NOURNEWS- 15 European member countries of NATO have decided to strengthen their air defense system in response to what they call Russian air attacks on Ukraine, and Germany is in charge of coordinating the implementation of a plan for this purpose, for which a memorandum of understanding has been signed.
The defense minister of Germany, Christine Lambrecht, and her counterparts from 14 European countries signed a memorandum of understanding establishing a joint air defense system on Friday, October 13, on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Brussels.
The representatives of Britain, Netherlands, Belgium, Slovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Latvia, Romania, Finland, Norway, Lithuania, Slovenia, and Germany participated in the signing ceremony of the “European Sky Shield Initiative” project of known as ESSI. Estonia is also going to join this group in the future.
The European media have also focused their attentions on this development and have published a wide range of reports regarding it, and consider the aim of the synergy of the European members of the North Atlantic Treaty to be deterrence and collective security against the potential and actual actions of the Russians.
The so-called “European Sky Shield” Initiative with the participation of 15 European member countries of NATO is supposed to identify and strengthen the weaknesses of the air defense system of a number of European countries.
Currently, NATO's protective umbrella for Europe has a multitude of gaps and vulnerabilities that needs to be addressed with the help of a common defense shield. Current shortcomings including for countering high-altitude ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and attack drones are said to be evident.
The main question here is whether the extradimensional aspect of this plan is limited to the war in Ukraine, or rather there are other motives behind this all-European Initiative?
Another point is that; How should we analyze Washington's silence regarding this all-European Initiative?
The fact of the matter is; American officials are very worried about the recent collective decision in Europe, because the operationalization of an all-European defensive system in the heart of the North Atlantic Treaty will definitely lead to the weakening of Washington's position in this military and defensive treaty.
Beyond that, when we consider the proposed ideas such as European unified army which war proposed by the French in the past years, this collective defense plan can be considered as a prelude or even a test run for achieving this goal, in accordance, American authorities, consider totality of the collective decision of the members Europeans consider NATO as a threat.
Another thing that has led to the concern behind the curtain of the Americans regarding the recent collective decision of the Europeans is related to the extra-military dimensions of this cooperation, as German officials have said, the European countries will be able to fulfill their joint responsibility for maintaining the security of the European continent with this project.
In other words; In this project, the issue is about achieving synergy in political, financial and technological fields, and it cannot be limited to military dimensions.
In any case, beyond the official and apparent positions of American officials, we should probably wait for Washington's behind-the-scenes stonewalling in the implementation of the recent collective military synergy among the European member states of NATO!
BY: Pooya Mirzaei
NOURNEWS