NATO allies do not stop. They have barely finished some maneuvers in the Arctic, in which Finland has already participated as a full member of the Alliance, when the entire bloc is prepared in Germany to begin on Monday the largest air exercise in its history, the Air Defender 23. For a “training & rdquor ;, the figures are certainly dizzying: 10,000 troops, 250 aircraft, 25 countries involved (including Sweden and Japan).
Of course these air games are not a mere exercise: it is about showing the world, and especially Vladimir Putin, the ability of allies when they agree.
That is precisely the critical point since Russia decided to invade Ukraine in February 2022: the sense of unity and purpose that it has injected into the members of an organization that, until then, seemed to languish. This was staged one year ago at the Madrid Summit, in which the New Strategic Concept of the Organization. That is how it remains today. A unity reinforced by the fact that there are more countries that want to join (with Sweden and Ukraine at the top of the list) and by the commitments of the countries to invest more in defense and security and therefore contribute more to the capabilities joint. Although this objective is being somewhat more difficult to achieve.
Actually, there is no a point of schizophrenia in the debate on the defense of Europe. On the one hand, the war has highlighted the need to pay attention to issues that for decades have been far removed from the priorities of European societies. Hence the concept of strategic autonomy, which, properly understood, should guide the development of the European Union: assume the responsibilities and burden that corresponds to European countries in matters such as defense, reduce vulnerabilities in general and strengthen cooperation and complementarity wherever possible, starting with its main partner, the United States.
But the war has only increased the enormous dependence that the European allies continue to have on the US for their defense. Just one example: of the 250 ships that will take part in the maneuvers in the German sky, 100 will be American. Added to this is the fact that, given the limited capacity of European industry to keep up with the pace set by the war effort, The Europeans have once again put their focus, and their money, on American industry…
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This schizophrenia is even more acute in Germany, which has seen how his traditional pacifism of the last decades, well anchored in obvious historical reasons, has been turned upside down overnight. Being the host of Air Defender 23, with all that it implies in terms of organization and leadership, is a good example of this.
At the moment one of the biggest concerns for German and European public opinion is how the maneuvers will affect airspace and flights over the continent these next few days. We don’t even talk about the emissions that they will generate.