Europe & Eurasia

Finland’s Defense Minister on Regional Defense Cooperation and the Transatlantic Link

By Carl Haglund, Ministry of Defense of Finland

I would like to begin my remarks by highlighting the two key security partnerships that Finland has: the strong bilateral relationship with the United States and the active partnership we have with the Atlantic Alliance.

Vershbow: European Allies Moving Too Slowly to Address Defense Capabilities Gap in NATO

By Alexander Vershbow, NATO

[W]e need NATO. The European Allies need NATO; but so do Canada and the United States. We all need a proven, permanent framework in which we can discuss these issues, find a common strategy, and act upon the decisions we take.

Turkey’s Troubles May Set Back Kurdish, US Hopes

By Müjge Küçükkeleş and Jeffrey Mankoff

The Turkish government’s mounting domestic challenges, notably from the corruption investigation of senior officials that became public in December, may increase the risk that Prime Minister Erdoğan will be unable to complete a peace process he opened more than a year ago with Turkey’s Kurdish rebels. A failure of that reconciliation effort could increase the […]

Get Ready, the Indispensable Americans are Pulling Back

By Gideon Rachman, Financial Times

[T]he most important emerging theme in world politics is America’s slow retreat from its role as global policeman.

Finland & NATO: Strategic Cooperation

As Arctic ice recedes the world increasingly eyes the area for natural resources and maritime shipping lanes. NATO’s members and partners in the region are strategically poised to influence the region as it moves from tundra to territory, as militaries come to view the Arctic in a strategic context and various militaries increase their presence […]

Ukraine: A Dire Scenario

By Adrian Karatnycky

“Ukraine’s fate will be decided in the coming weeks. If a dictatorship triumphs in Kyiv, it will markedly set back Europe’s hopes of a significantly enlarged European democratic space.” Every Sunday for the past eight weeks, several hundred thousand Ukrainians have gathered in Kyiv’s Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square) to protest government policies. Initially, in late […]

Finland Buys One Hundred Tanks from the Netherlands

By Defense Update

Finland and the Netherlands have agreed to transfer most of the remaining stock of Dutch Leopard 2A6 Main Battle Tanks (MBT) to Finland over a period of four years, for amount around €200 million.