Showing posts with label Baltics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Baltics. Show all posts

Saturday, November 2, 2024

NATO 2024

24-12-12 NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte on Military Investment > .
24-11-12 Sweden is Becoming Ruscia's Worst Nightmare - Icarus > .24-4-4 NATO - Largest military alliance in world | DW Doc > .
24-4-2 NATO Free Riding; [DJT's Stupidity re] Collective Defense - Spaniel > .
23-12-23 Future of EU Defense: NATO or the EU? (ft. UEF) - Simple > .
24-2-16 United States | No More NATO? - Prof J K-L > .

NATO Inception: The Treaty of Dunkirk was signed by France and the United Kingdom on 4 March 1947, during the aftermath of World War II and the start of the Cold War, as a Treaty of Alliance and Mutual Assistance in the event of possible attacks by Germany or the Soviet Union. In March 1948, this alliance was expanded in the Treaty of Brussels to include the Benelux countries, forming the Brussels Treaty Organization, commonly known as the Western Union. Talks for a wider military alliance, which could include North America, also began that month in the United States, where their foreign policy under the Truman Doctrine promoted international solidarity against actions they saw as communist aggression, such as the February 1948 coup d'état in Czechoslovakia. These talks resulted in the signature of the North Atlantic Treaty on 4 April 1949 by the member states of the Western Union plus the United States, Canada, Portugal, Italy, Norway, Denmark, and Iceland. Canadian diplomat Lester B. Pearson was a key author and drafter of the treaty.

The North Atlantic Treaty was largely dormant until the Korean War initiated the establishment of NATO to implement it with an integrated military structure. This included the formation of Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) in 1951, which adopted many of the Western Union's military structures and plans, including their agreements on standardizing equipment and agreements on stationing foreign military forces in European countries. In 1952, the post of Secretary General of NATO was established as the organization's chief civilian. That year also saw the first major NATO maritime exercises, Exercise Mainbrace and the accession of Greece and Turkey to the organization. Following the London and Paris Conferences, West Germany was permitted to rearm militarily, as they joined NATO in May 1955, which was, in turn, a major factor in the creation of the Soviet-dominated Warsaw Pact, delineating the two opposing sides of the Cold War. ............... 

21st centuryArticle 5 of the North Atlantic treaty, requiring member states to come to the aid of any member state subject to an armed attack, was invoked for the first and only time after the September 11 attacks, after which troops were deployed to Afghanistan under the NATO-led ISAF.

The NATO Response Force (NRF) is a high-readiness NATO rapid deployment force comprising land, sea, air, and special forces units capable of being deployed quickly within short notice. The NRF currently comprises up to 40,000 troops, with plans to increase its manpower to over 300,000 troops. Its forces include units from several non-NATO member partners, including Sweden (since 2013), Ukraine (since 2014), and Georgia (since 2015).

The NRF was formed in June 2003 per endorsements at the 2002 Prague summit. Units assigned to the NRF were only used for disaster relief and security until February 2022, when it was activated for the first time in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The NRF structure consists of four parts:
  • Command and Control element: Based on a deployable Joint Task Force HQ.
  • Very High Readiness Joint Task Force (VJTF): High-readiness "spearhead force" that can deploy wherever needed at short notice.
  • Initial Follow On Forces Group (IFFG): High-readiness forces that can deploy following the VJTF in response to a crisis.
  • Response Forces Pool (RFP): A broad spectrum of military capabilities encompassing command and control, combat forces, and support units, drawn from the national forces of NATO members and non-member allies.

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

JEF - Joint Expeditionary Force

.
24-5-8 JEF - Joint Expeditionary Force - Nordic, Baltic | Lithuania Ex > .
24-5-15 Lithuania, Latvia, & Estonia Cooperate On Defence & Security - Lithuania > .
23-7-6 Deploying to Icelandic nuclear bunker with UK-led JEF alliance - Force > .

The Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) is a United Kingdom-led Northern European multi-national military partnership designed for rapid response and expeditionary operations. In addition to the United Kingdom, which initiated the establishment of the force in 2012, it consists of the Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden), the Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania), and the Netherlands.

The JEF concept was first conceived in 2012 and announced by the then Chief of the Defence Staff, General Sir David Richards. The JEF arose from the Joint Rapid Reaction Force (JRRF) which disappeared as a result of the UK's focus on operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The United Kingdom element of the JEF consists of personnel and equipment from the Royal Navy, Royal Marines, British Army and Royal Air Force and is designed to provide greater levels of integration than previously achieved especially when combined with other country's armed forces.

Together with the British Armed Forces, the following nine states may form part of the JEF as required.
The JEF has been fully operational since June 2018. It can act independently in its own right, but it can also be deployed in support of NATO or other cooperative ventures, for example as part of a United Nations peacekeeping force. All of its ten member states are also members of NATO, with Finland's and Sweden's applications ratified in 2023 and 2024, respectively.

Comment:
To put this into context. This is a British Project. The purpose of this project is to prepare Britain and the countries it would be helping to defend for a European War. The countries involved are the ones that would participate on the Baltic Axis and the North Atlantic Axis. These are the directions of British contributions. The UK wants to cooperate with and acclimatize to all allies and potential allies in these directions. Hence Sweden and Finland joining in 2017. What Britain gets out of this is good military relations with many smaller countries that it would have to deploy to in times of war. Experience cooperating with those countries. Influence over defence decisions so that collaboration is as easy as possible; e.g. equipment purchases, organizational structure, availability ot tea kettles in all vehicles, stuff like that. 

This also makes it easier for Britain to integrate units from these countries into it's own forces. e.g. Frigates as Carrier escorts, squadrons as part of RAF wings, battalions as part of British led brigades etc. If say, Sweden, wished to participate in a future Iraq War style conflict they could simply send a battallion as part of a British brigade with no special need for training and integration, that work already having been done. This increases British infuence in general. 

What the other participants get out of it. The Netherlands gets to contribute as if it were Britain writ small. The other members are ones that would need NATO, specifically British and Dutch resources to help defend themselves. With all of this being prepared and practiced small countries like Estonia or Latvia are free to make consequential decisions like to not have an air force or corvettes since allies they already are integrated with provide those services. This is uniquely valuable to a small country that couldn't afford more than one ship leaving it at risk of having the ship in repair dock when it was needed at sea; same for expensive aircraft and the even more expensive pilots. 

This is also a good framework for the Iceland Defence Force since all of the common contributing members (UK, Netherlands, Denmark and Norway) are in this partnership. This also enables Iceland, which doesn't have a military, to contribute since every military deployment needs medical and logistical services Iceland can provide.

Sunday, August 27, 2006

> Baltics, Nordic >

Baltic History
Mapped History of Baltic region every year > .
Mapped History of Northern Europe > .


Baltic Sea 

Belarus 
23-6-4 Freedom for Belarus tied to Freedom for Ukraine - Perspective > .

Cyber 


Estonia
Estonia - Baltic Tiger > .

Finland & NATO 
23-4-6 Finland Joins NATO: Historic Alliance Expansion | WSJ > .
23-2-3 Fiona Hill - NATO = Barrier to Pooti's Imperial Ambitions - SC > .

Geopolitics of Baltic
23-3-16 R-U War has Ended the Era of Russian in the Baltic States - Perspective > .


Languages
Sound of the Baltic Languages - From West to East > .

Latvia 
Latvia History > .23-1-28 Ruscian poopaganda aims to divide Latvian society | DW > .

Lithuania


Soviet/Orcine Oppression/Aggression
Orcine


sī vīs pācem, parā bellum

igitur quī dēsīderat pācem praeparet bellum    therefore, he who desires peace, let him prepare for war sī vīs pācem, parā bellum if you wan...