On the NATOVET Radar Weekly (22-28 October 2022)

Focus Point: Migration-Pushback is the embodiment of this callousness.

Turkey: Hundreds of Refugees Deported to Syria

24.10.2022?EU Should Recognize Turkey Is Unsafe for Asylum Seekers

Turkish authorities arbitrarily arrested, detained, and deported hundreds of Syrian refugee men and boys to Syria between February and July 2022, Human Rights Watch said today..

Deported Syrians told Human Rights Watch that Turkish officials arrested them in their homes, workplaces, and on the street, detained them in poor conditions, beat and abused most of them, forced them to sign voluntary return forms, drove them to border crossing points with northern Syria, and forced them across at gunpoint.

Many deportees said Turkish officials – either removal center guards, or officials they described as “police” or “jandarma” interchangeably – used violence or the threat of violence to force them into signing “voluntary” return forms.

Human Rights Watch gathered testimony indicating deportees were forced to sign “voluntary return” forms at removal centers in Adana, Tuzla, Gaziantep, and Diyarbak?r, and a migration office in Mersin.?hrw

Russia-Ukraine War: NATO

Don’t let Russia win, NATO chief warns US

28.10.2022?NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has a message for U.S. Republicans making election promises to slash Ukraine’s support: That will only empower China.

Stoltenberg pushed his point in an expansive interview with POLITICO this week, in which the military alliance’s chief made the case for a long-term American presence in Europe and a widespread boost in defense spending.?

“The presence of the United States — but also Canada — in Europe, is essential for the strength and the credibility of that transatlantic bond,” Stoltenberg said.

“European members of NATO have over-promised and under-delivered for decades,” said Harvard University professor Stephen Walt, a leading international affairs scholar. Europeans, he said, “will not make a sustained effort to rebuild their own defense capabilities if they can count on the United States to rush to their aid at the first sign of trouble.”

Over the next decade, Walt added, “Europe should take primary responsibility for its own defense, while the United States focuses on Asia and shifts from being Europe’s ‘first responder’ to being its ‘ally of last resort.’”?

Stoltenberg pushed back against such a strict division of labor.?

Decoupling North America from Europe “is not a good model, because that will reduce the strength, the credibility of the bond between North America and Europe.”

Still, simple math shows that Europe is not close to being self-sustaining on defense.?

“The reality is that 80 percent of NATO’s defense expenditures come from non-EU allies,” Stoltenberg said. The alliance’s ocean-spanning, multi-continent layout also “makes it clear that you need a transatlantic bond and you need non-EU allies to protect Europe.”?

“But most of all,” Stoltenberg stressed, “this is about politics — I don’t believe in Europe alone, I don’t believe in North America alone.”?politico

Focus Point:?The Western Balkans

EU announces €500 million energy support package for Western Balkans

27.10.2022?The European Union has pledged €500 million to improve energy infrastructure in the Western Balkans, commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said Wednesday (26 October) in North Macedonia on the first stop of a tour of the region.

The announcement comes as rising energy prices triggered by Russia’s war in Ukraine and the onset of winter send shockwaves through European economies already battling rising inflation.

According to von der Leyen the help starts with €80 million in immediate budget support for North Macedonia to “help address the impact of the high energy prices”.

“But of course more will come. For example there are €500 million in grants for the whole region to invest in energy connections, energy efficiency and of course renewable energy”, von der Leyen said, highlighting the importance of being independent from Russian fossil fuels.

Part of the support is through the joint purchase of gas on the global market.?euractiv

Russia-Ukraine War: The mass transfer of children is a potential war crime

Using Adoptions, Russia Turns Ukrainian Children Into Spoils of War

22.10.2022?As Russian forces laid siege to the Ukrainian city of Mariupol this spring, children fled bombed-out group homes and boarding schools. Separated from their families, they followed neighbors or strangers heading west, seeking the relative safety of central Ukraine.?

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began in February, Russian authorities have announced with patriotic fanfare the transfer of thousands of Ukrainian children to Russia to be adopted and become citizens. On state-run television, officials offer teddy bears to new arrivals, who are portrayed as abandoned children being rescued from war.

In fact, this mass transfer of children is a potential war crime, regardless of whether they were orphans. And while many of the children did come from orphanages and group homes, the authorities also took children whose relatives or guardians want them back, according to interviews with children and families on both sides of the border.?nytimes

Focus Point: China

Netherlands accuses China of operating ‘illegal’ police stations

27.10.2022??The Dutch government has accused China of operating “illegal” unlicensed police offices in the Netherlands, following claims the facilities have been used to pressure Chinese nationals in the country.

?Local broadcaster RTL News?reported this week that offices in Amsterdam and Rotterdam that were set up to help Chinese nationals with administrative tasks, such as obtaining official documents, had also been used to track and harass critics of Beijing.

The dispute over the Chinese offices comes amid increasingly strained ties between Beijing and European nations. A recent paper prepared for EU member states by the bloc’s foreign service suggested it should toughen its attitude towards China and see the country as an all-out competitor with limited areas of potential engagement.

?Ahead of a discussion on the paper this month, Dutch foreign minister Wopke Hoekstra said: “There is increasing realism in the dialogue with China. We are leaving naivety behind.”

?According to Safeguard Defenders, several EU member states host unlicensed police stations. Hosts include France, Italy, Greece, Portugal and Spain, all of which have extradition agreements with China.

?The Netherlands does not have an extradition agreement with China and suspended a deal for the return of fugitives to Hong Kong in 2020.?ft

Russia-Ukraine War: Militray Aids

Europe’s looming Ukraine fear: What happens if the US pulls back?

20.10.2022?Washington is pressuring Europe to raise defense spending. And some Republicans are vowing to cut aid to Ukraine if they make election gains.Europe is waking up to a troubling reality: It may soon lose its NATO benefactor in Ukraine.?

With conservatives poised to make gains in the upcoming U.S. elections, NATO’s most generous donor to Ukraine’s war effort may suddenly seem much more parsimonious in 2023.

The possibility has put the spotlight on the gap between American and European aid.

Polish MEP Witold Waszczykowski, the Foreign Affairs Committee’s vice chair, also said in an email that he doesn’t expect a Republican-dominated Congress to shift Ukraine policy — while urging Washington to put more pressure on Europe.?

“Poland and other Eastern flank countries cannot persuade Europeans enough to support Ukraine,” said Waszczykowski, a member of the conservative ruling Law and Justice party.??

The “smell of appeasement and expectations to come back to business as usual with Russia,” the Polish politician said, “dominates in European capitals and European institutions.”?politico

Focus Point: The bird is freed

Elon Musk’s Takeover of Twitter Is Complete. What’s Next?

28.10.2022?Elon Musk, who made most of his fortune from electric cars, completed his foray into social media Thursday with his $44 billion takeover of Twitter Inc. With one of the platform’s most prominent users now at the helm, Twitter is poised for sweeping changes.

Mr. Musk is now responsible for addressing challenges that have long plagued Twitter, including content moderation and its advertising strategy. He also has said he wants to focus on areas important to him, like overhauling the company’s C-suite and eliminating spam bots.

Mr. Musk has already said he plans to reverse the permanent ban on former President Donald Trump, saying in May such bans undermine people’s trust in Twitter.

“I think that was a mistake because it alienated a large part of the country, and did not ultimately result in Donald Trump not having a voice,” Mr. Musk said at the time.?

Mr. Trump was permanently banned from Twitter after the Jan. 6, 2021, riot by Trump supporters at the U.S. Capitol as members of Congress met to certify Joe Biden as the winner of the 2020 election. Twitter executives said his tweets could incite violence.?

Some advertisers have threatened to pause their Twitter ads if Mr. Trump’s account is reinstated, The Wall Street Journal reported this week.?wsj

Thank you very much for your reading.