Category Archives: NATO

Todays generation of youth is the largest the world has ever known, and young women and men are often forming the majority of the population in countries affected by violence and armed conflicts. Their input in security is therefore essential.

The Youth, Peace and Security (YPS) Agenda established by the United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 2250 (2015) and subsequent resolutions UNSCR 2419 (2018) and UNSCR 2535 (2020), recognises the inclusion and participation of young people as a key dimension of building and sustaining peace and security for all. The resolution identifies five pillars for action:

1. Participation Take youths participation and views into account in decision-making processes, from negotiation and prevention of violence to peace agreements.

2. Protection Ensure the protection of young civilians lives and human rights and investigate and prosecute those responsible for crimes perpetrated against them.

3. Prevention Support young people in preventing violence and in promoting a culture of tolerance and intercultural dialogue.

4. Partnership Engage young people during and after conflict when developing peacebuilding strategies along with community actors and United Nations bodies.

5. Disengagement and reintegration Invest in youth affected by armed conflict through employment opportunities, inclusive labour policies, and education promoting a culture of peace.

As indicated in: Global Coalition on Youth, Peace, and Security (2022) Implementing the Youth, Peace and Security Agenda at Country-level: A Guide for Public Officials.

Through the meaningful integration of young people in peace efforts, institutions will recognise their contributions in the present and in the future. Young people carry out important peacebuilding work, including reaching out to peers, working at the community level, maintaining dialogue, and bridging divides in polarised contexts. When youth are given the opportunity to participate in peace processes, they acquire civic skills, and often make lifelong commitments to peace. Therefore, it is also an investment in the future.

NATOs work with youth

NATO engages with young people on several different levels and through different approaches. The Alliance can benefit and learn from fresh perspectives, and at the same time give young people opportunities to get involved and make themselves heard.

NATOs Science for Peace and Security Programme, for instance, is developing more and more projects that offer opportunities and stipends to support and involve young scientists in the early stages of their careers.

Furthermore, as part of the NATO 2030 initiative, NATO has engaged with young leaders to gain their input on how to further strengthen the Alliance to meet the emerging security challenges of the coming decade. The NATO 2030 Young Leaders Group, which was announced at the NATO 2030 Youth Summit, consisted of 14 emerging leaders from across the Alliance that were selected from prominent young leadership programmes. They represent diverse professional fields, from researchers to space engineers and diplomats. On 4 February 2021, the NATO 2030 Young Leaders submitted a report to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg with advice on how to make NATO an even stronger Alliance.

Another major project is the annual NATO Youth Summit. The most recent NATO Youth Summit took place on 28 April 2022. It was entitled Securing Our Shared Future, and was organised in cooperation with the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA). The Youth Summits panel discussions covered pressing security challenges including climate change, disinformation, humanitarian crises, emerging technologies and gender discrimination.

These are just a few examples, but there are many more ways in which NATO interacts with young people and encourages their participation in all aspects of defence, peace and security.

The future is female (and young)

So how do the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) Agenda and YPS fit together? The WPS and the YPS agendas are interlinked and complementary: both agendas advocate for groups that have historically been excluded from decision-making processes. The contributions of both groups build on experiences and knowledge that go far beyond traditional conflict environments, but also include various forms of exclusion and discrimination, organised crime, and sexual and gender-based violence. These different forms of violence are highly gendered, with young women being particularly vulnerable to experiencing domestic violence, sexual assault, abduction, trafficking, torture and forced labour, and other forms of violence.

However, recognising the complementarity between the WPS and YPS agendas does not lump the two groups of women and youth together. This would deny the specific needs and challenges of each of these groups. Instead, policymakers and practitioners must take an intersectional approach that ensures that all policies, programs, and initiatives fully capture age- and gender-based power dynamics.

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Youth, peace and security: What is it and why should we care? - NATO HQ

I have too much respect for our friends and our allies to tell them what they should do, Rama said. We are always very careful to be very humble in our assessments.

The discussion inside the Albanian government over triggering Article Five underscores the ongoing debate as to whether a cyberattack will ever be serious enough to truly trigger a full-blown NATO collective defense response which could involve cyber retaliation against the attacking country by all NATO members or crippling sanctions. The provision has only been triggered once, just days after the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States, and the consequences have not been fully spelled out for a cyberattack. NATO member countries must come to the aid of the nation that invokes Article Five, but each member country can determine the extent of their response.

For Rama, the July attack which forced the country to shut down websites across government used for everything from paying utilities to obtaining drivers licenses walked right up to the line.

Its like bombing a country, Rama said of the cyber strike, which was widely attributed to Iranian hackers. Ninety-five percent of Albanias government services are provided online, meaning daily operations halted at government offices across the country, he said. The hackers also attempted to wipe sensitive government data, he said, but were not successful.

Albania severed diplomatic relations with Iran in response believed to be the first time a nation has taken this step due to a cyberattack. But Rama decided against taking the incident to NATO.

It was too much for us to think about and to get to the decision that we should ask NATO to trigger Article Five, Rama said.

In likely retaliation for the severing of relations, Iranian hackers again attacked Albania in early September, disabling certain systems used in border and customs processing. Rama warned that his nation expects more attacks from Iran, and is working to strengthen cyber defenses.

The line around when a cyberattack could trigger Article Five is unclear. The NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence described the application of it to a cyberattack as a blurry but consistent position of NATO, while NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said in 2018 that the level of cyberattack to trigger collective defense must remain purposefully vague.

I am often asked, under what circumstances would NATO trigger Article Five in the case of a cyberattack? My answer is: we will see, Stoltenberg said at the time.

Jim Lewis, director of the Strategic Technologies Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said NATO is likely still working through the menu of options it would use to respond to a cyberattack. Its going to be messy for a while until we sort out what you can do short of violence that can have [an] effect.

The Iranian cyberattacks may have caused widespread disruption, but did not lead to any deaths or permanent destruction of systems. These facts, paired with the smaller size of Albania in terms of geography and population, made triggering Article Five even more remote.

If the attack had been more damaging, they might have gotten some support, Lewis said. No one was hurt, so its hard to make the case that its Article Five.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has intensified these discussions, given recent warnings that Russia is preparing to intensify cyberattacks against Ukraine as the winter months approach, and that a cyberattack against Ukraine could spill over into neighboring countries that belong to NATO.

Many NATO members, including Albania, have provided cybersecurity support to Ukraine.

We have done our part, Rama said of Albanias assistance, but whats happened with Iran imposes a different speed.

NATO and its member states did take actions to support Albania after the July strike. NATO released a statement condemning the attack and pledging to provide support to strengthen Albanias cyber defense. The U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned Irans intelligence agency and its leader, and the Justice Department indicted alleged Iranian hackers for widespread attacks against global critical infrastructure.

The FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency released a joint advisory in September detailing how the Iranian hackers gained access to the victimized Albanian networks 14 months prior to the attack being carried out, periodically stealing emails associated with the government of Albania. The British government noted in a separate alert that Ramas emails were among those accessed.

Rama pointed to U.S. assistance following the attack, which included providing in-person expertise to investigate the incident, as a big support, and noted that Albania is currently awaiting U.S. financial aid for cyber defense efforts.

Every dollar that will come will be very much appreciated, Rama said. I think they should and they will show that they support us in this situation.

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Albania weighed invoking NATO's Article 5 over Iranian cyberattack - POLITICO

Vladimir Putin. (AFP via Getty/ Sputnik/ MIKHAIL KLIMENTYEV).

In a speech following his illegal annexation of Eastern regions of Ukraine,Russian president Vladimir Putin attacked the US and NATO for imposing perversions on children.

At the end of September, Russia announced the annexation of four Ukrainian regions Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson following what has been described as a sham electionpresided over by Russian troops.

After the illegal annexation was announced, Putin gave a victory speech in which he hit out at the US, NATO and the rest of the West, saying: They do not give a damn about the natural right of billions of people, the majority of humanity, to freedom and justice, the right to determine their own future. They have already moved on to the radical denial of moral, religious, and family values.

In the speech, Putin accused Ukraine of starting the war, and said that the people of the four annexed regions had chosen to become our citizens, forever.

Unsurprisingly, the Russian president used anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric to vilify the West, telling his audience: All citizens of Russia: do we want to have here, in our country, in Russia, parent number one, parent number two and parent number three (they have completely lost it!) instead of mother and father?

Do we want our schools to impose on our children, from their earliest days in school, perversions that lead to degradation and extinction? Do we want to drum into their heads the ideas that certain other genders exist along with women and men and to offer them gender reassignment surgery?

Is that what we want for our country and our children? This is all unacceptable to us. We have a different future of our own.

Putin added that the fighting would continue for the great historical Russia, for future generations, our children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, because: We must protect them against enslavement and monstrous experiments that are designed to cripple their minds and souls.

In a bizarre effort to stop people fleeing Russia since the country cruelly invaded Ukraine, Putins regime released a video this month saying that Russians would be forced to respect LGBTQ+ and Black people if they were to leave suggesting that should be a deterrent.

The video was circulated shortlyafter Putin announced that he would be instituting a draft to aid the countrys war against Ukraine, prompting more Russian citizens to flee to safety.

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Putin says US and NATO want to 'impose perversions' on kids - PinkNews

People in Moscow celebrate the occupation of Ukrainian territories, September 30

This was reported by several Telegram channels, including pro-Russian ones, which posted photos and videos from the site of the rally.

Read also: Biden bans the exchange of special borrowing rights with Russia and Belarus

According to Russian news outlet RIA-Novosti, the rally was organized by an organization called the National Liberation Movement. The demonstrators rallied outside the U.S. Embassy carrying orange and black striped flags styled after the St. Georges Ribbon Soviet military symbol, which is widely used by Russian ultra-nationalists.

The demonstrators also led by the hand a person dressed in a costume supposedly representing one of Russias new RS-28 Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile. The person, whose black-gloved hands protruded from the black cylindrical costume, was apparently unable to see out of it.

Read also: Crimean bridge hit, fuel train on fire, road section downed

The protesters accused the United States of provoking a nuclear war and demanded that the U.S. president resign. They also demand that NATO withdraw troops from post-Soviet states and former Warsaw Pact countries.

Many of these countries are in fact members of the NATO defensive alliance.

Read also: Arrests of military personnel going on in Moscow, claims Ukrainian intelligence

The demonstrators also held posters with the slogans USA world evil, Russia defender of the world, US hegemony is collapsing, and The attack on the Crimean bridge was ordered by the CIA.

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine

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Moscow demonstrators demand Bidens resignation and withdrawal of NATO troops from post-Soviet countries - Yahoo News

A number of navy ships are currently off the coast of Devon - and they're heading to Cornwall. According to VesselFinder, the warships include vessels from Germany, Canada and France and they're here as part of the Royal Navy's 'Exercise Joint Warrior' which has been dubbed the biggest military exercise in the UK.

According to Dorset Live, the exercise started in late-September and has seen naval forces from across NATO grapple with attacks from above, on and below the waves during Britains long-standing test of it and international military by land, sea and air. The exercise will see 'more than 11,000 sailors, soldiers and aircrew wage a 12-day war around the British Isles.'

More than 20 ships and a handful of submarines, led by seven Royal Navy warships, including destroyer HMS Diamond and three frigates (Kent, Northumberland and Somerset), plus a couple of Royal Fleet Auxiliary tankers are participating. They are joined by vessels from the US, Poland, Denmark, Norway, Germany, Netherlands, Canada, France and Latvia.

READ NEXT: Seagull's menacing 'selfie' taken in Fowey has people cracking up

According to the Royal Navy's website, Commanding Officer of the Portsmouth-based frigate, Commander Jez Brettell said: "Exercise Joint Warrior is a fantastic opportunity to fully demonstrate HMS Kents wide-ranging capabilities in close consort with other Royal Navy units, ground units, air assets and multinational forces.

"Having recently proven ourselves at Operational Sea Training, the exercise is ideally timed to consolidate our training at the very start of our deployment so that we are ready for anything that may follow."

More than 30 aircraft, including RAF Typhoon fighters and long-range maritime patrol aircraft will be committed, as well as drone technology and exercise planners intend to use virtual aerial assets alongside live ones to test the response of participants. Anti-submarine ships, aircraft and helicopters will hunt down live submarines, while land forces dealing with foes will include the gunners of 29 Commando Royal and elements of the US Marine Corps.

Joint Warrior is typically run from Clyde Naval Base, with the action mostly focused in north-west Scotland and adjacent waters.

This latest exercise, however, casts its net across the British Isles. Naval task groups will face each other down in both the North Sea off the coast of Scotland and the north-east coast of England, then again in the western Channel off Cornwall and Devon.

As a result, the exercise which is due to end on October 12 will be directed from RAF St Mawgan, near Newquay in Cornwall.

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Royal Navy ships heading towards Cornwall in NATO training operation - Cornwall Live

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg convened an extraordinary meeting of the Conference of National Armaments Directors (CNAD) on Tuesday (27 September 2022) at NATO Headquarters. The meeting focused on the implications of Russias war against Ukraine, including on Allies capabilities and munitions stockpiles.

The Secretary General urged Allies to continue replenishing stocks as rapidly as possible. Enhancing NATO stockpiles will ensure we can keep supporting Ukraine, he said. We need to keep working together as NATO Allies and with industry to replenish our munitions stocks and provide Ukraine with the support it needs, for as long as Ukraine needs it, he added. The meeting addressed ways in which Allies can better understand any gaps in stockpiles, and address such gaps together.

The CNADs mission is to enable cooperation in the delivery of interoperable military capabilities. It ensures that NATO forces have state-of-the-art capabilities readily available at all times.

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NATO Secretary General convenes top Alliance procurement officials - NATO HQ

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg met the group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament, led by their President Iratxe Garca Prez on Tuesday (27 September 2022).

Mr Stoltenberg stated that Russias invasion of Ukraine had unleashed the biggest conflict in Europe since World War Two, and challenged fundamental rules and values. He strongly condemned Russias sham referendums organised in parts of Ukraine, as well as the partial mobilisation and nuclear sabre-rattling as escalations of the conflict.

The Secretary General said that NATO is not party to the conflict, even though Moscow is now trying to portray it as a war between Russia and NATO. In fact, the Secretary General made clear, this is Russias war of aggression against Ukraine, and we are supporting Ukraine defend itself. He stressed that the right to self-defence is enshrined in the UN Charter, and Europe and North America must hold the course, despite the energy crisis triggered by Russia.

Mr Stoltenberg said that NATO is monitoring the situation in the Baltic Sea closely, Allies are looking into the gas leaks from both Nord Stream pipelines, and also exchanging information with Finland and Sweden.

The discussion with the Socialists and Democrats group is part of the Secretary Generals regular engagements with EU lawmakers, in the framework of NATOs strategic partnership with the EU.

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NATO Secretary General at EU Parliament: stay the course on Ukraine - NATO HQ

The North Atlantic Council agreed on Monday (26 September 2022) to accept the request of the Republic of Korea to designate its Embassy to Belgium as the countrys Mission to NATO. This is an important step in NATOs strong partnership with the Republic of Korea.

In NATO's new Strategic Concept, Allies agreed to "strengthen dialogue and cooperation with new and existing partners in the Indo-Pacific to tackle cross-regional challenges and shared security interests."

The Republic of Korea is an active NATO partner. Since 2005, the Alliance and Seoul have developed a strong partnership, based on shared values. Political dialogue and practical cooperation are being developed across areas including non-proliferation, cyber defence, counter-terrorism, security-related civil science projects, interoperability, chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) defence, as well as civil preparedness, resilience and disaster relief.

Allies agreed to invite all NATO partners to establish Missions to NATO in 2011.

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Alliance agrees the Republic of Korea's Mission to NATO - NATO HQ

The NATO Invitees associate themselves with this Statement.

1. We condemn in the strongest possible terms the plan to hold so-called referenda on joining the Russian Federation in the Ukrainian regions partly controlled by the Russian military. As the UN General Assembly reaffirmed in its resolution Aggression against Ukraine adopted on 2 March 2022, no territorial acquisition resulting from the threat or use of force shall be recognized as legal. Allies do not and will never recognize Russias illegal and illegitimate annexation of Crimea. Sham referenda in the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson regions of Ukraine have no legitimacy and will be a blatant violation of the UN Charter. NATO Allies will not recognize their illegal and illegitimate annexation. These lands are Ukraine. We call on all states to reject Russias blatant attempts at territorial conquest.

2. These Russian decisions, including on a partial military mobilisation, are a further escalation in Russias illegal war against Ukraine. We continue to reject Russias irresponsible nuclear rhetoric. Russia bears full responsibility for the war, the immense suffering its aggression is bringing upon the Ukrainian people, as well as the cost of its war including for the Russian people now being mobilised. Russia has it in its hands to end the conflict. Russia must immediately stop this war and withdraw from Ukraine.

3. We reaffirm our unwavering support for Ukraines independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders, and for Ukraines inherent right to self-defence. NATO Allies remain resolute in providing political and practical support to Ukraine as it continues to defend itself against Russias aggression.

4. NATO is a defensive Alliance and will continue to strive for peace, security, and stability in the whole of the Euro-Atlantic area. We stand united to defend and protect every inch of Allied territory.

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Statement by the North Atlantic Council on the so-called referenda in parts of Ukraine - NATO HQ

September 26, 2022

As co-Chairs of the Senate NATO Observer Group, Shaheen and Tillis have led action in the U.S. Senate to support NATO enlargement and ensure continued U.S. support for Ukraine.

(Washington, DC) Today, U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations and Armed Services Committees, and U.S. Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) joined the Atlantic Council to discuss the transatlantic alliance and continued U.S. support for Ukraine amidst Putins unprovoked war.

Shaheen spoke about NATOs crucial role in advancing U.S. national security priorities, especially in responding to Russias unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. The Senators, who are Co-chairs of the Senate NATO Observer Group, applauded the Senates recent overwhelming vote in support of Finland and Swedens accession into NATO, which will further strengthen NATO and its collective response to Putins aggression. Shaheen also discussed the need to ensure Ukraines continued success in Putins war, noting that his ambitions threaten the sovereignty of other nations. Working with our allies and partners will remain a critical priority and enhance the transatlantic alliances strategic deterrence, ensure peace in the Indo-Pacific and bolster new collaboration on security and democracy initiatives in responding to the emerging threats of the 21st century.

Americans understand the importance of our support for Ukraine the Ukrainian people are not only defending their land and freedom; they are fighting for the preservation of liberal democracies around the world, said Shaheen. What is happening in Ukraine matters not only to the Ukrainian people; it matters to Eastern Europe; it matters to the U.S. and it matters to the world. Putin is violating international norms to fulfill a delusional fantasy of re-building a Russian empire his focus today is Ukraine, but we all know his gaze goes much farther. NATO and the United States must keep all options on the table to remind Putin that we are committed to do all we can to help Ukraine win.

Watch the full discussion here.

Senator Shaheen and Senator Tillis co-led a bipartisan delegation in June to the NATO Summit in Madrid, in addition to stops in Sweden and Finland to affirm strong bipartisan Senate support for their NATO membership aspirations. Also a member of the Senate Ukraine Caucus, Senator Shaheen has led action in the Senate in support of Ukraine in response to Putins belligerence. Last month, Shaheenreleased a statementahead of the anniversary of Ukraines independence and the six-month mark of Russias further invasion of Ukraine. In July, Senator Shaheen and Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT) introduced legislation that would require an interagency strategy toward the Black Sea region, which includes Ukraine. In March,the Senate passed bipartisan legislation Shaheen cosponsored that would ensure the U.S. undertakes coordinated efforts to collect and maintain evidence of war crimes and atrocities committed by Russia amid its invasion of Ukraine. In February, Shaheen led a successful bipartisan effort with Senator Rob Portman (R-OH) to pass a resolution that conveys a renewed and overwhelmingly bipartisan message from the U.S. Senate in fierce support of Ukraine. Earlier this year, Shaheen and Portman led a bipartisan delegation to Ukraine, where they met with President Zelenskyy and members of his administration. Before the Shaheen-Portman congressional delegation visit to Ukraine in January, Shaheen led a bipartisan group of lawmakers to Eastern Europe, including Ukraine, last June.

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Shaheen, Tillis Join the Atlantic Council to Discuss U.S., NATO Efforts to Support Ukraine Amidst Putins War | U.S - Senator Jeanne Shaheen