OTAN

A Ukrainian serviceman at a press conference of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, Kyiv, April 2024. Thomas Peter / Reuters

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Last month, NATO, the world’s most successful military alliance, celebrated its 75th anniversary. Some fear that it may have been its last anniversary with the United States playing a leading role. Former U.S. President Donald Trump still views the alliance as obsolete. If reelected, he says he would encourage Russian leaders to do “whatever the hell they want” to member states that do not pay what he considers to be enough for defense. A second Trump presidency could have dire implications for European security.

Trump’s defenders argue that he is bluffing to pressure Europe into spending more on defense. But former U.S.…  Seguir leyendo »

Polish Navy ORP Slazak vessel is seen in Gdynia, Poland on 25 June 2023 (Photo by Michal Fludra/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

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Since Finland and Sweden’s accession to NATO, the narrative around Baltic security among alliance members has been almost triumphant. The Baltic Sea has been described as a ‘ NATO lake’ and various Baltic countries have celebrated the increase in their security.

However, Russia’s recent activity in the Baltic shows that NATO members need to remain vigilant in the region, and even strengthen their defences.

Increasingly paranoid about NATO’s intentions, Russia is likely to push back against the alliance in the Baltic. In the process it could significantly increase the risk of escalation, as it uses its hybrid playbook to test NATO’s defences – and conduct acts of sabotage where there is plausible deniability.…  Seguir leyendo »

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Fue el 4 de abril de 1949 cuando diez países europeos (Bélgica, Dinamarca, Francia, Islandia, Italia, Luxemburgo, Noruega, Holanda, Portugal y Reino Unido) y dos americanos (Canadá y Estados Unidos) firmaron en Washington el texto constitutivo de la Organización del Tratado del Atlántico Norte, la OTAN. Definían sus sistemas políticos como partidarios de la «democracia, las libertades individuales y el imperio de la ley» y afirmaban su disposición a mantener la paz y la seguridad de los firmantes mediante la asistencia mutua para resistir cualquier ataque armado y en particular manteniendo entre ellos la voluntad de garantizar la defensa colectiva en caso de que uno de los miembros fuera víctima de una agresión.…  Seguir leyendo »

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La Organización del Tratado del Atlántico Norte (la alianza militar más exitosa de la historia) hoy es más fuerte que nunca. La plena invasión rusa de Ucrania en febrero de 2022 puso de manifiesto que su propósito y su valor siguen en vigencia; y desde entonces, la organización ha añadido dos nuevos integrantes capaces: Finlandia y Suecia. Pero mientras Rusia no deja de perder soldados, armas y resiliencia económica a largo plazo, es Ucrania, y no la OTAN, la que absorbe los golpes rusos.

¿Qué sucederá en el futuro? La dirigencia europea sabe que Donald Trump tiene firmes chances de ganar la elección presidencial de noviembre en los Estados Unidos, y que su regreso a la Casa Blanca pondría en duda la continuidad del compromiso del principal aportante a la OTAN y la credibilidad de las garantías de seguridad que tornan tan poderosa a la alianza.…  Seguir leyendo »

Foreign ministers and senior officials from NATO states pose for an official press photo at NATO headquarters during the first day of the alliance’s foreign affairs ministers’ meeting in Brussels, Belgium, on April 3. Omar Havana/Getty Images

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On this day in 1949, 12 European and North American ministers gathered in Washington, D.C., to commit their nations to one another’s defense. With the scars of the Second World War still raw and new threats looming, they pledged to safeguard the freedom of their peoples.

As the North Atlantic Treaty Organization turns 75, and as the foreign ministers of a founding nation and the newest member, we believe that NATO is as relevant to North Americans and Europeans as it was in 1949—and that it is stronger than ever.

This year, two-thirds of NATO allies are expected to spend at least 2 percent of their GDPs on defense.…  Seguir leyendo »

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Mientras la OTAN llega a su 75.º aniversario, sigue vigente la idea de que es parasitaria de los Estados Unidos. Donald Trump criticó en más de una ocasión a los aliados transatlánticos de su país por gastar muy poco en defensa, pero hay que recordar que otros presidentes estadounidenses desde Dwight D. Eisenhower (entre ellos John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon y Barack Obama) también presionaron a los europeos para que asumieran una parte mayor de los costos. Cuando Robert S. McNamara (secretario de defensa de Lyndon B. Johnson) insinuó que Estados Unidos podía reducir su presencia militar en Europa si Alemania no incrementaba su aporte, se suscribió entre ambos países un «acuerdo de compensación» por el que Alemania compensaría a Estados Unidos comprándole bienes.…  Seguir leyendo »

Italian Marines participate in the Nordic Response 24 military exercise at sea near Sorstraumen, a Norwegian territory located above the Arctic Circle, on March 10. Jonathan Nackstrand / AFP via Getty Images

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Even as its members take part in Steadfast Defender 2024, NATO’s largest military exercise since the Cold War, it is clear that the alliance remains ill-prepared against Russia’s military capabilities in the Arctic. The exercise, which runs between January and May, involves more than 90,000 troops across the Atlantic and up to the Arctic and suggests that NATO has a strong and capable defense presence in the region.

However, a closer look at the capabilities of the Arctic states—which are all NATO members except Russia—reveals otherwise. Finland and Sweden’s recent membership in NATO has been heralded as a turning point in deterrence against Russia in the north.…  Seguir leyendo »

A Ukrainian flag alongside the NATO emblem, Kyiv, July 2023. Valentyn Ogirenko / Reuters

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Ukraine is bleeding. Without new U.S. military assistance, Ukrainian ground forces may not be able to hold the line against a relentless Russian military. The U.S. House of Representatives must vote now to pass the emergency spending package that the Senate overwhelmingly approved last month. The most urgent priority is to appropriate funds to resupply Kyiv with artillery shells, air defense missiles, deep-strike rockets, and other critical military needs.

But even once Ukraine receives this much-needed support, a fundamental question remains: how to help Ukraine secure its future. That is a question NATO leaders will need to answer when they meet this July in Washington for their 75th anniversary summit.…  Seguir leyendo »

U.S. soldiers participating in a NATO exercise in Korzeniewo, Poland, March 2024. Kacper Pempel / Reuters

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When NATO leaders meet at a summit in Washington this summer, the alliance’s 75th birthday should be cause for celebration. NATO is stronger than ever, having welcomed two new members, Finland and Sweden, within the past year. After decades of drift, the alliance has found new purpose in deterring Russian aggression, its original raison d’etre. At last, European countries are ramping up their defense spending. Together, these trends paint a bright future for NATO—but there is also peril ahead.

The effort to repel Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is stuttering, and a revisionist Putin is threatening its European neighbors. This, however, is not NATO’s fundamental problem.…  Seguir leyendo »

La princesa heredera de Suecia, Victoria, con el secretario general de la OTAN, Jens Stoltenberg, y Ulf Kristersson, primer ministro de Suecia. OTAN

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El 11 de marzo de 2024 será recordado como el día en que la bandera de Suecia fue izada en la sede del Cuartel General de la OTAN en Bélgica, culminando de esta forma el largo proceso de adhesión del país escandinavo, que se convierte en el trigésimo segundo miembro de la Alianza Atlántica.

Si cualquier ingreso en la OTAN debe ser saludado como un acontecimiento notable, el de Suecia con más razón, por la naturaleza del protagonista y por lo tortuoso que ha resultado el proceso, en el que ha sido necesario vencer la resistencia de Turquía y Hungría.

La agresión rusa sobre Ucrania ha cosechado el importante hito de acabar con más de dos siglos de una neutralidad, no desprovista de sombras, que Suecia ha sabido aprovechar en su ventaja.…  Seguir leyendo »

Soldiers from different nations march in the opening ceremony at the 2018 NATO summit at NATO headquarters in Brussels. (Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

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Twenty-five years ago, the dream of generations of Poles came true. After two centuries of struggle to maintain an independent state, followed by four decades of Soviet domination, on March 12, 1999, in Independence, Mo., the Republic of Poland — along with the Czech Republic and Hungary — was officially admitted to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the world’s most powerful military alliance.

We have used that time well. Poland, strategically located and the fifth-largest country of the European Union in terms of population and area, with a gross domestic product of $690 billion, is one of NATO’s most committed members.…  Seguir leyendo »

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg stands during a press conference with Ukrainian President in Kiev on July 10, 2017. via Getty Images) SERGEI SUPINSKY/AFP

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As the tides of battle have shifted against Ukraine, amid doubts about whether the U.S. Congress will approve a new round of aid, influential experts such as former NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen and former U.S. Ambassador to NATO Ivo Daalder are repeating their earlier calls to bring Ukraine into NATO sooner rather than later. This step is marketed both as a way to convince Russia that its military campaign cannot keep Ukraine out of the alliance and as needing to provide adequate security for Ukraine when the war finally ends.

Reasonable people can and will disagree about the wisdom of this recommendation, because the contending positions rest on predictions about an uncertain future.…  Seguir leyendo »

Swedish prime minister Ulf Kristersson watches a military demonstration on 20 February 2024 at Berga naval base. Photograph: Jonathan Nackstrand/AFP/Getty Images

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The Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 came as a rude awakening for Sweden. Across the country people suddenly realised that national security vulnerabilities were everywhere. The entire public transit rail network in Stockholm, for example, is operated by MTR, a Hong Kong-based company with ties to the Chinese Communist party.

In the event of Stockholm being attacked by foreign forces, most of the detail about critical infrastructure and tunnels running under the city centre – home to the Swedish parliament, the prime minister’s residence, the state department, the royal castle – could be shared with enemies.

“We have to assume that everything MTR knows about tunnels and infrastructure in Stockholm is also known in Beijing”, says Patrik Oksanen, an expert on national security.…  Seguir leyendo »

A close-up view of an uniform of a Turkish soldier in Prishtina, Kosovo on 7 June 2023. Photo by Arif Hudaverdi Yaman/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images.

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At a recent campaign rally in South Carolina, Donald Trump appeared to invite Vladimir Putin’s Russia to invade any NATO member failing to meet the 2 per cent of GDP target for defence spending.

While his comments appeared to be popular among the MAGA crowd attending the rally, they were immediately condemned on both sides of the Atlantic.

A White House spokesperson called the comments ‘ appalling and unhinged’. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg also responded in undiplomatic terms saying: ‘Any suggestion that allies will not defend each other undermines all of our security, including that of the US, and puts American and European soldiers at increased risk’.…  Seguir leyendo »

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En su desesperada carrera por actualizar su flota de combate aéreo ante los muchos conflictos que amenazan a su país, el presidente turco, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, llegó incluso a cortejar al español Pedro Sánchez y a su homólogo británico para adquirir los Eurofighters Typhoon europeos en el último año.

El turco no iba de farol, ya que durante años Washington ha castigado al díscolo líder turco negándole la actualización a la generación 4,5 de sus 270 cazas F-16, columna vertebral de su flota, adquirida y producida por Ankara en la década de 1980, y ya desfasada para afrontar cualquiera de los muchos riesgos a los que Turquía se enfrenta.…  Seguir leyendo »

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As the second anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine draws near, Kyiv’s allies are struggling to articulate a common vision for the long-term security of Ukraine and of Europe. The invasion, and the Ukrainian people’s subsequent courageous resistance, appeared to be a watershed moment for the transatlantic alliance—underscoring its value and illuminating Ukraine’s importance to Europe. NATO mobilized troops to its eastern flank, Europe and the United States offered Kyiv unprecedented aid, and Europeans stepped up to host millions of Ukrainian refugees.

But two years later, both the shock prompted by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s aggression and the awe at Ukraine’s fighting spirit seem to have worn off.…  Seguir leyendo »

Perihan Koca (left) and Kezban Konukcu (right), members of the Turkish opposition People’s Equality and Democracy Party, hold signs reading "No to NATO, Occupation, War" during the voting on a bill regarding Sweden’s accession to NATO at the Grand National Assembly of Turkey in Ankara on Jan. 23. Adem Altan/AFP via Getty Images

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This week, Turkey’s parliament finally approved Sweden’s bid for NATO membership, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan swiftly ratified the measure.

Sweden’s NATO accession has dragged on for more than a year. While every other NATO member aside from Hungary supported Stockholm’s accession, Turkish leaders accused the Scandinavian country of harboring Kurdish terrorists. They demanded that Sweden tighten its anti-terrorism laws, extradite people accused of terrorist activities in Turkey, and resume arms sales to Turkey. The United States seems to have linked approval of Sweden’s NATO membership to future U.S. sales of F-16 fighter jets to Turkey.

As Sweden’s membership process stalled, analysts warned of the alliance’s decline and offered a range of proposed carrots and sticks to rein in Ankara.…  Seguir leyendo »

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks at a press conference during the NATO summit in Madrid on June 30, 2022. Gabriel Bouys/AFP via Getty Images

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Joining NATO was the best foreign-policy pursuit that Turkey ever initiated in its existence as a republic. During the Cold War, its membership in the alliance kept Turkey from being overrun by the Soviet Union and helped provide space for its economic development as a Western ally.

Why, then, is the alliance constantly having to grapple with an uncooperative and at times even pugilistic Turkish leader in President Recep Tayyip Erdogan? It seems that, in every instance, Erdogan is devoted to undermining the trans-Atlantic alliance. Is it time for NATO to reconsider Turkey’s membership?

It was not always like this. Turkish diplomats often like to remind their international counterparts that Turkey lives in a difficult neighborhood and the maintenance of its sovereignty is a testament to the skill of generations of Turkish statesmen who worked tirelessly to keep Ankara safe.…  Seguir leyendo »

Banderas de la OTAN ondeando en Rotterdam, Países Bajos, en celebración del día de la OTAN el 4 de abril de 2023. Foto: Organización del Tratado del Atlántico Norte (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 DEED).

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La tecnología, la seguridad y la defensa siempre han sido pilares de política pública e instrumentos de poder estrechamente relacionados, también en la Organización del Tratado del Atlántico Norte (OTAN). Los observadores tienden a ver la tecnología como una herramienta facilitadora que ha ayudado a la OTAN a aumentar su eficiencia, su eficacia, su interoperabilidad, su impacto y su resiliencia en los ámbitos que se han marcado como prioritarios. La Alianza cuenta desde hace tiempo con diversas plataformas y ecosistemas para integrar la ciencia y la tecnología en sus planteamientos operativos y estratégicos. Se puede apreciar en órganos y foros como el Mando Aliado de Transformación (ACT), la Organización de Ciencia y Tecnología (STO), el Foro de la Industria de la OTAN y el Grupo Consultivo Industrial de la Alianza.…  Seguir leyendo »

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Deterrence clearly failed in Ukraine. In the run-up to Russia’s invasion in February 2022, America and its NATO allies took steps to warn Russia of dire consequences, including deep sanctions and political excommunication. None of that mattered to Vladimir Putin.

Some argue that NATO failed to deter Mr Putin because he has nuclear weapons. The Kremlin’s nuclear sabre-rattling feeds this view, bringing nuclear weapons to public consciousness in a way that they have not been for many years.

And yet, as the war goes on, Russia has indeed been deterred. Although the Russians rage against the arms and equipment that NATO countries are sending to Ukraine, they have not once touched NATO territory to try to stop the shipments.…  Seguir leyendo »