Well, almost. Sweden becomes officially member of NATO when the president of Hungary signs the ratification paper and it is delivered to Washington. But the newly-elect president Tamás Sulyok hasn't yet signed it.
unfortunately, basically the exact same sequence of events happened in the 1910s and 1920s, and we ended up with WWII The rest of this decade is gonna be one helluva ride
@@kohtalainenalias oh, so, the dustbowl, deadly flu pandemic, an economic crisis, and the rise of fascism *didn't* happen between the 1910s and early 1930s? My mistake, silly me
Yes + for Ireland, yes not in Nato true, but in EU with that article 42.abs7 (the EU's mutual defence provision) Ireland dont have to follow it, but the other members can use it + Ireland can just give the access, but also true, the nation would need a good reason to do so, but economical & political ties, as also strategic interest would be enough i think What is Article 42.7? Article 42.7 is the mutual defence clause of the Treaty of the European Union. It derives from the Article 5 of the Brussels Treaty that created the Western European Union, a mutual defence organisation which was incorporated in the EU in 2011. It states that: “If a Member State is the victim of armed aggression on its territory, the other Member States shall have towards it an obligation of aid and assistance by all the means in their power, in accordance with article 51 of the United Nations charter” By naming “Member States” as opposed to the EU institutions, it provides for direct country-to-country dialogue and support, rather than involving potentially cumbersome EU institutions. It was introduced into the Lisbon Treaty at the instigation of those member states who supported a bigger role for the EU on defence matters. Particularly prominent amongst those advocating such an approach was Greece which, although protected by NATO’s similar Article 5 mutual defence clause, wanted an additional level of defence against long-standing rival Turkey, which belongs to NATO but not the EU. Article 42.7 differs from Article 222 of the Treaty of the EU which pledges solidarity in the face of terrorism, and from Article 5 of NATO. What does it require member states to do? At the simplest level, member states are required to provide aid and assistance, although the provisions don’t apply equally to all countries. The article contains the provision that it: “shall not prejudice the specific character of the security and defence policy of certain Member States” This means that countries with long-standing traditions of neutrality, like Ireland or Sweden, are not required to break these.
I just watched a video on Times Radio with a British general who said that he asked Estonia why the UK received so much help from them. Estonia said they were doing it so that the British would remember this when Estonia gets invaded by Russia.
Germany, Poland and Denmark can deal with the Russian Baltic fleet from the south and Sweden can deal with it from the north. Finland is finally free to focus on the Gulf of Finland.
And waste the dozens/hundreds of hours that went into creating, editing and fact checking the script and then filming and editing the video? Especially when it will generate views and revenues either way. Hahahahaha
@@Shoelessjoe78 They can threaten maritime routes by sea to attack logistics and hamper with troop transport if they are not checked. They can also threaten tactical troop landings in support of their land operations if they not contained. They can of course also bombard land targets. Letting them act freely during wartime would be a serious mistake. Ukraine has taken the threat seriously, but their situation has been helped by the fact that Turkey has blocked the entrance of any reinforcements for the Russian Black Sea fleet into the theater of operations.
The fact that Norway wasn’t particularly mentioned really surprised me, more so that Canada was. We have however increased our military budget quite alot, purchasing newer tech in form of transportation, new bases and such here in Norway. Good on.. us?
Listen Germany and UK are the 2 and 3 contributors to NATO 68m and 65m most. Poland is 9 with 29.1m 10 Canada is 28.95m America 860m Basically it’s cute that your trying but don’t hurt yourself trying to pat yourself on the back when your showing up late to the party after years of warnings
It means this channel at least didn't see Finland as a weak point. neutrality also works best if you have strong military to act as a deterrent so Finland's always taken its military very seriously.
@@jackdenihan5333 it's not about gross money invested in the military. It's about the %GDP, Poland's economy is smaller than Canada's, yet they spend 4% of their GDP on military while Canada does 1.3% which is obviously under the 2%GDP threshold.
@@Amelia-vk4jt bruh yes it’s about the GDP but it is also definitely about the gross. Full on your dumb to say this example. NATO cried when America threatened to cut funding by 1% and we dive over 3% while we appreciate your efforts of giving more GDP end of the day money is spent in dollars not GDP and the amount they put in dollar per dollar is 28.95 to Polands 29.1 Billion. These are just facts how about try not being poor . We also shouldn’t give Germany much praise for finally hitting their 2% as they had to be threatened by Trump to do so and took 10 years after 2014 to pay their share meaning they ignored the problem and should owe more. Cry about GDP and gross then also tell me why we should praise a person who paid rent off for one year but is behind a decade
Norway never produced a global pop sensation in the 1970s. That makes Norway significantly less important than Sweden in the minds of international military analysts.
As Lithuanian I could say - it’s a little bit worrying, but we are preparing. Lord and the history itself knows what happens when Lithuanians and Polish people joining forces together. ❤
serious question Has your country began to move your museums artifacts either. To the western end of your country or out of country altogether Because a lot of ukrainian museums have been looted destroyed and their artifacts stolen I'm just curious if you guys have plans on protecting. Your historical artifacts
@@Изольда-з5мНа этот раз разделится Россия. Ваши солдаты слабы, ваше вооружение плохое, и после двух лет неудач и бессмысленного бросания волн солдат в мясорубку вы так и не победили долбанную Украину. Россия - это шутка, и я надеюсь, что ваш идиот-президент совершит ошибку, напав на НАТО. Я буду смеяться, когда твоя шутка о стране окажется бесплодной. Польша ранее оккупировала Москву. Помните об этом.
Heh, just don’t attack your fellow sisters! 😆 I know the e-girl will stay in her room, but don’t harm us, the pagan forest singers! 😂 love from Latvia 🇱🇻 🇱🇹 🇪🇪
BAE Systems is building 15 state of the art Type 26 frigates for Canada at a cost of $60 billion. My brother in law gave the brass of the RCN a tour of Govan shipyard where the Royal Navy's Type 26 are being built.
And the Russian military is vastly ahead of NATO is modern warfare with drones, Turtle tanks, fab 3000 and a dozen other things. Russian will basically bankrupt Patriot by launching hundreds of FAB 3000 on Critical infrastructure in Baltics and Gotland. Which will basically get rid of most of stock Interceptors in war zone, if the military command chooses to intercept them all. That will leave them vulnerable to future X-52 or isakander strikes crippling and destroying major important military targets and thus getting rid of NATO’s ability to respond in the short term.
Neutrality only lasts so long as you make yourself such a costly target to engage that you become unappealing to aggressor forces. A porcupine without quills is just a free snack to everything else that comes by with teeth and a growling stomach.
>"On the eve of the Ukraine war, Russian TV aired a documentary boasting about how in a wider NATO-Russia conflict Russia would snatch Gotland Island" This would rely on Russian paratroopers spetsnaz, in the opening of the Ukraine war they (spetsnaz) couldn't manage to seize an airport 90 miles from their own border. The Idea that they could seize a whole island, one which the Swedes have been preparing for attack for years is a ludicrous pipe dream.
@@eddiebottom37the fact that Guinness is "Ireland" national drink shows how much fight or national pride Irish people actually have and it's pretty much fuck all, a people who gave up its land, language and culture can't be trusted to defend themselves but it's ok sure we have the brits and sky sport's outta giving up totally worth it 😂😂😂
I have to say Ireland is kind of annoying, sucking hard on Hamas and being the reason that Apple, Google++ only pay a small share of their taxes in the EU and they do the best they can to stay a tax heaven.
I think Simon forgot about the Irish fisherman who banded together to tackle the Russian navy it's not much sure, But it's a good start. 12:50 Also this year the Irish and NATO are supporting each other for detecting, dirty Russian shenanigans with subsea cable. It's not a step towards NATO membership just cooperation.
You had to release the video literally just after Sweden got the green light. 😅 Edit: Obviously I know it takes time to script, film, and edit these videos, but that's why it's funny. If it was released say two days earlier it would have been more accurate.
Nagy comment. But, the background music is getting louder and more distinctive each video. Please, adjust the volume to allow better concentration on the actual content.
Remember, 1938 and Chamberlain and appeasement. We were so unprepared for WW2. HISTORY HAS A WAY OF REPEATING ITSELF WHEN YOU SHOW WEAKNESS. WE ARE VERY WEAK.
Suwałki gap is actually not as a big problem as media say. Russians in their wargames predicted that Poland will take over Kaliningrad region in about 24-48 hours if there will be any hostile activity from Russian or Belarussian side near Suwałki gap, or if Russia attacks Baltic States. It seems that Kaliningrad region became more of liability for Russia than an advantage.
Oh Simon! We really genuinely do love you! But it’s getting to be a good week for the cunning linguists amongst us : “Tan-ZAY-Nina”?!!! And now poor old Kaliningrad gets stiffed on a whole syllable!?😂❤
I heard Tan-zania as just 2 syllables, but there might have been a "weak split" for the lack of a better word in the last part that I couldn't pick out.
@@bennettste it does not make sense to have your borders protected by your former occupier. I'm polish and I can't imagine poland relaying on german army to protect it borders from russia. And we are both Nato members
Ireland should definitely invest in its navy. And air force. And military radars. And army. Neutrality is no excuse - Finland and Sweden have extremely strong armies and they were neutral. Ireland has had economic success partly because it didn't have to invest in its military. The country is nearly broke now with massive debt and a crumbling health sector. It won't want to invest in military as well. But of the 6 ships available to the Irish navy, they only have enough manpower for 1 of them. Ireland has no military radar or missile technology. I think their aircraft have propellors. They have very good coast guard planes and helicopters at least. Britain's navy is also crumbling with limited firepower and manpower. And they are selling off early F-35 aircraft - surely those could be kept and used for interception of Russian bombers which usually have no escorts.
@@baird5682Britain provokes countries and regularly goes to war. Let them foot the bill of protecting their "back door". Ireland is neutral and allied with as many countries as possible. Russia should be one and would be if we didn't have weak leaders kissing the arses of UK/US.
Ireland could spend all it's money on protecting those cables and it still couldn't protect them. The vast majority of the cables run through neutral waters
How would Russia attack Ireland? Correction how would they attack Ireland in any way that wouldn't be immediately cut off and destroyed? Attacking the Baltics means taking the Suwalki gap which means fighting Latvia Lithuania Estonia and Poland simultaneously while contending with Sweden and Finland at the same time.
I mean they probably could take that for some limited amount of time. but they certainly wouldnt hold it especially not without taking at least all the Baltic region
US, UK and Finland all have mutual defense pacts with Sweden, the UK and US signed them the minute Sweden applied to NATO. Both Turkey and Hungary have approved Sweden's entry into NATO now, Turkey got promised its F-16's it wanted from the US so it voted yes and Hungary got a bargain on more Gripen fighter jets from Sweden and Ukraine re-instated special status to the tiny Hungarian minority there so they voted yes as well, just some bureaucratic formalities remain. As for Greenland they cannot become independent unless Denmark would agree to continue to support them, they are 100% dependent on Denmark.
I didn't have the impression that Ireland was being criticized; just an honest evaluation of the situation. For a nation with the size and resources of Ireland, it may make the most sense to stay out of other people's conflicts. If Ireland is not invaded, staying home and minding your own business may well be the best survival strategy. If Ireland were invaded, I have no doubt the Irish people would fiercely resist the invaders as they always have, but let's be honest...if Russia or China decides to take Ireland, no military the Irish could raise -- even with massive expenditures -- would be able to stop them. Furthermore, if Ireland were invaded, NATO nations would be forced by their own interests to intervene. Thus, it probably makes sense for Ireland to remain unaligned. That's not a slur upon the nation or its people, it's just the reality of the world in the 21st century. Nobody who can read doubts the ability or willingness of the Irish to fight when they have to.
@@itsapittieYou are right but there is also a distinct implicit criticism the same as when the USA or it's president or people feel any kind of way when it is pointed out that the USA pays for and put's it's own people in harms way to protect other nations while the Republic of Ireland does not even pretend to make any effort to defend it's waters which is rather cynical in that they know other nations are obligated to fight and die for them should they be attacked due to there own security so why bother paying for it when other nations have no choice. Also it is a depressing situation as pointed out in the video that other European nations and the USA itself can be attacked and damaged through Irish waters that Ireland does not defend. By Ireland not lifting even a finger in it's own territorial defence they make vulnerable the very nations they rely on for all trade and security knowing that if they suffer economically the EU must help them and if they are attacked the other European nations have no choice but to fight and die for them while the Irish watch them during a situation 100% made of there own vulnerability. I am sure the Irish would fight for there own island and themselves but won't help or even pretend to be capable of helping any other EU and NATO nation that is required to die for them whether they like it or not. It can most definitely be viewed that way and is a criticism of the Irish goverment and not her people. But anytime any nation is mentioned or criticised for not spending enough on military while depending on other nations to pay and bleed for them Ireland is not just number 1 it is literally the patron saint of that particular brand of freeloading. I hope they can at least increase there coast guard and/or navy so they don't actively present a green light and open door for attack and suffering on the nations they rely on for everything. Noones' asking for Ireland to give a damn for another European such as they would fight for them but at least don't let us get stabbed in the back.
@@itsapittie You've pretty much nailed a large part of why we value our neutrality. It also allows us to do peacekeeping and have some degree of moral authority when decrying the worst excesses of the large powers, even friendly ones.
@@itsapittie I beg to differ. Ireland's population and GDP is roughly the same as that of Norway yet the Norwegians invest heavily in defence. Ireland however doesn't even have military radar which means it can't track Russian bombers when they enter Ireland's air traffic control zone. It's completely reliant on the RAF. Saying that Ireland shouldn't invest in its own defence because NATO would intervene in the event of a conflict does a great disservice to those who serve in NATO's armed forces. Why should they risk their lives for country which is in effect a freeloader?
I was looking at the NATO spending the other day and it's basically only the states on the "frontlines" that's meeting the spending goal. NATO can't afford to let any of these fall.
That's not strictly true the UK has always met it's 2% spending goal and they are not on the frontlines but maintain one of the strongest navies in Europe and a full nuclear deterrant and ofc the USA. France will also meet the 2% spending goal this year as will many others. The peace dividend is over. In the coming years NATO is only going to get more formidible even without the USA carrying a lot of the defence that they currently have for those that have not met the requirements. Right now we have a war in Europe, War in the Middle East and the prospect of a broader conflict if it expands and the very real possability of conflict in Asia in the coming years vis a vis China/Taiwan and NK/SK. Europe is most certainly tooling up the expansion of forces of all European nations will accelerate.
@@Flintlockonyou must not be from anywhere in Europe if you have all this great faith in European bureaucracy lol people can barely afford the essentials out there but i’m sure they’ll all be okay with dying over land that isn’t theirs !
Ever since Ukraine was invaded, I've wondered how overstated the vulnerability of the Suwalki Gap is. NATO's logistical capacity is astounding, and Russia's has proven...rather lacklustre. There's also a lot of commentary about how the Suwalki Gap would become a chokepoint where NATO tanks and infantry are forced to cross under fire from both sides...which completely ignores the fact that NATO's military doctrine in historic practice has generally been to establish air supremacy as soon as possible and then bomb anything that looks vaguely threatening until the enemy are dead or hiding in caves and bunkers. This isn't to say NATO sees ground forces as obsolete, so much as they see the idea of sending ground forces into the teeth of artillery positions obsolete...because they've got the air power to flatten anything slower than a mortar team in pretty short order. Granted if the US has all their carriers and air force assets off elsewhere when Russia cunningly executes a surprise attack on the Baltics, a lot of that air power is gonna be spending some time getting there but...look up how fast these planes are. In that worst case scenario, the US would probably just have pilots fly themselves to air bases in Germany and Poland and tell them their stuff will catch up in a few days - that would cut the vulnerability window down to somewhere around 2 days. And if you're thinking "but they can't do that, Germany and Poland use different weapons systems, how will they resupply"...that's the entire point of the NATO standard munitions setup. It's all supposed to be cross compatible. I'm not saying "Russia please invade the Baltic countries" - very much please don't - and if they do, the first couple of days for the Baltic countries will be as harrowing as the first few days were for Ukraine...but then the hammer would come down on Russia, hard.
12:10 "Naval service" not really a navy (same as an air corps vs an air force), it's primary role is policing and search & rescue. There's also only enough crew to serve 2-3 of those 6 boats at any one time... there's now less than 1000 staff in the INS, most of them of course aren't even crew. Most IDF staff could get paid more and have more free tiem if they worked in fast food. There's been an exodus of military staff for decades here. Meanwhile the government is wondering why and how come there's no one signing up...
As an Irishman, I wouldn't argue with any of this. If we aren't to join NATO (and opinion polls suggest we aren't anytime soon), then at a minimum we need to upscale to be able to protect all of our own yard, including the extensive seas and skies.
Ireland needs to focus on protecting itself from its own government,?mass immigration & the leftism that is making it happen. I hate to say this, but unless the Irish can change their government, Ireland as we know it may cease to exist.
Canada has some new Type 26 ships being made, along with a new fleet of ice breaker military patrol vessels, but this is not enough. As of right now, the Navy here admitted that only ONE patrol vessel can be sailed at a time due to staffing issues. The problems run deep in Canada and it is embarrassing.
We’re at such a rapidly evolving point in history that this video, which no doubt was written within the last week, is already outdated less than 10 hours later.
As an Irish person, I agree with your assessment of our defence capability, which unfortunately is a near zero as dammit. As a Polish friend of mine says, the "ah sure we'll be alright" phraseology is worthless. If our neutrality is important it's worth defending. I've been saying this to any member of the body politic who will listen, for quite a few years but I haven't had much success. We're happy not being a NATO member, but at the same time living in the shade of the NATO umbrella. The Russian cyber attack on our Health Service IT system should have been warning enough that there are hostile players out there who could make life quite uncomfortable for us with little enough effort. We need to get serious, improve and upgrade our defences and then join NATO.
I think our biggest trial will be choosing the right allies to get behind. Our historical allies are just simply not reliable. I hope U.S leaders are smart enough to figure that out and choose to back the Eastern and Northern European countries.
They were just tested and immediately unified and came together as a strong unified block. If Russia was stupid enough to attack a NATO State America would most definitely respond militarily .
11:41 I feel like you probably should have annunciated the "r" in Ireland a little better considering you were just talking about Gotland. I think you were talking about Åland for a bit there
Sweden is not yet in NATO… Hungary’s president and speaker of the house must approve the parliament vote, then send that document to Washington via airplane where officially the US in return can “invite” Sweden to join NATO - which Swedens government and NATO leadership must sign. Then Sweden is in NATO. This process will happen next week and take about 2-3 days but if Russia attacks tomorrow, Sweden still lacks protection by NATO.
@@GöranÅgren : Difference being, @jessesandoval7326 did it _once_ in a frigging _YT comment;_ not tens of times over in a 20-minute video that he's making his living from. Do you have any more stupid non-equivalent parallells to go "ha ha!" over?
One thing that's misunderstood was discussing Article 5. It's a lot more complicated than "You attack one of us, we all fight to the death." It was specifically written in a way that even in the event of an attack, no one is legally required to fight with you. If you go to NATOs webpage, they actually discuss this. When the Articles were written, most European nations wanted it worded so that any military attack would force the US to come fight for/with them. Meanwhile, the US didn't want to be required to fight in every war. So there's a bit of wiggle room with Article 5. It's also dependent on the nation. In the US, only Congress can declare war. The article is written so that if an attack occurs, Congress has the time to vote, and can actually vote not to get involved militarily. So each country has to go through their specific actions for declaring war, and has the ability to bow out if they feel necessary.
True , but article 5 also states that a country does not have to help out Military wise it states that a country could and should help in a way they deem fit for themselves. Meaning supplies equipment food medicine. All these things would be considered. Fulfilling the article five Obligation I haven't read it in a while, but I'm pretty sure even A.condemnation of a enemy country attacking a fellow nato member is considered acceptable under article 5
Given the state the current world is in, and the info y'all provided here, Article 5 seems like a weak link for NATO. Under the assumption that NATO is exhausted of munitions for Ukraine, Article 5 can do nothing if Russia wakes up one day and decides to conquer Europe.
@@sushimuncher282 It seems to have escaped you that Russia is also exhausted of munitions for their murderous actions in Ukraine, to the extent that they are begging them from the likes of North Korea.
@@kevinmurray7789Maybe so, but Russia is producing 40$ more artilery shells than all NATO countries combined, even the US. North Korea tops up that amount. For every shell that Ukraine fires, Russia can fire ten. They are on a war footing, NATO is on a peacetime footing.
Thanks for the video! I don’t know if it would an interesting topic for many viewers, but I’d also really love the same type of video about weak-spots and possible points of failure in Russia 😎😎
I am beyond frustrated with Ireland's policy of neutrality. The govt want to do more, but the public is opposed to substantial military spending or even alliances. Perched on the western edge of Europe, ppl don't see any real threat. Unlike our friends in Scandinavia , the Baltics, and Poland, the Russian threat seems remote to the man on the street. This despite the multiple suspicious Russian ships of the Irish coasts, the snooping around the data cables , the apprehension of Russian spies on the west coast where the cables come ashore, and a brazen plan to expand their embassy in Dublin to a size completely inconsistent with normal consular activities. IRL needs to begin educational efforts to make ppl aware, so the military can be made task ready. It is beyond embarrassing that we rely on the UK for defense in deeo water and air intercepts.
I agree that our maritime capability is embarrassing. We cant even protect against drug smugglers properly. I would love to see a major upgrade, however let's be clear, there is no way we could achieve a military capability that would change the outcome against a major power. And to become a part of NATO with the required spending would be unacceptable politically. Perhaps an investment in drones and maritime monitoring with bouys and a satellite would be a cost-effective way to up the game.
@@LeMerch that's unfortunate. It doesn't change the facts. You went bankrupt despite not spending on defense. When a nation relies on others for 100% of their protection they are either a parasite or a colony. And in Ireland's case it's a bit of both I guess regardless of the chest thumping.
I live in TN, USA and i fly all three flags on my wall Tennessee, USA, and NATO there is none of the 3 i see more of my ally than the other I will defend Vilnius LITH as much as Dayton TN
The GDP of Florida (2022 1.4T) is almost the size of Russia’s GDP (2021 1.7T)… I know we’re talking Billions of dollars difference but still just remarkable none the less. It opened my eyes to just how much distance there is between the US and most of the world.
You're not comparing like for like, When you adjust Russias GDP for different price levels (Purchasing Power Parity) the figure is $5.2T, that's roughly x3 times Australias. It's still only around a fifth of the US but it's not an insignificant figure either.
As a Canadian, I'm glad we are building the arctic partol ships but that's us playing catchup. I'm a big proponent of Canada trying to get in on what AUKUS has planned with nuclear-powered submarines. Those are badly needed to protect our arctic territory. Could certainly be used elsewhere if the need arises too.
Or get rid of your Current constitution tear down your government structure and petition to join the US I mean you have a lot to offer maple syrup, moose and Poutine And the last point might be the only one. You have to make because it is too delicious😂😂😂
@@drewwar9344 If Trump regains the White House, the US will leave NATO and side with Russia. Also, with the chaos in the US, most countries are planning to move further from the US, not closer.
I am glad you pointed out the Irish people do not particularly care about NATOs security. In a world where Russia losing means WWIII, you can all continue worrying while we Irish will drink and enjoy our peace.
The block has a simple issue, and I noticed it when we worked together. The top brass are ill-informed and are trained on old standards. They don't adjust and rely on the lower staff to address any issues that arise when out in the field. This means problems compound until an officer can address them, instead of being addressed directly.
Funny thing I actually work on an old air base(McClellan in North Highlands, California if u wanna look it up) and the military has been moving a bunch of aircrafts over seas from the base 🫢
Why should Ireland defend another country's strategic assets? Surely the British and US government knew these cables were going through neutral waters, and could easily have laid them outside these waters at a cost, but therein is the issue --they wanted to do it on the cheap. These cables do not belong to the British or US government, they are commercial cables for use by any company or country that pays a subscription. Had it been off such strategic importance NATO would have paid for and laid dedicated cables in NATO waters or international waters. Secondly it doesnt really matter where these cables are laid, both the Russian and US navies have the means to cut any cable even if its not on a continental shelf, and dont you think it's more probable that either would carry out such a mission outside any country's water to reduce any chance of being detected?
I think a major weakness is the fact that the NATO treaty doesn't cover sovereign territories in the Pacific. If China attacked Hawaii, for example, NATO is not obliged to respond.
"Most scenarios see the Baltic capitals falling within days." These are probably the same scenarios that predicted the fall of Kiev within days. And I was one of them, but seriously every military prediction made before 2022 has to be thrown out. And even if Russia and Belarus were able to open a corridor to Kaliningrad, so what? Finland and Sweden come charging in from the North, Poland and Germany (there's an odd combination) from the south and the Russians are wiped out in a Smolensk-level disaster.
NATO is a military powerhouse but its weakest point is not any military problem/question/conflict - its weakest point is *political will!* its strength is the notion that an attack on one member, no matter how tiny and weak, would trigger the full might of the alliance and crush the enemy. the emphasis is on _full might_ , not token solidarity or half-hearted efforts of help. Art 5 doesn't compel or automatically trigger a military response from allies but leaves this to their discretion. every member is free to opt out of rushing to the aid of another member except one: the US doesn't have that luxury. if the US decides to not honour Art 5 for any reason than NATO is dead. therefore putting in legal safeguards to prevent any future US president from formally leaving NATO doesn't really help with the problem. all it takes to kill NATO is for the US to just do nothing when someone tests NATOs resolve by bullying one of its members on the periphery.
@@IAMJEFFREY-cw9ns your point is absurd. first, NATO wasn't formally involved in Afghanistan, just a number of its members. second, their military overpowered everything there was in this country. it could have leveled the whole place - but what would be the point? all the weapons in the world cannot win the minds of a people when their whole mindset is totally different from what you try to achieve. eventually, even the most stubborn politician in the west had to acknowledge that simple truth but was afraid to act on it. the current US president was courageous enough to finally pull out. it should have happened more than 10yrs earlier and arguably much better prepared and organised but it was inevitable.
@@IAMJEFFREY-cw9nsmaybe you should take a closer look. reading usually leads to better understanding. ISAF was a UN mission, even if two years later in 2003, NATO took over command at the request of the UN Security Council and the Afghan government. however, it seized combat operation in 2014 already. what followed was the _Resolute Support Mission_ , a *noncombat mission* aimed at advising and training Afghan security forces to provide long-term security to the country. NATO was no longer there in any combat role. it is true that the whole thing failed in its objective. however, the objective was not to conquer Afghanistan or any military aim which they failed to achieve. they failed in their political aim and this is a whole different pair of shoes. you can't make 'goat herders' build a stable country, let alone bring democracy to them, if they cannot overcome their tribal social structure or simply don't want to live in a democratic system. no weapons in the world can make them do it.
@@embreis2257 You have guys like Tim Kennedy (ex US Green Beret) who were actually part of that failed mission in Afghanistan go on Joe Rogan's podcast and say that 'we lost in Afghanistan.' We as being the United States of course. Afghanistan was already a failed nation and invading it made things worse. The resolve of the Taliban is unmatched. Those guys can fight and fight forever. The crazy thing now is that Afghanistan is peaceful and more stable under Taliban rule🤣 Many UA-camrs from the west are now visiting and making videos with the locals. Just 3 years ago visiting Afghanistan was unthinkable.
Hungary and Austria would have been interesting as well. If Orban would allow tanks to go through or choose not to defend against Russia, Austria being very weak militarily and not in NATO would loose its territory for sure.
Remember the mighty soviet union fell even the powerful roman empire fell at one point its just a matter of time before NATO fall. Nothing can last forever
Failing to mention the military responsibilities which are bundled with EU membership in the content regarding Ireland is to render this video close to being misinformation. Ireland does not need to be in NATO to be involved with war in the event of a conflict involving Europe, and in the occasion that Russia should invade/attack Ireland other EU countries have obligations somewhat similar to those outlined in NATO. EU membership is somewhat similar to NATO membership, with the advantage that we don't have to have an American military base on our soil (officially). To Ireland, NATO membership is not needed, and as long as Ireland is the victim of predatory multinational corporations artificially inflating our GDP by using the nation as a tax haven while providing nothing in return, the notion of allocating 2% of said GDP to military spending is a nonsense.
One day Simon will notice that there's 2 "in"'s in Kaliningrad
Right?? That drove me insane lmao
Its actually Königsberg. So still one n! 😄
You seem to like his voice and how it sounds in your ears. He’s a grown man
LOL
It's russia who cares? Chances are it'll be all leveled to ruble in the next 50 years
I love that this is out of date already
Really it was out of date when Finland joined NATO. Even more so with the Defense Cooperation Agreement between Finland and America.
Well, almost. Sweden becomes officially member of NATO when the president of Hungary signs the ratification paper and it is delivered to Washington. But the newly-elect president Tamás Sulyok hasn't yet signed it.
may i pet your dog
I believe he even had a little bit of time between the news and upload.
how did you get into my house@@George83_Thomas
last time i was this early, Sweden wasn't in NATO
You are SO February 27 th!
Well they technically are still not in nato if im not wrong
No threat to the east
@@silentdeath7847practically have been for uears
@@julianshepherd2038 werry true aswell 😂
As an Aussie all I’ve seen is bushfires, floods, covid and war for the last decade and I’m pretty freaking over it…we need a global chill pill
Seems like everytime the universe hits the reboot button on earth, things get worse.
Gods of war are curious to see how this turns out
unfortunately, basically the exact same sequence of events happened in the 1910s and 1920s, and we ended up with WWII
The rest of this decade is gonna be one helluva ride
@@DawnchaserTheAdventurer BS, the world is very different in so many ways that comparison is not fair.
@@kohtalainenalias oh, so, the dustbowl, deadly flu pandemic, an economic crisis, and the rise of fascism *didn't* happen between the 1910s and early 1930s?
My mistake, silly me
Lol "Kalingrad" and "Canader" are really getting to me
His pronunciation of Canada is fine.
Is there another way to say Canada?
Ah yes and now we can finally count in Sweden for 32 :)
I can imagine the collective "Goddamit" within the Warographics team when Hungary dropped its objections and they still have this in the pipe.
30 members you mean because neither hungary or turkey would help
Yes + for Ireland, yes not in Nato true, but in EU with that article 42.abs7 (the EU's mutual defence provision)
Ireland dont have to follow it, but the other members can use it + Ireland can just give the access, but also true, the nation would need a good reason to do so, but economical & political ties, as also strategic interest would be enough i think
What is Article 42.7?
Article 42.7 is the mutual defence clause of the Treaty of the European Union. It derives from the Article 5 of the Brussels Treaty that created the Western European Union, a mutual defence organisation which was incorporated in the EU in 2011.
It states that:
“If a Member State is the victim of armed aggression on its territory, the other Member States shall have towards it an obligation of aid and assistance by all the means in their power, in accordance with article 51 of the United Nations charter”
By naming “Member States” as opposed to the EU institutions, it provides for direct country-to-country dialogue and support, rather than involving potentially cumbersome EU institutions.
It was introduced into the Lisbon Treaty at the instigation of those member states who supported a bigger role for the EU on defence matters. Particularly prominent amongst those advocating such an approach was Greece which, although protected by NATO’s similar Article 5 mutual defence clause, wanted an additional level of defence against long-standing rival Turkey, which belongs to NATO but not the EU.
Article 42.7 differs from Article 222 of the Treaty of the EU which pledges solidarity in the face of terrorism, and from Article 5 of NATO.
What does it require member states to do?
At the simplest level, member states are required to provide aid and assistance, although the provisions don’t apply equally to all countries. The article contains the provision that it:
“shall not prejudice the specific character of the security and defence policy of certain Member States”
This means that countries with long-standing traditions of neutrality, like Ireland or Sweden, are not required to break these.
@@CRAZEDMARINE I agree, but strategically we need them.
@@CRAZEDMARINEWe should not do anything for them as they wont for us
I just watched a video on Times Radio with a British general who said that he asked Estonia why the UK received so much help from them. Estonia said they were doing it so that the British would remember this when Estonia gets invaded by Russia.
Saw that as well.
And the British have no army to protect London talk more of Estonia.
That's foolish...Britain remembers nothing after 1945...and what it remembers before that is mostly bullshit.
Trust the English at your peril.
@@OhisGeorge-e8j UK is an imperialist force, of course it focus more on overseas military might than domestic protection
@@pedroivantaveraferreira3037former imperialist. They're in a great decline currently...
The importance of the Suwalki Gap is much lessened now that Sweden is in NATO, he could have waited a few days and this one would have changed.
Germany, Poland and Denmark can deal with the Russian Baltic fleet from the south and Sweden can deal with it from the north. Finland is finally free to focus on the Gulf of Finland.
And waste the dozens/hundreds of hours that went into creating, editing and fact checking the script and then filming and editing the video? Especially when it will generate views and revenues either way. Hahahahaha
@@herptekhonestly the local fishermen can deal with the Russian Navy at this point.
@@Shoelessjoe78 They can threaten maritime routes by sea to attack logistics and hamper with troop transport if they are not checked. They can also threaten tactical troop landings in support of their land operations if they not contained. They can of course also bombard land targets. Letting them act freely during wartime would be a serious mistake. Ukraine has taken the threat seriously, but their situation has been helped by the fact that Turkey has blocked the entrance of any reinforcements for the Russian Black Sea fleet into the theater of operations.
@@herptek you must be fun at parties... Every joke right over your head.
The fact that Norway wasn’t particularly mentioned really surprised me, more so that Canada was. We have however increased our military budget quite alot, purchasing newer tech in form of transportation, new bases and such here in Norway. Good on.. us?
Listen Germany and UK are the 2 and 3 contributors to NATO 68m and 65m most. Poland is 9 with 29.1m 10 Canada is 28.95m
America 860m
Basically it’s cute that your trying but don’t hurt yourself trying to pat yourself on the back when your showing up late to the party after years of warnings
It means this channel at least didn't see Finland as a weak point.
neutrality also works best if you have strong military to act as a deterrent so Finland's always taken its military very seriously.
@@jackdenihan5333 it's not about gross money invested in the military. It's about the %GDP, Poland's economy is smaller than Canada's, yet they spend 4% of their GDP on military while Canada does 1.3% which is obviously under the 2%GDP threshold.
@@Amelia-vk4jt bruh yes it’s about the GDP but it is also definitely about the gross. Full on your dumb to say this example. NATO cried when America threatened to cut funding by 1% and we dive over 3% while we appreciate your efforts of giving more GDP end of the day money is spent in dollars not GDP and the amount they put in dollar per dollar is 28.95 to Polands 29.1 Billion. These are just facts how about try not being poor . We also shouldn’t give Germany much praise for finally hitting their 2% as they had to be threatened by Trump to do so and took 10 years after 2014 to pay their share meaning they ignored the problem and should owe more.
Cry about GDP and gross then also tell me why we should praise a person who paid rent off for one year but is behind a decade
Norway never produced a global pop sensation in the 1970s. That makes Norway significantly less important than Sweden in the minds of international military analysts.
I was in 2022 at Gotland, they held massive training plans and train dog fights in the sky whole days. They prep as much as they can.
As Lithuanian I could say - it’s a little bit worrying, but we are preparing. Lord and the history itself knows what happens when Lithuanians and Polish people joining forces together. ❤
serious question Has your country began to move your museums artifacts either. To the western end of your country or out of country altogether Because a lot of ukrainian museums have been looted destroyed and their artifacts stolen I'm just curious if you guys have plans on protecting. Your historical artifacts
@@drewwar9344 думаете, что все поступают как англичане? Не ну украинцы то понятно. Французы ещё Африку грабили.
@@Изольда-з5мНа этот раз разделится Россия. Ваши солдаты слабы, ваше вооружение плохое, и после двух лет неудач и бессмысленного бросания волн солдат в мясорубку вы так и не победили долбанную Украину. Россия - это шутка, и я надеюсь, что ваш идиот-президент совершит ошибку, напав на НАТО. Я буду смеяться, когда твоя шутка о стране окажется бесплодной. Польша ранее оккупировала Москву. Помните об этом.
@@Изольда-з5мnbody caares about anything you're saying. Stop speaking that language
Heh, just don’t attack your fellow sisters! 😆
I know the e-girl will stay in her room, but don’t harm us, the pagan forest singers!
😂 love from Latvia
🇱🇻 🇱🇹 🇪🇪
As a Canadian, I'm personally ashamed of Canada's lack of military investment
But no one wants to fight or invade Canada. Some reason they are neither loved nor hated by any country
But I get your concern
Canada was neutral and should stay like that we dont want war and nobody gonna invade
BAE Systems is building 15 state of the art Type 26 frigates for Canada at a cost of $60 billion.
My brother in law gave the brass of the RCN a tour of Govan shipyard where the Royal Navy's Type 26 are being built.
As a brit I'm ashamed at what we feed our troops
1:05 - Chapter 1 - The suwaklki gap
5:05 - Chapter 2 - Closing the gap
8:00 - Chapter 3 - Defending gotland
11:50 - Chapter 4 - Ireland's unguarded waters
16:15 - Chapter 5 - The frozen artic
Suwalki*
Arctic*
Capital G for Gotland.
Lol.
@@evanray8413 Сувальский.*
@the_lynx_himself
Could you type that again please? No asterisk.
Google isn't translating.
"They could fall to Russia in days". I feel like we've heard that before.
And the Russian military is vastly ahead of NATO is modern warfare with drones, Turtle tanks, fab 3000 and a dozen other things. Russian will basically bankrupt Patriot by launching hundreds of FAB 3000 on Critical infrastructure in Baltics and Gotland.
Which will basically get rid of most of stock Interceptors in war zone, if the military command chooses to intercept them all. That will leave them vulnerable to future X-52 or isakander strikes crippling and destroying major important military targets and thus getting rid of NATO’s ability to respond in the short term.
Neutrality only lasts so long as you make yourself such a costly target to engage that you become unappealing to aggressor forces.
A porcupine without quills is just a free snack to everything else that comes by with teeth and a growling stomach.
Ukraine failed here.
This is why Ukraine should have signed the fucking neutrality agreement instead of perpetuating its Nazi war of aggression against the Russian people!
>"On the eve of the Ukraine war, Russian TV aired a documentary boasting about how in a wider NATO-Russia conflict Russia would snatch Gotland Island"
This would rely on Russian paratroopers spetsnaz, in the opening of the Ukraine war they (spetsnaz) couldn't manage to seize an airport 90 miles from their own border.
The Idea that they could seize a whole island, one which the Swedes have been preparing for attack for years is a ludicrous pipe dream.
Spot on
Especially since they're all dead now...
@@backcountry164😈
And the Russian spetsnaz that were supposed to take Hostomel were slaughtered by an Ukrainian reserve unit! That added insult to injury!
Totally wrong, it was taken, and held for weeks until ordered to withdraw.
The UK had to chase a russian submarine away from cork in Ireland on 2 month ago and the irish didnt even know it was there.
Irish too busy drinking Guinness lol
Nobody messes with our mates (sorry about history though) 🇬🇧
@@ProbablyNotLegit As an Irishman, I appreciate that 😂👍
@@eddiebottom37the fact that Guinness is "Ireland" national drink shows how much fight or national pride Irish people actually have and it's pretty much fuck all, a people who gave up its land, language and culture can't be trusted to defend themselves but it's ok sure we have the brits and sky sport's outta giving up totally worth it 😂😂😂
I have to say Ireland is kind of annoying, sucking hard on Hamas and being the reason that Apple, Google++ only pay a small share of their taxes in the EU and they do the best they can to stay a tax heaven.
severing the america europe internet cable will finally allow me to casually play counter strike
Fucking legend.
Hmm
Well your channel does look like it was made by a 12 yr old.
And your comment confirms it.
Hah, that’s what you think!
Lol
I think Simon forgot about the Irish fisherman who banded together to tackle the Russian navy it's not much sure, But it's a good start.
12:50 Also this year the Irish and NATO are supporting each other for detecting, dirty Russian shenanigans with subsea cable. It's not a step towards NATO membership just cooperation.
Well done. I appreciate the comprehensive education.
You had to release the video literally just after Sweden got the green light. 😅
Edit: Obviously I know it takes time to script, film, and edit these videos, but that's why it's funny. If it was released say two days earlier it would have been more accurate.
It's still accurate. Sweden isn't in yet
POTECT THE INTERNET CABLE, WE CAN NOT SURVIVE WITHOUT SIMON!!!
Nagy comment. But, the background music is getting louder and more distinctive each video.
Please, adjust the volume to allow better concentration on the actual content.
Agreed
Right? There was one video whose dramatic swelling drowned out what he was saying.
Remember, 1938 and Chamberlain and appeasement. We were so unprepared for WW2. HISTORY HAS A WAY OF REPEATING ITSELF WHEN YOU SHOW WEAKNESS. WE ARE VERY WEAK.
Nobody reads the comments as they are too busy sweatshopping the other 80 channels simon is a talking head for
....are these essential undersea cables held together with ducttape ? 14:31
Suwałki gap is actually not as a big problem as media say. Russians in their wargames predicted that Poland will take over Kaliningrad region in about 24-48 hours if there will be any hostile activity from Russian or Belarussian side near Suwałki gap, or if Russia attacks Baltic States. It seems that Kaliningrad region became more of liability for Russia than an advantage.
Seems legit. Russia can barely project military force onto its direct neighbor with a land border. It loses Kaliningrad in a day tops.
[citation needed]
Oh Simon! We really genuinely do love you! But it’s getting to be a good week for the cunning linguists amongst us : “Tan-ZAY-Nina”?!!! And now poor old Kaliningrad gets stiffed on a whole syllable!?😂❤
I heard Tan-zania as just 2 syllables, but there might have been a "weak split" for the lack of a better word in the last part that I couldn't pick out.
Lmao welcome to Sweden
Swedish meatballs became shawarma and a sovereign nation became a vassal. Everything woke turns to shit. Congrats Sweden!
They have a civil war soon
For Ireland. An EEC only acts as territorial waters below the surface. NATO would park a fleet of anti-sub frigates there.
Irelamd should still invest in it's navy, if anything. There's not many conscripts for navy because there's not that many ships.
@@baird5682 Ireland doesn't need to invest in its Navy. For all practical purposes its EEZ and airspace are protected by the RN and RAF.
@@bennettste it does not make sense to have your borders protected by your former occupier. I'm polish and I can't imagine poland relaying on german army to protect it borders from russia.
And we are both Nato members
Ireland should definitely invest in its navy. And air force. And military radars. And army.
Neutrality is no excuse - Finland and Sweden have extremely strong armies and they were neutral.
Ireland has had economic success partly because it didn't have to invest in its military.
The country is nearly broke now with massive debt and a crumbling health sector.
It won't want to invest in military as well.
But of the 6 ships available to the Irish navy, they only have enough manpower for 1 of them.
Ireland has no military radar or missile technology. I think their aircraft have propellors.
They have very good coast guard planes and helicopters at least.
Britain's navy is also crumbling with limited firepower and manpower.
And they are selling off early F-35 aircraft - surely those could be kept and used for interception of Russian bombers which usually have no escorts.
@@baird5682Britain provokes countries and regularly goes to war. Let them foot the bill of protecting their "back door". Ireland is neutral and allied with as many countries as possible. Russia should be one and would be if we didn't have weak leaders kissing the arses of UK/US.
Is that pronunciation of Kaliningrad used widely? (In this video, I only hear one "in" - Kalin instead of Kalinin)
Ireland could spend all it's money on protecting those cables and it still couldn't protect them. The vast majority of the cables run through neutral waters
How would Russia attack Ireland? Correction how would they attack Ireland in any way that wouldn't be immediately cut off and destroyed? Attacking the Baltics means taking the Suwalki gap which means fighting Latvia Lithuania Estonia and Poland simultaneously while contending with Sweden and Finland at the same time.
I mean they probably could take that for some limited amount of time. but they certainly wouldnt hold it especially not without taking at least all the Baltic region
@@robertmax88be easy to bring in an army and supply it with the British Navy watching
Defence is easier than attack.
As Simon said its about the sheer amount of data cables running through its waters and their inability to defend it
Did you even watch the video?!
The Russian where looking at cable to America
“Ameriker and Canader”😂😂 0:18
US, UK and Finland all have mutual defense pacts with Sweden, the UK and US signed them the minute Sweden applied to NATO. Both Turkey and Hungary have approved Sweden's entry into NATO now, Turkey got promised its F-16's it wanted from the US so it voted yes and Hungary got a bargain on more Gripen fighter jets from Sweden and Ukraine re-instated special status to the tiny Hungarian minority there so they voted yes as well, just some bureaucratic formalities remain. As for Greenland they cannot become independent unless Denmark would agree to continue to support them, they are 100% dependent on Denmark.
France, we need the Suwalki line built. I'd like to dub it Maginot 2: Electric boogaloo.
Also France: "oh no, the russians walked around it by somehow going through Belgium"
@@Shifticek 😂😂😂
Interesting geopolitical analysis. Thanks for posting.
Love your Nato content! And also, even when people are criticising us, it feels good to be mentioned!
I didn't have the impression that Ireland was being criticized; just an honest evaluation of the situation. For a nation with the size and resources of Ireland, it may make the most sense to stay out of other people's conflicts. If Ireland is not invaded, staying home and minding your own business may well be the best survival strategy. If Ireland were invaded, I have no doubt the Irish people would fiercely resist the invaders as they always have, but let's be honest...if Russia or China decides to take Ireland, no military the Irish could raise -- even with massive expenditures -- would be able to stop them. Furthermore, if Ireland were invaded, NATO nations would be forced by their own interests to intervene. Thus, it probably makes sense for Ireland to remain unaligned. That's not a slur upon the nation or its people, it's just the reality of the world in the 21st century. Nobody who can read doubts the ability or willingness of the Irish to fight when they have to.
@@itsapittiethat’s the entire point of nato. Few of the members on their own could defeat an invader. Together however they have immense strength.
@@itsapittieYou are right but there is also a distinct implicit criticism the same as when the USA or it's president or people feel any kind of way when it is pointed out that the USA pays for and put's it's own people in harms way to protect other nations while the Republic of Ireland does not even pretend to make any effort to defend it's waters which is rather cynical in that they know other nations are obligated to fight and die for them should they be attacked due to there own security so why bother paying for it when other nations have no choice.
Also it is a depressing situation as pointed out in the video that other European nations and the USA itself can be attacked and damaged through Irish waters that Ireland does not defend.
By Ireland not lifting even a finger in it's own territorial defence they make vulnerable the very nations they rely on for all trade and security knowing that if they suffer economically the EU must help them and if they are attacked the other European nations have no choice but to fight and die for them while the Irish watch them during a situation 100% made of there own vulnerability.
I am sure the Irish would fight for there own island and themselves but won't help or even pretend to be capable of helping any other EU and NATO nation that is required to die for them whether they like it or not.
It can most definitely be viewed that way and is a criticism of the Irish goverment and not her people.
But anytime any nation is mentioned or criticised for not spending enough on military while depending on other nations to pay and bleed for them Ireland is not just number 1 it is literally the patron saint of that particular brand of freeloading.
I hope they can at least increase there coast guard and/or navy so they don't actively present a green light and open door for attack and suffering on the nations they rely on for everything.
Noones' asking for Ireland to give a damn for another European such as they would fight for them but at least don't let us get stabbed in the back.
@@itsapittie You've pretty much nailed a large part of why we value our neutrality. It also allows us to do peacekeeping and have some degree of moral authority when decrying the worst excesses of the large powers, even friendly ones.
@@itsapittie I beg to differ. Ireland's population and GDP is roughly the same as that of Norway yet the Norwegians invest heavily in defence.
Ireland however doesn't even have military radar which means it can't track Russian bombers when they enter Ireland's air traffic control zone. It's completely reliant on the RAF.
Saying that Ireland shouldn't invest in its own defence because NATO would intervene in the event of a conflict does a great disservice to those who serve in NATO's armed forces. Why should they risk their lives for country which is in effect a freeloader?
I was looking at the NATO spending the other day and it's basically only the states on the "frontlines" that's meeting the spending goal. NATO can't afford to let any of these fall.
That's not strictly true the UK has always met it's 2% spending goal and they are not on the frontlines but maintain one of the strongest navies in Europe and a full nuclear deterrant and ofc the USA.
France will also meet the 2% spending goal this year as will many others. The peace dividend is over.
In the coming years NATO is only going to get more formidible even without the USA carrying a lot of the defence that they currently have for those that have not met the requirements.
Right now we have a war in Europe, War in the Middle East and the prospect of a broader conflict if it expands and the very real possability of conflict in Asia in the coming years vis a vis China/Taiwan and NK/SK.
Europe is most certainly tooling up the expansion of forces of all European nations will accelerate.
@@Flintlockonyou must not be from anywhere in Europe if you have all this great faith in European bureaucracy lol people can barely afford the essentials out there but i’m sure they’ll all be okay with dying over land that isn’t theirs !
Poland is climbing up to 5%, they know what's up and they are not getting rolled over again.
@@Insideman666 You have never even set foot in Europe, have you?
@@ronald3836 i literally live here 😂 and you can’t fool me to go die on your behalf but hey Americans can conquer the whole world im sure 🫡
Ever since Ukraine was invaded, I've wondered how overstated the vulnerability of the Suwalki Gap is. NATO's logistical capacity is astounding, and Russia's has proven...rather lacklustre. There's also a lot of commentary about how the Suwalki Gap would become a chokepoint where NATO tanks and infantry are forced to cross under fire from both sides...which completely ignores the fact that NATO's military doctrine in historic practice has generally been to establish air supremacy as soon as possible and then bomb anything that looks vaguely threatening until the enemy are dead or hiding in caves and bunkers. This isn't to say NATO sees ground forces as obsolete, so much as they see the idea of sending ground forces into the teeth of artillery positions obsolete...because they've got the air power to flatten anything slower than a mortar team in pretty short order. Granted if the US has all their carriers and air force assets off elsewhere when Russia cunningly executes a surprise attack on the Baltics, a lot of that air power is gonna be spending some time getting there but...look up how fast these planes are. In that worst case scenario, the US would probably just have pilots fly themselves to air bases in Germany and Poland and tell them their stuff will catch up in a few days - that would cut the vulnerability window down to somewhere around 2 days. And if you're thinking "but they can't do that, Germany and Poland use different weapons systems, how will they resupply"...that's the entire point of the NATO standard munitions setup. It's all supposed to be cross compatible.
I'm not saying "Russia please invade the Baltic countries" - very much please don't - and if they do, the first couple of days for the Baltic countries will be as harrowing as the first few days were for Ukraine...but then the hammer would come down on Russia, hard.
the logistics will be even better with rail baltica
Just found the channel. These videos are so good.
These videos are pro-war.
12:10 "Naval service" not really a navy (same as an air corps vs an air force), it's primary role is policing and search & rescue.
There's also only enough crew to serve 2-3 of those 6 boats at any one time... there's now less than 1000 staff in the INS, most of them of course aren't even crew. Most IDF staff could get paid more and have more free tiem if they worked in fast food. There's been an exodus of military staff for decades here. Meanwhile the government is wondering why and how come there's no one signing up...
Now we have NATO-Lake! Thanks Sweden!
It was before. Sweden was closely integrated militarily for quite a while. Swedish navy members and their families living in Hawaii...
As an Irishman, I wouldn't argue with any of this. If we aren't to join NATO (and opinion polls suggest we aren't anytime soon), then at a minimum we need to upscale to be able to protect all of our own yard, including the extensive seas and skies.
Ireland needs to focus on protecting itself from its own government,?mass immigration & the leftism that is making it happen. I hate to say this, but unless the Irish can change their government, Ireland as we know it may cease to exist.
Canada has some new Type 26 ships being made, along with a new fleet of ice breaker military patrol vessels, but this is not enough. As of right now, the Navy here admitted that only ONE patrol vessel can be sailed at a time due to staffing issues. The problems run deep in Canada and it is embarrassing.
The Type 26’s are mighty Frigates, or Corvettes as they appear.
We’re at such a rapidly evolving point in history that this video, which no doubt was written within the last week, is already outdated less than 10 hours later.
Очень полезное видео, спасибо товарищ
As an Irish person, I agree with your assessment of our defence capability, which unfortunately is a near zero as dammit. As a Polish friend of mine says, the "ah sure we'll be alright" phraseology is worthless. If our neutrality is important it's worth defending.
I've been saying this to any member of the body politic who will listen, for quite a few years but I haven't had much success. We're happy not being a NATO member, but at the same time living in the shade of the NATO umbrella.
The Russian cyber attack on our Health Service IT system should have been warning enough that there are hostile players out there who could make life quite uncomfortable for us with little enough effort.
We need to get serious, improve and upgrade our defences and then join NATO.
As a fellow Irish national, I agree with everything you've said, except with joining NATO. Our membership of the PFP programme is enough.
But would they even take us? What can we even offer Nato right now? Not much, let's be honest.
The cohesion of NATO has never been tested versus an adversarial super power, that's what concerns me.
I think our biggest trial will be choosing the right allies to get behind. Our historical allies are just simply not reliable. I hope U.S leaders are smart enough to figure that out and choose to back the Eastern and Northern European countries.
They were just tested and immediately unified and came together as a strong unified block. If Russia was stupid enough to attack a NATO State America would most definitely respond militarily .
Ukraine has been holding off Russia for two years. I think we can manage.
Yeah, that's the real potential weak point.
Well, there is no other superpower than the USA so...
Good stuff and extremely interesting! Thank you!
11:41 I feel like you probably should have annunciated the "r" in Ireland a little better considering you were just talking about Gotland. I think you were talking about Åland for a bit there
In Ireland of those 6 patrol ships we only have the manpower to man 1 at a time, the other 5 are sitting in port in cobh
I spend so much time with Simon my wife is getting jealous.
This was released 6 hrs ago. Sweden has been in NATO now about 48 hours.
Sweden is not yet in NATO… Hungary’s president and speaker of the house must approve the parliament vote, then send that document to Washington via airplane where officially the US in return can “invite” Sweden to join NATO - which Swedens government and NATO leadership must sign. Then Sweden is in NATO. This process will happen next week and take about 2-3 days but if Russia attacks tomorrow, Sweden still lacks protection by NATO.
So many thousands of video uploads form Simon, and the best we get on this one is “Kalingrad”, instead of “Kaliningrad” 😂
u did a spelling mistake to!!! from and not form should it be ha ha!
Kalingrad and Villy-noose 🤣🤣 _and_ "mare nostrum" was mispronounced too 😏
@@GöranÅgren : Difference being, @jessesandoval7326 did it _once_ in a frigging _YT comment;_ not tens of times over in a 20-minute video that he's making his living from. Do you have any more stupid non-equivalent parallells to go "ha ha!" over?
One thing that's misunderstood was discussing Article 5. It's a lot more complicated than "You attack one of us, we all fight to the death." It was specifically written in a way that even in the event of an attack, no one is legally required to fight with you.
If you go to NATOs webpage, they actually discuss this. When the Articles were written, most European nations wanted it worded so that any military attack would force the US to come fight for/with them. Meanwhile, the US didn't want to be required to fight in every war. So there's a bit of wiggle room with Article 5.
It's also dependent on the nation. In the US, only Congress can declare war. The article is written so that if an attack occurs, Congress has the time to vote, and can actually vote not to get involved militarily. So each country has to go through their specific actions for declaring war, and has the ability to bow out if they feel necessary.
True , but article 5 also states that a country does not have to help out Military wise it states that a country could and should help in a way they deem fit for themselves. Meaning supplies equipment food medicine. All these things would be considered. Fulfilling the article five Obligation I haven't read it in a while, but I'm pretty sure even A.condemnation of a enemy country attacking a fellow nato member is considered acceptable under article 5
Given the state the current world is in, and the info y'all provided here, Article 5 seems like a weak link for NATO. Under the assumption that NATO is exhausted of munitions for Ukraine, Article 5 can do nothing if Russia wakes up one day and decides to conquer Europe.
@@sushimuncher282 It seems to have escaped you that Russia is also exhausted of munitions for their murderous actions in Ukraine, to the extent that they are begging them from the likes of North Korea.
@@kevinmurray7789Maybe so, but Russia is producing 40$ more artilery shells than all NATO countries combined, even the US. North Korea tops up that amount.
For every shell that Ukraine fires, Russia can fire ten. They are on a war footing, NATO is on a peacetime footing.
Thanks for the video!
I don’t know if it would an interesting topic for many viewers, but I’d also really love the same type of video about weak-spots and possible points of failure in Russia 😎😎
I think that is actually called “Russia”.
I am beyond frustrated with Ireland's policy of neutrality. The govt want to do more, but the public is opposed to substantial military spending or even alliances. Perched on the western edge of Europe, ppl don't see any real threat. Unlike our friends in Scandinavia , the Baltics, and Poland, the Russian threat seems remote to the man on the street. This despite the multiple suspicious Russian ships of the Irish coasts, the snooping around the data cables , the apprehension of Russian spies on the west coast where the cables come ashore, and a brazen plan to expand their embassy in Dublin to a size completely inconsistent with normal consular activities. IRL needs to begin educational efforts to make ppl aware, so the military can be made task ready. It is beyond embarrassing that we rely on the UK for defense in deeo water and air intercepts.
Key word
Friends
We aren't your friend, the only country to ever invade us I'd uk and still owns our land why tf would we side with them
I agree that our maritime capability is embarrassing. We cant even protect against drug smugglers properly. I would love to see a major upgrade, however let's be clear, there is no way we could achieve a military capability that would change the outcome against a major power. And to become a part of NATO with the required spending would be unacceptable politically. Perhaps an investment in drones and maritime monitoring with bouys and a satellite would be a cost-effective way to up the game.
NATO is ACTUALLY a hollow shell. How big is the British Army ? Navy ? Now strong is Germanys economy ? HAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Having Irish ancestors it pains me to say it, but neutrality is one thing but refusing to invest anything in your defense makes you parasitic.
We literally didn’t have money.. you know we went bankrupt in 2008…
@@LeMerch that's unfortunate. It doesn't change the facts. You went bankrupt despite not spending on defense. When a nation relies on others for 100% of their protection they are either a parasite or a colony. And in Ireland's case it's a bit of both I guess regardless of the chest thumping.
don't worry about that.
I got a patch cable and some glue if anything happens.
*Kaliningrad not Kalingrad!*
Konigsberg
I live in TN, USA and i fly all three flags on my wall Tennessee, USA, and NATO there is none of the 3 i see more of my ally than the other I will defend Vilnius LITH as much as Dayton TN
Well... As of yesterday, 7 february 2024, Sweden is officially a NATO country and its flag is now flying in front of NATO headquarters.
Greenland was once part of Norway. When Denmark and Norway were amalgamated it was part of that union. When they separated, Denmark kept Greenland.
Hey Simon, you're a bit thin on the ins in Kalin IN grad
Our favorite CIA reporter at it again 😅
He’s British and lives in Czech Republic
What I like about NATO is that it sounds like a Scotsman saying to doctor where the pain in his foot is occuring.
'Nae, toe!'
You should rename the video “tips on starting ww3”
The GDP of Florida (2022 1.4T) is almost the size of Russia’s GDP (2021 1.7T)… I know we’re talking Billions of dollars difference but still just remarkable none the less. It opened my eyes to just how much distance there is between the US and most of the world.
The social media GDP instead of real stuff, you fool
You're not comparing like for like, When you adjust Russias GDP for different price levels (Purchasing Power Parity) the figure is $5.2T, that's roughly x3 times Australias. It's still only around a fifth of the US but it's not an insignificant figure either.
As a Canadian, I'm glad we are building the arctic partol ships but that's us playing catchup.
I'm a big proponent of Canada trying to get in on what AUKUS has planned with nuclear-powered submarines. Those are badly needed to protect our arctic territory. Could certainly be used elsewhere if the need arises too.
Or get rid of your
Current constitution tear down your government structure and petition to join the US I mean you have a lot to offer maple syrup, moose and Poutine And the last point might be the only one. You have to make because it is too delicious😂😂😂
@@drewwar9344 If Trump regains the White House, the US will leave NATO and side with Russia. Also, with the chaos in the US, most countries are planning to move further from the US, not closer.
Currently, NATO is a paper tiger.
Still less of a paper tiger than Russia or China probably, although I do agree when you compare most of European countries to the US
Russia and China don't even want to think about this paper tiger of yours. Some paper tiger ffs!
First, it was the Fulda gap. Now, it's the Suwalika gap. What's it with these gaps? 😅
Great video
I am glad you pointed out the Irish people do not particularly care about NATOs security. In a world where Russia losing means WWIII, you can all continue worrying while we Irish will drink and enjoy our peace.
i like the guitar loop near end
Excellent analysis!
The block has a simple issue, and I noticed it when we worked together. The top brass are ill-informed and are trained on old standards. They don't adjust and rely on the lower staff to address any issues that arise when out in the field. This means problems compound until an officer can address them, instead of being addressed directly.
“Military chihuahua” made me fking cry 😂😂😂
Suwałki Gap is less of an issue since Finland joined NATO and once Sweden officially soon joins too it will be even less of an issue.
While not in NATO, Ireland is a member of the EU, which has a binding defence clause that applies to all member states since the treaty of Lisbon
Funny thing I actually work on an old air base(McClellan in North Highlands, California if u wanna look it up) and the military has been moving a bunch of aircrafts over seas from the base 🫢
Why should Ireland defend another country's strategic assets? Surely the British and US government knew these cables were going through neutral waters, and could easily have laid them outside these waters at a cost, but therein is the issue --they wanted to do it on the cheap. These cables do not belong to the British or US government, they are commercial cables for use by any company or country that pays a subscription. Had it been off such strategic importance NATO would have paid for and laid dedicated cables in NATO waters or international waters.
Secondly it doesnt really matter where these cables are laid, both the Russian and US navies have the means to cut any cable even if its not on a continental shelf, and dont you think it's more probable that either would carry out such a mission outside any country's water to reduce any chance of being detected?
It feels like I've watched this before, like a number of months ago.
I think a major weakness is the fact that the NATO treaty doesn't cover sovereign territories in the Pacific. If China attacked Hawaii, for example, NATO is not obliged to respond.
If you were thinking of Guam I would agree with you but the island chain of Hawai’i is a US State, not a sovereign territory.
"Most scenarios see the Baltic capitals falling within days." These are probably the same scenarios that predicted the fall of Kiev within days. And I was one of them, but seriously every military prediction made before 2022 has to be thrown out.
And even if Russia and Belarus were able to open a corridor to Kaliningrad, so what? Finland and Sweden come charging in from the North, Poland and Germany (there's an odd combination) from the south and the Russians are wiped out in a Smolensk-level disaster.
We can't count on Russia repeating the astonishing military incompetence that they displayed when initially invading Ukraine.
NATO is a military powerhouse but its weakest point is not any military problem/question/conflict - its weakest point is *political will!*
its strength is the notion that an attack on one member, no matter how tiny and weak, would trigger the full might of the alliance and crush the enemy. the emphasis is on _full might_ , not token solidarity or half-hearted efforts of help. Art 5 doesn't compel or automatically trigger a military response from allies but leaves this to their discretion. every member is free to opt out of rushing to the aid of another member except one: the US doesn't have that luxury. if the US decides to not honour Art 5 for any reason than NATO is dead. therefore putting in legal safeguards to prevent any future US president from formally leaving NATO doesn't really help with the problem. all it takes to kill NATO is for the US to just do nothing when someone tests NATOs resolve by bullying one of its members on the periphery.
Yes a military powerhouse that failed miserably against goat herders in Afghanistan😂😂 20 years in Afghanistan only to flee.
@@IAMJEFFREY-cw9ns your point is absurd. first, NATO wasn't formally involved in Afghanistan, just a number of its members. second, their military overpowered everything there was in this country. it could have leveled the whole place - but what would be the point?
all the weapons in the world cannot win the minds of a people when their whole mindset is totally different from what you try to achieve. eventually, even the most stubborn politician in the west had to acknowledge that simple truth but was afraid to act on it. the current US president was courageous enough to finally pull out. it should have happened more than 10yrs earlier and arguably much better prepared and organised but it was inevitable.
@@embreis2257 Every single NATO member was involved in Afghanistan. So I guess you're saying that Wikipedia is lying? Try again😂
@@IAMJEFFREY-cw9nsmaybe you should take a closer look. reading usually leads to better understanding. ISAF was a UN mission, even if two years later in 2003, NATO took over command at the request of the UN Security Council and the Afghan government. however, it seized combat operation in 2014 already.
what followed was the _Resolute Support Mission_ , a *noncombat mission* aimed at advising and training Afghan security forces to provide long-term security to the country. NATO was no longer there in any combat role.
it is true that the whole thing failed in its objective. however, the objective was not to conquer Afghanistan or any military aim which they failed to achieve. they failed in their political aim and this is a whole different pair of shoes. you can't make 'goat herders' build a stable country, let alone bring democracy to them, if they cannot overcome their tribal social structure or simply don't want to live in a democratic system. no weapons in the world can make them do it.
@@embreis2257 You have guys like Tim Kennedy (ex US Green Beret) who were actually part of that failed mission in Afghanistan go on Joe Rogan's podcast and say that 'we lost in Afghanistan.' We as being the United States of course. Afghanistan was already a failed nation and invading it made things worse. The resolve of the Taliban is unmatched. Those guys can fight and fight forever. The crazy thing now is that Afghanistan is peaceful and more stable under Taliban rule🤣 Many UA-camrs from the west are now visiting and making videos with the locals. Just 3 years ago visiting Afghanistan was unthinkable.
3:54 where did we hear that again? capital would fall within a couple days... hmmmm
I absolutely knew that at some point Simon was going to mention Canada! 🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🍁🍁🍁🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🥞🥞🥞
How about a video on Vault 7?
Whoever edits your audio needs to adjust your settings, every time one of your videos starts it's like being trapped in a box with the Metatron
in a serious exchange kaliningrad would quickly evaporate
what happened to Belarus? I have not heard of saber rattling for a while.
Luka is probably under strict orders not to speak from his overlord.
Amazing, i live exactly where this arrow points between two major cities.
Ireland has one active naval vessel at any time and has trouble manning anymore.
It is a sad joke and one not many Irish are happy about.
You should also mention the White Sea canal that can connect the Russian Arctic Northern Fleet with the Russian Baltic Western Fleet.
Hungary and Austria would have been interesting as well. If Orban would allow tanks to go through or choose not to defend against Russia, Austria being very weak militarily and not in NATO would loose its territory for sure.
And then comes Liechtenstein as a next victim of Russia. Switzerland may have better chances.
Cellphone service out last week. It was pandemonium. Just waiting for the power and water next.
Remember the mighty soviet union fell even the powerful roman empire fell at one point its just a matter of time before NATO fall. Nothing can last forever
Yes, everything has a life span
Hey Simon, here on continent island, we laugh at your “biggest island on earth..” 😜❤️
great content as always, but could you please lower the volume of the background music or ideally get rid of it entirely, it just distracts
Failing to mention the military responsibilities which are bundled with EU membership in the content regarding Ireland is to render this video close to being misinformation. Ireland does not need to be in NATO to be involved with war in the event of a conflict involving Europe, and in the occasion that Russia should invade/attack Ireland other EU countries have obligations somewhat similar to those outlined in NATO. EU membership is somewhat similar to NATO membership, with the advantage that we don't have to have an American military base on our soil (officially). To Ireland, NATO membership is not needed, and as long as Ireland is the victim of predatory multinational corporations artificially inflating our GDP by using the nation as a tax haven while providing nothing in return, the notion of allocating 2% of said GDP to military spending is a nonsense.