Here’s What You Need to Remember: Following the end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Russia is arguably more vulnerable while many of its former communist-era satellite states – including Poland, Hungary and Romania, along with the Czech and Slovak Republics – now being members of NATO. […]

While the idea of NATO attacking Russia may seem farfetched to most Americans, the Russians have reason to fear an invasion from the west. Over the past several centuries Russia has been repeatedly invaded by such powers as Poland, Sweden, France and Germany.

The United States also took part in what could be seen as an ”invasion” of sorts when troops were sent to Russia during the nation’s Civil War in 1918. The American military intervention at Archangel, Russia earning the nickname ”Polar Bear Expedition” and it was actually to prevent the German advance and to help reopen the Eastern Front following Communist Russia’s acceptance of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. Instead of fighting the Germans however, the American soldiers found themselves fighting Bolshevik forces.

Just two decades later Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union and drove deep into ”Mother Russia,” besieging Leningrad and reaching the gates of Moscow before winter set in and stopped the advance. Other Russian cities were occupied and by war’s end many had been leveled – including Stalingrad, which had been the site of the mother-of-all battles and the turning point for the Germans. Läs artikel

Perpetuating the sanctions against Syria means condemning many people to death”. Bishop Georges Abou Khazen, Apostolic Vicar of Aleppo for Catholics of the Latin rite, chooses clear and unequivocal words in describing the effects that the sanctions imposed by Western countries against the Bashar al Assad regime have on the daily lives of millions of Syrians.

In recent days, significant confirmations and extensions of the sanctions implemented by Western countries as an instrument of pressure on the current Syrian political leadership have arrived from the United States and the European Union. A spokesman for the US State Department confirmed that Washington has not implemented any easing of sanctions against the Syrian regime, and will not ease its opposition to country reconstruction plans run by ruling apparatuses. […]

The European sanctions, introduced in 2011 after the repression of the first demonstrations organized by groups opposed to Assad, currently affect more than 280 individuals and about 70 bodies linked to the Syrian government.
Bishop Georges, who witnessed what is happening in Aleppo on the spot, reports: ”The everyday situation is in many ways worse than what we saw when Aleppo was a battlefield between the Syrian army and the militias of the so-called rebels. There are no drugs, the hospitals lack the equipment to save lives, the basic essentials of life, including food, are lacking, and many are barely able to get enough to eat every day to survive”. ”The situation”, according to the bishop, ”is all the more unbearable when one has the impression that the badly hidden aim of the sanctions is precisely to increase the suffering of the population in order to stir up dissatisfaction towards political leaders and pursue geopolitical strategies and interests by playing this game at the expense of the Syrian people: it is always the poor who pay, while the rich and those in charge are spared. Läs artikel

Eric Schmitt and Ronen Bergman report in the New York Times that U.S. officials believe an attack with armed drones on an American military base in southern Syria last month was retaliation for Israeli airstrikes in Syria. The attack caused no casualties — and the munitions in three of the five drones in the attack failed even to detonate — but the next such attack could well cause deaths or injuries. The officials attribute the October attack to what they describe as “proxy” forces connected to Iran.

Four implications follow from this development.

First, a complete withdrawal of U.S. troops from Syria is overdue. The continued presence of those troops is illegal, serves no vital purpose that has been identified and authorized by Congress, and helps to prolong a war in Syria that already has been largely won by the Assad regime with the help of its Russian and Iranian allies. Meanwhile, U.S. troops in Syria are exposed to becoming casualties at any moment. […]

Third, the United States has been applying double standards to conduct in the Middle East. As the Iranian regime never tires to point out, its people are in Syria by invitation of the Syrian government, but U.S. forces are not. Läs artikel

Til statsminister Jonas Gahr Støre.

Høringsnotatet fra Forsvarsdepartementet 8.9 2021 for den baseavtalen som Solberg-regjeringen inngikk med USA i mars i fjor, SDCA, er så ufullstendig og hviler på så grunnleggende svikt i sine premisser at jeg vil be regjeringen stanse videre arbeid med saken.

Over 1400 har underskrevet på en protest mot basene organisert av Nobel Peace Prize Watch (NPPW) og kravet om en ny fredspolitikk, se nobelwill.org/appell.html.

1. En ny nasjonal debatt og gjennomtenkning er absolutt nødvendig

Det trengs en nasjonal tenkepause om Norges militære sikkerhetspolitikk. I en verden i rask endring vil evige besvergelser om at kursen er rett før eller siden bli feil. Tiden er inne for en fri, ærlig og kritisk diskusjon – i regjeringen, i de politiske partiene, i media, blant folk flest. […]

Verdens nasjoner er fanget i en ond sirkel, hvor militære spørsmål tar mer og mer av plassen. Det er blitt en nasjonal og patriotisk dyd å undertrykke mange forhold som hver for seg er grunn nok, selv alene, til å ønske fundamentale omlegninger av internasjonale relasjoner – og avvise baseavtalen med USA:

1. Vi i Norge blir aldri trygge før også Russland kan føle seg trygge.
2. Sikkerhet kan ikke oppnås med militære midler, avskrekking gir ingen garanti mot å bli angrepet, men sikrer stor skade når det går galt.
3. Reell sikkerhet kan bare oppnås gjennom samarbeid, tillit og lavspenning, og å gjennomføre forpliktelsen i atomnedrustningsavtalen NPT artikkel VI om å forhandle frem allmenn og fullstendig nedrustning.
4. Gjennom 72 år med NATO-medlemskap har vi hatt enighet om å være evig enige, uten diskusjon av resultater og alternativ. Det går ikke lenger. Verden er i endring. USA er forgjeldet, utarmet og politisk ustabilt etter år med militær maktutfoldelse. Sentrale NATO-land reiser spørsmålstegn ved USA politikk og relevans.
5. NATO står også for betydelig makt over språk og tanker. Det er blitt stadig økende spenning mellom språkbruk og virkelighet. Ordbruk som dekker over brudd på FN-pakten og folkeretten er sterkt problematisk. Grove krenkelser fra alliansens side tildekkes og glemmes, mens ubetydelige feil hos konkurrerende nasjoner blåses opp ut over alle rimelige proporsjoner. Vi trenger en ekte debatt om motforestillingene fritatt for å tenke og tale i NATO-språk. Läs öppna brevet

The Hurdal platform, the new Norwegian government’s founding document, does not mention commuter housing and travel expense forms very much. On the other hand, it says quite a great deal about peace and stuff, this political document that is staking out the course for the Labor and Center Party government coalition.

In addition to highlighting the Arctic as Norway’s most important peace project, the document also states that “the government wants to contribute to low tension in our immediate neighborhood”. The neighborhood referred to is the one in the High North.

According to the government, low tension is to be achieved “through Norwegian presence and through acting clearly, predictably and reassuring”. A pretty clear message, in other words, yet also quite unfit as a description of the current high tension in the High North.

Just the other day, Norway’s new Defense Minister Odd Roger Enoksen came back to Norway following a visit to his American colleague Lloyd J. Austin III. With him, he brought a not-so-small addendum to the Hurdal Platform, described in the defense magazine Forsvarets forum as well as here at High North News.

“We want more [military] exercise activity. It is increasing already, yet we want better coordination between the allies. This is important for decreasing tension.” Läs artikel

The OSCE is working very closely with Russia to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) conflict . OSCE Chairperson-in-Office and Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde stated about this at a joint news conference in Moscow with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

She lauded Russia’s role in achieving the ceasefire, in particular, the country’s mediation efforts in ending hostilities on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border this week, and she thanked Russia for reaching a peace agreement last year that ended hostilities.

Linde added that she is in contact with the foreign ministers of both Armenia and Azerbaijan, the OSCE is using all available tools to resolve this conflict, and this is what they are working very closely on—together with Russia. Läs artikel

Moscow insists that the Minsk agreements are implemented consistently and that there is no alternative to this, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov reported on Friday following the talks with Swedish Foreign Minister and Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Chairperson-in-Office Ann Linde.

”The emphasis was put on the role of the OSCE to settle the Ukrainian crisis. We stressed the absolute necessity of the full, consistent, comprehensive implementation of the Minsk Package of Measures. We believe that the current presidency, including via its Special Representative [of the OSCE] in Ukraine and in the Contact Group, should promote direct dialogue between the sides of the conflict – Kiev, Donetsk and Lugansk,” the minister said. Läs artikel

Russia expects that the joint Russian-Swedish Supervisory Committee on Trade and Economic Cooperation that has resumed its activities will eliminate the difficulties faced by Russian business in the country Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at a press conference following talks with OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sweden Ann Linde.

Lavrov drew the attention of his Swedish colleague to the fact that despite the ”well-known and natural contradictions”, the parties have ”good opportunities for cooperation” in a variety of areas, including trade, economy, investments, ecology, cultural and humanitarian projects, health care, and social issues.

”We welcomed the resumption of activities of the joint Russian-Swedish Supervisory Committee on Trade and Economic Cooperation after an eight-year hiatus,” the minister continued. ”Its regular session was held in Stockholm a month ago, and the attendees discussed future work in this direction,” he noted. Läs artikel

Mindful that a review of NATO’s “strategic concept” is under way, the British branch of Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs recently commissioned a survey of British public opinion in relation to NATO’s nuclear policy. (Pugwash Conferences is a non-governmental organization that was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize in 1995.)

There were 2093 respondents to the survey, representing a broad range of social and economic backgrounds and the four constituent realms of the United Kingdom.

Asked whether they would wish NATO to engage in nuclear retaliation, if Russia were to use nuclear weapons against one or more NATO members, 51 percent of respondents answered “yes.” This suggests a group half-open to the use of nuclear weapons in certain circumstances.