Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg had talks at NATO Headquarters in Brussels on Friday (18 October 2019) with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. They addressed the situation in northeast Syria and the joint agreement by Turkey and the United States. They also discussed preparations for the meeting of NATO HeadsContinue Reading
Russian economic policy presently has three main pillars. One is the overriding desire to maintain financial and economic stability and independence. The second most important is a group of National Projects to develop the Russian economy and social conditions in the period to 2014. The third is the assumption heldContinue Reading
Yesterday, President Donald J. Trump participated in an Armed Forces Welcoming Ceremony to honor Gen. Mark A. Milley, who became America’s 20th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Milley takes over for Marine Gen. Joseph F. Dunford, who is retiring after years of exceptional service to our country. “We’reContinue Reading
Defense Secretary Dr. Mark T. Esper welcomed Norwegian Defense Minister Frank Bakke-Jensen to the Pentagon for talks on the U.S.-Norway partnership and the way forward for the NATO alliance. Bakke-Jensen and Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg visited U.S. Marines and sailors in North Carolina and Virginia. Bakke-Jensen said he enjoyedContinue Reading
“We have thousands of ISIS fighters that we want Europe to take, and let’s see if they take them,” President Trump told reporters at the beginning of the month. “If they don’t take them, we’ll probably have to release them to Europe.”[1] By Anne Speckhard & Ardian Shajkovci At aContinue Reading
According to a recent confidential report: Both Iran and USA are playing with the red line. The US are pushing Iran to cross it but Iran is also flirting with the red line for internal political reasons, while at the same time not willing to cross it. If it isContinue Reading
Our own notions of an ongoing, all-pervading and never-ending hybrid war are corroding our societies and political systems. Hybrid warfare has been in the limelight for more than a decade within the Western strategic discourse. During the last five years, this slippery concept has mostly been attached to the malign actionsContinue Reading
US Secretary of Defense James N. Mattis visited Norway on Saturday July 14th. — The United States is our closest and most important ally, and it is an honor to welcome Secretary Mattis to Oslo, said Minister of Defence Frank Bakke-Jensen in his statement. Mattis confirmed the close relations, friendshipContinue Reading
Part of the war games the U.S. and Norway are currently conducting ought to involve practice in the deployment of strategic narrative. In what may be the understatement of the decade, one Norwegian official said, “we have gradually seen more and more … strategic messages being sent [by Moscow].” ItContinue Reading
The Saturday morning announcement that the US and Russia have agreed to join forces to pound ISIS in Syria starting Monday is evidence that the Assad regime’s strategic narrative is dominating the narrative space through which the international community views the conflicts. The regime’s narrative paints ISIS as the centerContinue Reading