Baltic Rim Economies 2/2024
NATO: Present status and forthcoming developments
"In the summer of 2022, Madrid
hosted a NATO summit to discuss the new realities in the European security
environment. Already five months have passed since Russia initiated a
full-scale invasion in neighboring Ukraine. It was a war whose violence, crimes
against civilians, number of casualties, and number of refugees reminded of the
Second World War. The consequences of this war, whenever it will end or expand,
would have a dramatic impact on European and world security comparable to WW2."
Artis Pabriks
Dr., Director
The
Northern Europe Policy Centre
Latvia
A somber 75th anniversary celebration at NATO's summit in Washington
"All eyes will be on Washington DC on July 9th 2024 as the now 32 member NATO alliance will come together to celebrate NATO’s 75th anniversary. As alliances go, this 75th anniversary is remarkable in that rarely do alliances stay together, if not enlarge, once the threat that pulled them together dissipates. As the Cold War ended and NATO decided to remain together despite the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact, it wasn’t a sure thing that NATO would remain around for its 75th anniversary. But it survived and is on track to celebrate a 100th anniversary as well."
Jim Townsend
Adjunct Senior Fellow
Center for a New American Security (CNAS)
Washington D.C., USA
Is this Europe’s final wake-up call?
"Our history of European integration in the field of security and defense is marked by slow but steady progress with crises serving as impulses to move forward with smaller and bigger steps.
In recent years, Europe has realized that we are far too dependent on others and far too unable to stand on our own feet. Russia’s annexation of Crimea back in 2014 served as a strong wake-up call. As did Trump’s ‘America first’ policy and the overnight retreat from Kabul."
Tom Vandenkendelaere
Member of the European Parliament
Chair
of the Delegation for relations with the NATO Parliamentary Assembly
Defence courses keep up with the time
"Defence courses were established 63 years ago to improve Finnish society's crisis readiness, awareness of and will for national defence. The long, total war that shook the entire society from 1939 to 1945 required a total defence for the nation to survive. After the war, society adapted to a new situation and circumstances, still keeping in mind the experiences of difficult world war II years. It was on this basis that the planning for Defence Courses began in the late 1950s."
Kaarle
Wikström
Captain
(N), Director of National Defence Courses
National
Defence University
Finland