Forsvarsminister Odd Roger Enoksen (Sp) måtte ta spørsmål og kritikk fra flere Nato-allierte for Norges nye atomvåpen-linje. Etter møtet sier han at det er bekymring for at andre medlemsland skal følge Norges eksempel.

Støre-regjeringen har altså bestemt seg for å sende observatører til FNs konferanse om atomvåpen-forbudet, foreløpig som eneste Nato-land.

Nato har i flere uttalelser avvist dette sporet og argumentert for at det ikke fremmer nedrustning. USA var det første landet som reagerte på dette punktet i Ap/Sp-regjeringens plattform fra Hurdal og ba om en forklaring fra den nye regjeringen.

Dermed kom også det nye norske synet på dagsorden da Natos forsvarsministere diskuterte alliansens kjernefysiske strategi i den interne «Nuclear Planning Group» fredag formiddag. […]

Overfor VG fastholder Odd Roger Enoksen at den nye regjeringen vil sende observatører til konferansen i Wien i januar, for de som har sluttet seg til atomvåpenforbudet. Läs artikel

Are China and the United States doomed to engage in a Cold War-like rivalry? There is a growing belief in the U.S. that a second Cold War is inevitable whether we want one or not, but it is not yet too late to choose a different path for Washington that steers clear of a contest for supremacy in East Asia that we do not need to have.

It is the embrace of this imagined “inevitability” that is fueling the rivalry and leading both countries towards an avoidable conflict. […]

George Kennan studied this question of the inevitability of conflict closely in his history of the creation of the Franco-Russian alliance before WWI, The Fateful Alliance. As he put it, “The assumption of the inevitability of a war is allowed to rest exclusively on the fact that ‘we’ and ‘they’ are both preparing so intensively for it. No other reason is needed for the acceptance of its necessity.”

Kennan wrote these words in the shadow of U.S.-Soviet rivalry and the possibility of nuclear war, and he was concerned that another great power conflagration would be far more catastrophic than the world wars. Luckily, the first Cold War ended without that disaster unfolding, but it was this good luck that has blinded us to the dangers of courting new great power conflict through rivalry with another nuclear-armed state. Having avoided a war with the Soviets that was also once believed to be inevitable, the U.S. is in danger of rushing into a contest with China that likewise risks potentially devastating armed conflict. Läs artikel

Även i år deltar Finland integrerat i luftförsvaret av Sverige som ett led i det fördjupade försvarssamarbetet. Finska stridsflyg medverkar både som kvalificerad motståndare men även integrerat i det svenska nationella försvaret tillsammans med svenska stridsflygdivisioner. […]

Tidigare års flygvapenövningar har vi använt våra egna förband och flygplan för att spela en angripare. Genom att Finland deltar så frigörs svenska resurser så vi kan öva på det vi ska – försvara Sverige mot en kvalificerad angripare. Läs pressmeddelande

During the Arctic Circle Assembly in Iceland last week, Anton Vasiliev, former Russian Ambassador to Iceland and Moscow’s Senior Arctic Official, was crystal clear on Russia’s relationship with the West versus the East;

“China has not sanctioned against us”.

A quote that basically sums up Russia’s current relationship with the West.

So when founder of China Investment Research in London, Henry Tillman is talking about the three possible Polar Silk Roads as we know them today – it is all about the East and Russia.

“Over the past two years, investments has gone East and South, not West”, Tillman says to High North News.

“Liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Yamal (Russian Siberia) is now produced at a fraction of Western prices. Then shipped to Asia”.

In short; The Polar Silk Road is being developed towards the East, leaving the Arctic West behind. And development in Russia is booming as Russia is building five nuclear Arktika class icebreakers – which will form the basis of Russia’s nuclear icebreaking fleet – and investing in new technology to meet the demands.

“There is a business shift from the West to the East with major investments under the umbrella of The Polar Silk Road. We are seeing a giant infrastructure initiative on both land and sea from China and several North Asian countries towards the East, with a focus on increased Arctic LNG production”, Tillman states. These initiatives are primarily funded by China and Russia, who through these initiatives conquer new international market shares at – amongst others – the energy and trade market. Läs artikel

Shoigu presented his new project during this week’s prize award ceremony of the Russian Geographical Society. Several of Russia’s leading researchers and explorers were awarded for their expeditions, and the Northern Fleet itself got the most prestigious prize for its voyage across the Northern Sea Route in 2020.

The defence minister, who is also President of the Society, made clear that his military men will in no way reduce efforts to explore far northern waters.

“Before us are a great number of beautiful projects,” he underlined and explained to the audience that an expedition around the North Pole now is on the agenda. Reportedly, no such expedition has ever been undertaken. The plan builds on proposals from Frederik Paulsen, the Swedish businessman who is also a member of the Geographical Society. During a supervisory board meeting in April this year, Paulsen underlined that Russia should initiate an international circumpolar voyage that includes visits to all the archipelagos of the Arctic. Läs artikel

För exakt hundra år sedan samlades företrädare för Danmark, Estland, Finland, Frankrike, Tyskland, Italien, Lettland, Polen, Sverige och Förenade kungariket i Paris för att underteckna Åland-konventionen.

Med tiden har Ålandskonventionen bara fortsatt att växa i betydelse. Den har blivit en viktig hörnsten i den åländska självstyrelsen och säkerheten och stabiliteten på Åland.

Jag vill framföra mina varmaste gratulationer till vår värd, Ålands lagting, till att ha organiserat detta evenemang. Seminariet och dess framstående gäster är ett tecken på den höga internationella aktning som både Åland och konventionen åtnjuter.

Enligt ingressen till Ålandskonventionen undertecknades den ”i syfte att garantera att dessa öar aldrig ska komma att utgöra någon fara ur militär synpunkt”. Läs anförandet

Mali’s government said on Tuesday that it asked the country’s main Islamic body to open peace talks with leaders of al Qaeda’s local affiliate in an effort to end a decade of conflict.

Malian authorities have previously endorsed the idea of talks and have quietly backed local peace initiatives with the militants as security deteriorates and Islamist groups expand beyond their traditional strongholds.

But the latest announcement by the religious affairs ministry marks by far the most concrete step toward negotiations with militant leaders.

Such an approach is vigorously opposed by Mali’s chief military ally France, whose president, Emmanuel Macron, said in June that French troops would not conduct joint operations with countries that negotiate with Islamist militants. read more.

The minister of religious affairs asked the High Islamic Council (HCI) to open negotiations with the leaders of the al Qaeda-linked Jama’a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin (JNIM), ministry spokesperson Khalil Camara told Reuters. Läs  artikel

300 ryska diplomater har tvingats lämna ambassader i väst och lika många västdiplomater har tvingats lämna ambassader i Moskva. Måndagens besked av Rysslands utrikesminister Sergej Lavrov är nytt bottenrekord i relationen mellan Ryssland och militäralliansen Nato.

– Det innebär att de diplomatiska kontakterna mellan Nato och Ryssland går ner till ett minimum, säger FOI:s säkerhetspolitiska analytiker Fredrik Westerlund. […]

På måndagen meddelade Rysslands utrikesminister Sergej Lavrov att Ryssland kommer att stänga det som är kvar av Rysslands Nato-delegation i Bryssel. Samtidigt kommer Ryssland att dra in ackreditering för Natos medarbetare i Moskva, enligt Lavrov.    Läs artikel

Moscow has categorically stated that it will not accept a US military presence in the Central Asian region. This reiteration has come at the level of Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, who told TASS that Afghanistan had been discussed at a meeting with Victoria Nuland, the visiting US Undersecretary of State, in Moscow on Tuesday.

Ryabkov added: “We emphasized the unacceptability of a US military presence in Central Asian countries in any form whatever.”

Prima facie, Ryabkov has squashed the disinformation media campaign by Washington that at the Russia-US summit in Geneva in June, President Vladimir Putin had offered to President Joe Biden that the Pentagon could use Russian bases in the Central Asian region for conducting future (“out-of-the-horizon”) operations in Afghanistan. […]

Washington’s ploy appeared to have been to create misconceptions among the Central Asian states regarding Russia’s intentions. To be sure, just before the Helsinki meeting of the two generals, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken also took a meeting of the so-called C5+1 Ministerial on September 22 to discuss “coordination on Afghanistan” with his Central Asian counterparts. […]

Conceivably, Ryabkov voiced a consensus opinion among regional states, including China and Iran.

From such a perspective, a regional consensus is steadily evolving in regard to the Afghan situation. Tehran disclosed this week that it will soon be hosting the second foreign-minister-level meeting of Afghanistan’s neighbors and has sought an enlargement of the format as a special case to include Russia as well.

That is to say, the format will now comprise Iran, Pakistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, China and Russia. (India stands excluded.)  Läs artikel