Content

Arrival of US 173rd Infantry Brigade troops in Latvia, April 24, 2014

NATOSource

Sep 30, 2014

In Latvia, Fresh Fears of Aggression as Kremlin Warns about Russian Minorities

By Michael Birnbaum, Washington Post

As top Kremlin officials have sounded ominous new warnings that they will defend ethnic Russians wherever they live, Latvia, the NATO nation with the highest proportion of Russians, is feeling like it is in the crosshairs.

NATO Northern Europe
Finnish Prime Minister Alexander Stubb, Oct. 27, 2008

NATOSource

Sep 29, 2014

Prime Minister Stubb: Finland Should have Joined NATO in 1995

By Spiegel

SPIEGEL: Mr. Stubb, Moscow is following with great concern just how sympathetic you are to the idea of Finland joining NATO.

NATO NATO Partnerships

Defense Industrialist

Sep 28, 2014

Is the Armored Vehicle Industry Shifting Away from the United States?

By James Hasik

Russian threats and US economizing may be driving the business north and east.   Earlier this month, investors’ website the Motley Fool called the recently-announced alliance between France’s Nexter and Germany’s KMW the possible “birth of a European tank-building superpower” and “General Dynamics’ new challenger”. All the same, in a recent essay for the Lexington Institute, Dan Gouré argues that General […]

Central Europe NATO
A Sukhoi Su-27 Flanker and an RAF Typhoon fighter jet, June 17, 2014

NATOSource

Sep 25, 2014

Russian Air Incursions Rattle Baltic States

By Richard Milne, Sam Jones, and Kathrin Hille, Financial Times

The Baltic countries are registering a dramatic increase in Russian military provocations, rattling nerves in a region which fears it could be the next frontier after Ukraine in Moscow’s quest at asserting its regional power.

NATO Northern Europe
Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaitė

NATOSource

Sep 25, 2014

Lithuania’s President: ‘Russia is Terrorizing Its Neighbors’

By Lally Weymouth, Washington Post

Excerpts from interview of Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite by Lally Weymouth of the Washington Post.

Moldova NATO
Russian S-300V SAM and Tor-M1 in 2008

NATOSource

Sep 23, 2014

NATO Airspace ‘Contested’ by Long Range Russian Missiles

By Sydney J. Freedberg, Jr., Breaking Defense

The alliance was looking at this training issue even before Vladimir Putin’s “little green men” took over Crimea.

NATO Northern Europe
Russian President Vladimir Putin, Sept. 19, 2014

NATOSource

Sep 22, 2014

Putin Targets the Baltics to Discredit NATO

By Edward Lucas, Wall Street Journal

“[T]he squeeze on the Baltics stems not from any real interest in the fate of expatriate Russians—a matter that Moscow systematically ignores in most countries.

NATO Northern Europe
Russian President Vladimir Putin, Sept. 6, 2014

NATOSource

Sep 18, 2014

Putin: Russian Troops could be in Vilnius, Warsaw, and Bucharest in Two Days

By Delfi and BBC

From Delfi:  In a meeting with Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko, Vladimir Putin allegedly threatened that, if he wanted, the Russian army could occupy Poland and the Baltic states in two days.

Central Europe NATO
Chinese Ambassador to Iceland Ma Jisheng, Sept. 30, 2013

NATOSource

Sep 17, 2014

Is China’s Ambassador to Iceland Missing Because He Spied for Japan?

By Reuters and Kyodo News International

From Reuters:  China’s Foreign Ministry refused to say on Wednesday where its ambassador to Iceland was or who was even representing Beijing in the country, following reports he had been arrested by state security for passing secrets to Japan.

China Intelligence

Defense Industrialist

Sep 8, 2014

Is NATO’s 2% of GDP a relevant target?

By James Hasik

Sometimes it’s what you spend, and sometimes it’s where and how you spend it.   With a few announcements of new spending around the NATO Summit, the alliance is a little closer, but only a little, to its “2-20” goals: that every member state will devote 2 percent of its GDP to its military, and 20 […]

NATO Northern Europe

Experts