Ärade veteraner och lottor från våra krig, bästa festpublik, soldater!

Det gångna året har varit mycket exceptionellt. Efter två coronaår förändrades säkerhetsläget i Europa på ett betydande sätt efter att Ryssland den tjugofjärde februari inledde ett omfattande anfallskrig mot Ukraina. Kriget pågår fortfarande, och något snabbt slut på kriget finns inte i sikte. Finland har omvärderat sin säkerhets-politiska situation och ansökt om medlemskap i Nato. […]

Situationen i Ukraina har visat, att det har varit viktigt att upprätthålla en beredskap som beaktar Finlands övergripande säkerhet och att utveckla Försvarsmakten på ett systematiskt och långsiktigt sätt. Finland har i proportion till sin storlek ett mycket beaktansvärt försvar och enligt internationell måttstock en ytterst hög försvarsvilja. Vi har gjort rätt val, då vi har valt att upprätthålla och utveckla vår egen försvarsförmåga. Trots att vi har ansökt om medlemskap i Nato, kommer Finlands försvar även framöver att vara Finlands Försvarsmakts huvuduppgift. Ett medlemskap i Nato betyder inte att en egen stark försvarsförmåga inte skulle behövas. Kriget i Ukraina har visat vilken betydelse försvarsviljan har. Såsom vår överbefälhavare har konstaterat, går den viktigaste försvarslinjen mellan öronen. I Finland har vi lyckats upprätthålla en hög försvarsvilja, och detta tar sig också uttryck i tillit till Försvarsmakten. Vår försvarsförmåga är uppbyggd på så sätt att vi till vårt förfogande har trupper och system som baserar sig på hög teknologi och har förmåga att agera snabbt. Utöver detta har vi en kunnig och omfattande reserv, som grundar sig på värnplikten, och med vilken vi kan svara också mot större och mer långvariga hot. Läs talet

After 16 years as Germany’s political leader, she realized that it was time for someone new. But one year after leaving office, Angela Merkel has yet to find closure – particularly as her legacy continues to look worse and worse. […]

”But it didn’t come as a surprise. The Minsk agreements had eroded. In summer 2021, after President Biden met with Putin, Emmanuel Macron and I had wanted to put together a productive negotiating format in the EU Council. Some were opposed to the idea and I no longer had the power to push it through, because everyone knew I’d be gone that autumn. I asked others in the Council: ’Why aren’t you speaking up? Say something.’ One said: ’It’s too big for me.’ The other merely shrugged his shoulders, saying that it was an issue for the big countries. If I had run again for re-election that September, I would have followed up. It was the same story during my farewell visit in Moscow. The feeling was quite clear: ’You’re done with power politics.’ For Putin, only power counts. He brought Lavrov along for this last visit. Usually, we tended to meet face-to-face.”[…]

Merkel suddenly recalls that in addition to watching ”The Crown” and ”Babylon Berlin” with all her free time, she also took in ”Munich: The Edge of War,” the Netflix film about Neville Chamberlain’s role in the run-up to World War II. Jeremy Irons played Chamberlain. She liked it because it shows Churchill’s predecessor in a different light – not just as a frightened pawn for Hitler, but as a strategist who gave his country the buffer it needed to prepare for the German attack. In her telling, the Munich of 1938 sounds a bit like Bucharest of 2008. She believes that back then, and then later during the Minsk talks, she was able to buy the time Ukraine needed to better fend off the Russian attack. She says it is now a strong, well-fortified country. Back then, she is certain, it would have been overrun by Putin’s troops. Läs interevjun

Hungary blocked the approval of an 18 billion euro financial aid package for Ukraine, prompting accusations from other European Union members that Prime Minister Viktor Orban is abusing his veto power.

The package, worth roughly $18.9 billion, would have provided funds for Ukraine to maintain its staunch defense in the face of invasion from Russia. Orban’s vote forces the other European nations to find alternative means of continuing to support Ukraine.

The European Union decided to withhold $7.5 billion in funding to Hungary over concerns of fraud and corruption. Critics of Orban believe he blocked the proposed Ukraine funds in order to pressure the rest of the bloc to release the funds. Läs artikel

Local media on reports that two Tu-95 aircraft were damaged in what is believed to be a drone attack on the base early Monday morning.

News-online Saratov-Version, talking to local eyewitnesses, can tell that roads around Engels are now closed by police. A video posted on social media show a big blast followed by explosion noice. The local Ministry of Emergency Situations, however, said they have “no information on what had happened.”

Engels airbase is one of Russia’s strategically most important military units with the largest number of nuclear capable bomber planes, an important part of the country’s deterrence forces. The base is some 600 kilometers from the border with Ukraine.

Tu-95 and Tu-160 strategic bombers that fly missions north over the Barents- and Norwegian Seas are normally coming from Engels airbase. […]

Unconfirmed reports could Monday around noon report about several of the Tu-95 bombers at Engelsk taking off, likely to be deployed to other airfields in Russia.  The Defense Ministry in Moscow has so far not made any public statements and national media has few reports. There are also unconfirmed reports about explosions at the Dyagilevo airbase in Ryazan, also home to a few of Russia’s strategic bombers. Läs artikel

Two Russian military airfields, at least one of which Moscow uses for airstrikes on Ukraine, were reportedly hit by explosions Monday morning.

According to footage published on Russian and Ukrainian social media, a drone apparently hit the Engels-2 air base in the Saratov region, more than 600 kilometers to the east of Ukraine.

Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to the Ukrainian interior ministry, said that Russia has used the air base for missile strikes on Ukraine since the start of Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in late February. Läs artikel

Under Den Kolde Krig var Danmark blandt de lande i NATO, der brugte allerfærrest penge på forsvaret. Og efter Den Kolde Krigs afslutning har danske politikere valgt at ”høste fredsdividenden”, dvs. gennemføre besparelser på forsvarsområdet, der har resulteret i, at Danmark har et forsvar, der ligger i ruiner. I de planlægningsdokumenter, der cirkulerer blandt danske generaler og oberster, tales der derfor ikke om behovet for at styrke forsvaret, men om nødvendigheden for en “genopbygning” af forsvaret. Man genopbygger kun noget, der er styrtet totalt sammen, og det er, der er sket med det danske forsvar.[…]

Det danske forsvar er efterfølgende skrumpet ind. 95 kampfly er blevet til 45, og 389 kampvogne er blevet til 44, hvoraf kun 14 angiveligt er operationelle. Under Den Kolde Krig var der over 70.000 hjemmeværnssoldater. I dag er der 44.000, hvis man tæller alle passive medlemmer med. […]

Det har alle folketingspartier gennem tiderne et ansvar for. De har i fællesskab beskåret, reduceret og udsultet det danske forsvar således, at landet i dag står med en kampkraft, som NATO betegner som ”uanvendelig”. Det var en helt bevidst politisk beslutning at forlade koldkrigsforsvaret i 1990’erne, nedlægge både kampbataljoner og artilleri og i stedet sende soldater ud på fredsskabende operationer.

Facit er, at dansk forsvar er udelukkende et ekspeditionsforsvar, som er designet til værdipolitiske markeringer – ikke til krig. Altså et forsvar, som sendes på internationale missioner. Efter Ruslands invasion i Ukraine betyder det ændrede trusselsbillede imidlertid, at Danmark igen har brug for et traditionelt territorialforsvar – altså et forsvar med den primære opgave at forsvare Danmark. […]

Bundlinjen er, at dansk forsvar er i så ringe stand, at Danmark hverken kan forsvare sig selv eller fungere som en troværdig NATO-partner, fordi landets politikere hellere vil bruge penge på velfærd, klima, Arne-pension og uintegrerbare muslimske migranter og lade andre lande sørge for danskernes sikkerhed. Läs artikel

Turkey has welcomed Sweden’s extradition of a convicted Kurdish militant, but has signaled it expects more action before Ankara approves Stockholm’s application to join NATO. […]

”The return of the PKK [Kurdistan Workers’ Party] terrorist is the beginning of showing [Sweden’s] sincerity,” Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag told Turkish state television, TRT.

”We hope that there will be other extraditions”, added the Turkish minister.
Sweden on Friday extradited Mahmut Tat, who was wanted by Ankara for being part of the PKK, a group that is listed as a terrorist by Ankara and its Western allies.

Tat, who was sentenced to more than six years in prison by a Turkish court, left for Sweden in 2015 but had his asylum application rejected by the Swedish authorities.

He was arrested by Turkish police after arriving at Istanbul airport and taken to prison. Läs artikel

In an interview with French TV station TF1 recorded during his state visit to the US last week, Macron said Europe needs to prepare its future security architecture.

”This means that one of the essential points we must address — as President (Vladimir) Putin has always said — is the fear that NATO comes right up to its doors and the deployment of weapons that could threaten Russia,” Macron said.

”That topic will be part of the topics for peace, so we need to prepare what we are ready to do, how we protect our allies and member states, and how to give guarantees to Russia the day it returns to the negotiating table,” Macron said. Läs artikel

Sales of arms and military services by the 100 largest companies in the industry reached $592 billion in 2021, a 1.9 per cent increase compared with 2020 in real terms. This is according to new data released today by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).

The increase marked the seventh consecutive year of rising global arms sales. However, while the rate of growth in 2020–21 was higher than in 2019–20 (1.1 per cent), it was still below the average for the four years leading up to the Covid-19 pandemic (3.7 per cent).

Many parts of the arms industry were still affected by pandemic-related disruptions in global supply chains in 2021, which included delays in global shipping and shortages of vital components.

‘We might have expected even greater growth in arms sales in 2021 without persistent supply chain issues,’ said Dr Lucie Béraud-Sudreau, Director of the SIPRI Military Expenditure and Arms Production Programme. ‘Both larger and smaller arms companies said that their sales had been affected during the year. Some companies, such as Airbus and General Dynamics, also reported labour shortages.’

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 has added to supply chain challenges for arms companies, not least because Russia is a major supplier of raw materials used in arms production. This could hamper ongoing efforts in the United States and Europe to strengthen their armed forces and to replenish their stockpiles after sending billions of dollars’ worth of ammunition and other equipment to Ukraine. Läs artikel