Russia is still the greatest threat to NATO states, despite elaborate shows of force from China and the unveiling of new weapons in Beijing, Sweden’s defense minister has said.
Moscow is “without a shadow of a doubt the main threat to Europe, and to NATO,” Pål Jonson told Newsweek on Wednesday.
Jonson’s remarks on the sidelines of a defense summit in Prague come after China debuted previously unseen or little-known weapons during a massive military parade attended by a host of heads of state, including Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
Serbia’s president and Slovakia’s prime minister were the only Western leaders present.
The parade, which marked 80 years since China’s victory over Japan in World War II, showcased missiles capable of reaching across the world, “robot wolves,” and laser weapons.
Chinese state media touted the 70-minute spectacle, featuring over 10,000 soldiers, as a display of Beijing’s transformation into a “modern military.” The country for “the first time” showed land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles, as well as air- and sea-launched variants making up a “nuclear triad,” state news agency Xinhua reported.
It wouldn’t survive contact with the whole of NATO.
But at least since this spring, it isn’t credible anymore that NATO’s response to Russian aggression would include the US.
Europe alone would have a much harder time against Russia, which is why Putin might feel empowered for further military adventures here.
I should(not, actually) like to see Russia trying to open up a new front in Northern Europe.
Remember when they tried in WWII, when Finland didn’t have unions without defence clauses with Europe and NATO, and was very poorly equipped?
Well since then we’ve beefed up in all imaginable ways. Infra, troops, equipment.
Also now we’ve got NORDEFCO, EU and NATO to have our backs.
We’re also apparently remining the border with anti-personnel mines. I’m a bit conflicted about that, but it’s an extra layer of deterrence to be sure, despite the negatives around them.
Seeing how much they’ve been wasting in Ukraine, both troops and equipment, I don’t realistically see how Russia could even imagine opening up a front with a NATO/EU member.
If all of (or at least the larger countries in) the EU would be as prepared as Finland, Europe would be a better place. If I look at my country, though…
How can the capabilities be measured to decide if Nato without USA is still a sufficiently strong deterrent? Somewhere some war enthusiasts must have done the calculations in public.
You do realise that contrary to the US (for obvious reasons…), almost no European country has a military fit for prolonged conflict?
Dual use infrastructure. We don’t paint DHL and Schenker green.
As far as I understand modern warfare, we need to know if we can take down the Russian airforce. If we can, we are safe, if not then we could have a problem for which we would need prolonged logistics.