As proved from Syria to Siberia, Vladimir Putin has no qualms about spilling blood to seize strategic opportunity. Cognizant to that reality, it’s crucial to deter Putin from endangering our security and foreign policy interests.
Hence why we should welcome the completion of a recent American, British, and Norwegian naval and air patrol in the Barents Sea. Led by the British Royal Navy, the patrol involved the frigate HMS Sutherland, the anti-ballistic missile destroyer USS Ross, and the Royal Norwegian Navy frigate Thor Heyerdahl. As the British Defense Minister makes clear, the purpose was “to preserve freedom of navigation when melting ice caps are creating new shipping lanes and increasing the risk of states looking to militarize and monopolize international borders.” Seeing, however, that Russia is the only nation actively threatening freedom of navigation in the high north, Moscow is again foremost in mind here. The deployment’s air component also involved Danish and U.S. submarine hunters, along with British multi-role fighter jets.
This is NATO at its best: forward-deployed and actively training to deter and defeat Russian aggression. Yet, considering very active Russian surface, air, and submarine deployments to test NATO’s resolve, the patrol was ideally timed. That takes on added importance in the context of NATO failings against Russian air penetrations of sovereign member state airspace. The Arctic is a rising area of competition in this regard. This patrol follows a recent surface deployment by the United States and British navies to the Barents Sea, thus evincing an intention by both nations to escalate their presence in the area.
Norway is an especially valuable partner, recognizing the geographic threat Russia poses to its northern flank. But it’s not just about ships. Norway has also benefited America in another manner. Namely, via its development and sale of the superb Naval Strike Missile. That missile can hit enemy vessels at long range and will soon be deployed as part of the U.S. Marine Corps’ new China-focused island stronghold strategy.
There’s a catch, however.
Even if this patrol is good news overall, it must be noted that only three NATO member states participated in it. Once again, the French and German navies remain far away from the battlespace. That’s a reflection of those two governments’ desire to do defense on the cheap (or on the American dime) and to avoid naval activities that might upset the Kremlin. This is a perfect example of President Trump’s legitimate gripe that the world’s most successful alliance continues to represent an inequitable balancing of responsibilities. This is not to say that America does not benefit from NATO. The opposite is true. Nor is it true that Trump’s strategy for dealing with European freeloading is terribly well designed. But where Russia sees and senses that not all the alliance’s members are ready to step up, Putin finds added reason to test it. Trump has a responsibility to keep pushing NATO members to do more for the alliance, and more often.
In short, we need more exercises such as this one. But with more nations than three.
