NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg participated in the Russell C. Leffingwell Lecture at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York on Thursday (21 September 2023). In his conversation with former US Representative Jane Harman, Mr Stoltenberg highlighted that his main message at the UN General Assembly was the importance of maintaining strong support for Ukraine.
Embracing resilience: representing comrades at the Invictus Games 2023
08 Sep. 2023As the 2023 Invictus Games begin, my heart is filled with a myriad of emotions. The Games provide an opportunity for wounded, injured and sick service personnel and veterans to participate in international sporting competition, and also support broader programmes of rehabilitation and recovery.
Embracing resilience: representing comrades at the Invictus Games 2023 and advocating for sustainable impact
08 Sep. 2023As the 2023 Invictus Games begin, my heart is filled with a myriad of emotions. The Games provide an opportunity for wounded, injured and sick service personnel and veterans to participate in international sporting competition, and also support broader programmes of rehabilitation and recovery. My journey to the Games has not only been about me, but also about representing the unbreakable spirit of my fellow soldiers who are unable to take part in this remarkable event. Let me take you back to the moment when my world came crashing down and I discovered the true meaning of resilience.
Logical but unexpected: Witnessing Finland’s path to NATO from a close distance
10 Aug. 2023On 4 April 2023, Finland’s Blue Cross Flag was hoisted at NATO Headquarters, marking the nation’s entry into the Alliance. Finland’s formal accession to NATO was the culmination of an 11-month membership path that was triggered following Russia’s unprovoked war of aggression against Ukraine in February 2022. The overwhelming majority of Finns supported their nation’s NATO membership, and many toasts were raised that day in early spring. Though joining the Alliance without Sweden – which was left to wait for the completion of its own accession process - put a slight damper on the festive occasion.
Implementing NATO’s Climate Security Agenda: Challenges Ahead
10 Aug. 2023Russia’s full-scale war of aggression against Ukraine is not the only challenge NATO has to grapple with today. The week preceding the NATO Summit in Vilnius marked the planet’s hottest week in recorded history. Last summer’s gruelling heat claimed 20,000 excess deaths in Western Europe alone, threatened critical military and civilian infrastructure and caused additional military deployments in response to immense forest fires across Europe.
The 2023 NATO Summit in retrospect
27 Jul. 2023The Heads of State and Government of NATO countries convened in Vilnius, Lithuania for a summit that took place on 11 and 12 July. This, unequivocally, was the most important meeting of the summer 2023. Due to a plethora of international issues, politics, and global security, this year’s event became the epicenter and confluence of significant issues requiring Allied Leaders to take definitive action. These decisions will have impacts for years to come.
NATO is a political and military alliance, whose principal task is to ensure the protection of its citizens and to promote security and stability in the North Atlantic area.
Each NATO member country needs to be resilient to resist and recover from a major shock such as a natural disaster, failure of critical infrastructure, or a hybrid or armed attack.
The Allies seek to contribute to the efforts of the international community in projecting stability and strengthening security outside NATO territory. One of the means to do so is through cooperation and partnerships.
NATO recognises that it faces many environmental challenges, including the risks posed by climate change. In particular, the Alliance is working to reduce the environmental impact of military activities, to adapt and become more resilient in response to security challenges posed by environmental change.