Finland is getting positive attention for their approach to military leadership and the remarkable defense preparedness of the Finns.
Archives for October 2017
Estonia enhances electronic surveillance of border
Estonia is projecting electronic surveillance of the Narva River with a bit of foreign funding, reports err.ee. The project includes a radar, cameras, electrical connections, a communications solution, and more. The idea is to improve the guarding of the border and increase the chance of detecting illegal border crossings. Given Lithuania’s problems with keeping Russian […]
Lithuanian borders violated by Russia and Belarus in September
You would expect border guards to know where the border is. Or at least you would think that border guards had enough respect for the concept of a border to keep a safe margin if they are in doubt. But nevertheless there were two cases in September where border guards entered illegally into Lithuania. The […]
Nordic countries enhance cyber collaboration
Nordic countries are enhancing collaboration about cyber defense. Sweden, Denmark, Finland, and Norway have agreed to develop capabilities under NORDEFCO. And apparently Finland is taking the lead. Gerard O’Dwyer writing for Fifth Domain: Within NORDEFCO, Finland has taken the lead role to develop Computer Emergency Response Team capabilities that have the capacity to better protect […]
Ticonderoga is getting old
The Ticonderoga-class cruisers are getting old, and some are due to be decommissioned soon. But it will take a long time before they are all gone. David B. Larter for Defense News: According to the Navy’s 30-year shipbuilding plan, the Navy will continue to have between 98 and 100 large surface combatants in the fleet […]
Don’t leave peace to the pacifists
Great op-ed by Bret Stephens in The New York Times: Walter Lippmann, nobody’s idea of a right-wing reactionary, put his finger on the problem in the tragic wake of another supposedly golden era of arms control. “The disarmament movement,” he wrote in 1943, proved “tragically successful in disarming the nations that believed in disarmament.” In […]
Zapad was not a test for the West
Igor Fedyk tries to derive some conclusions about the just finished Zapad 2017 exercise in this piece called Zapad 2017: A Test for the West for Jamestown.org. I think some of his points are somewhat sensationalistic, though, and Fedyk partly falls into the trap of confusing the nature of warfare with sinister intentions on behalf […]
Finland and the art of self-reliance in national defense
Good look at the defense philosophy in Finland by Teri Schultz in DW. And what a contrast to many other countries in the Baltic region that have perfected the art of being dependent on USA. President Sauli Niinisto says Finland – with a population of 5.2 million, a border with Russia that runs 1,340 kilometers […]
What are Russian leaders afraid of?
Not entirely new but very thorough description of how the Russian leadership perceives the strategic role and threats against Russia by Dmitry Gorenburg for Russia in Global Affairs. Fundamentally Gorenburg describes an interesting combination of aggressive behavior grounded in a perception of a defensive struggle that from a Western perspective can be hard to understand. […]
Europe should prepare to defend itself without America
Europe desires a fundamentally disinterested protector, but the European countries better realize that America’s unwillingness to provide that security will continue to grow, writes Jeremy Shapiro in this insightful piece in [War On The Rocks] [WTHR link]: But presidential incompetence and the public’s lack of interest is a weak foundation on which to build a […]