by Michael Rühle, Head Climate and Energy Security Section, Emerging Security Challenges Division, NATO, Brussels Climate change has become humanity’s greatest challenge. The effects of global warming – melting polar ice caps, rising sea levels and, above all, an increase in extreme weather events – can now be felt worldwide. Accordingly, many states have declared…
by Jiří Šedivý, Chief Executive, and Jean-François Ripoche, Director of Research, Technology and Innovation of the European Defence Agency (EDA), Brussels After the appalling and totally unjustifiable Russian aggression against Ukraine and with a fully-fledged war now raging at the European Union’s doorstep, there is today a common understanding – probably stronger than ever before…
After intense negotiations, the European Union (EU) has finally adopted its so-called Strategic Compass, a forty-page paper published on 21st March 2022. Comprising a common vision for the Union’s role in security and defence, the document was announced as a major piece of EU policy by the incoming von der Leyen Commission in late 2019.…
The MMF Programme is a referencefor future defence armament cooperation photo: © MMU by Joachim Weidmann, OCCAR-EA, MMF Programme Manager and Coordinator; Angel Saiz-Padilla, NSPA, MMF Principal Coordinator Officer, and Dion Polman, EDA, Project Officer Aviation, Bonn/Brussels European Nations face since long an unpredictable strategic situation. New scenarios require new capabilities in growing numbers, whilst…
by Dr Hans Christoph Atzpodien,Managing Director of the Federation of German Security and Defence Industries e.V. (BDSV), Berlin In the current European debate, our security requirements and need to defend ourselves are not commonly acknowledged as indispensable prerequisites for sustainability. Part of the reason for this is that, among the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals,…
by Ralph Thiele, President of EuroDefense Germany and Chairman of the Political-Military Society, Berlin The world is in the midst of a tectonic shift. Global competition for security architectures, trade and investment regimes and leadership in new technologies is gathering pace. Strategic goals are also being pursued through the threat and use of open military force.…
by Ricardo Dias da Costa, Professor of Strategy and Military Operations at the PortugueseMilitary University Institute (IUM), Lisbon The use of expressions such as the “sovereignty” or “strategic autonomy” of Europe is relatively recurrent among politicians and academics, although it is not consensual. Nevertheless, with the approval of the “Strategic Compass” and for Europe’s sovereignty…
by Hartmut Bühl, Publisher, Paris V ladimir Putin has achieved the impossible: in a few days, his war against Ukraine has made the European Union (EU)politically move further than it has done in more than seven decades of peaceful economic and financial development. In those few days, a true “spirit of defence” has been created. …
by Jean Dufourcq, Counter Admiral (ret), co-founder of Vigie, synthèse stratégique,Paris The Russian aggression in Ukraine, a human tragedy of a bygone era, harks back to the European wars of the 20th century. It bears all the marks of Russian brutality, strategic frustration and a radical political project that has ended badly. Russia is gambling…
by Professor Hideshi Tokuchi, President of the Research Institute for Peace and Security (RIPS) and Indo-Pacific correspondent of this magazine, Tokyo R ussia’s invasion of Ukraine is a blatant violation of established international law, swaying the rules-based international order. As it is an outright challenge to the global order, it will affect the stability and…