Category: Security policy

China strengthens its presence in the polar regions

China is expanding its expeditions to the Arctic and Antarctic. According to the Chinese Ministry of Natural Resources, the national polar observation and monitoring network is being continuously improved and the construction of the fifth Antarctic research station "Inexpressible Island" on the edge of the Ross Sea is being accelerated. In the meantime, the 40th Antarctic expedition is being prepared and the 13th mission in the Arctic Ocean has been completed. Read more about the 5th Antarctic research station in our article "Satellite photos: China on the advance in the Antarctic" from 15 May 2023. Read article The 39th scientific Antarctic expedition from October 2022 to April 2023 lasted 163 days. 255 researchers on two research icebreakers, Snow Dragon (Xue Long) and Snow Dragon 2,...

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Joint Warrior - NATO Maritime Exercise of the VJTF off Scotland

From a Bundeswehr press release: After a short port call in Glasgow, Task Group 441.01 - the maritime component of the Very High Readiness Task Force (VJTF) - set sail on 22 October to take part in the major exercise "Joint Warrior" off the north-west coast of Scotland until 31 October. Over 19 ships and more than 20 aircraft with a total of around 6,000 soldiers took part in the second round of this demanding naval exercise this year. In addition to the UK - which took the lead this time - units from the Netherlands, the USA, Denmark, Italy, Belgium, Germany, France, Poland and Canada took part....

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Update: Change of leadership at the US Navy now official

President Joe Biden had already nominated Franchetti for this position in July. In the USA, however, such appointments still have to be confirmed by the Senate. One of the senators, Republican Tommy Tuberville, has been blocking hundreds of military nominations for some time in protest against a Department of Defence regulation that allows female soldiers to be reimbursed for travel expenses in the event of an abortion. Unanimity is required for many formal procedures in the US Senate. Therefore, even a single member of the Senate can become a "show-stopper".
The confirmation now took place as a single vote on 2 November 2023, after the Republicans last week publicly broke with Senator Tommy Tuberville (Alabama), who has been blocking the 'en bloc appointments' of generals and admirals in the Senate for nine months.

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Balticconnector gas leak: sabotage - or bad luck?

A concerted act of Russian-Chinese sabotage? Or simply a maritime mishap? Finally an official sign from Finland! We took some time in the editorial office to gather information from open sources and waited until the overall picture became clearer. It's about the damage to the Balticconnector gas pipeline and two communication cables on the Baltic seabed at various points between Estonia and Finland, which was discovered on 8 October 2023. What The Balticconnector gas pipeline runs from Paldiski, 30 kilometres west of Tallinn, northwards to the Finnish LNG terminal in Inkoo, 40 kilometres west of Helsinki, and forms a bridge between the gas pipelines from Russia and...

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Middle East: US destroyer intercepts Huthi militia cruise missile from Yemen

A little-noticed report from the US Department of Defence makes it alarmingly clear just how close to the powder keg the entire Middle East currently is: on 19 October 2023, the Pentagon reported the launch of three cruise missiles and eight drones launched from the north-west of Yemen and flying towards Israel by the Arleigh Burke destroyer USS "Carney" (DDG-64). The "Carney" had used its Standard Missile 2 (SM2) in defence against the cruise missiles and drones. There were no casualties or injuries, neither on US units nor on the ground. Security architecture It is an example of the integrated security architecture established in the Middle East...

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