This past spring, Finland and Sweden broke with decades of neutrality by announcing their intent to join NATO, ostensibly in response to Russia’s military operation in Ukraine. The accession process has been held up by Turkey over Stockholm and Helsinki’s support for Kurdish fighters Ankara classifies as “terrorists,” and could drag on into 2023.
Military Thought, the Russian Defense Ministry’s official theoretical journal, has outlined some of the concrete measures the Russian military will be forced to take if and when Finland and Sweden become members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
“Although the planned accession of Finland and Sweden into the NATO bloc represents the legal registration of long-established relations, this must be considered as one of the most urgent challenges to the Russian Federation, which will require the adoption of a series of adequate measures,” a paper published in the journal’s December issue indicated.
The need for such “adequate measures” is related, first and foremost, to the fact that once the Nordics join the bloc, more than 1,000 km of NATO territory will appear on Russia’s borders, after which the alliance can deploy military equipment, troops, and tactical missile systems there that would threaten the military-industrial and transport infrastructure of Russia’s Arkhangelsk region.
Military Thought outlined the measures Russia’s Armed Forces will need to take in response to the emergent threat. “On our part, this will require building up the ground and coastal forces in the northern direction, missile forces and artillery, air defense and aviation, including unmanned aircraft, as well as the planning of strikes using long-range precision weapons against targets in Finland and Sweden,” the article warned.
Such a shift in the regional balance of forces would ruin decades of trouble-free relations that Moscow and Helsinki enjoyed for decades going back to the post-WWII period, which allowed both countries to limit defense expenditures and force presence along one another’s borders, and to engage in economic and cross-border cooperation.
Moscow has expressed concerns over the impact that Finland and Sweden’s entry into NATO would have on regional security. Last week, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova warned that their accession could lead to “increased militarization of the Arctic region,” and a consequent “significant increase of tensions and security risks.”.....more below
Any moment now I am expecting John Cleese (a veteran of Monty Python) to jump out of the bushes and announce the creation of the Ministry of Silly Wars, with Donald Trump as the deranged leader. For you youngsters out there, Monty Python’s skit, The Ministry of Silly Walks, helped make the members of MP legends. I had to reference Monty Python because the line of bullshit the Trump administration is feeding the American people and the world about the amazing, obliterating US attack on Iranian nuclear sites on Sunday morning, is more ridiculous that all of the silly walks pictured in the following video:
My hopes that Donald Trump would finally act like a responsible adult are dashed. He’s a dangerous buffoon. While the team around him are working frantically to maintain the fiction that Trump has a vision and is calling the shots on the foreign policy front, he is careening around the globe like an out-of-control cue ball on a billiards table. It started a week ago… first, he claimed...
Tuesday marks the third anniversary of the launch of the Fujian, China's first aircraft carrier equipped with electromagnetic catapults. Official media said China is about to enter a three-aircraft-carrier era, with the Fujian expected to enter service by 2025.
After the launch of the Fujian on June 17, 2022, it carried out its first sea trial from May 1 to 8 in 2024. Since then, the Fujian has completed multiple sea trials, accumulating more than 100 days of sea trial, China Central Television (CCTV) News reported on Tuesday.
Wei Dongxu, a Chinese military affairs commentator, said that the aircraft carrier Fujian has been making steady progress in sea trials, and is expected to be commissioned within this year, CCTV News reported.
With a full displacement of more than 80,000 tons, the Fujian is the world's first conventionally powered aircraft carrier to feature electromagnetic catapult technologies, according to CCTV News. The report noted that it will carry a wide variety of carrier-borne...
Chinese President Xi Jinping said Tuesday that China and Central Asian countries have explored and formed the China-Central Asia Spirit, which features mutual respect, mutual trust, mutual benefit, mutual assistance, and the pursuit of common modernization through high-quality development.
Xi made the remarks in his speech at the second China-Central Asia Summit in the Kazakh capital of Astana.
Xi said that the Chinese side has decided to establish three cooperation centers and a trade facilitation platform within the China-Central Asia cooperation mechanism.
When addressing the summit, Xi said these institutions include the China-Central Asia poverty reduction cooperation center, the China-Central Asia education exchange cooperation center, the China-Central Asia desertification control cooperation center, as well as the China-Central Asia trade facilitation cooperation....more below
