Displaying items by tag: NATO

Thursday, 21 March 2024 21:36

Army must 'prepare genuinely for war'

A new report, backed by former UK defence and security chiefs, emphasises the need for the Army to genuinely prepare for war to effectively deter threats. Key contributors have warned of the army's diminished credibility due to prolonged reductions in size and capability, risking falling below the national critical mass. The report, responding to concerns over inadequate defence spending and global conflicts like Russia's war in Ukraine, suggests that the UK army is no longer considered a top-level fighting force within NATO. It proposes the formation of a 'New Model Army' that is battle-ready and respected, to demonstrate strength to both adversaries and allies. The document proposes a war-ready command structure in Whitehall and recommends a dedicated task force to facilitate necessary changes, akin to the successful Covid vaccine campaign. The report concludes with a plea for bold and decisive action to restore the army's fighting capability within realistic budget constraints.

Published in British Isles
Thursday, 30 November 2023 21:47

Ukraine / Russia war: day 645

NATO secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg has warned against underestimating Russia's determination to continue the war. The EU has delivered 300,000 of its promised 1 million shells to Ukraine, with calls for closer alignment of Ukrainian and NATO arms production. Ukraine reported killing five high-ranking Russian officials in an air strike, and claimed that Russian casualties have reached 327,580. Ukrainian air defences successfully intercepted 21 Iranian-made Shahed drones heading towards a region where an airbase is located. Meanwhile, Russia escalated attacks in the Donetsk region, intensifying artillery fire, airstrikes, and ground infantry attacks. British intelligence indicated the potential use of 500kg cluster bombs. Russia also claimed control of the village of Khromove, near the city of Bakhmut.

Published in Europe
Thursday, 17 August 2023 20:57

Ukraine: trade land for peace?

At a meeting in Norway where NATO alliance members were discussing how the 18-month-old war might be brought to an end, Stian Jenssen, chief of staff to NATO’s secretary general, said, ‘I think a solution could be for Ukraine to give up territory, and get NATO membership in return.’ Jenssen noted that discussions about Ukraine’s postwar status were continuing in diplomatic circles. Jenssen was careful to stress that he was simply airing an idea and that ‘it must be up to Ukraine to decide when and on what terms they want to negotiate’, reflecting NATO’s position that no peace settlement should be agreed without Ukraine’s assent. Kyiv said a land-for-NATO deal would reward Russian aggression.

Published in Europe
Friday, 28 July 2023 09:56

Russia: warnings and dangers

After Ukraine’s recent drone attacks, there have been warnings of tough retaliatory measures. Putin’s closest ally Dmitry Medvedev, of Russia's Security Council, said Moscow must ‘choose unconventional targets for our strikes - not just storage facilities, energy hubs and oil bases.’ He also warned of a global conflict breaking out as nuclear tensions rise and concerns about climate change intensify: ‘The world is sick, and quite probably on the verge of a new world war.’ Officials in Moscow have repeatedly warned that the world faces the most dangerous decade since World War 2. At NATO’s arms control conference recently, the USA said, ‘We have watched and worried that Putin would use his non-strategic tactical nuclear weapon for a managed risk escalation. It’s critical that we remain watchful.’ NATO’s secretary general said Putin’s plan to place tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus was part of a years-long pattern of ‘dangerous, irresponsible nuclear rhetoric’ which intensified with the ‘brutalisation of Ukraine’. See

Published in Europe
Friday, 02 June 2023 13:14

Kosovo: Flare-ups intensify

NATO is deploying 700 additional troops to its peacekeeping mission in Northern Kosovo after clashes with local ethnic Serbian protesters left dozens injured on both sides. Majority-Albanian Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, but neither Serbia nor ethnic Serbians in Northern Kosovo recognize Kosovo’s independence. Tensions often flare over which government is legitimate. 4,000 NATO troops are keeping the peace as an agreement giving local Serbs autonomy was never implemented. Recent elections in Northern Kosovo were boycotted by the ethnic Serb majority and Kosovo won but Serb protesters prevented leaders' access to their offices until riot police and NATO dispersed them, injuring 30 peacekeepers and 50 protesters. Serbia is on alert to defend ethnic Serbs in Kosovo. Belgrade’s Moscow allies blame Kosovo and the West for the crisis. America and the EU have called for de-escalation.

Published in Europe
Friday, 24 March 2023 06:12

Polish fighter jets for Ukraine

Poland announced that it’ll supply Kyiv with MiG-29 fighter jets, the first NATO member to do so. For months President Zelensky has implored America and Europe for warplanes to fight Russia. However, NATO allies have been slow-walking him because that might push the Russians to escalate on the battlefield. Yet the Soviet-era MiGs, of which Ukraine has a few dozen relics, are hardly the modern warplanes Zelensky wants and needs, and they’re no match for Russia’s Su-27s. The Sukhoi Su-27, NATO Codename ‘Flanker’, is a flying Missile Battery. Some believe Poland's action will encourage other NATO countries to follow suit and rethink on sending Ukraine high-tech warplanes. That's exactly what happened weeks ago with heavy tanks when the US and Germany changed their mind.

Published in Europe
Thursday, 16 February 2023 23:22

Russian ships with nuclear weapons

Russia has deployed vessels armed with tactical nuclear weapons in the Baltic Sea for the first time in three decades, according to a Norwegian intelligence report. Warships regularly went to sea with nuclear weapons during the Soviet era, but this is the first time the Russian Federation has deployed them. Norway’s report comes as Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine reaches the one-year mark. The report said this deployment of vessels implies Russia will continue to pose a threat to Norway and NATO. Norway said that a localised war could possibly escalate into a wider conflict with direct military involvement by Russia, the USA, NATO, and Norway. Russia has called its war in Ukraine a special military operation, and accuses NATO of interfering.

Published in Europe
Thursday, 13 October 2022 20:31

Ukraine: heavy shelling and NATO aid

On 10 October Russian troops began launching a daily series of missile strikes, targeting civilians and energy facilities in populated regions to kill and create chaos. President Volodymyr Zelensky said, ‘They want to destroy our energy system. They are incorrigible. The second target is people. Such a time and such goals were specially chosen to cause as much damage as possible. We are dealing with terrorists trying to wipe us off the face of the earth.’  On 13 October Ukraine’s allies from fifty countries meeting at NATO headquarters announced deliveries to Kyiv of advanced air defence weapons, including missiles and radars. The USA earlier made a similar pledge. One high-tech system from Germany is already in Ukraine. Kyiv hailed the summit as ‘historic’. Hours later, while people slept, Russian shelling hit a five-storey residential building in Mykolaiv, destroying the upper two floors.

Published in Europe
Friday, 19 August 2022 00:08

Global repercussions of Ukraine war

While explosions rocked a Crimean ammunition depot, disrupting railway services and causing 2,000 people to be evacuated from a nearby village, the Russian defence minister claimed Ukrainian military operations were being planned by the Americans and British while NATO increased its troop deployment in eastern and central Europe ‘several times over’. Vladimir Putin also said the bloc of Australia, UK, and the USA had the potential to develop into ‘a political-military alliance’. Meanwhile Russia’s Black Sea fleet struggles to exercise effective sea control, with patrols generally limited to the waters within sight of the Crimean coast, according to British intelligence reports. The fleet continues to use long-range cruise missiles to support ground offensives, but is keeping a defensive posture. Britain is training 10,000 Ukrainian raw recruits in marksmanship, battlefield first aid, and urban warfare. Canada, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and Nordic nations are also providing training.

Published in Worldwide
Thursday, 09 June 2022 23:21

Ukraine: scenarios to pray about

The story of this war cannot yet be written, but we can pray about possible scenarios. One would be Russia and Ukraine grinding each other down with neither demonstrating capacity to land a tactically decisive blow. Pray the West will supply Ukraine with all that is needed to overcome Putin. Another could be Putin announcing a ceasefire, pocketing his territorial gains and declaring ‘victory’ with a land corridor to Crimea established. This might change the narrative but not end the fighting. Pray for God’s wisdom to saturate Ukraine’s leaders so that a theoretical peace is avoided, and for US, UK and European policymakers to ensure Russia's invasion fails, for the sake of Ukraine and the international order. Pray for Ukraine’s victory using its new long-range rockets. Pray that it can retrieve territory where Russian supply lines are stretched, causing the troops to withdraw to where they were before the invasion, as Western sanctions hit Russia's war machine.

Published in Europe
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