As Norway and Russia remain the two nations with a stable and permanent presence on Svalbard, a great geopolitical game between the two Arctic states may unfold over the archipelago. Amidst climate change, the entailing resource management considerations and Russia’s isolation from the west, the security status of this Arctic territory is growing more relevant.
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Elements of the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) spent much of November 2024 in Latvia, taking part in a series of exercises known as Joint Protector 24.[1] Leaders of the JEF countries—Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and the UK will then meet in Tallinn on 16-17 December to discuss further cooperation in the framework.[2] What is the JEF, and what does it offer the Baltic region?
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Following Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014, several European states re-introduced conscription while others took steps to increase the effectiveness of existing conscription arrangements. Compulsory military service, often regarded as an anachronism in the post-Cold War period, has thus re-emerged as a means to ensure that relatively large wartime force structures can be generated at low cost and, in some cases, to provide personnel to standing units.
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In 2021, Estonia and Norway serve as elected members on the UN Security Council. What can elected Council members hope to achieve in a setting marked by great power tensions and ineffective working procedures?
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In 2021, Estonia and Norway served as elected members of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). Both being relatively small states, defending multilateral cooperation and rules-based international order were important common goals.
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In recent months Svalbard, a Norwegian archipelago between continental Norway and the North Pole, has attracted more interest than usual.
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