NATO's War Plans For The High North
Scandinavia and the Baltic Sea


by Rick Rozoff
Global Research, June 14, 2009
Stop NATO


Since the beginning of the year the United States and NATO have repeatedly indicated in both word and deed their intention to lay claim to and extend their military presence in what they refer to as the High North: The Arctic Circle and the waters connecting with it, the Barents and the Norwegian Seas, as well as the Baltic.

Washington issued National Security Presidential Directive 66 on January 12, 2009 which includes the bellicose claim that "The United States has broad and fundamental national security interests in the Arctic region [which] include such matters as missile defense and early warning; deployment of sea and air systems for strategic sealift, strategic deterrence, maritime presence, and maritime security operations." [1] Later in the same month the North Atlantic Treaty Organization [NATO] held a two-day Seminar on Security Prospects in the High North in the capital of Iceland attended by the bloc's secretary general and its top military commanders.

This coordinated initiative has been covered in a previous article in this series [2] and plans by the West to encroach on Arctic territory and confront Russia in the western region of the ocean have been addressed in another. [3]

Over the past month efforts by NATO member states, individually and collectively, to increase their military presence and warfighting ability in the High North have accelerated dramatically.

Sweden: NATO's Testing Ground And Battleground

The alarming and aggressive campaign is exemplified by the ongoing 10-day Loyal Arrow 2009 NATO military exercises being conducted in Sweden, described by a major American daily newspaper as "A NATO rapid-reaction force...on a war footing in Swedish Lapland" which consists of "Ten countries, 2,000 troops, a strike aircraft carrier, and 50 fighter jets - including the US Air Force's F-15 Eagle...participating in war games near contested Arctic territories."

The same source reflects that "Choosing this place for war games reflects the growing strategic importance of the Arctic, which is estimated to contain a quarter of the Earth's oil and gas...." [4]

A NATO website offers these details:

"Ten NATO and non-NATO nations will participate in the live flying exercise LAW 09 in Sweden from 8 to 18 June 2009. Some 50 fast jets, which will be based at Norrbotten Wing, Sweden will participate in the exercise. The aim of the exercise is to train units and selected parts of the NATO Response Force Joint Force Air Component Headquarters in the coordination and conduct of air operations. Additionally, NATO Airborne Warning and Control (AWACS) aircraft, as well as other transport aircraft and helicopters, will support the exercise. Some of the participating units will be flying in from bases in Norway and Finland.

"The exercise is based upon a fictitious scenario. Within this scenario, elements of the NATO Response Force (NRF)...will be deployed to a theatre of operations. The NRF was created to provide the Alliance with an effective tool to face the new security threats of the 21st century. It is a rapidly deployable, multinational and joint force with modern equipment able to carry out the full range of Alliance missions whenever and wherever needed, as tasked by the North Atlantic Council.

"About 800-900 troops from Germany, Finland, the United Kingdom, Italy, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Sweden, Turkey and the United States as well as NATO’s airborne early warning component will participate." [5]

US Air Force personnel flew in from the US-used base in Mildenhall, England and "Air and ground crews from United States Air Forces in Europe joined military units from about 10 other nations June 8...." [6]

The war games are based in the Bothnian Bay in the Northern Baltic Sea and are the largest display of air power in the area's history.

On the first day of the exercises, June 8, it was reported that "The NATO-led air force drill Loyal Arrow started in Northern Sweden today. The British aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious [with 1,000 soldiers] reached the Bothnia Bay. 50 airplanes and 2,000 persons, aircraft carrier personnel included, from ten countries will take part in what will be the biggest air force drill ever in the Finnish-Swedish Bothnia Bay." [7]

Sweden's Lulea airbase and Norway's at Bodo and Finland's at Oulu are being employed for the NATO war games.

Loyal Arrow is centered on a "fictitious scenario" in which "the NATO Response Force (NRF) [is] deployed to a theatre of operations, Lapistan.

"Lapistan is a fictitious undemocratic, unstable country that is ruled by a military clique which hosts terrorist training camps. The exercise's scenario is centered over a conflict over oil and natural gas with Bothnia, a fictitious neighboring NATO country, with some presence of nearby neutral fictitious countries Nordistan and Suomia, who refer to Norway and Finland, respectively." [8]

As the war games were getting underway Stefan Lindgren, vice chairman of Afghan Solidarity in Sweden, filed a complaint with the official ombudsman for discrimination matters and stated that the NATO exercise was both a defamation of the Sami people and also Muslims in Sweden. The "istan" ending reveals a mental connection with NATO's war in Afghanistan.

The indigenous people of the region, the Sami, protested against the racist term "Laps" - forbidden in Sweden - and also against the description of the exercise. [9]

A mainstream newspaper elaborated on the controversy in reporting that "The main indigenous people of Northern Sweden, the Sami, are discontented with the fact that the 'enemy nation' in the exercise's scenario is called 'Lapistan' and have joined the protesters against NATO in the demonstrations. The name is invented by NATO and resembles the derogatory term for Sami people, 'Lapps'". [10]

The American Christian Science Monitor followed up on the story on June 11 with the following quotes:

"'These exercises increase the risk of a conflict,' says Anna Ek, head of Sweden's Peace and Arbitration Society. 'They send out offensive and aggressive signals. Should we really be planning for a conflict with Russia while there is still a window of opportunity for cooperation in the Arctic?'

"'Neither the Parliament nor the defense committee were informed about the size of this exercise,' says Peter Radberg, a Green Party member of Parliament. 'It looks like a serious attempt to market NATO in Sweden....It risks causing a military escalation in a region where we should be disarming.'" [11]

As the first excerpt reveals, not only were the security, livestock and the very status of the Sami people of northern Sweden endangered, but Loyal Arrow 2009, in conjunction with other military exercises and initiatives to be examined later, is directly targeted against Russia, NATO's only challenger in its drive into and for domination over the Arctic.

The NATO Out of Sweden group organized activities in Lulea (the site of the Swedish airbase used in the drills) and demonstrated against NATO's use of Norrbotten County as a training ground and firing range for prospective actions at home and abroad.

The organization's Anna-Karin Gudmundson said, "This [exercise] can be perceived as very provocative. The Barents region with its proximity to
the Arctic makes it a sensitive area. With all the talk about melting ice and the fight over natural resources this can look like a demonstration of power from NATO's side." [12]

Ofog, another Swedish peace group, announced on June 8 that it was deploying activists to a bombing range near the Vidsel Air Base in Norrbotten to "stop the preparation of war crimes" and to "prevent NATO from bombing the area further." [13]

The group issued a press release that said "Just like NATO we will be in the air, on the land and in the sea. We will do everything in our power to show NATO that their business is hideous and deadly.

"NATO is not a defensive alliance. It is the world's largest nuclear weapons club and war machine." [14]

On the second day of the exercises, June 10th, five members of Ofog were arrested after penetrating the bombing range.

Six more members were arrested as the NATO bombing continued and one of the Ofog activists at the range, Miriam Cordts, said: "NATO is the world's biggest war machine and nuclear weapons club. This aerial exercise in northern Sweden is their largest this year and is designed to make the NATO Response Force even more able to attack wherever they want. 90% of those who are killed in NATO's wars are civilians. It is our responsibility as human beings to do all we can to stop this exercise.â€