Following on from the article you carried last month on the manifestation in the north of Sweden, some sobering facts about Sweden, a supposedly neutral country of nine million people. They have the highest percentage of military equipment manufactured per head of population. NEAT, the Northern European Aero Testing range, is Europe’s largest overland test range. It is described as having: “Vast space – Limitless possibilities”. It is nearly as large as Belgium; boasts of being “open 24 hours per day, seven days a week, all year around”; and has “services and infrastructure for testing, evaluating and operating... all vehicle types such as aircraft, helicopters, UAVs [drones], missiles, space systems”.
Last year, NATO used NEAT for trials without the Swedish government consulting their parliament. Along with northern Norway, this area is described by the Pentagon as “the northern flank and of extreme military importance”. The US now has military bases in all the Baltic states and many in the north west of Norway, often referred to as one of the biggest and best equipped aircraft carriers for the United States.
In January this year British prime minister David Cameron hosted nine Baltic countries, to discuss the foundation of a new military alliance. This is an idyllic northern area with magical forests, waterfalls and presumably Father Christmas too, but war certainly does start here and we all need to be aware of the build-up of military bases and alliances.
We must challenge both NEAT and NATO whenever we can.