J. Gerson på IDN, Dec 2022 Med stora delar av Europa skrämda förklarade den tyske förbundskanslern Olaf Scholtz att kriget var en "vändpunkt" för Europa efter kriget och att det krävde en omvandling av Tysklands utrikes- och militärpolitik. Tysklands ledarskap med Sky Shield-initiativet, som påminner om 1900-talet, verkar vara ett sätt för Tyskland att positionera sig som den ledande icke-ryska europeiska militärmakten.
Defence Ministers from 14 NATO Allies* and Finland came together in Brussels on Thursday (13 October 2022) to sign a Letter of Intent for the development of a “European Sky Shield Initiative”. Spearheaded by Germany, the initiative aims to create a European air and missile defence system through the common acquisition of air defence equipment and missiles by European nations. This will strengthen NATO’s Integrated Air and Missile Defence.
(Own report) – The United States is consolidating its activities to arm and train Ukrainian armed forces in a new command in Wiesbaden-Erbenheim. According to reports, the final decision on the command’s establishment is imminent. It will integrate all current structures, also including multinational structures, involved in direct military support for Ukraine. The US armed forces would thus even formally be in command and Germany would be bolstered as a hub for military activities of all NATO members in Eastern and Southeastern Europe. A strategy apparently being still being applied in Ukraine, was designed in Germany by the US Special Operations Command Europe (SOCEUR) headquartered in Stuttgart-Vaihingen – the Resistance Operating Concept (ROC), with focus on underground warfare against occupying troops, drawing on historical examples, such as NATO’s Stay Behind concepts. It integrates the civilian population into the combat and provides for special forces’ operations.