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  • With a Little Help from My Friends: How Sweden is Balancing its Security in the Baltics

    September 21, 2017
    Sweden is currently conducting its largest military exercises in over twenty years. Almost 20,000 Swedish troops are participating in Aurora17, which will run until September 29. They are joined by military units from Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Lithuania, Norway, and the United States, which has sent more than 1,000 troops, including a Patriot missile battery, helicopters, and a National Guard tank company.

    On the other side of the Baltic Sea, Russia has been mobilizing what are believed to be up to 100,000 troops for its major exercise, Zapad 2017, which includes Belarus.

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  • Braw in the Financial Times: The Benefits of Conscription are Economic as Well as Military

    September 10, 2017

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  • An EU Navy Is Impossible; Fortunately, It’s Not Necessary.

    August 30, 2017

    To rebuild robust naval forces, Europeans should think less like Americans, and more like Russians.

    As I noted yesterday, Brexit has opened all sorts of talk about the future of British and European military activities. To continue the argument today, let’s tack towards naval matters. In “All the Queen's Ships” (Proceedings of the US Naval Institute, January 2017), James C. Bennett of the Economic Policy Centre in London recommended formation of a Union Navy, loosely composed of the Royal, Royal Canadian, Royal Australian, and Royal New Zealand Navies, under their single sovereign. As one might expect in his argument, “the four main Westminster democracies” could afford greater military capabilities together than separately. To an American, this might seem another brilliant idea that our allies will never get on with. But if practically speaking, discussing this is a waste of oxygen, then just how silly is talking about forming a single European Navy from the polyglot members of the European Union? To the contrary, Europeans can get on with rebuilding robust naval forces as a continent of equals—just by thinking less like Americans, and more like Russians.
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  • Putin Vows Military Response to 'Eliminate NATO Threat' If Sweden Joins US-Led Alliance

    June 8, 2017
    Russian President Vladimir Putin has expressed deep opposition to the idea of Sweden joining NATO, calling its potential membership of the U.S.-led alliance a “threat” that would need to be “eliminated.”
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  • Nordic Governments Deepen Defense Collaboration

    May 1, 2017
    The Nordic countries have further deepened cross-border collaboration with the launch of the Nordic Defence Materiel Agreement.
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  • Springtime for NATO in the North

    March 8, 2017
    After the Russian attack on Georgia in 2008, a joke gained some popularity in Finland. It went like this: Vladimir Putin lands at Helsinki airport and proceeds to passport control. “Name?” asks the border guard. “Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin,” answers the Russian president. “Occupation?” asks the border guard. “No, just visiting,” answers Putin.

    After the war in Ukraine, nobody laughed anymore.

    Many, including some Scandinavians, had told themselves that the Georgian war was a unique situation—that it was “provoked” by the Georgians and that with the help of some dialogue, Russia would calm down and resume being a responsible actor.

    We all know how that turned out.
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  • Interview with The Young Republic: Local and Regional Activism for Syrians in Europe

    March 8, 2017
    Mohammed Alsaud is the cofounder and chairman of The Young Republic, an NGO based in Sweden with the aim to support the Syrian youth diaspora with their participation and social inclusion in Europe. SyriaSource interviewed Alsaud on the development of the organization and its successes and challenges.  
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  • Sweden’s Reintroduction of the Military Draft Reflects Fears of Russian Aggression

    March 2, 2017
    The Swedes called it a “strategic timeout”. Following the end of the cold war and throughout the 1990s and 2000s, Sweden scaled back its military and defence spending dramatically as it believed in a more peaceful world.
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  • Bildt in the Washington Post: The Truth About Refugees in Sweden

    February 24, 2017

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  • Braw in Politico: Bring Back the Draft. No, Really.

    January 21, 2017

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