Finland/Sweden NATO acceptance….
Finland and Sweden will become official NATO members by Christmas, the U.S. ambassador to Finland predicted in a conversation with reporters and experts.
Only three of NATO’s 30 members are left to ratify the two countries’ accessions to the alliance. Slovakia is expected to give the green light while Hungary and Turkey continue to string the applicants along. The general assumption is that they both will wait until 2023 to make a final decision, with Turkey remaining in a holding pattern until after general elections in June 2023.
But DOUGLAS HICKEY, who was sworn into his role in April, said he’s optimistic NATO will have 32 members before the year is out. Conversations he’s had with his Hungarian counterpart in Helsinki led him to believe a positive vote will soon come, he told the group, warning the situation could change. But Hickey believes Turkish President RECEP TAYYIP ERDOGAN doesn’t want to be the lone holdout, incentivizing him to move quickly on the issue.
“I don’t think he wants to be on an island too long,” he told your host during a meeting as part of a trip organized and sponsored by the German Marshall Fund of the United States. Time was of the essence, he implored, especially after Russian President VLADIMIR PUTINordered a partial mobilization of his military and threatened nuclear use. “We have to get this done. We have to stabilize this situation.”…
US Marines are already doing training session’s with the Swedish military already as American and NATO up their presence in Northern Europe countries bordering Russia in preperation for a expanded NATO….
Sweden and Finland and other Baltic members of NATO will now increase Defense spending and order more arms, weapons and military equipment including fighter jets….
While the war raged in Ukraine, hundreds of Marines joined their Swedish counterparts for maneuvers in the Baltic Sea, on and around some of Sweden’s 100,000 mostly uninhabited islands. In the cold rain and under heavy fire, they scrambled up slippery rocks, landed combat boats on shores and crawled on their bellies through forested ravines….
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For the Americans, this is somewhat new territory. After 20 years of war in Iraq and Afghanistan, the maneuvers required for combat in the Baltic Sea represent a crash course in amphibious warfare, including diving into frigid waters while clad in heavy gear and carrying machine guns. It means learning how to remain underwater for long periods of time before emerging in a burst of attacking machine gunfire
“It is definitely a different type of environment than Afghanistan or Iraq, where we are very vehicular-mobile,” said Brig. Gen. Andrew T. Priddy, the commander of the Second Marine Expeditionary Brigade.
From a wet and windy hilltop on the island of Lilla Skogsskar, General Priddy kept watch as U.S. and Swedish marines stormed the beaches of nearby Stora Skogsskar….
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Sweden avoided World War II, sparing itself the German occupation that Norway endured and the Soviet invasion suffered by the Finns. During the Cold War, Sweden continued its neutral path. The country sent troops to United Nations peacekeeping operations around the world, and even to Afghanistan after Sept. 11 attacks in the United States, but declined to join NATO.
And then Feb. 24, 2022, happened. The Russian invasion of Ukrainebrought into sharp relief the limitations of being in Europe but not having the security guarantees of NATO’s collective defense pact. The Finns — dragging the Swedes with them — applied for membership in the alliance…
Post Russian / Ukraine conflict planning for the Ukraine military….
Hard spending, training and political policy questrions will have to be addressed by America, East Europe , NATO and the Ukraine…
Putin may nurse his wound and want to take another bite of the Ukraine in a few years down the road….
Just stockpiling weapons is NOT gonna be enough for the Ukraine….
And?
Zelensky HAS mentioned he wants to model his country around the Israeli’s, who have a superior military operation in the Middle East….
Over the coming years, Ukraine will need to train hundreds of thousands to replace its losses, generate new formations, and retrain existing units to use new equipment and hone tactics necessary for the next phases of the war, such as the integration of infantry, armor, artillery, and air support for offensive operations. Ukraine’s ability to spare personnel for such training, not U.S. and ally capacity, should be the only limiting factor in the pace and scale of training.
A policy of long-term assistance to Ukraine would have other benefits beyond creating a first-class military that secures the country’s future and serves as a key partner for the United States. It would signal to Russia that it cannot outlast the West’s support and put to rest doubts about the reliability of the United States as a military partner following the withdrawal from Afghanistan. It would support a badly needed expansion of the U.S. defense industrial base as the war has shown the importance of production capacity in a time of potential great power conflict. But political leaders in Washington on both sides of the aisle must make the case to the public, approve the necessary funding, and execute a well-designed plan….
Russian has been selling stolen Ukraine grain to pay for it’s Ukraine conflict….
An investigation by The Associated Press and the PBS series “Frontline” has found the Laodicea, owned by Syria, is part of a sophisticated Russian-run smuggling operation that has used falsified manifests and seaborne subterfuge to steal Ukrainian grain worth at least $530 million — cash that has helped feed President Vladimir Putin’s war machine.
AP used satellite imagery and marine radio transponder data to track three dozen ships making more than 50 voyages carrying grain from Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine to ports in Turkey, Syria, Lebanon and other countries. Reporters reviewed shipping manifests, searched social media posts, and interviewed farmers, shippers and corporate officials to uncover the details of the massive smuggling operation….
Image…NY Times…