HELSINKI – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s dogged opposition to Sweden’s application for membership of NATO has stymied hopes in Stockholm and Helsinki that Ankara will give its approval ahead of parliamentary elections in Turkey slated for May 14. The already tense diplomatic relations between Turkey and Sweden were strained further on Jan. 21 when … Read more
Elisabeth Braw is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and an advisor at Gallos Technologies. Sweden’s process to join NATO should have been the easiest accession in the alliance’s history — then Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan decided to play hardball, mixing legitimate fears about terrorism with electoral opportunistic politicking. Unfortunately, various activists … Read more
HELSINKI (AP) – Finland’s foreign minister suggested Tuesday that the country may consider joining NATO without neighboring Sweden if Turkey continues to block their joint bid to enter the military alliance. Pekka Haavisto later backpedaled, but his comments were the first time a leading government official in either Nordic country appeared to raise doubts about … Read more
Sweden and Finland have taken another step in joining NATO, meaning only a formal ratification of their accession agreement is now left. Anadolu Agency | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images It’s now been eight months since Sweden and Finland declared their intent to join NATO, a move that upended the countries’ longstanding policies of non-alignment … Read more
Press play to listen to this article Voiced by artificial intelligence. BERLIN/DAVOS — International efforts to ship Ukraine modern tanks may hinge on Germany — but it’s waiting for the US to move first, which isn’t happening. Ahead of a meeting of Western defense ministers this Friday at the US Ramstein air base in Germany, … Read more
Press play to listen to this article Voiced by artificial intelligence. BERLIN – Olaf Scholz has once again rebooted his security policy, nominating a new defense minister to take the reins. But when it comes to his reluctance to send battle tanks to Ukraine, the German chancellor is still waiting for the US to take … Read more
Press play to listen to this article Voiced by artificial intelligence. LONDON — In the early years of the 21st century, military planners were pondering the unthinkable — were tanks becoming obsolete? Unmanned drones, cyber warfare and other emerging technologies were seen as the weapons of the future. As recently as 2020, some defense chiefs … Read more
Press play to listen to this article Voiced by artificial intelligence. Germany’s controversial Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht is reportedly set to step down as early as Monday, suffering the consequences from a series of blunders that hurt her credibility and increasingly weighed on Chancellor Olaf Scholz and his declared sea-change in German defense policy. The … Read more
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson on Friday denounced a protest by Kurds in central Stockholm, where an effigy of Turkey’s president was hung from a lamppost, as an act of “sabotage” against Sweden’s bid to join NATO.. The protest outside City Hall on Wednesday drew an angry backlash from Turkey, a … Read more
Press play to listen to this article Voiced by artificial intelligence. BERLIN/PARIS – Less than a week after Germany finally agreed to supply Ukraine with Marder infantry fighting vehicles, pressure is building on Berlin to step it up and send modern battle tanks. France and Poland are pushing the EU’s biggest economy to equip Kyiv … Read more