April 11—NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told Britain’s Telegraph in an interview that NATO is preparing to make permanent its deployment to the east, or as he put it, a “reinforcement” to be turned into a fundamental “reset” of the alliance. That reset, he says, must be accompanied by increased national defense spending by NATO members, many of which still allocate less than the alliance’s minimum threshold of 2% expenditure as a share of their GDP. “The 2% guideline is a minimum guideline, and of course I welcome every increase in defense spending from all allies—also, of course, those allies who are already spending more than 2%, like the United Kingdom,” he said. “But of course my main focus is to ensure that those that are below 2% meet that minimum guideline.”
After retailing the usual propaganda about Ukraine’s “self-defense” and praise for the British role in that, he went on: “What we see now is a new reality, a new normal for European security. Therefore, we have now asked our military commanders to provide options for what we call a reset, a more longer-term adaptation of NATO. I expect that NATO leaders will make decisions on this when they meet in Madrid at the NATO summit in June.” NATO, he says, is “in the midst of a very fundamental transformation” that will reflect “the long-term consequences” of Putin’s actions. “Regardless of when, how, the war in Ukraine ends, the war has already had long-term consequences for our security. NATO needs to adapt to that new reality. And that’s exactly what we are doing.”
Under the plans being worked up by NATO military commanders, NATO’s eastern deployment would be transformed into a major force that is supposed to be capable of taking on an invading army. “Since we have implemented so many immediate measures, we have the time now until the summit to make more longer-term decisions,” Stoltenberg said. “This is part of the reset which we have to make, which is to move from tripwire deterrence to something which is more about deterrence by denial or defense. This is already in process. We have to ensure that we continue to be able, in a more dangerous world, to protect and defend all NATO allies.”
Stoltenberg is also planning to enshrine the growing threat from China into NATO’s “strategic concept,” its formal strategy document, for the first time. “Because the rise of China, the shifting global balance of power, has direct consequences for NATO.” Beijing, Stoltenberg says, “has the second-largest defense budget in the world” and is investing heavily in “new modern nuclear capabilities, long-range missiles that can reach all NATO territory.” He continues: “It is also of concern that we see that Russia and China are working more and more closely together. This is something that matters for our security.” In other words, at the Madrid summit, it will no longer be a North Atlantic alliance but rather a global empire.
Meanwhile, Sweden and Finland are reported to be getting set to formally apply for NATO membership as early as this summer. According to The Times of London, Finland is expected to apply to join the alliance in June, followed by neighboring Sweden, despite warnings from Russia that membership would lead to “the destruction of their country.” It comes after Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin said it was time for the country to reconsider its stance on NATO, while Swedish leader Magdalena Andersson refused to rule out an application. And Sweden is currently undertaking a review of its security that is due for completion at the end of this month—similar to Finland’s timetable, The Times reports.
