Pentagon’s New Global Military Partner: Sweden
30 August 2010By Rick Rozoff
The longest war in U.S. history and the North Atlantic
Treaty Organization’s first armed conflict outside
Europe, as well as its first ground war, is nearing
the beginning of its tenth year.
Over 120,000 troops are serving under NATO’s
International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan
in addition to 30,000 under American command, and the
Western military bloc recently confirmed that Malaysia
has become the 47th official Troop Contributing Nation
(TCN) for the war effort.
Never before have forces from so many nations served
under a common command in one country, one war theater
or one war.
All 28 full NATO member states have supplied soldiers
for the campaign, as have over 20 Alliance partners in
Europe, the South Caucasus, the South Pacific, Asia,
Africa and South America. With the inclusion of
contingents deployed and pledged by nations such as
Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Colombia and Tonga as well as
the 47 official troop contributors, there are military
personnel from every populated continent assigned to
the West’s war in Afghanistan.
European nations that have maintained neutrality since
the end of World War Two and in some cases decades and
centuries longer have provided NATO with troops for
its International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).
Austria, Ireland and Switzerland have sent nominal
contingents under Partnership for Peace (PfP)
obligations. PfP member Finland has approximately 150
troops attached to NATO’s Afghan command and Sweden
has 500. The Swedish consignment was until lately the
second-largest of all non-NATO member states, only
surpassed by Australia until over 750 more U.S. Marine
Corps-trained Georgian troops arrived in the South
Asian nation in April. (Last month Georgian leader
Mikheil Saakashvili said that the 1,000 total troops
he deployed were matriculated in the “school of Afghan
warfare” for use in future conflicts like those of the
five-day Georgian-Russian war of two years ago.)
The main function of the Partnership for Peace program
– whose name is counterintuitive, Orwellian and
blasphemous given the fact it has graduated 12 Eastern
European nations into full membership in the world’s
only military bloc and prepared them for deployments
to Afghanistan and Iraq – is to integrate nations in
Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia for NATO
operations abroad. The major beneficiary of that
process is the Pentagon.
Over twenty nations currently in that category are
having their armed forces, military doctrines, weapons
arsenals and foreign policy orientation transformed
for interoperability with the Western alliance and in
particular its leading member, the United States.
The PfP is training the armies of Armenia, Azerbaijan,
Austria, Bosnia, Finland, Georgia, Ireland, Macedonia,
Montenegro and Sweden for the war in Afghanistan and,
complementarily, is employing the war there to provide
the militaries of those states combat experience and
to build a globally deployable force for future NATO
operations, including ones nearer the respective
nations’ borders. [1] Other components of the strategy
include conducting ever more frequent and large-scale
war games and other combat training in partnership
nations with Afghanistan the immediate battlefield
destination but with general applicability for other
locations, and expanding the arsenals of PfP states
with – NATO interoperable – unmanned aerial vehicles
(drones), armored combat vehicles, artillery, attack
helicopters, advanced warplanes and other engines of
war.
Al Burke and his dedicated colleagues with the Stop
the Furtive Accession to NATO initiative in Sweden are
conducting a tireless campaign to sound the alarm over
the surreptitious and accelerating drive to integrate
the nation into NATO’s – and the Pentagon’s – global
military sphere. [2]
For over a year Swedish troops in charge of ISAF
operations in four northern Afghan provinces have been
engaged in regular firefights, the first combat
operations the nation has conducted in almost two
hundred years. Two Swedish officers were killed in
February, the first troops killed in an exchange of
fire with Afghan rebels.
On July 1 the Swedish government ended 109 years of
conscription and made the country’s armed force
entirely voluntary; that is, Stockholm – to use the
approved term – professionalized the military
according to NATO standards and demands.
As a result, “All Swedish soldiers will in future be
liable to be sent abroad on missions against their
will. Any soldiers who refuse could lose their jobs….”
[3]
The four unions representing the nation’s military
personnel are all opposed to the compulsory overseas
deployment provision.
As a press agency reported on the day of the
announcement, “At the same time, it was decided to
loosen the country’s traditionally strict neutrality
to allow participation in more international military
operations, like the NATO-led mission in Afghanistan.”
[4]
Last year Sweden hosted the ten-day Loyal Arrow 2009
NATO military exercise in its north. The war games
consisted in part of “the biggest air force drill ever
in the Finnish-Swedish Bothnia Bay” [5] and included
the participation of 2,000 troops from ten nations, 50
warplanes and a British aircraft carrier. An account
of it stated, “The exercise is based upon a fictitious
scenario. Within this scenario, elements of the NATO
Response Force (NRF)…will be deployed to a theatre of
operations.” [6] The allegedly fictitious situation in
question was one which could well be applied in the
Baltic nations of Estonia and Latvia, the South
Caucasus, Transdniester and other locations where NATO
forces and war machinery could come into direct
contact with their Russian opposite numbers.
Late this May NATO’s top military commander made a
tour of inspection to Sweden, commending its
government for deploying and maintaining 500 troops in
Afghanistan. American Admiral James Stavridis, Supreme
Allied Commander Europe, visited the country on the
invitation of the Supreme Commander of the Swedish
Armed Forces, Sverker Goranson. He also consulted with
the State Secretary to the Prime Minister, Gustav
Lind, and the State Secretary for Foreign Affairs,
Frank Belfrage. [7]
A few days later several special representatives from
“NATO Partner Nations Austria, Finland, Sweden and
Switzerland,” among them Veronika Wand-Danielsson,
ambassador of Sweden to NATO, met with French Air
Force General Stephane Abrial, commander of Allied
Command Transformation (ACT) at the latter’s
headquarters in Norfolk, Virginia.
The European envoys “were also briefed by U.S. Navy
Rear Admiral Lawrence Rice of U.S. Joint Forces
Command (USJFCOM) on that command’s mission and on the
achievements and future of the ACT-USJFCOM
cooperation.” [8]
NATO is and has always been designed to recruit
nations into a military bloc so the Pentagon can
integrate them into its own network as well. Where
NATO advances, U.S. troops and bases follow, as with
Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Poland where Washington
has acquired air, training, interceptor missile and
strategic airlift bases over the past five years.
In June Swedish troops were among 3,000 from 12
countries participating in the annual U.S.-led Baltic
Operations (BALTOPS) NATO Partnership for Peace
maneuvers, “the largest multinational naval exercise
in the Baltic Sea,” [9] which included 500 U.S.
Marines, 130 of whom stormed a beach in Estonia, the
U.S. Marine Corps’ “first amphibious landing exercise
in a territory that was once part of the Soviet
Union,” [10] 90 miles from the Russian border.
At the same time United States Air Forces in Europe
launched this year’s Unified Engagement “wargame
designed to explore future joint warfare concepts and
capabilities” [11] in Estonia. Last year’s version was
conducted in Sweden.
The American delegation was led by the commander of
United States Air Forces in Europe, General Roger
Brady, and worked with “counterparts from Denmark,
Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Sweden
to strengthen relationships, and improve
interoperability and future cooperation.” [12]
The United States Air Forces in Europe website
described the event as a “transformation war game to
explore future combined warfighting concepts and
capabilities.”
According to Brady, “Because of training seminars like
Unified Engagement, the U.S. Air Force and our
partners worldwide are better prepared for future
operational challenges.” [13]
In mid-June it was announced that “Swedish armed
forces operating in Afghanistan as part of NATO’s
International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) will be
equipped with their first tactical UAV capability
since deploying into theatre….”
Shadow 200 unmanned aerial vehicle (drone) systems,
“Already operated by the US Army and Marine Corps in
Afghanistan and Iraq,” will be deployed by the Swedish
air force within months. [14]
During the same week the Finnish government announced
it was presenting a proposal to the nation’s
parliament to join the NATO Response Force, following
up on a decision of three years ago to do so “as part
of a joint decision and simultaneous membership with
Sweden.” [15]
The U.S. led the annual NATO Partnership for Peace Sea
Breeze multinational military exercises in Ukraine in
the first half of July – in the Crimea, near the
headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet at Sevastopol
– with Alliance members and partners Sweden, Austria,
Azerbaijan, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Greece,
Moldova, Poland and Ukraine.
In late July and early August the U.S. 555th Fighter
Squadron with 250 airmen spent two weeks in Sweden
conducting air-to-air and air-to-ground exercises with
the host country’s air force during which “the U.S.
Air Force worked side-by-side with their Swedish
allies both in the skies and on the ground conducting
more than 180 flying missions that tested their air
combat capabilities as well as their precision weapons
scoring….”
The deputy commander of the participating Swedish
unit, Övlt (Lieutenant Colonel) Harri Larsson, stated
on the occasion: “We really appreciate working with
the U.S. Air Force because it gives us
dimension…training with someone else, other equipment,
other tactics, working in the English language, which
is not our native language….I believe it gives us a
lot of good experience which we can use in the
future.”
He added that the air combat exercises were important
for integrating the warfighting capabilities of his
nation’s Gripen pilots with U.S. F-16 Fighting Falcon
counterparts. “They can improve their training and we
become more interoperable.”
Larsson also revealed the purpose behind the joint
maneuvers: “Our government wants us to become more
flexible and be able to, on a short notice, go abroad.
(Therefore), we need to work with other countries,
especially the U.S. (as) the U.S. is the biggest
contributor to NATO and the UN. [F]rom our point of
view it’s necessary to work with the U.S.”
As the American squadron returned to the Aviano Air
Base in Italy, Övlt Larsson said “the F 21 Wing hopes
to host its American allies again in the near future.”
[16] The F 21 Wing, also known as the Norrbotten Air
Force Wing, hosted the fifty NATO warplanes used in
last year’s Loyal Arrow war games.
Last week the U.S. Chief of Naval Operations Admiral
Gary Roughead arrived in Sweden to inspect some of the
country’s warships and a submarine and meet with his
counterpart Rear Admiral Anders Grenstad to “discuss
present and future operations between the two navies
in the region and around the globe.” [17]
Sweden’s top military commander, General Sverker
Goranson, was at the Pentagon on August 5 to meet with
Admiral Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs
of Staff. Goranson had earlier studied at the U.S.
Army Command and General Staff College in Fort
Leavenworth, Kansas and served as military attache in
the United States.
With eleven years of NATO expansion and the Alliance’s
transformation into the world’s first
internationally-oriented military bloc, no nation in
Europe is permitted to be neutral and none can avoid
involvement in military missions, including wars,
abroad. Sweden is no exception, having joined scores
of other previously non-aligned nations around the
world in being pulled into the Pentagon’s orbit in the
post-Cold War period.
To illustrate how widely the network has expanded, on
July 16 military officers from 63 nations enrolled at
the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College –
Swedish military chief Goranson’s alma mater – visited
state officials in Topeka, Kansas.
The officers were from Afghanistan, Albania,
Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Bangladesh, Belgium,
Bosnia, Botswana, Britain, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso,
Canada, Colombia, Croatia, the Czech Republic,
Denmark, El Salvador, Estonia, Ethiopia, France,
Georgia, Germany, Hungary, Indonesia, Iraq, Ireland,
Israel, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya,
Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia,
Malaysia, Mexico, Moldova, Morocco, the Netherlands,
Nigeria, Norway, Pakistan, the Philippines, Poland,
Romania, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, Singapore,
South Korea, Spain, Suriname, Sweden, Taiwan,
Tanzania, Thailand, Turkey, Uganda and Ukraine. [18]
Related articles:
End of Scandinavian Neutrality: NATO’s Militarization
Of Europe
Stop NATO, April 10, 2009
http://rickrozoff.wordpress.com/2009/../end-of-scandinavian-neutrality-natos-militarization-of-europe
Scandinavia And The Baltic Sea: NATO’s War Plans For
The High North
June 14, 2009
http://rickrozoff.wordpress.com/2009/../scandinavia-and-the-baltic-sea-natos-war-plans-for-the-high-north
Afghan War: NATO Trains Finland, Sweden For Conflict
With Russia
July 26, 2009
http://rickrozoff.wordpress.com/2009/../afghan-war-nato-trains-finland-sweden-for-conflict-with-russia
1) Afghan War: NATO Builds History’s First Global
Army
Stop NATO, August 9, 2009
http://rickrozoff.wordpress.com/2009/../afghan-war-nato-builds-historys-first-global-army
2) Stop the Furtive Accession to NATO!
http://www.stoppanato.se/english/proposal.htm
http://www.stoppanato.se/english/guides.htm
3) The Local (Sweden), July 13, 2010
4) Agence France-Presse, July 1, 2010
5) Barents Observer, June 8, 2009
6) Allied Air Component Command HQ Ramstein, April 9,
2009
7) North Atlantic Treaty Organization
Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe
May 12, 2010
8) North Atlantic Treaty Organization
Allied Command Transformation
May 21, 2010
9) U.S. European Command, June 7, 2010
10) Associated Press, June 15, 2010
11) Russian Information Agency Novosti, June 7, 2010
12) United States Air Forces in Europe, June 8, 2010
13) Ibid
14) Shephard Group, June 16, 2010
15) Defense News, June 16, 2010
16) United States Air Forces in Europe, August 13,
2010
17) Navy NewsStand, August 24, 2010
18) The Capital-Journal, July 16, 2010
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