The new NATO roadmap sets Russia as the “most direct and significant threat to Euro-Atlantic security, peace and stability”.
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Euskaraz irakurri: NATOren Strategy Kontzeptu berriaren gako nagusiak
The NATO has agreed on a new Strategic Concept this Wednesday, a document that is updated roughly once a decade. The text establishes the areas of focus of the alliance and gives guidelines that are then translated into political and military actions.
The document agreed upon today includes, in 16 pages and a total of 49 points, the position of the organization in the current context, the challenges and the role it must play. We collect here the most important points and aspects:
basic principles
NATO reaffirms its defensive nature, and is determined to safeguard the freedom and security of the Allies, the key purpose being “to ensure collective defense, against any threat, from all directions. Our deterrence and defense capacity is the backbone of that commitment.” He underlines his commitment to common values, such as individual freedom, human rights, democracy and the rule of law.
Russia, the great enemy
The document cites Russia up to 14 times whom he accuses of seeking to “establish spheres of influence and direct control through coercion, subversion, aggression and annexation.” NATO says that Moscow applies conventional military, cyber and hybrid means to achieve these goals. “Moscow’s military build-up, including in the Baltic, Black and Mediterranean Sea regions, along with its military integration with Belarus, challenge our security and interests,” the strategic concept says.
In response to moves by Russia (which accuses NATO of threatening European security by expanding eastward since the mid-1990s), NATO will significantly strengthen its deterrence and defensesays the document, while stressing that the Alliance does not seek confrontation with Moscow, but dialogue: “We remain willing to keep communication channels open with Moscow to manage and mitigate risks, avoid escalation and increase transparency” says the strategic concept.
Nuclear weapons
NATO expresses in the document its concern about the modernization of Russia’s nuclear forcesMoscow’s threats to use nuclear weapons, and the development of “novel and disruptive dual-capacity launch systems,” a reference to the development of hypersonic weapons that can carry both conventional and nuclear warheads.
The allied countries assume that there is a risk that “hostile” actors, both state and non-state, resort to nuclear, chemical, biological or radiological weapons, and allude to the arms races of countries such as Russia, Iran, Syria and North Korea , among others.
The Strategic Concept states that the Nuclear weapons, especially the one that the United States has in its possession, “is the supreme guarantee of the security of the Alliance”, although the circumstances in which this type of weaponry would be used are “extremely remote” —it does not specify in which cases— . NATO’s goal remains “to create a secure environment for a world without nuclear weapons.”
China, the new threat
The Asian country is mentioned for the first time in the NATO Strategic Concept, and is perceived as a security threat, largely due to its good relationship with China and “mutually reinforcing attempts to undermine international order and rules. “Beijing’s stated ambitions and coercive policies challenge our interests, security and values,” the document says.
He accuses China of using hybrid and malicious cyber operations, confrontational rhetoric and disinformation to attack NATO allies and damage NATO security. It also ensures that China seeks to control key technological and industrial sectors, critical infrastructure and strategic materials and supply chains, in addition to “subverting the rules-based international order, including in the space, cyber and maritime domains.”
NATO says it will remain open to a constructive engagement with Chinabut will also raise awareness and improve their preparedness against Beijing’s “coercive tactics and efforts to split the alliance.”
The Sahel, “source of conflict and instability”
As requested by Spain, the Atlantic Alliance has included for the first time in its Strategic Concept the sahel region as an area that “directly affects” the security of NATO and all its allies. It will be considered, along with the Middle East and North Africa, as a source of “conflict, fragility and instability” and fertile ground for “the proliferation of armed groups, including terrorist organizations.” These regions and their situation, adds the document, “also give rise to destabilizing and coercive interference by strategic competitors.” The Sahel political region encompasses 10 countries: Senegal, Gambia, Mauritania, Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Chad, Cameroon and Nigeria.
Open doors
The text indicates that the NATO enlargement it has been a “historic success, for having guaranteed the security of millions of European citizens and having contributed to peace and stability in the Euro-Atlantic zone”. So they reaffirm their Open Door policies: “Our door remains open to all European democracies that share the values of our Alliance, that are willing and able to assume the responsibilities and obligations of membership, and whose membership contributes to our common security. Decisions on membership are made by NATO allies and no third party has a say in this process.” He states that they will continue to develop the memberships of Bosnia Herzegovina, Georgia and Ukraine.
12 years since last revision
NATO’s last Strategic Concept was drafted in 2010, when the Alliance was engaged in a US-led fight against Taliban militants and a “democracy-building mission in Afghanistan”. It was four years before Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, triggering a return of NATO to its roots of collective defense rather than “out-of-area” crisis management beyond its borders.
Concept 2022 has been long overdue, as the alliance did not dare formulate a new strategy while Donald Trump was US President. Trump was highly critical of NATO, so much so that he even threatened to leave the alliance in 2018.
Source: Eitb
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