⚓️ The Baltic Region in a New Reality: From Cooperation to Conflict
On February 9, the Valdai Club held an expert discussion titled “The Baltic Region: What Will the Unprecedented Militarisation Lead to?” Timofei Bordachev, Programme Director of the Valdai Discussion Club, acted as moderator and asked the participants whether cooperation in the region has ceased forever, and whether it is in Russia’s interests to do something to bring it back to the regional agenda.
💬 Alexander Grushko, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, emphasised that the geopolitical ambitions of the West have turned the recently calm and peaceful Baltic region into an arena of military competition. “I think everyone is dreaming now of the times of former boredom,” he said. Giving a brief historical outline of the formation of a security system in the region in the context of the development of arms control, Grushko demonstrated how the destructive activities of NATO led to a turn from building regional security on the principles of restraint to the militarisation of the region and its involvement in the military construction of the North Atlantic Alliance. “This is a new reality that forces us to take appropriate military-technical precautions,” the diplomat admitted.
💬 Igor Istomin, Leading Research Fellow at the Center for Advanced American Studies, MGIMO, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia, called the recent history of the Baltic region an example of the transformation from cooperation with Russia into a new locus of conflict. He noted that countries that until recently sought to act as intermediaries and points of rapprochement are now at the forefront of the anti-Russian agenda. Istomin also pointed to the duality of NATO's policy: on the one hand, the alliance considers a direct clash with Russia a catastrophic scenario, but, on the other hand, the countries of the Baltic region, which have taken a hardline anti-Russian position, constantly provoke Russia and try to induce other members of the bloc to do so, which poses a risk of escalation.
💬 Swedish political scientist Gregory Simons, describing Stockholm’s current course of action, noted that Sweden has moved away from its tradition of neutrality and, as a result, has turned from a subject of international relations into an object. The same, he said, applies to Finland. He emphasised that the Western-centric world order is increasingly filled with ideological, messianic conflicts with the interests of the non-Western world, which is becoming more and more pragmatic. Within the framework of this world order, the United States seeks to make European countries completely dependent on itself. Simons believes that the proxy conflict in Ukraine is also aimed at this.
💬 Konstantin Khudolei, Head of the Department of European Studies at the Faculty of International Relations at St Petersburg University, considers the situation in the region to be at its most unfavourable and alarming since the end of World War II. He noted that a serious shift has taken place in the political elites and societies of Finland and Sweden, making the entry of these countries into the North Atlantic Alliance almost inevitable. In his opinion, this will create a situation in the Baltic region similar to the one that developed after the Second World War in the Elbe region, threatening to lead to significant militarization and a general aggravation of tension. In addition, this will strengthen NATO's position in the Arctic.
https://valdaiclub.com/events/posts/articles/the-baltic-region-in-a-new-reality-from-cooperation-to-conflict/
#Asia_and_Eurasia #BalticRegion #NATO #militarisation
@valdai_club
On February 9, the Valdai Club held an expert discussion titled “The Baltic Region: What Will the Unprecedented Militarisation Lead to?” Timofei Bordachev, Programme Director of the Valdai Discussion Club, acted as moderator and asked the participants whether cooperation in the region has ceased forever, and whether it is in Russia’s interests to do something to bring it back to the regional agenda.
💬 Alexander Grushko, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, emphasised that the geopolitical ambitions of the West have turned the recently calm and peaceful Baltic region into an arena of military competition. “I think everyone is dreaming now of the times of former boredom,” he said. Giving a brief historical outline of the formation of a security system in the region in the context of the development of arms control, Grushko demonstrated how the destructive activities of NATO led to a turn from building regional security on the principles of restraint to the militarisation of the region and its involvement in the military construction of the North Atlantic Alliance. “This is a new reality that forces us to take appropriate military-technical precautions,” the diplomat admitted.
💬 Igor Istomin, Leading Research Fellow at the Center for Advanced American Studies, MGIMO, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia, called the recent history of the Baltic region an example of the transformation from cooperation with Russia into a new locus of conflict. He noted that countries that until recently sought to act as intermediaries and points of rapprochement are now at the forefront of the anti-Russian agenda. Istomin also pointed to the duality of NATO's policy: on the one hand, the alliance considers a direct clash with Russia a catastrophic scenario, but, on the other hand, the countries of the Baltic region, which have taken a hardline anti-Russian position, constantly provoke Russia and try to induce other members of the bloc to do so, which poses a risk of escalation.
💬 Swedish political scientist Gregory Simons, describing Stockholm’s current course of action, noted that Sweden has moved away from its tradition of neutrality and, as a result, has turned from a subject of international relations into an object. The same, he said, applies to Finland. He emphasised that the Western-centric world order is increasingly filled with ideological, messianic conflicts with the interests of the non-Western world, which is becoming more and more pragmatic. Within the framework of this world order, the United States seeks to make European countries completely dependent on itself. Simons believes that the proxy conflict in Ukraine is also aimed at this.
💬 Konstantin Khudolei, Head of the Department of European Studies at the Faculty of International Relations at St Petersburg University, considers the situation in the region to be at its most unfavourable and alarming since the end of World War II. He noted that a serious shift has taken place in the political elites and societies of Finland and Sweden, making the entry of these countries into the North Atlantic Alliance almost inevitable. In his opinion, this will create a situation in the Baltic region similar to the one that developed after the Second World War in the Elbe region, threatening to lead to significant militarization and a general aggravation of tension. In addition, this will strengthen NATO's position in the Arctic.
https://valdaiclub.com/events/posts/articles/the-baltic-region-in-a-new-reality-from-cooperation-to-conflict/
#Asia_and_Eurasia #BalticRegion #NATO #militarisation
@valdai_club
Valdai Club
The Baltic Region in a New Reality: From Cooperation to Conflict
On February 9, the Valdai Club held an expert discussion titled “The Baltic Region: What Will the Unprecedented Militarisation Lead to?” Timofei Bordachev, Programme Director of the Valdai Discussion Club, acted as moderator and asked the participants whether…
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🌎 North Atlantic Treaty, signed on April 4, 1949, established NATO, a US-led military bloc to counter the Soviet Union. Later, there were nine enlargements of the organisation.
Learn more about the history of NATO's expansion and its current state in our video infographic.
#valdai_infogaphics #NATO #expansion
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Learn more about the history of NATO's expansion and its current state in our video infographic.
#valdai_infogaphics #NATO #expansion
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🌎 For the North Atlantic Alliance, the transition of the conflict between Russia and the West to a new phase with the start of the Special Military Operation in Ukraine created this very seemingly productive chaos.
Prior to this, for decades, NATO was in search of a social function and a corresponding renewal of its collective identity: from a military bloc that existed to contain the USSR to a crisis manager, an anti-terrorist organisation and a security conductor whose focus is already directed to the whole world.
By 2019-2020, as one of the main directions of the bloc’s potential development, the United States began to consider the possibility of using it to counter China in Asia. None of this contributed to centripetal tendencies: the problems of the unity of the allies did not leave the agenda, primarily between the United States and the large EU countries, which are by no means interested in a confrontation with the PRC.
Uncomfortable questions arose in connection with the need to increase defence budgets, transform the NATO military machine in the Asia-Pacific region, and develop European security projects, such as the Permanent Structured Defence Cooperation, the development of the Strategic Compass, and the strengthening of the European Defence Fund.
Russia’s operation in Ukraine seemed to have eliminated all these problems, returning NATO to an obvious and easily conceptualised sense of existence. The Madrid 2022 summit demonstrated a rare unity and transatlantic solidarity. The idea of a common enemy personified by Russia returned to the adopted new strategic concept, designed for eight years, and a decision was made to further strengthen the eastern borders of the alliance. It is also important that Germany, which resisted the increase in defence budgets for a long time, surrendered, Finland and Sweden began preparations for entry, and discussions of the membership of Ukraine and Georgia began again. In other words, all the prerequisites were created for NATO to move up the stairway of chaos.
Under these conditions, the semiotics of the 2023 Vilnius summit are again aimed at demonstrating the unity of the transatlantic allies, writes Julia Melnikova.
https://valdaiclub.com/a/highlights/nato-summit-in-vilnius-stairways-change-directions/
#EconomicStatecraft #NATO #NATOSummit
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Prior to this, for decades, NATO was in search of a social function and a corresponding renewal of its collective identity: from a military bloc that existed to contain the USSR to a crisis manager, an anti-terrorist organisation and a security conductor whose focus is already directed to the whole world.
By 2019-2020, as one of the main directions of the bloc’s potential development, the United States began to consider the possibility of using it to counter China in Asia. None of this contributed to centripetal tendencies: the problems of the unity of the allies did not leave the agenda, primarily between the United States and the large EU countries, which are by no means interested in a confrontation with the PRC.
Uncomfortable questions arose in connection with the need to increase defence budgets, transform the NATO military machine in the Asia-Pacific region, and develop European security projects, such as the Permanent Structured Defence Cooperation, the development of the Strategic Compass, and the strengthening of the European Defence Fund.
Russia’s operation in Ukraine seemed to have eliminated all these problems, returning NATO to an obvious and easily conceptualised sense of existence. The Madrid 2022 summit demonstrated a rare unity and transatlantic solidarity. The idea of a common enemy personified by Russia returned to the adopted new strategic concept, designed for eight years, and a decision was made to further strengthen the eastern borders of the alliance. It is also important that Germany, which resisted the increase in defence budgets for a long time, surrendered, Finland and Sweden began preparations for entry, and discussions of the membership of Ukraine and Georgia began again. In other words, all the prerequisites were created for NATO to move up the stairway of chaos.
Under these conditions, the semiotics of the 2023 Vilnius summit are again aimed at demonstrating the unity of the transatlantic allies, writes Julia Melnikova.
https://valdaiclub.com/a/highlights/nato-summit-in-vilnius-stairways-change-directions/
#EconomicStatecraft #NATO #NATOSummit
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🌏🌎 The expansion of NATO is the immediate external factor behind the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
As a military alliance, NATO could only maintain its internal peace, but has brought about adverse impacts on the overall security of the European continent.
The global strategic imbalance which emerged after the Cold War is a crucial reason why the Russia-Ukraine conflict is still going on today.
The conflict should be regarded as a consequence of a global and regional strategic political imbalance.
Active efforts should be made to rectify such an imbalance. To do so, developing countries should work together to make a contribution to building a new global balance, write Wang Yiwei and Duan Minnong.
https://valdaiclub.com/a/highlights/two-years-into-the-russia-ukraine-conflict/
#WiderEurasia #NATO #Ukraine #WorldOrder
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As a military alliance, NATO could only maintain its internal peace, but has brought about adverse impacts on the overall security of the European continent.
The global strategic imbalance which emerged after the Cold War is a crucial reason why the Russia-Ukraine conflict is still going on today.
The conflict should be regarded as a consequence of a global and regional strategic political imbalance.
Active efforts should be made to rectify such an imbalance. To do so, developing countries should work together to make a contribution to building a new global balance, write Wang Yiwei and Duan Minnong.
https://valdaiclub.com/a/highlights/two-years-into-the-russia-ukraine-conflict/
#WiderEurasia #NATO #Ukraine #WorldOrder
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🌎🌏 The 75th anniversary NATO summit in Washington, which took place on July 9-11, 2024, in addition to the issues it typically addresses, paid significant attention to the expansion of the bloc’s activities to the Asia-Pacific (now called the Indo-Pacific in the West), as well as strengthening cooperation with its partners in East Asia.
First of all, this applies to the well-known QUAD: Australia, New Zealand, Japan and the Republic of Korea, whose leaders have become active participants in the NATO summit for the third time.
As we know, the decisions of this meeting, reflected in the “Declaration of the Washington Summit” adopted on July 10, 2024, are imbued with the spirit of increasing confrontation and deepen the dividing lines between this military alliance and those states that reject the hegemony of the West in the world.
The reaction of Moscow, Pyongyang and Beijing, voiced essentially in unison by states which are organisationally independent and despite the lack of any special coordination on their part, is not only not accidental, it is quite natural: it reflects a common or very similar vision of strategic threats and challenges to their own national security both in the East Asian region and in the world as a whole, Alexander Vorontsov writes.
https://valdaiclub.com/a/highlights/the-common-strategic-vision-the-reaction-of-russia/
#Multipolarity_and_Connectivity #NATO #WorldOrder
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First of all, this applies to the well-known QUAD: Australia, New Zealand, Japan and the Republic of Korea, whose leaders have become active participants in the NATO summit for the third time.
As we know, the decisions of this meeting, reflected in the “Declaration of the Washington Summit” adopted on July 10, 2024, are imbued with the spirit of increasing confrontation and deepen the dividing lines between this military alliance and those states that reject the hegemony of the West in the world.
The reaction of Moscow, Pyongyang and Beijing, voiced essentially in unison by states which are organisationally independent and despite the lack of any special coordination on their part, is not only not accidental, it is quite natural: it reflects a common or very similar vision of strategic threats and challenges to their own national security both in the East Asian region and in the world as a whole, Alexander Vorontsov writes.
https://valdaiclub.com/a/highlights/the-common-strategic-vision-the-reaction-of-russia/
#Multipolarity_and_Connectivity #NATO #WorldOrder
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🌐 What determines the ability of the states to cooperate?
NATO is an old military alliance created in the very first years of the Cold War, while the SCO is a young association that appeared only 10 years after its end.
NATO has a powerful infrastructure for collective military planning, rich traditions and serious executive discipline, while the SCO is an amorphous organisation with a rather weak secretariat, the absence of binding decisions and the inability to talk about any discipline in principle.
NATO brings together 32 countries around one leader; its military and economic capabilities significantly exceed all others. There is no and cannot be a leader in the SCO: it includes countries which are comparable in scale such as India, Russia and China, but the others are not ready to subordinate their policies to the will of the largest countries in the association.
The main thing in which both international organisations differ is their purpose. The central mission of NATO is to preserve the internal political inviolability of the ruling regimes in the participating countries.
The SCO's task is a dialogue on a wide range of issues of international security and cooperation, but it in no way ensures that the ruling circles of the member countries can feel calm about their own future, writes Timofei Bordachev.
https://valdaiclub.com/a/highlights/sco-nato-and-the-fate-of-international-cooperation/
📍 This article is the first part of reflections on the future of international cooperation.
#WiderEurasia #SCO #NATO
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NATO is an old military alliance created in the very first years of the Cold War, while the SCO is a young association that appeared only 10 years after its end.
NATO has a powerful infrastructure for collective military planning, rich traditions and serious executive discipline, while the SCO is an amorphous organisation with a rather weak secretariat, the absence of binding decisions and the inability to talk about any discipline in principle.
NATO brings together 32 countries around one leader; its military and economic capabilities significantly exceed all others. There is no and cannot be a leader in the SCO: it includes countries which are comparable in scale such as India, Russia and China, but the others are not ready to subordinate their policies to the will of the largest countries in the association.
The main thing in which both international organisations differ is their purpose. The central mission of NATO is to preserve the internal political inviolability of the ruling regimes in the participating countries.
The SCO's task is a dialogue on a wide range of issues of international security and cooperation, but it in no way ensures that the ruling circles of the member countries can feel calm about their own future, writes Timofei Bordachev.
https://valdaiclub.com/a/highlights/sco-nato-and-the-fate-of-international-cooperation/
📍 This article is the first part of reflections on the future of international cooperation.
#WiderEurasia #SCO #NATO
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Valdai Club
SCO, NATO and the Fate of International Cooperation. Part 1
Everyone, in fact, understands that the price of US security guarantees in the event of a direct conflict, for example, with Russia, is quite small. But the American “security umbrella” for Europe concerns, first of all, European political elites, for whom…