Sweden’s Social Democrats want to activate NATO’s Article 4 after the cable sabotage in the Baltic Sea

https://swedenherald.com/article/hultqvist-on-the-baltic-sea-activate-natos-article-4

28 comments

  2. I hope that NATO will finally find its balls and puts Russia in its place.

  3. It’s damage to vital national infrastructure, by a foreign power.

    A few patrol boats around pipelines and cables wouldn’t be the worst idea. Even better if it’s a NATO response to show we’re taking it seriously.

  5. Article 4 is only to request a military consultation.

  7. Should have been activated already. Why is everybody there sleeping

  8. About time. All of NATO needs to get on the same page about responding to pretty much naked aggression and sabotage by Russia, its allies, and proxies. Perhaps making clear that commercial vessels linked to Russia or friends that appear to have or about to engage in sabotage or other aggressive acts will be stopped, boarded, and if acts of war are involved be seized, the crews returned wherever, and the vessels broken up or repurposed without compensation. Russia is heading for a blockade, ramping up from current sanctions substantially.

  9. It’s about damn time the EU and Nato stop sleeping on the issue of Russian sabotage and hybrid warfare.

  10. NATO has all the leverage it needs to make Russia think twice about not only threatening their peaceful neighbors and sabotage but also reconsider their engagement in Ukraine. Simply by moving NATO troops and materiell in a forceful posture along the Russian border will draw attention, personell and resources away from Ukraine and breathing room.

  11. Article 4 is simply demanding the member states to join the discussion on a particular issue.

    Allies around the Baltic Sea have a common issue here, but other allies can offer intelligence or other support.

    Doesn’t hurt to try this approach. Russia is the driving force behind this escalation – what the West needs to figure out when the proper time is to start showing teeth and seriously ramp up deterance.

  13. It should be, it’ll probably never lead to Article 5 being invoked, but 4 should be called and NATO should meet and discuss to show that they aren’t just gonna allow stuff like this to continue to happen.

    Finland recently stopped and seized a ship, the other baltic sea nations should be doing the same.

  15. I love that Sweden and Denmark are taking security threats very seriously and no longer dismiss the Baltic states’ concerns as “Post-Soviet Syndrome” as Finland did some time ago. People didn’t take our concerns seriously, and I’m happy that this has changed. I just wish Western countries had realized this earlier, so we wouldn’t have to face a war in Europe because of this ignorance.

  17. Time to shut down the nato lake for non nato ships until they behave

  18. The only thing that will work is a swift and tough response, whatever that will be. Poopin is like a bad 2-year old testing his parents.

  19. They’re not going to listen and keep pushing until they meet some meaningful actions. It’s unbelievable how much shit this wanker keeps pushing! Civilian aircraft, cables, pipes all over.
    Invading Ukraine, meddling in Syria, WHEN are we going to address this madness?

  20. Article 4 basically only means that a NATO member state can say “I feel threatened. Can we talk about it?”.
    The problem here is that some important pieces of infrastructure run through international waters and as long as certain actors have access to international waters it is rather difficult to police and protect such assets.
    I mean NATO could effectively call a blockade on Russian shipping through the Baltic Sea which would be a clear hostile act disproportionate to the damages incurred by Russian covert operations and it might not even be effective because you can cause a lot of damage with small sabotage groups using civilian vessels as the NordstreamII incident showed.
    Unless we actually catch some Russian divers sticking explosive to something important, there is little room to put diplomatic pressure on Russia and the Russians know that.

  22. Erdogan may be a dud on domestic policy, but he lights the way on foreign policy against hybrid war. Shoot or seize first, ask questions and debate second.

    Of course, in some ways taking the bait on hybrid war validates the strategy. However, once it is a persistent campaign to the point of national policy as it is for Russia and China, it is time to be aggressively proactive and creatively so.

  23. Lets be frank. Russia is cutting cables, downing civilian airliners, helping narcotic traffickers in Africa and the middle east, hiding a deposed user of chemical weapons.

    What are people hemming and hawing over here, exactly?

  24. Do it up. They’d be well within their rights to do so.

  25. fine but this is the opposition saying this, not the government

  26. Meanwhile, Putin is counting the days until Trump will order the Nato exit.

  27. And rightly so.

    I get the impression these acts are meant as experiments to test the effects and responses. How much disruption is caused and how long does it take to repair? If Russia wants to mount some large scale action in the future it wants to know at what scale these sabotages will have to be performed to cause ‘the west’/NATO to be substantially handicapped in their abilities to counteract.

    Solution? Have a proper Sea Traffic Control similar to ATC, create corridors around these infrastructures and declare these no-go zones. Sea traffic should follow strict routes and can only cross these infrastructures at designated points after having requested and received permission to do so and under the watchful eye of nearby patrol boats. Have an adequate permanent military presence to enforce this.

    Make it abundantly clear nobody f*cks with NATO countries’ sea infrastructures because we simply won’t let you.

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