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[…] The amendment is justified, according to supporters, by the need for deterrence against “Russian aggression on NATO’s eastern flank.” This embodies a willful confusion of interests, with Ukraine on the one hand, and existing NATO members on the other. In Ukraine, a frozen separatist conflict with Russian involvement is indeed ongoing, together with the territorial dispute over Crimea. These are, however, the kind of issues all too typical in the aftermath of the fall of empires. They stem from the twin issues of minority rights and historically disputed borders (Crimea was part of the Russian Republic until it was transferred to Ukraine by Soviet decree in 1954).

No politician or member of the U.S. foreign and security establishment has ever even attempted to explain why Russian involvement in Ukraine — with its territorial issues, its huge Russian minority, and deep historic, cultural, and emotional ties to one another — somehow implies Moscow’s desire to attack Poland or Romania, which contain no Russian minorities or territorial disputes. The justification for this belief in the Washington establishment is instead based on little more than memories of the 1940s, together with an assumption of innate, blind Russian tendencies to aggression. Läs artikel

Även Centern kritiserar nu regeringens förslag till utvidgningen av FRA:s och Försvarsmaktens möjligheter att spana och dela information.

– Vi tycker att dessa förslag går för långt, säger partiets försvarspolitiske talesperson Daniel Bäckström (C) till TT.

Regeringen föreslår i en ny proposition dels att utländska myndigheter ska kunna få direktåtkomst till uppgifter som Försvarets underrättelsetjänst och FRA har, dels att FRA ska kunna signalspana även om det inte direkt rör svenska intressen.

Det ska räcka med att det är nödvändigt för ett samarbete i underrättelsefrågor, för att FRA ska kunna signalspana. Hittills har det varit noga reglerat att det ska röra svenska säkerhetsintressen.

Precis som Liberalerna invänder nu Centern mot detta. Särskilt gäller det kombinationen av direktåtkomst för utländska myndigheter och utökade möjligheter för FRA att spana även om det inte handlar specifikt om svenska säkerhetsintressen.

– Att utländsk underrättelsetjänst ska få direkttillgång till personuppgifter som finns hos FRA och Försvarsmakten innebär stora risker för integriteten – särskilt i kombination med att det inte ens föreslås behövas indirekta kopplingar till svenska säkerhetsintressen. Det gör omfattningen av förslaget mycket långtgående, säger Daniel Bäckström (C). Läs artikel

The announcement of a new strategic alliance between Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom (AUKUS) has caught many by surprise. […]

n particular, Indonesia and Malaysia have come out strongly against Australia’s plan to acquire a fleet of nuclear-powered submarines with the help of the US and UK. Even Singapore, Australia’s most reliable ally in the region, has expressed concern.

The Afghanistan debacle has left a bad taste among many Indo-Pacific countries, and some are wondering if the timing of the AUKUS announcement was intended as a show of US power in the region to reassure jittery partners. […]

First, many of them think there is no such thing as acquiring nuclear-powered submarines without the prospect of acquiring nuclear weapons in the future. Australia has not joined the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which requires parties to agree not to develop, test, produce, acquire, possess, stockpile or threaten to use nuclear weapons. […]

However, Australia did ratify the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons in 1973 and the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty in 1998. And Morrison said last week that Australia has “no plans” to pursue nuclear weapons.

Yet, some ASEAN countries are worried the AUKUS agreement is a clear signal the West will take a more aggressive stand towards China by admitting Australia to the nuclear club. […]

The ASEAN nations have always preached maintaining Southeast Asia as a “zone of peace, freedom and neutrality”, free from interference by any outside powers.

In 1995, the member states also signed the Treaty of Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone, which committed to keep nuclear weapons out of the region. Not a single nuclear power has signed on to it.

Although everyone knows China, the US, Britain and France have ignored these protocols by manoeuvring armed warships through the South China Sea – not to mention China’s building of military bases on disputed islands there – ASEAN does not want to see this number grow. Läs artikel

During the past week, reports of a deal that would see the possible deployment of a shadowy Russian military group in Mali has sent alarms to Western capitals, particularly Paris.

Experts have said that such a deal between Mali’s military-led government and the private security firm to hire nearly 1,000 mercenaries would increase Moscow’s influence while undermining French-led operations against armed groups operating in the country and the wider Sahel region.

“Such a choice would be one of isolation,” French Defence Minister Florence Parly warned on Monday during a visit to Mali aimed at preventing the move.

Germany has also taken aim at the potential deal, while the European Union cautioned “this certainly could seriously affect” the bloc’s relations with Mali. Last week, the spokesperson for the Malian defence ministry did not deny the reports, saying “Mali intends to diversify its relationships in the medium term to ensure the security of the country.” Läs artikel

Det hevdes at USA og den vestlige verden ikke hadde annet valg etter 11. september 2001 enn å gå til kraftfullt militært angrep på Al Qaida og Taliban i Afghanistan.

Det er selvsagt feil, men det er allikevel halmstrået Nato og vestlige statsledere griper til for å slippe å innrømme ydmykelsen og innse nederlaget. Tross de grufulle scenene hvor 200 mennesker hoppet eller falt fra tvillingtårnene mens de sto i brann, og totalt 2977 drepte, hadde vi selvsagt et valg.

Vi kunne la følelsene lede til hevnlyst og overveldende maktbruk, eller vi kunne la rasjonell tenkning lede oss til å behandle terrorhandlingen som en forbrytelse. Vi kunne valgt samarbeid over landegrensene og styrking av Interpol og FN for å pågripe de skyldige og stille dem for en internasjonal domstol. Vi valgte hevn. […]

For det tredje har forakten for vestens dobbeltmoral vokst seg enda sterkere. Vi insisterer på folkeretten mens vi selv bryter den, bruker hevnangrep som strategi mens vi advarer andre mot å ta hevn, og sier en ting, men gjør noe annet.

Sist, men ikke minst har den globale Jihad-bevegelsen, som finnes i mange varianter i et belte fra Vest-Afrika til Indonesia, også vunnet en stor seier og fått ny inspirasjon. Vi har lagt grunnlaget for mange nye rekrutter i ekstremistenes rekker i land det er lettere å gjemme seg i. Läs artikel

Läs också presentation av Moods bok  som publicerats tidigare på den här sajten .

The European Union set out a formal strategy on Thursday to boost its presence in the Indo-Pacific and counter China’s rising power, pledging to seek a trade deal with Taiwan and to deploy more ships to keep open sea routes.

The EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell insisted the strategy was also open to China, particularly in areas such as climate change, but diplomats told Reuters that deeper ties with India, Japan, Australia and Taiwan were aimed at limiting Beijing’s power. Läs artikel

The Indo-Pacific – a vast region spanning from the east coast of Africa to the Pacific Island States – is increasingly strategically significant for Europe. The region’s growing economic, demographic, and political weight makes it a key player in shaping the international order and in addressing global challenges. The EU intends to increase its engagement with the region to build partnerships that reinforce the rules-based international order,address global challenges, and lay the foundations for a rapid, just and sustainable economic recovery that creates long-term prosperity. This engagement will be based on promoting democracy, the rule of law, human rights, and universally agreed commitments such as the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals, and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. […]

The EU’s relations with the Indo-Pacific region are based on historic, cultural and commercial ties, and decades of significant cooperation and assistance. In this context the EU will:
 Deepen its engagement and reinforce its role as a reliable partner bringing added
value to long-standing relations with all its partners in the region.3
 Reinforce cooperation with multilateral and regional organisations such as ASEAN,
as well as international financial institutions to promote effective rules-based
multilateralism in the Indo-Pacific region.
 Undertake crisis management, conflict prevention and resilience building initiatives.
 Work together with Member States through a Team Europe approach with concrete
initiatives at country and regional levels. jointcommunication_indo_pacific_en

Peter Ricketts said Canberra’s decision to abandon a contract with Paris for diesel-powered subs in favour of nuclear-powered ones from Washington drove a wedge between the allies and weakened the transatlantic alliance.

”I think this move certainly undermines French confidence in NATO and NATO allies, and therefore reinforces their feeling that they should be driving for European strategic autonomy,” he told AFP. Läs artikel

It was nearly six years ago on October 3 that the Médecins Sans Frontières hospital near Kunduz, Afghanistan, was hit by US airstrikes. The bombings occurred ‘repeatedly and precisely’ and for more than 30 minutes afterwards, hospital officials frantically called Afghan and American military officials.

In the end, the hospital — which was caring for Afghans wounded in the ongoing war — was partially destroyed and 22 civilians and medical workers lay dead. The timeline afterward went something like this: the Pentagon acknowledged there may have been collateral damage to a nearby medical facility during a fight with Taliban insurgents. A day later, officials said the US had fired on insurgents who were engaging with Afghan military in ‘the vicinity’ of the hospital. On the third day, they blamed the Afghan military for calling in the strike. On October 6, Gen. John Campbell told a Senate committee that US special forces on the ground, in coordination with Afghan forces, called in the attack that ‘mistakenly struck’ the hospital. […]

The fog of war indeed. But that event six years ago illustrates that the most recent ‘mistake’ by the US military — a drone attack in Kabul that killed 10 civilians, mostly children — is just the latest in an ongoing tableau of carnage.

To put it into perspective, London-based Airwars, which has been methodically cataloging strikes across the Middle East, released a report earlier this month claiming that the United States has killed at least 22,679 civilians — and potentially as many as 48,308 —  in 91,340 strikes across seven major conflict zones since 2001. Läs artikel

On September 15, it was announced that Washington, London and Canberra agreed to create a new military alliance, the AUKUS pact (an abbreviation for the member countries’ names). As part of it, Australia will get at least eight nuclear submarines for its navy, to be built at the shipyards in Adelaide using Anglo-American technologies, ABC News reports referring to that country’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison. […]

Indeed, US President Joe Biden’s move to create a new military alliance, already dubbed ”Trump-style”, came as a complete surprise to official Brussels. In Europe, they discuss an about-face by Washington, which is steering clear of the Old World. This is a sign that Europe needs to turn itself in, chief EU diplomat Josep Borrel said.

The most remarkable thing about the entire AUKUS pact and the terminated Australian-French contract is that the announcement came just a few hours before the European Indo-Pacific strategy was released. This document, by the way, deems Australia as one of EU key partners in the IPR, while China is a country Brussels seeks to cooperate with, instead of deterring or opposing. […]

It should be noted here that, along with Canada and New Zealand, the three AUKUS members are part of the Five Eyes intelligence alliance. This may imply that Anglo-Saxon leaders start forming the cores for new associations headed by them and aimed to counter the PRC. A quite obvious thing is that the Anglo-Saxons are distrustful of their NATO partners from the European Union. Läs artikel