Den norske Atlanterhavskomit‪é‬ Den norske Atlanterhavskomité

On the 4th of April 2024, NATO turned 75 years. The Norwegian Atlantic Committee hosted an event to celebrate the jubileum together with The Norwegian Institute of Foreign Affairs, YATA Norway and The Norwegian Institute for Defence Studies.



The key-note speakers were Norway's prime minister Jonas Gahr Støre and Finland's ex-President Sauli Niinistö, here in a conversation with our General Secretary Kate Hansen Bundt.

NATO and Europe are standing at a crossroads. Russian armed forces are mobilizing along the Ukrainian border and Kremlin is posing unacceptable demands on NATO and neighbouring countries. This is forcing the international community to act to prevent a hostile conflict to spiral out of control. It seems difficult for NATO allies to deliver a coherent response to efficiently deter Russia. At the same time there is an ongoing process within the Alliance to develop a new “Strategic Concept” that is set to lay the path forward for NATO. The concept will be adopted at the NATO Summit in Madrid in the end of June.

These were some of the topics that NATO Deputy Secretary General, Mircea Geoană and the Norwegian Minister of Defence, Odd Roger Enoksen, discussed at Litteraturhuset in Oslo on February 7.

In addition, we were also pleased to welcome a panel of experts to further debate these issues. The panel consisted of journalist in Dagens Næringsliv, Sverre Strandhagen, lawyer and social scientist at the Norwegian Academy of International Law, Dr. Cecilie Hellestveit, and senior research fellow at The Norwegian Institute of International Affairs, Karsten Friis.

The seminar was moderated by the Secretary General of The Norwegian Atlantic Committee, Kate Hansen Bundt.

On February 7, The Norwegian Atlantic Committee was proud to host Professor John J. Mearsheimer and Dr. Stephen Wertheim for a digital discussion on America’s future role in European security in the new era of Great-Power competition. The discussion was moderated by Dr. Asle Toje.

Professor Mearsheimer and Dr. Wertheim both represent both prominent voices in international relations and U.S. foreign and domestic policy.

Since the publication of NATO’s 2010 Strategic Concept “Active Engagement, Modern Defence,” the global security landscape has drastically changed. In the face of Russia’s military build-up on NATO’s eastern borders, increased tensions in the Indo-Pacific, and advances in military technology, the time is ripe for NATO to update its Strategic Concept to reflect the changing security environment, equip the alliance for new challenges, and guide its future political and military development.

Preceding the publication of NATO’s new strategic concept, The Alphen Group, a network of leading security policy experts chaired by British strategist Prof. Julian Lindley-French is launching its own NATO Shadow Strategic Concept. It serves as a model for the official NATO Strategic Concept to be released in June 2022 and its ideas, priorities, and creative impulses are designed to help NATO meet the challenges of the future.

On February 3, The German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF), The Canadian Global Affairs Institute, and The Norwegian Atlantic Committee  were delighted to host the public launch event of the NATO Shadow Strategic Concept. It features a conversation with two of the report’s authors, Ambassador Alexander Vershbow and Julian Lindley-French, as well as defense experts Nico Lange and Kimberly Kagan.

The moderator is Thomas Kleine-Brockhoff.

I kjølvannet av Russlands advarsler til NATO og nabostatenes ambisjoner om fremtidige NATO-medlemskap, har debatten i Sverige og Finland tilspisset seg. I Finland så presidenten det nødvendig å nevne finsk suveren rett til å søke NATO-medlemskap i sin nyttårstale. I Sverige sier fremtredende politikere at de russiske kravene er totalt uakseptable. Hvordan stiller Sverige og Finland seg til at deres suverenitet skal bestemmes av Russland? Hvordan påvirker de russiske kravene oppslutningen om svensk og hhv. finsk NATO-medlemskap?

Mandag 17. januar inviterte vi til webinar for å diskutere disse, og flere spørsmål. Du hører fra leder for den svenske Riksdagens forsvarskomité, Pål Jonson (Moderaterna), og seniorforsker ved det Utrikespolitiska institutet i Helsinki, Charly Salonius-Pasternak. Moderator er generalsekretær i Den norske Atlanterhavskomité, Kate Hansen Bundt.

Foto: NATO

Onsdag 17. november hadde vi gleden av å invitere til bokbad med journalist og forfatter, Jan Arild Snoen. Hans nyeste bok "Den nye kalde krigen: USA mot Kina" er allerede i butikkhyllene og godt mottatt.

- Hver uke kommer det viktig nytt om og fra Kina. Det er trøbbel i eiendomsbransjen, Kina sender stadig oftere jagerfly mot taiwansk luftrom, Australia ruster opp og kjøper ubåter, og meldingene om grov undertrykkelse av uigurer og Hongkongs demokratiforkjempere kommer stadig tettere.

Boken "Den nye kalde krigen: USA mot Kina" setter disse og andre spørsmål inn i en historisk og geopolitisk sammenheng. Den analyserer Kinas styrker og svakheter, og hvorvidt landet kan erstatte USA som verdens ledende makt.