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Sweden one step closer to NATO membership

Book review written by Kaisa Ytterhaug
NATO FLIRT: The dust from the NATO exercise Trident Juncture has barely settled before the military exercise Northern Wind is held in Sweden. Frustrated Swedish peace workers see the exercise as another step towards joining NATO.

Neither Sweden nor Finland is a member of NATO, but has host country agreements with the organization, and participated in the Trident Juncture in Norway. In March, about 10 soldiers are in Norrbotten in Sweden to play out the following scenario: A fictitious enemy attacks Sweden. The Swedish army receives Finnish help in the fight against a three-leaf clover consisting of the Norwegian Brigade North, a battalion from the US Marine Corps and a company from the British Royal Marines. The exercise starts in Bardufoss and continues across the border to Sweden, past Kiruna and down to Haparanda on the Baltic Sea, near Sweden's border with Finland. The Swedish Armed Forces states on its website that this is not a NATO exercise: "No. (…) It is led by Sweden, below. . .

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Kaisa Ytterhaug
Ytterhaug is a freelancer in Ny Tid.

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Full 100-page MODERN TIMES including the appendix Orientering and Modern Times Review comes out quarterly (March 1, June 1, September 1 and December 1) with international book reviews, essays and comments – in addition to the physical newspaper and PDF, the articles are eventually published online here (see also the newsletter).

© MODERN TIMES & Orientering AS Dronningensgt. 16, 0152 Oslo Chief editor: Truls Lie

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