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Focus Point: Regional Security- Transatlantic Security/European Security
Restoring Conscription in Germany: Lessons from Scandinavian Models and Key Considerations | Finabel
Melanie Garcia Flores| 08.07.2024
The Russo-Ukrainian War has heightened security concerns across Europe. In response, European countries are not only looking to enhance their capabilities to face modern types of warfare but also experiencing a resurgence of interest in traditional security measures such as military conscription (Silva, 2024). This shift is evident as nations reassess their defence capabilities, both within multinational alliances such as NATO and by bolstering their national defence.
In response to these evolving security needs, the German government has turned its attention to the recently restored Scandinavian conscription systems as a role model to embark on the process of reintroducing conscription (Deutsche Welle, 2024a). The success of these Scandinavian systems, which makes them attractive to other European countries, lies in adapting to their changing societies by presenting innovative models of conscription (Jonsson et al., 2024; Strand, 2021). Furthermore, this type of draft is based on choosing the best and most motivated people. The highly selective draft is helping these countries to move from military service as something men were forced to do to something now people select to do for their personal and professional growth (Braw, 2017). Read more…
Focus Point: Regional Security- Transatlantic Security/NATO
Keynote speech by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at the NATO Industry Forum in Washington | NATO
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg | 09.07.2024
NATO’s main purpose is to prevent war and to preserve peace by providing credible deterrence every day to ensure that there is no room for miscalculation and misunderstanding in any capital about NATO’s ability to defend and protect all Allies.
As long as we have that credible deterrence, there will be no armed attack against any NATO Ally. And that is why we have been able to preserve peace for 75 years with no armed attack against any NATO Ally. And we will be able to ensure that also in the future, as long as we ensure that we have the strong defence and credible deterrence that we need. Read more…
Focus Point: Regional Security- Transatlantic Security/NATO
Secretary General celebrates NATO’s 75th anniversary with Allied leaders on the eve of the Washington Summit | NATO
NATO| 09.07.2024
In a speech at the Mellon Auditorium, where the North Atlantic Treaty was signed in 1949, the Secretary General underlined that NATO is “not only the most successful and strongest, but also the longest-lasting Alliance in history”. He acknowledged that NATO’s enduring success has never been a given, but is rather “the result of deliberate choices and difficult decisions” – from NATO’s creation to arms control negotiations, and from NATO’s enlargement at the end of the Cold War to NATO’s support to Ukraine today.
Warning that “there are no cost-free options with an aggressive Russia as a neighbour; there are no risk-free options in a war,” the Secretary General said that the biggest cost and greatest risk will be if Russia wins in Ukraine, as this would embolden President Putin but also other authoritarian leaders in Iran, North Korea, and China. “The time to stand for freedom and democracy is now; the place is Ukraine,” he said. Mr Stoltenberg concluded by saying that the Alliance will continue to face difficult questions in the future, but that “we are stronger and safer together, in NATO.”
At the end of the event, President Biden presented Mr Stoltenberg with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States’ highest civilian honour, in recognition of his decade of service at the helm of the Alliance.
Earlier in the day, the Secretary General met with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. They discussed the decisions to be taken at the Summit to “strengthen our Alliance for the future”, including on deterrence and defence, support for Ukraine and strengthening NATO’s partnership in the Indo-Pacific. The Secretary General also participated in the first-ever NATO Summit Defence Industry Forum, hosted by the US Chamber of Commerce. He spoke to industry representatives, Allied defence ministers and others about NATO’s new defence industry pledge aimed at building greater transatlantic defence industrial cooperation, and welcomed that “just today, the (NATO procurement agency) NSPA signed a new multinational contract for Stinger missiles worth almost 700 million dollars.” Read more…
Focus Point: Regional Security- Transatlantic Security / NATO
Washington Summit Declaration | NATO
NATO |10.07.2024
The Washington Summit Declaration issued by the Heads of State and Government participating in the meeting of the North Atlantic Council in Washington, D.C., 10 July 2024
NATO remains the unique, essential, and indispensable transatlantic forum to consult, coordinate, and act on all matters related to our individual and collective security. NATO is a defensive Alliance. Our commitment to defend one another and every inch of Allied territory at all times, as enshrined in Article 5 of the Washington Treaty, is iron-clad. We will continue to ensure our collective defence against all threats and from all directions, based on a 360-degree approach, to fulfil NATO’s three core tasks of deterrence and defence, crisis prevention and management, and cooperative security. We are bound together by shared values: individual liberty, human rights, democracy, and the rule of law. We adhere to international law and to the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations and are committed to upholding the rules-based international order. Read more…
Focus Point: Regional Security- Transatlantic Security/NATO
NATO looks at how to make itself ‘war-ready’ | Euractiv
Aurélie Pugnet| 10.07.2024
“There are no cost-free options with an aggressive Russia as a neighbour, there are no risk-free options in a war,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Tuesday (9 July).
“The biggest cost and the greatest risk will be if Russia wins in Ukraine,” Stoltenberg told an audience of policymakers and top military brass in Washington. “We cannot let that happen.” Read more
Focus Point: Regional Security- Transatlantic Security/NATO
NATO: Ukraine’s path to membership ‘irreversible’ as calls for formal invitation grow | Euronews
Shona Murray | 11.07.2024
NATO’s reassuring language that Ukraine’s path to membership of the alliance is “irreversible” represents a step forward, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Stefanishyna said.
It’s a “very strong message on membership,” she told Euronews.Moreover, it’s a clear signal to Russia about Ukraine’s future, she said.
Several experts say membership is the only guarantee of Ukrainian security, particularly because the majority of Ukrainian territory would be covered by Article 5 of the NATO Treaty, which ensures that an attack on one ally is responded to as if it were an attack on all allies.Read more…
Focus Point: Regional Security- Transatlantic Security/NATO
Allied leaders adopt new NATO defence industrial pledge | NATO
NATO |11.07.2024
Allied Heads of State and Government endorsed a new NATO Industrial Capacity Expansion pledge at the Washington Summit on Wednesday (10 July 2024). The Pledge aims to accelerate defence industrial capacity and production across the Alliance, and underscores the strategic importance of transatlantic defence cooperation.
The Allies also pledged to deliver critical capabilities in the short term both to execute NATO’s defence plans and to support Ukraine, with an initial focus on munitions and air and missile defence systems. Read more…
Focus Point: Regional Security- Transatlantic Security/NATO
Admiral Bauer: We have to support and continue to support Ukraine not only to prevail but actually to win! | NAVI Research Institute
Nicholas Redic, Lucas Andrés Meunier, Dr John Sunday Ojo, Umit Kurt | 12.07.2024
Admiral Robert Bauer, Chair of the NATO Military Committee “ We have to support and continue to support Ukraine not only to prevail but actually to win.”
During the Washington Summit, key discussions centered on the ongoing war in Ukraine and the steps necessary for NATO to bolster its defense and deterrence strategies. Admiral Robert Bauer, Chair of the NATO Military Committee, provided an in-depth analysis of the summit’s outcomes during a session moderated by Heather A. Conley, President of the German Marshall Fund, at the NATO Public Form Hot Wash-up Session. Read more…
Focus Point: Regional Security- Transatlantic Security / The US
Attack on Trump reopens a chilling chapter in American politics | CNN
Stephen Collinson | 14.07.2024
The attempted assassination of Donald Trump, which opens a dark new chapter in America’s cursed story of political violence, shook a nation already deeply estranged during one of the most tense periods of its modern history.
The targeting of a former president at a campaign rally just days before he accepts the Republican nomination is, by definition, an attack on democracy and the right of each American to choose their leaders.
There could also be unpredictable implications for an election campaign in which Trump was leading Biden – even before the president’s campaign went into free fall with his disastrous debate performance. And the atmosphere around the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee this week will be even more intense.
Already on Saturday, there were calls for investigations of how a gunman – outside the security perimeter of the rally – was able to get Trump in his sights in a massive failure of security that will rumble on for months and will have implications for all future presidential and campaign events.
Many politicians on both sides of the aisle are already bemoaning the heat of political rhetoric – after yet another chilling indication of what it can produce in a nation in which guns are so easily accessed. It remains to be seen if the shock of Saturday’s events, which could have been a lot worse, will do anything to tame a toxic political culture in which Trump is an enthusiastic participant.
In one of the most poignant reactions, Giffords said in a statement, “Political violence is terrifying. I know.” She added: “I’m holding former President Trump, and all those affected by today’s indefensible act of violence in my heart. Political violence is un-American and is never acceptable – never.”
Unfortunately, history suggests that violence, while indefensible, is also a quintessential scar on American politics. Read more…
Thank you very much for reading.
The NAVI Research Institute is the research division of NATO Veterans Initiative - NAVI that provides a unique perspective to transatlantic leaders and societies on peace and security through the lens of NATO's founding principles of rule of law, democracy, human rights, and individual liberties. The NAVI Research Institute was officially established by the NAVI Board on July 16th, 2023.
