External threats, internal challenges loom as NATO holds 75th anniversary summit

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Updated 11 July 2024
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External threats, internal challenges loom as NATO holds 75th anniversary summit

External threats, internal challenges loom as NATO holds 75th anniversary summit
  • Event in Washington, D.C. runs from July 9 to 11 and is being attended by 32 world leaders and dozens of other officials
  • Main tasks for NATO members include support for Ukraine, investments in their own defense and deterrence capabilities

WASHINGTON:  In an important milestone of transatlantic security, President Biden Joe Biden is hosting 38 heads of delegation in the US capital this week for a historic summit to mark the 75th anniversary of NATO’s founding.

Converging on the city are the leaders of 32 NATO members, with Sweden joining for the first time, as well as partners including Ukraine, Japan, New Zealand, the Republic of Korea, Australia and the EU. Large numbers of senior officials, foreign ministers, defense ministers and cabinet officials from NATO partners around the world will also attend.

The summit will commemorate the world’s most successful alliance, established in 1949 during the early days of the Cold War, and whose enduring existence has defied skeptics for decades.

NATO’s significance was renewed and underscored two-and-a-half years ago by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which analysts say has profoundly challenged the so-called international rules-based order, posing one of the most significant threats to transatlantic security in decades.

But beyond its officials’ assurances, NATO faces uncertainty about its future. External threats contribute a part, yet the primary concern stems from internal turmoil that could follow if NATO skeptics, such as Donald Trump and Marine Le Pen, leader of France’s far-right National Rally, assume power in 2024 and 2027, respectively.

Trump personifies the tension between European allies and the US that was there from the beginning. As one observer put it: Americans seemed to be from Mars, Europeans from Venus.




Former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a rally in Doral, Florida, on July 9, 2024. (AFP)

French President Emmanuel Macron recently has said that the alliance “only works if the guarantor of last resort functions as such. I’d argue that we should reassess the reality of what NATO is in the light of the commitment of the United States.” The US, in his view, shows signs of “turning its back on us,” as it demonstrated with its unexpected troop withdrawal in October 2019 from northeastern Syria, abandoning its Kurdish allies.

The official language of the Biden administration and NATO officials project an image of an alliance that is — in the words of Ambassador Michael Carpenter, special assistant to the president — “larger, stronger, better resourced, and more united than ever before.”

While US news media continue to focus on Biden’s fitness and ability to handle an event like the 75th anniversary of NATO’s founding, both US administration and NATO officials have nimbly sidestepped questions regarding the president’s health.

The “most urgent task” at the summit, according to NATO’s chief, will be support to Ukraine. Allies will unveil substantial new measures to assist the war-ravaged country.

These include stepping up security assistance and training, with a large command center in Germany; a financial pledge of $43 billion; further air defense systems and ammunition; and showcasing backing for Kyiv as it progresses toward NATO membership.

“This will not make NATO a party to the conflict,” said Jens Stoltenberg, NATO secretary-general. “But it will enhance Ukraine’s self-defense.”

He added: “Ukraine must prevail … they need our sustained support.”

Carpenter, the senior US diplomat, said: “Together, the Washington summit will send a strong signal to (Russian President Vladimir) Putin that if he thinks he can outlast the coalition of countries supporting Ukraine, he is dead wrong.”




Russia's President Vladimir Putin and foreign leaders lay flowers at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier by the Kremlin wall after the Victory Day military parade in central Moscow on May 9, 2024. (Sputnik/Pool/AFP)

NATO will use the summit to highlight significant investments in its own defense and deterrence capabilities.

In 2020, only nine NATO members spent at least 2 percent of their gross domestic product on defense, a benchmark first set almost a decade ago. Today, a record 23 NATO members are at, or above, the minimum level of 2 percent of GDP for defense spending.

“Since Russia’s aggression against Ukraine began in 2014, NATO has fundamentally transformed,” said Stoltenberg.

“Defense spending across European allies and Canada is up 18 percent this year alone, the biggest increase in decades. Allies are taking burden-sharing seriously.

“Today, we have 500,000 troops on high readiness; combat-ready battlegroups in the eastern part of the alliance for the first time; more high-end capabilities, including fifth-generation aircraft; and two highly committed new members, Finland and Sweden.”

 

 

What Ukraine has also demonstrated, according to Stoltenberg, is the global dimension of the alliance’s security, with “Iran and North Korea (fueling) Russia’s war with drones and shells,” and “China propping up Russia’s war economy.”He added: “The closer that authoritarian actors align, the more important it is that we work closely with our friends in the Indo-Pacific.”

Deepening NATO’s global partnerships is the third goal of the summit. For that purpose, Stoltenberg has invited leaders of Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea to Washington.

“Standing up to authoritarian actors with our partners helps to uphold the rules-based international order,” he said.




NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg holds a press conference during NATO's 75th anniversary summit in Washington, D.C., on July 10, 2024. (REUTERS)

Partnership with Middle East and North Africa countries will also be addressed in meetings and bilateral talks, including the NATO Istanbul Cooperation Initiative, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, and includes UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar; and the Mediterranean Dialogue, which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year as a partnership forum for promoting security and stability in the region, with participating countries including Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia.

Carpenter said: “When it comes to the Middle East, I’m sure there’s going to be a range of discussions, including bilateral meetings on the margins of the summit, where this will come up. 

“The Middle East is not Euro-Atlantic territory, but obviously it impinges on the security of the Euro-Atlantic region. So, what’s happening now in the Middle East is, of course, of concern to all NATO leaders.”




The NATO-Istanbul Cooperation Initiative Regional Center in Kuwait City, which was inaugurated on January 23,2017. (AFP)

Luke Coffey, senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, lamented the fact that neither the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative nor the Mediterranean Dialogue have been used to their full potential.

“I’m a bit disappointed that NATO hasn’t made a bigger deal out of the 20th anniversary of the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative (and) the 30th anniversary of the Mediterranean dialogue, which covers more of NATO’s relations with the Levant and North Africa,” he told Arab News.

“These are important milestones, and both of these platforms have been useful in the past in allowing NATO to engage with the broader community in the region,” he added.

“It would be very good to hold a NATO meeting at the heads of state, heads of government level, for the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative. I know it would be very difficult to do. Someone should have thought of this earlier. But let’s make a big deal out of this anniversary.




Spanish, German and Dutch soldiers take part in a NATO military exercise in Romania on May 14, 2024. (AFP)

“NATO should make it very clear to the countries, especially in the Gulf, that if you’re not part of the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative, the door is open. Nobody, of course, is talking about membership for NATO or anything like this. This is ridiculous, but adding new members to the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative would be a positive thing, I think, for the alliance.”

The NATO-MENA security overlap, according to Coffey, includes concerns such as counterterrorism, and Iran’s missile and drone proliferation. He believes NATO should collaborate more deeply with MENA nations, starting with missile and air defense.

“From a European point of view, often many of the challenges that are in the Middle East find their way into Europe over time. So, it benefits Europe, and especially NATO, to work with countries in the Middle East to help them address their own security concerns.”

INNUMBERS

INNUMBERS 32 Members of NATO military alliance.

7 Canada’s rank in amount of money spent on defense.

3.5% Share of US GDP spent on military.

Coffey said Stoltenberg’s visit to Saudi Arabia in December last year was a step in the right direction “that would maybe get (the Kingdom) inside the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative.

“Saudi Arabia is the dominant power on the Arabian Peninsula, and it shares many of the same security challenges that we have in NATO, such as, the proliferation of ballistic missiles and drones and the Iranian threat,” he said.

“So, it makes sense that NATO cooperates with Saudi Arabia whenever possible, and we have a platform in NATO to engage with countries like Saudi Arabia. So, let’s get Saudi Arabia inside of the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative.

“If they want to. NATO also has to be careful to make sure that we go at the speed and the comfort level of engagement of the Gulf states. We shouldn’t try forcing anything onto the region, but we should always make clear that NATO is open for deeper cooperation if there’s a willingness.”
 

 


UN: Nearly 40% of 3.4 million displaced in Myanmar are children

UN: Nearly 40% of 3.4 million displaced in Myanmar are children
Updated 25 sec ago
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UN: Nearly 40% of 3.4 million displaced in Myanmar are children

UN: Nearly 40% of 3.4 million displaced in Myanmar are children
  • Myanmar has been in turmoil since the military deposed Aung San Suu Kyi’s elected government in 2021
  • The fighting, as well as severe climate events like Typhoon Yagi, have had a ‘devastating impact’ on children
WASHINGTON: Children made up nearly 40 percent of the more than 3.4 million people in Myanmar displaced by civil war and climate change-driven extreme weather, the UN agency for children said Thursday.
Myanmar has been in turmoil since the military deposed Aung San Suu Kyi’s elected government in 2021 and launched a crackdown that sparked an armed uprising against the junta’s rule.
The Southeast Asian nation was also battered by Typhoon Yagi in September, triggering major floods that killed more than 400 people and forced hundreds of thousands from their homes.
“The humanitarian crisis in Myanmar is reaching a critical inflexion point, with escalating conflict and climate shocks putting children and families at unprecedented risk,” UNICEF deputy executive director Ted Chaiban said in a statement on Thursday.
“Over 3.4 million people have been displaced across the country, nearly 40 percent of whom are children.”
The junta is battling widespread armed opposition to its 2021 coup, and its soldiers have been accused of bloody rampages and using air and artillery strikes to punish civilian communities.
The fighting, as well as severe climate events like Typhoon Yagi, have had a “devastating impact” on children, Chaiban said, leaving them displaced, vulnerable to violence and cut off from health care and education.
He said seven children and two other civilians were killed on November 15 in a strike that hit a Kachin church compound where children were playing football.
Myanmar’s northern Kachin state is the homeland of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), one of the various ethnic minority armed groups that hold territory in the north and are battling the junta.
At least 650 children have been killed or wounded in violence in the country this year.
Minors also made up about a third of the more than 1,000 civilian casualties from land mines and explosive remnants of war, according to Chaiban.
“The increasing use of deadly weapons in civilian areas, including airstrikes and land mines hitting homes, hospitals, and schools, has severely restricted the already limited safe spaces for children, robbing them of their right to safety and security,” he said.
Eleven people were killed last week when a teashop in Myanmar was hit by a military air strike in the town of Naungcho in northern Shan state, a local ethnic armed group said.

Philippine woman saved from Indonesia death row ‘elated’

Philippine woman saved from Indonesia death row ‘elated’
Updated 21 November 2024
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Philippine woman saved from Indonesia death row ‘elated’

Philippine woman saved from Indonesia death row ‘elated’
  • Mary Jane Veloso was arrested in Indonesia in 2010 carrying a suitcase lined with 2.6 kilograms of heroin
  • Her family and supporters said she was innocent and had been set up by an international drug syndicate

INDONESIA: A Philippine woman sentenced to death in Indonesia on drug charges said Thursday that she was “elated” to be returning home, after a deal brokered between the two nations.
Mary Jane Veloso was arrested in Indonesia in 2010 carrying a suitcase lined with 2.6 kilograms of heroin and later sentenced to death by firing squad.
The mother-of-two’s case sparked an uproar in the Philippines, with her family and supporters saying she was innocent and had been set up by an international drug syndicate.
On Wednesday, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos said she would be handed over to Manila following years of “long and difficult” negotiations.
“I am very elated to hear there is an opening chance for my hope to return home and be with my family,” Veloso said in a written statement read by the prison warden Evi Loliancy on Thursday.
“I’m grateful and would like to thank everybody who keeps making efforts so I can return to my country,” she said.
The 39-year-old said she would utilize skills she has learned in prison, including local cloth-dying techniques, to earn money for herself and her family.
Veloso’s family maintained that she was duped into signing up for a non-existent job abroad as a domestic worker and was not aware the suitcase given to her by the recruiter contained hidden drugs.
The Philippine government won a last-minute reprieve for Veloso in 2015 after a woman suspected of recruiting her was arrested and put on trial for human trafficking in a case in which Veloso was named as a prosecution witness.
Indonesia’s law and human rights minister Yusril Ihza Mahendra said President Prabowo Subianto had “approved the transfer,” which is expected to happen next month.
Philippine leader Marcos on Wednesday posted a message thanking his Indonesian counterpart.
He said Veloso’s “story resonates with many: a mother trapped by the grip of poverty, who made one desperate choice that altered the course of her life.”


ASEAN defense chiefs discuss regional security with US, China and other partner nations

ASEAN defense chiefs discuss regional security with US, China and other partner nations
Updated 21 November 2024
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ASEAN defense chiefs discuss regional security with US, China and other partner nations

ASEAN defense chiefs discuss regional security with US, China and other partner nations
  • The US and China have been working to improve frayed military-to-military communications
  • ASEAN meetings come as member nations are looking warily toward the change in American administrations

VIENTIANE, Laos: Southeast Asian defense chiefs met Thursday with China, the United States and other partner nations in Laos for security talks, which come as Beijing’s increasingly assertive stance in its claim to most of the South China Sea is leading to more confrontations.
The closed-door talks put US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Chinese Defense Minister Dong Jun in the same room a day after Dong refused a request to meet with Austin one-on-one on the sidelines of the ASEAN Defense Ministers Meetings.
The US and China have been working to improve frayed military-to-military communications and Austin said he regretted Dong’s decision, calling it “a setback for the whole region.”
The ASEAN meetings come as member nations are looking warily toward the change in American administrations at a time of increasing maritime disputes with China. The US has firmly pushed a “free and open Indo-Pacific” policy under outgoing President Joe Biden and it is not yet clear how the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump will address the South China Sea situation.
In addition to the United States and China, other nations attending the ASEAN meeting from outside Southeast Asia include Japan, South Korea, India, Russia, Australia and New Zealand.
The meetings with the ASEAN dialogue partners were also expected address tensions in the Korean Peninsula, the Russia-Ukraine war, and wars in the Middle East.
Before heading to Laos, Austin concluded meetings in Australia with officials there and with Japan’s defense minister. They pledged to support ASEAN and expressed their “serious concern about destabilizing actions in the East and South China Seas, including dangerous conduct by the People’s Republic of China against Philippines and other coastal state vessels.”
Along with the Philippines, ASEAN members Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei have competing claims with China in the South China Sea, which Beijing claims almost entirely as its own territory.
Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos are the other ASEAN members.
As China has grown more assertive in pushing its territorial claims in recent years, it and ASEAN have been negotiating a code of conduct to govern behavior in the sea, but progress has been slow.
Officials have agreed to try to complete the code by 2026, but talks have been hampered by thorny issues, including disagreements over whether the pact should be binding.
Chinese and Philippine vessels have clashed repeatedly this year, and Vietnam in October charged that Chinese forces assaulted its fishermen in disputed areas in the South China Sea. China has also sent patrol vessels to areas that Indonesia and Malaysia claim as their exclusive economic zones.
Another thorny regional issue is the civil war and humanitarian crisis in ASEAN member Myanmar. The group’s credibility has been severely tested by the war in Myanmar, where the army ousted an elected government in 2021, and fighting has continued with pro-democracy guerillas and ethnic rebels.
More than a year into an offensive initiated by three militias and joined by other resistance groups, observers estimate the military controls less than half the country.
Myanmar military rulers have been barred from ASEAN meetings since late 2021, but this year the country has been represented by high-level bureaucrats, including at the summit in October.
At the defense meetings, the country is represented by Zaw Naing Win, director of the Defense Ministry’s International Affairs Department.
Meetings on Wednesday also discussed military cooperation, transnational haze, disinformation, border security and transnational crimes such as drugs, cyberscams and human trafficking, Thai Defense Ministry spokesperson Thanathip Sawangsang said.


American and Australian tourists die, raising toll to 4 in Laos alcohol poisoning incident

American and Australian tourists die, raising toll to 4 in Laos alcohol poisoning incident
Updated 21 November 2024
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American and Australian tourists die, raising toll to 4 in Laos alcohol poisoning incident

American and Australian tourists die, raising toll to 4 in Laos alcohol poisoning incident
  • The two Australian women fell ill on November 13 after a night out drinking with a group
  • They are believed to have consumed drinks tainted with methanol

VIENTIANE, Laos: An Australian teenager has died after drinking tainted alcohol in Vang Vieng, Laos, Australia’s prime minister said Thursday, and the US State Department confirmed an American also died in the same party town, bringing the death toll to four in the poisoning incident.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told Parliament that 19-year-old Bianca Jones had died after being evacuated from Laos for treatment in a Thai hospital. Her friend, also 19, remains hospitalized in Thailand.
Meantime, the State Department confirmed that an American tourist had also died, but said it had no further comment out of respect to the families.
“This is every parent’s very worst fear and a nightmare that no one should have to endure,” Albanese told lawmakers, adding “we also take this moment to say that we’re thinking of Bianca’s friend Holly Bowles who is fighting for her life.”
The two Australian women fell ill on Nov. 13 after a night out drinking with a group. They are believed to have consumed drinks tainted with methanol, which sometimes used as the alcohol in mixed drinks at disreputable bars and can cause severe poisoning or death.
New Zealand’s Foreign Ministry said Thursday one of its citizens was also unwell in Laos and could be a victim of methanol poisoning. Denmark’s Foreign Ministry, when asked about the poisoning incident, said Wednesday that two of its citizens had died in Laos but would not provide further details.
“We have updated our travel advisory for Laos to note that there have been several cases of suspected methanol poisoning after consuming alcoholic drinks,” New Zealand’s Foreign Ministry said. “Travelers are advised to be cautious about consuming alcoholic beverages, particularly cocktails and drinks made with spirits that may have been adulterated with harmful substances.”


US charges billionaire Gautam Adani with defrauding investors, hiding plan to bribe Indian officials

US charges billionaire Gautam Adani with defrauding investors, hiding plan to bribe Indian officials
Updated 21 November 2024
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US charges billionaire Gautam Adani with defrauding investors, hiding plan to bribe Indian officials

US charges billionaire Gautam Adani with defrauding investors, hiding plan to bribe Indian officials
  • Gautam Adani, 62, was charged with securities fraud in an indictment unsealed Wednesday 
  • Several other people connected to Adani, his businesses and the project were also charged

NEW YORK: An Indian businessman who is one of the world’s richest people has been indicted in the US on charges he duped investors in a massive solar energy project in his home country by concealing that it was facilitated by alleged bribery.
Gautam Adani, 62, was charged in an indictment unsealed Wednesday with securities fraud and conspiring to commit securities and wire fraud.
He is accused of defrauding investors who poured several billion dollars into the project by failing to tell them about more than $250 million in bribes paid to Indian officials to secure lucrative solar energy supply contracts.
Several other people connected to Adani, his businesses and the project were also charged.
Gautam Adani is a power player in the world’s most populous nation. He built his fortune in the coal business coal in the 1990s. His Adani Group grew to involve many aspects of Indian life, from making defense equipment to building roads to selling cooking oil.
In recent years, Adani has made big moves into renewable energy.
Last year, a US-based financial research firm accused Adani his company of “brazen stock manipulation” and “accounting fraud.” The Adani Group called the claims “a malicious combination of selective misinformation and stale, baseless and discredited allegations.”
The firm in question is known as a short-seller, a Wall Street term for traders that essentially bet on the prices of certain stocks to fall, and it had made such investments in relation to the Adani Group.