made at the London Conference in February 2016 and agree on additional efforts needed to meet the needs of those affected by the crisis. It will reconfirm existing pledges and identify additional support to Syrians in need inside Syria and in neighbouring countries, as well as to the respective host communities, in response to the UN coordinated appeals.
Divers have uncovered a vital missing component of the helicopter involved in a fatal crash off Norway last year that will provide a further clue for investigators looking into the cause of the accident.
Norway’s new powerhouse for artificial intelligence (AI) opens in Trondheim today. The new centre, Telenor-NTNU AI-Lab, will strengthen national competitiveness and add valuable, future-proof competencies to the Norwegian society.
An Australian man managed to secure a “great timing” to propose to his significant other: under the majestic and eye-catching Northern Lights.
In response to the Norwegian Government Pension Fund’s new “Responsible Investment” Report, NGOs warn that the divestment of many coal companies is still overdue. In 2015, the Norwegian Parliament directed the Pension Fund’s manager, Norges Bank, to divest companies that “base 30% or more of their activities on coal” by the end of 2016.
The head of Norway’s biggest business university has decried the lack of government focus on attracting international students, warning that the nation is already “far behind” other European countries.