NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, speaking yesterday from Britain, said, “Today, we will also discuss how to defend our democracies, both from external threats, but also from internal threats,” he told reporters before heading into the fourth European Political Community meeting, held at Blenheim Palace. “And we have seen a pattern of Russian hostile actions against NATO Allies with cyber attacks and sabotage, disinformation over the last months and Allies are taking measures against these hostile actions both individually and collectively, with more intelligence sharing, with increased awareness, with the stepping up of protection of our critical infrastructure, including undersea infrastructure, we have established a new center to protect critical infrastructure here in the United Kingdom….
“The purpose of Russia’s hostile actions, cyber attacks, sabotage against NATO Allies is to coerce us from providing support to Ukraine, but we will not be coerced,” he concluded. “We will continue to support Ukraine.”
In an interview with BBC, Stoltenberg argued, not for the first time, that war is peace. He said the “paradox” of the war in Ukraine is the longer the Western military alliance commits to fighting the war, the faster a resolution will be reached. Asked if NATO allies had to be prepared for the conflict in Ukraine going on for more than 10 years, Stoltenberg said, “Yes.” He added: “But the main message is that the stronger the support for Ukraine and the longer we are willing to commit, the sooner this war can end. The paradox is that now President Putin believes that he can wait us out. So therefore, the war continues.”
