Sven-Erik VolbergApr 1
#NATO is rewriting Arctic defense around one lesson from Ukraine. Under drone-saturated skies, lost ground is hard to retake 🇳🇴 says it is moving from a withdrawal model to a not-an-inch policy in Finnmark — defend from the first centimetre, not return later. 🧵 1/ www.thetimes.com/world/russia...
Show threadSven-Erik Volberg
russia’s war showed how hard it is for large forces to move under drone-heavy skies, and Trump cast doubt on automatic US reinforcement. Cold Response 26 brought 32,000 troops from 14 allies into this new Arctic posture. 2/
Apr 1 at 9:45amWeb
Show threadSven-Erik VolbergApr 1
Across 120 miles from Finnmark sits russia’s Kola peninsula — one of Europe’s most militarised zones and home to the northern fleet. Norway’s waters are an early-warning corridor for tracking russian submarines into the Atlantic. 3/
Show threadSven-Erik VolbergApr 1
Norway is creating its first permanent brigade in Finnmark, folding Ukrainian defence technology firms into planning, and writing one joint Nordic NATO plan with Finland and Sweden — the first command structure of its kind in 500 years. 4/
Show threadSven-Erik VolbergApr 1
Norway is also hedging against US dependence. Its forces still run on American systems, but Oslo is buying submarines from Germany, frigates from the UK and long-range missiles from South Korea. Under Build with Ukraine, officials say drone production in Norway may follow. 5/
Show threadSven-Erik VolbergApr 1
The stakes go beyond Norway. Oslo says Article 5 applies to Svalbard too. It plans $8.5B in military aid to Ukraine, with most of it outside the US-led procurement scheme. Norway’s message: missiles on the Kola peninsula are aimed not at Oslo, but America’s east coast. 6/end
Show threadSven-Erik VolbergApr 1
P.S russian response? Emptying its northern bases. Losing signal, infrastructure and, hopefully, will to fight bsky.app/profile/volb...

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Show threadSven-Erik VolbergApr 1
P.P.S and then there is this consider. All before our current strong uptic in #Arcticsecurity bsky.app/profile/volb...

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