Three NATO lessons in the Arctic
by Tom Rogan,
| September 11, 2020 09:05 AM
As proved from Syria to Siberia, Vladimir Putin has no qualms about spilling blood to seize strategic opportunity. Cognizant to that reality, it's crucial to deter Putin from endangering our security and foreign policy interests.
Hence why we should welcome the completion of a recent American, British, and Norwegian naval and air patrol in the Barents Sea. Led by the British Royal Navy, the patrol involved the frigate HMS Sutherland, the anti-ballistic missile destroyer USS Ross, and the Royal Norwegian Navy frigate Thor Heyerdahl. As the British Defense Minister makes clear, the purpose was "to preserve freedom of navigation when melting ice caps are creating new shipping lanes and increasing the risk of states looking to militarize and monopolize international borders." Seeing, however, that Russia is the only nation actively threatening freedom of navigation in the high north, Moscow is again foremost in mind here. The deployment's air component also involved Danish and U.S. submarine hunters, along with British multi-role fighter jets.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/three-nato-lessons-in-the-arctic
