NATO's 75 Anniversary Celebration at NATO Headquarters in Brussels, 04 APR 2024

Some key leaders seen in the crowd:NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg,Chairman of the NATO Military Committee Admiral Rob Bauer,British Foreign Secretary David Cameron,German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock,US Secretary of State Antony Blinken,Minister of Foreign Affairs of Finland Elina Valtonen The French language is an official NATO language along with English.

NATO Secretary General with 🇺🇸 US Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken, 03 APR 2024

NATO Secretary General with the Prime Minister of Latvia 🇱🇻 Evika Siliņa...27 SEP 2023

NATO Secretary General - Doorstep statement at Defence Ministers Meeting... 14 FEBRUARY 2023

NATO Secretary General with 🇺🇸US Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III 13 OCT 2022

King Philippe of Belgium Attends Orthodox Divine Liturgy

On 17 March 2019,His Majesty King Philippe of Belgium attended the Divine Liturgy of the Sunday of Orthodoxy, the first Sunday of Great Lent,at the Metropolitan Cathedral of the Archangels Michael and Gabriel in Brussels.The Liturgy also marked the beginning of the celebration of the Orthodox Metropolis of Belgium's 50th anniversary.His Eminence Metropolitan Athenagoras of Belgium,Exarch to the Netherlands and Luxembourg (Ecumenical Patriarchate) presided.*
The Metropolis has around 40 parishes using​ various languages and served by over 50 priests.*
Concelebrating with Metropolitan Athenagoras were His Eminence Metropolitan Chrysostomos of Kyrineia (Church of Cyprus) and His Excellency Bishop Dositheos (Church of Georgia),as well as other clergy from Orthodox jurisdictions in Belgium.
Metropolitan Athenagoras is the sole official representative of the Orthodox Church to the Belgian government.The Orthodox Church was officially recognised by Belgium in 1985.There are a total of about 150,000 Orthodox Christians in Belgium.*
King Philippe's visit was the first by a Belgian monarch to an Orthodox church since King Baudoin's visit to the Church of St.Andrew the Apostle in Ghent in 1980. Also attending the Divine Liturgy with King Philippe were His Eminence Jozef Cardinal de Kesel, Archbishop of Mechelen and Brussels;Mr.Koen Geens, Minister of Justice and Religion; Greek Ambassador to Belgium Eleftheria Galathianaki; and diplomats from various other Orthodox countries,along with a large number of faithful.*
In his address, Metropolitan Athenagoras noted that the Orthodox Church:
has received a place in our society and works in harmony with other Christian Churches and monotheistic religions.

Former Yugoslav Republic Takes First Step to NATO Membership

There were smiles all round at NATO's  new headquarters in Brussels,Belgium today,18 October 2018,as the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia began Accession Talks with NATO,the first formal step in the process of applying for Alliance membership.The talks will run for two days.*
FYROM uses the name Macedonia,which is also the name of a province in Northern Greece.FYROM not only claims the name,but also the same heritage as the Greeks in that province,tracing it back to the Greek king Alexander the Great and his Macedonian Empire.This posture angers many Greeks,who see it as a threat to Greek sovereignty.
Nonetheless,the Greek SYRIZA party now in power,led by Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras,considers the dispute a hindrance to the development of both FYROM and Greece,as well as a danger to European stability.Thus the Greek government  entered into successful negotiations with FYROM and they reached agreement on a new name in June 2018:North Macedonia.*
The Brussels talks are headed by FYROM's Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Radmila Sekerinska-Jankouska and NATO Assistant Secretary General for Political Affairs and Security Policy Alejandro Alvargonzalez.They include detailed discussion of the political,legal and military requirements for NATO membership.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg explained:
Once all the constitutional changes on the new name are completed,we can sign the Accession Protocol.

Foreign Ministerial:Iran,Iraq and Jordan Concern NATO - plus keeping the Alliance's door open

The NATO Foreign Ministerial has just drawn to a close after two days of meetings at the Alliance headquarters in Brussels.NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg summed the conference up for journalists gathered in Belgium:
We have just concluded a very good and productive meeting of the Foreign Ministers of NATO.We discussed NATO's role in projecting stability and fighting terrorism,because instability abroad threatens stability at home.From the Balkans to Afghanistan,NATO has great experience in training local forces and strengthening local institutions.These are the best tools to make our Partners better able to defend themselves and to combat international terrorism.This year,we started training local forces in Iraq in areas such as countering Improvised Explosive Devices;military medicine;equipment maintenance;and reform of the country's security intstitutions.In particular,I welcome the contributions that our Partners such as Serbia and Jordan are making to these efforts.
Today,Allies looked to the future of NATO's training activity in Iraq and expressed their full commitment to it.And a number of Allies announced that they will contribute to the new Crisis Management Centre in Jordan as part of NATO's new capacity-building package for Jordan,and I really welcome this contribution by several Allies.*
As we look ahead to the Brussels Summit in July,we discussed how to engage further with our Partners to the South and the East.We need to devote sufficient resources to these efforts to make the best of the skills and capabilities we have.We also discussed how our role within the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS should evolve as the Coalition moves from combat operations to stabilisation efforts.This is something that both the Coalition and the Iraqi government want.The Coalition has recovered over 95% of the territory claimed by ISIS and liberated seven million people;but we must consolidate these gains.We know that projecting stability and fighting terrorism are generational challenges.There are no quick fixes and no overnight solutions.We have made progress and we are determined to do more.*
Over lunch,we discussed NATO's Open Door Policy.We agreed that this is an historic success,which remains a key contributor to Euro-Atlantic Security.Successive rounds have secured peace and stability in Europe and paved the way for Euro-Atlantic integration.Montenegro's accession to the Alliance this year is the latest example.We also agreed that accession is a decision for aspirant countries and the 29 Allies.Nobody else has the right to veto.In preparation for our Summit next July,we will review the progress of each aspirant country by our next meeting of our Foreign Ministers in April.*
Additionally,Mr.Stoltenberg made a number of interesting comments in response to reporters' questions:
We are,of course,concerned by what we see as an effort by Iran to destabilise countries in the region.This is something many Allies in NATO have raised several times,and,of course,that's just adding arguments for us to continue to support and provide increased support to the Iraqi government.
We have just agreed a new defence capacity-building package with Jordan.Jordan is a highly valued Partner.Jordan is a kind of island of stability in a sea of instability in the region.NATO has been working with Jordan for many,many,many years,and a part of the defence capacity-building package we just agreed is this Crisis Management Centre in Jordan,where several Allies have announced that they are going to provide personnel support to use this Centre as a new tool in helping and supporting Jordan.We also have had different training activities at the King Abdullah Training Centre,and we also do capacity-building with Jordan when it comes to Women,Peace and Security to make sure that we recognise that women have a role to play in the Armed Forces of Jordan.Let me add that Jordan has also helped us in providing support for Iraq:we have also trained some Iraqi officers at the King Abdullah Training Centre.*
We are focused on infrastructure because we want to be able to move more troops more quickly,and that's exactly why we are working with the EU to make sure the infrastructure meets the requirements which are needed to move heavy equipment across Europe.This is about roads,railroads,ports,airports and that kind of infrastructure;but it's also about making sure that we have the means of transportation,that we have the trucks and the rail cars and all the other means of transportation that we need to move.And again,we have that today;but we need to scale up,we need to have more to make sure that we have all the assets available if we need to move heavy equipment very fast across Europe.We have started this process:we have started staff-to-staff talks with the EU to analyse gaps,to have a mapping exercise,and then,based on that,we will move forward together,NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told the journalists in Brussels.

Alliance in the Balance:SecDef Mattis Goes To Europe

Secretary of Defense James Mattis was naturally front and center on his first visit to NATO headquarters at Brussels for a Defence Ministerial in his new position;yet as Russia seemed to be challenging America's new President,Donald Trump,in manifold ways,the SecDef became a figure even larger than life than he already was.Defence Ministers and journalists alike crowded round him and carefully weighed his words as a nervous world craved a sense of certainty regarding the US role in international politics today under a controversial populist president:
The first time NATO went to war was when the US was attacked,so if anyone has any questions about the value,you have to look at that,General Mattis told reporters flying to Europe with him on an E-4B airborne national command post.More importantly,it prevented war in Europe following two destructive wars,and we clearly see the value in deterring war.So this is a historic and,as you know,it's also a very important meeting.I wouldn't miss it,obviously.So our commitment remains to NATO and,in terms of NATO's life,it's in the midst of transformation.Why?You've watched as the character of war over these last dozen years has changed itself;and as the character of war changes,so must the character of the militaries that address it.
To show NATO's commitment to this,you'll notice that the only NATO command headquartered in the US is the Supreme Allied Command for NATO Transformation.The whole point of that command is to transform NATO,so we rightly go to Brussels where we all talk together;we talk about that transformation;we guide it.NATO has transformed over these past 20 years and it must continue to transform,but,in that regard,it's clearly in NATO's best interest to adapt to what happened in 2014-2014 was a watershed year when most of our hopes for some kind of partnership with Russia were finally shown to be unavailing.So what we've got to do is adapt and make certain that the Transatlantic bond remains strong;and I think that,in going there,what we're also doing is proving that we can once again adapt to those changing circumstances.
I'm going to listen.I've been absent from active duty for three and a half years;I'm going to listen and see where everyone's thinking is at out there.Listen first;learn what other people face;help them if I can,because they've been allies,they've stood by us-New York was attacked,and so many decades before that and since,and so many of them have lost boys,lads and women in fighting the enemy that attacked America-and then lead;America has a leadership role.*
The context of this trip to Europe is an egregious violation by Russia of the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces Treaty of 1987 in deploying their new nuclear capable ground-based cruise missile,the SSC-8,after nearly a decade of illegal development and testing.As well,Russian fighter aircraft dangerously buzzed a US Navy guided missile destroyer,the USS Porter (DDG 78) in the Black Sea with their identification transponders turned off and disregarding repeated calls from the Porter.On top of this,the Russian spy ship SSV-175 Viktor Leonov had cruised farther north along the US coast than ever before,loitering 30 miles south of the US Navy nuclear submarine base at Groton,Connecticut today,15 February.It had
ventured near another nuclear submarine base at Kings Bay,Georgia on a previous voyage.All this leads one to conclude that Russia is currently testing new President Donald Trump's will,and that of NATO as a whole.

China Dominates Rare Earth Metals

Please note that this week,in addition to this post,two other posts of global interest have been published in the Extra Content blog.One deals with NATO ally Greece's debt crisis resolution program.The other explores the nature of Chinese naval power in the Asia-Pacific region.You may visit Extra Content by clicking on the link in the right column.
Speaking in Brussels last week,Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao was in a defensive mode.He said Europe shouldn't join the call for China to release its currency,the Yuan,from tight control.The problem wasn't with the Yuan,but with the U.S. dollar,Mr.Wen remarked.He also claimed China wasn't using rare earth metals as a bargaining chip with Japan.
There is considerable concern about China's control over the world's rare earth metal supply.China produces more than 90% of the world's rare earth metals.It has cut exports of the metals by 75% this year.The U.S. is considering filing a complaint with the World Trade Organization over possible Chinese hoarding of the metals.
Rare earth metals are used in everything from tanks to iPhones and hybrid cars.The U.S. has only one rare earth metal mine.It could take 15 years for the U.S. to restart its rare earth metal supply chain.There is a bill before Congress to do just that.