Category Archives: NATO

The online ceremony to mark the official start of the implementation of the Online Cyber Course, which was developed at the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defense Center of Excellence in Tallinn, was organized today at the Ministry of Defense of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

In the presence of BiH Minister of Defense Sifet Podi, Deputy Minister Mirko Okoli and Commander of the NATO Headquarters in Sarajevo, Commander of NATO Headquarters Sarajevo Brigadier General Pamela McGaha, the use and implementation of this course in training centers within the Training and Doctrine Command of the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina (OSBiH) was approved.

Accepting and adapting this course, as well as its implementation in the defense system of BiH, fulfills another of the partnership goals within the framework of cooperation with NATO, PG 7300 Cyber Defense, and the course is also set as a goal in the MoBiH Cyber Security Strategy.

In his presentation, Minister Podi praised the efforts of the responsible persons in the structure of the Ministry of Defense and the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina who recognized, initiated, and finally brought to the realization the activities of taking over this capability from our partners from the NATO Headquarters in Brussels, the NATO Center of Excellence in Tallinn, the NATO Headquarters in Sarajevo and the NATO DEEP program, who are responsible for the start of the implementation of this course in the defense institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

General McGaha also spoke about the importance of accepting and implementing this course in the MoD and the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina, emphasizing that NATO takes cyber defense very seriously and sees it as part of one of NATOs key tasks collective defense.

In addition, we also support partner countries in the development of this capability. Helping Bosnia and Herzegovina to prevent, monitor, detect, defend and recover from malicious cyber activities is of key importance for the safety of citizens, said McGaha.

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BiH fulfills another of the Partnership Goals in Cooperation with NATO - Sarajevo Times

Senator Jeanne Shaheen is the chairwoman of the Subcommittee on Europe and Regional Security Cooperation, and is one of the key figures for foreign policy in the Senate, the upper house of the US Congress.

She visited Bosnia and Herzegovina twice in the past six months and is the author of a new legislative proposal on American policy towards the Western Balkans. For Voice of America, she talks about her increased engagement when it comes to Bosnia and Herzegovina.

We tried to do a few things. First, to convey a sense of concern, which we saw when we were in BiH, to the State Department here in the US, the Department of Defense and our NATO allies. We heard concerns about the continuation of the EUFOR mission and also about continuing ethnic tensions, and the rise in those tensions. So every time I have the opportunity in a hearing, and my colleagues do the same, I raise those concerns, as we do privately. Senators Tillis, Murphy, and I sent a letter to Secretaries Blinken and Austin , expressing our concerns about EUFORs mandate, which will have to be renewed on November 2. Its not clear what Russia will do about it, so we think its important to have a backup plan.

We are also working on new laws. Senator Wicker and I are working on legislation for the Western Balkans that would try to promote anti-corruption efforts, that would look at how we can foster trade and economic ties, and also make into state law the executive sanctions that are in place.

One of the topics discussed was the role of NATO. I think Vladimir Putin would prefer EUFOR to continue its mandate rather than NATO coming in as a backup option. I was just at Camp Butmir when I was in Bosnia last week and had the opportunity to meet with the generals there to discuss their mission and their efforts to ensure a continued commitment to peace and stability in the country, Senator Jeanne Shaheen told the Voice of America.

At the beginning of next month, the United Nations Security Council should consider extending the mandate of the Althea Mission and the remaining EUFOR forces in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

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Shaheen: I think Putin would prefer EUFOR rather than NATO in BiH - Sarajevo Times

Exhibition trade group the National Association of Theatre Owners announced Monday that its 24-year CEO and President John Fithianwas retiring.

While thats not as long as the late Motion Picture Association boss Jack Valentis 38-year run at that trade org, who left behind his own legendary streak with the creation of the ratings system, Fithian well deserves to be mentioned in the same sentence. As movie theaters were closed for the first time in their existence due to the pandemic, Fithian and his team tirelessly championed lawmakers from the federal to the city level to get cinemas reopened and the motion picture industry back on its feet. Not only that, but as studios experimented aggressively for a theatrical day-and-date model, Fithian and company behind the scenes poured water on that broken model as the box office returned.

Sure, Halloween Ends is going day-and-date on theatrical and Peacock this weekend, but thats more about the Comcast streamers survival than anything else. For the most part, the studio executives have embraced NATOs come-to-Jesus that the best amount of money for a films financials remains in a defined theatrical window. Streamers like Netflix have heard the call as well and is experimenting with a 600-screen U.S. theatrical Thanksgiving release with the top major chains AMC, Regal and Cinemark for Rian Johnsons critically acclaimed sequel Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery. But thats not all Fithian has had his hands on at NATO, his work with the org going back to his legal consultant days 30 years ago. Fithian officially leaves NATO on May 1. Heres our convo with him:

DEADLINE: Why is it time to go?

JOHN FITHIAN: When I was first recruited as outside counsel to come on full time, there were doubts among the board members of NATO that I would stay long enough with the job to have an impact that Id be here for a few years and leave. That was 1999, and obviously I made it my career to represent theater owners, and Ive done that because I love them. Theyre passionate about what they do. I was a First Amendment lawyer before I came on full time, and I believe in this form of collective gatherings for storytelling very much and thats why I came to love theater owners and the broader industry.

Why is it time? I always knew I didnt want to stay forever, there are other things on a smaller scale that I want to pursue; not a full-time gig. But Ive got some consulting ideas and some board work that I want to do. But its time personally, in part because my wife is Greek and its time to spend time in Greece.

I just turned 60, and coming out of the pandemic is now the right time to let somebody with more energy and passion to take it on. The answer is, Im ready.

DEADLINE: Before the pandemic, before the shutting of theaters what have been some of the challenges you faced during your tenure at NATO, and what are you happy about in regards to your accomplishments?

FITHIAN: The two biggest challenges to a successful operation of a cinema business have always come from either Washington or Los Angeles.

On the Washington side, which actually during my role as outside counsel and continued after I came on board full time, was the desire to regulate violent media, which not only is a massive violation of the First Amendment, thats hugely bad for the business. There were proposals in Congress and states to tax violent media, which means violent media would have an extra ticket tax, to take the rating system and write it into law and to fine theater owners every time they sold a ticket to the wrong person. Or to actually censor the movies we were able to show. It was all a reaction and an overreaction to gun violence in America. Many politicians instead of tackling the gun issue, they wanted to tackle violent media. So we, as a team NATO, NATO members, the MPAA lobbied for more than a decade, last half of the 1990s, first half of the 2000s, to demonstrate that a voluntary ratings system was the way to go. We had to strengthen all our protocols on enforcement. We had to explain what we were doing to members of Congress, directly to President Clinton and to his successors and work with the Federal Trade Commission on how to have oversight of a voluntary ratings system without actually legislating them. That took years to accomplish, and it was very much an all-industry effort. But certainly protecting the voluntary movie ratings system and avoid government regulation and censorship was a key early NATO accomplishment in the time of my career.

And is the case with all accomplishments, its all broad-based with NATO, exhibitors, studio reps, creative community, all working together to preserve the right of free speech in the cinema industry. Thats an example of what we do in Washington.

In Los Angeles, I would take a different historical example, which is the transitioning of film to digital cinema, which was another decade-long fight. The incentive for the studios to make that transition prematurely, I might add, was that they wanted to save billions of dollars a year in costs.

The cost to make a film print and distribute it to theaters was very expensive: $2,000-$3,000 per print to get that whole process done. In exhibition, we said, Not yet. We need two things: We need open standards that will promote operability in these systems, and also make sure that the quality level that we give our patrons is as good or better in digital than in film. Because at the genesis of digital technology, it was inferior film. So we wanted to wait until it was as good as or better. Secondly, we demanded a fair business model. If the cost savings were going to come to distributors, then distributors had to help finance the system. We got major pushback at the beginning of that process and in the end, we prevailed. There were both open standards developed, the equipment got better, the quality levels got better, and the virtual key model was established to have it work that the studios could subsidize the transition to new equipment. We actively participated in that process. We worked with theater owners big and small to have a variety of virtual key models available to all exhibitors of all sizes.

DEADLINE: Was there a point ever during the pandemic when you thought, Oh, my God, is exhibition done? Or was there too much of a force out there from the overall industry and its players that was like No, cinema isnt going instinct?

FITHIAN: Every night at about 3 a.m., that thought crossed my mind as it did my amazingly passionate team of colleagues, and staff, as it did hundreds and hundreds of theater operators here and around the world. There were thoughts of existential crisis and end of businesses daily around the country and around the world. And the exhibitors, big and small, share it with me how desperate that situation was. We had family businesses mortgaging everything they had to keep their theaters from going under. We had existential challenges of access to capital. We went from a record-breaking year in 2019 globally people forget that $42 billion to $0 in April 2020. It was a traumatic stop in profitability and the potential to survive financially. It was the biggest existential threat that the movie industry encountered in over 100 years.

DEADLINE: Getting exhibition included on that Covid relief bill was an outstanding achievement. Tell us more about that.

FITHIAN: What we accomplished as organization during the pandemic, wasnt just about the grant program. The most important thing that we did during the pandemic was establish a set of safety protocols. We call them Cinema Safe. We hired top-notch epidemiologists to create those protocols, we worked hand in hand with our studio partners as they were developing their film protocols for film production, so that the industry could demonstrate that we could safely make movies and show them. Everybody was involved in that process. It was very collaborative across the entire industry. Then we used those safety protocols both in exhibition on our side and in production on their side to go lobby hundreds government officials at the federal level, at the state level, in many cities, and internationally as well. We collaborated with our colleagues all around the world. NATO Cinema Safe protocols were actually adopted by several foreign governments in how to let cinemas open again, and get cinemas open safely again. That was the biggest accomplishment of the pandemic. We had to get cinemas open safely in order to get movies back.

Yes, we also needed to help our workers. We worked with Will Rogers to help develop a multimillion-dollar fund to help unemployed theater workers. We lobbied Congress on unemployment benefits so that the 150,000 theater employees without jobs could live and come back when the pandemic is over.

The third piece was helping our companies stay alive as viable entities. That took a number of paths. Lots of people know about the grant program established by Congress to help the mid-size and smaller exhibitors. Several billion dollars to sustain them, but we also worked on really important tax benefits that helped our larger companies as well as smaller companies, and we also lobbied across the country state governments to also provide grants to exhibitors of all sizes and tax benefits.

DEADLINE: When New York and L.A. reopened theaters, the vaccine was just rolling out. The industry was confident L.A. would feasibly reopen, but New York State continued to punish exhibition while other states reopened cinemas. What made New York finally turn the corner?

FITHIAN: Theres a book to be written about New York, so I dont know how to condense, but Gov. [Andrew] Cuomo didnt want us open. Well never know why. It took one of our local theater operators in Albany to take all of the experts from the governors office on a tour of a cinema, to show them how our protocols could work. We had a massive lobbying campaign from local exhibitors all across New York, we involved our federal friends in Congress, but something that really speaks to the unity of this industry is that we had studio executives and creatives helping us explain to the governor how important New York was to the global film industry: If New York didnt get open, chances are movies arent going anywhere. It was too important of a market. The final straw, I think were pretty sure he understood we had our safety protocols in place because his experts did the tour, but were not sure he understood the business impact. So we organized a letter from the Global Cinema Federation, which is a group that we helped put together, that included leading theater operators from all over the world: China, Australia, Europe, Latin America. We had signatures from all over the world, telling the governor that ifyou dont get New York open safely, the film market globally is going to die. I think a combination of all those things got him to a point where he gradually opened cinemas.

DEADLINE: The breakthrough of Netflix agreeing to work with the top three exhibitors on the release of Glass Onion: Knives Out is pretty amazing. Did NATO have anything to do with that behind the scenes? Are you hopeful that streamers will come full hog to the table and commit to a wide release in the future?

FITHIAN: Yes and yes. The ways that the issue of film releases work is that NATO has a role in discussing broad based business models and data. We carefully collect data on how theatrical releases with windows grow the business for everybody. In other words, you release the movie theatrically, it does well theatrically, it makes money, but more importantly it establishes the brand of the movie so that it when it hits the streaming service, it gets a bigger pop on the streaming service. It would never be enough for us to say Oh we need movies with windows. Its about data that proves a business model thats good for everyone. So NATO has been very involved with all the major studios, and Netflix, Apple, Amazon about the concept of releasing some of their movies not saying every streaming movie is appropriate for a theatrical releasethat some of their movies can do better both in theaters and on streaming services with an exclusive release first to cinemas. We at NATO have been making that argument and sharing the data with everyone who makes movies for a while. When it gets to the point of a specific arrangement on a specific movie being made, NATO cant do that. That has to be negotiated individually. We dont get involved in what the exact window should be or what the exact film terms are. Those individual issues exhibitors have to negotiate. The final end of that Glass Onion process is a negotiated agreement with individual exhibitors. Its not just the big three that are playing the movie, but mid-sized and independent exhibitors. Its a strategic test by Netflix by how a theatrical release, exclusively, can play across the country in big, medium, small theaters and big, medium, small towns. Would we have wanted a wider release? Of course. Do we want them to release their grosses? Of course. But this is an important step, nonetheless, and its one of several important steps that Netflix is taking. Look at the release of Bardo in Mexico thats a release on a 45 day window. Thats an important test as well. What youre seeing is experimentation, and thats progress. But we also see progress from Apple, because they won the Best Picture from Oscar, because it played in theaters. Were hopeful to see more theatrical releases from Apple in the future. I dont think Amazon has quite figured out what theyre doing yet. Theyre analyzing this particularly with their acquisition of MGM.

Were also very optimistic about increase in theatrical supply from traditional studio partners, from David Zaslav at Warner Bros, from Disney coming back after the pandemic to do big theatrical releases, from Universal doing 20-24 movies a year, and couple that go to Peacock. The vast majority of titles from our partners are released theatrically as well. Its going to take a while to get back to the right level of film supply because of Covid-induced post production delays and scheduling problems. Were only operating on 65% to 70% of the movies that we had in 2019. By the end of next year into 2024, well have more movies than we did in 2019. Its going to take a while to climb back up the hill, but the signals are good that were going back to a very strong film supply and level of box office which makes this a strong business.

DEADLINE: What finally persuaded the major studios to stop with theatrical day-and-date? Did it occur organically? It upset filmmakers and stars, the movies were getting pirated significantly more

FITHIAN: Its all of that. Its certainly that filmmakers want their movies released theatrically. We talked to many of them during the pandemic and coming out of the pandemic about how they want their movies releases. More and more filmmakers are having these discussions before they sign their deals. Whats my window going to be?Whats my release going to be. Those conversation werent happening before the pandemic. The data that everybody collected during the pandemic is that theatrical releases with a window make more money and on the streaming service. What we did, in taking the piracy data during the pandemic, showed pretty conclusively that day-and-date releases were a disaster due to piracy. The most pirated films during the pandemic were those that were day-and-date because you get a pristine copy online instead of a camcorder rip.

DEADLINE: How involved will you be in choosing your successor? NATO has benefited from someone such as yourself who knows their way around D.C., but is it crucial to have a successor from a studio or exhibition in the next evolution of NATO?

FITHIAN: Im working with the direction of our executive board, which is the body that makes these decisions, and our chairman, Rolando Rodriguez. We hired a search firm, Spencer Stuart, very capable executive search firm. They have filled 300 trade association CEO jobs in their history. They know what theyre doing. We worked to develop a job description, which is out now. Then well recruit as many talented candidates both external and internal. But then I step out of the process. Its not appropriate for me to be in the interview process. I can describe what the priorities of the job are, but ultimately the members do the interviews.

What NATO does in Los Angeles is as important as it does in Washington. The relationship with the studios, the creative community. For example, the transition of digital cinema. That wasnt a government issue, that was an industry issue. Both of those cities are important. And expertise is important, and few have expertise in both [cities].

DEADLINE: Will a successor be named around CinemaCon?

FITHIAN: Our hope is to have a successor on board before CinemaCon. He or she and I can work together and officially pass the baton at CinemaCon. Thats the goal.

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NATO Boss John Fithian On Retiring After 30 Years: Crusading Against Govt Censors, Knives Out 2 Important Step & Bringing The Exhibition Business...

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 NATOs Integrated Air and Missile Defence.

This commitment is even more crucial today, as we witness the ruthless and indiscriminate missile attacks by Russia in Ukraine, killing civilians and destroying critical infrastructure. In this context, I strongly welcome Germanys leadership in launching the European Sky Shield Initiative, said NATO Deputy Secretary General Mircea Geoan. He added: The new assets, fully interoperable and seamlessly integrated within the NATO air and missile defence, would significantly enhance our ability to defend the Alliance from all air and missile threats.

The initiative will allow all participating nations to jointly develop an air and missiledefence system using interoperable, off-the-shelf solutions. This multinational and multifaceted approach offers a flexible and scalable way for nations to strengthen their deterrence and defence in an efficient and cost-effective way.

* The 14 NATO allies included:Belgium, Bulgaria, Czechia, Estonia, Germany, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Slovakia, Slovenia, Romania, the United Kingdom

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14 NATO Allies and Finland agree to boost European air defence capabilities - NATO HQ

WASHINGTON The U.S. Army is stepping up its relationship-building efforts in the Pacific region in a bid to counter Chinas geopolitical influence.

The U.S. Army has taken part in major exercises in the region like Operation Pathways and wants to increase its participation, according to Gen. Charles Flynn, the Armys commander in the Pacific.

We dont have a NATO here, like in Europe, Flynn told Defense News in a recent interview. Were not going to have a NATO out here.

That means the challenge is much, much more difficult for us because weve got to bring together this network of allies and partners and we do that largely through our exercising in the region like Pathways, he added.

The training is meant to both improve interoperability and bolster joint readiness, Flynn said.

This year, the Army increased its forward presence during Super Garuda Shield part of Operation Pathways which brought together 14 nations on Sumatra, Java and Borneo, the main islands in Indonesia.

Its really important that thats a visible sign of the network of allies and partners coming together, Flynn said.

The Army also brought its first mobile National Combat Training Center rotation to Indonesia for Garuda Shield and will do so again in 2023, he said. The service will send the rotation to Australia for Talisman Sabre, a biennial exercise between Australia and the United Sates.

The Army has a training center in Europe and two in the U.S., but no permanent one in the Pacific. Flynn said a mobile version is up and running, giving soldiers the opportunity to train in operationally relevant environments.

At the same time, the service is standing up a third Multidomain Task Force unit, designed to operate across all domains, including cyber and space, and equipped with the Armys growing capabilities, including in long-range precision fires. This will be the second MDTF in the Pacific region.

The first MDTF there helped inform the Armys multidomain operations doctrine, which the Army is releasing at the Association of the U.S. Armys annual exhibition.

Many allies and partners in the region including Japan, the Philippines, Australia, Indonesia, South Korea and Thailand are designing concepts of operation similar to the U.S. Armys MDO doctrine, Flynn said.

In a lot of ways the Multidomain Task Force is kind of an example to others in the region about a new organizational design for the challenging environment that we have here in the Pacific, he said.

Jen Judson is an award-winning journalist covering land warfare for Defense News. She has also worked for Politico and Inside Defense. She holds a Master of Science degree in journalism from Boston University and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Kenyon College.

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'We don't have a NATO here': How the US Army plans to counter China - DefenseNews.com

NATO, as a political and military alliance, has a robust institutional framework comprised of dedicated civilian and military staff. There are several tools utilised by NATO military staff and Allied armed forces that ensure that gender perspectives are effectively integrated into all analysis, planning, missions and operations.

NATO's Policies on Women, Peace and Security (WPS), Conflict Related Sexual Violence (CRSV) and Prevention and Responses to Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (SEA), and their corresponding Military Guidelines, are expressions of this political will and military readiness. Meet two of the people who dedicate their work to integrating the gender perspective on the military side at NATO:

Why should NATO integrate the gender perspective on the military side of NATO?

Lieutenant-Colonel Diana Morais: The increasing complexity of the strategic environment requires an in-depth understanding of how new and more advanced patterns of warfare affect women, men, girls and boys differently. Integrating gender perspectives into the analysis and planning of our operations will give a deeper understanding of the societies in which we operate, as well as the modus operandi used by our adversaries. This will improve the Alliance's ability to recognise and respond to threats and challenges. It is also crucial that the Alliance's armed forces, when recruiting, ensure the full participation of both men and women.

What are NATO forces doing in taking the gender dimension into account at all stages?

Lieutenant-Colonel Diana Morais: We have been providing guidance to the Military Committee in four different lines of effort. First, development of doctrine: making sure we identify the fundamental principles by which the military forces guide their actions. Second, education and training: recognising the need to integrate gender perspectives in all military education and training for all ranks and positions. Third, leadership development: making sure gender perspectives are integrated in the professional development of all military leaders. And fourth, resources: recognising that it requires the adequate resources to accomplish an assigned mission or to integrate gender perspectives across the Alliance.

Lieutenant-Colonel Katherine Prudhoe: NATO has a network of Gender Advisors to ensure that gender perspectives are considered in military planning, from the strategic level to military planning on operations in Kosovo and Iraq. The Nordic Centre for Gender in Military Operations (NCGM) provides training courses on the gender perspective. As the gender perspective is a crosscutting theme, all Centres of Excellence consider gender in relation to their specialisation, for example Counter-Terrorism and Gender, or Hybrid Threats and Gender.

What is the greatest challenge in integrating the gender perspective on the military side of NATO?

Lieutenant-Colonel Katherine Prudhoe: The greatest challenge is making the gender perspective relevant to people who are new to the subject. It needs to be accepted as something that adds value to all military considerations, including the planning and execution of military operations. For those (including me) who attended military training over 20 years ago, the gender perspective was not embedded into traditional military training, so this subject needs to be added at all levels of training to make sure that the gender perspective for all key topics is understood.

What does a typical day in your role look like?

Lieutenant-Colonel Diana Morais: The NCGP normally meets in plenary session three to four times a year. One of these sessions is the NCGP Annual Conference, held at NATO Headquarters, which gathers all of the national delegates and subject matter experts coming from the capitals. The main objective of the annual conference is to prepare recommendations to present to the Military Committee, but the conference also allows for the sharing of best practices and expertise in integrating gender perspectives between member states and partners. This year, we are planning to hold our Annual Conference during the first week of October, where we will be discussing the new Strategic Concept and the integration of gender perspectives in the conflict in Ukraine.

Lieutenant-Colonel Katherine Prudhoe: As I work at the strategic level, my role is to ensure the gender perspective is considered in military guidance for new policies. In order to achieve this, I attend senior leadership meetings and meetings of the military committee in order to flag when the gender perspective needs to be considered. I also work with Allied and partner nations and institutions. For example, I am currently working with the European Union Military Staff on military recommendations of the nexus of climate, gender and security. I work with the NCGP to run the annual conference, and with Centres of Excellence to run deep dive sessions for those involved in policy-making.

What drives you to work on gender in security and defence?

Lieutenant-Colonel Diana Morais: The fundamental thing that drives me to work on gender is the necessity to make the defence sector more effective. Meeting the complex demands of conflict requires a diversity of skills, experiences, perspectives, and approaches and we cannot afford to exclude 50% of the population - women - when recruiting or staffing our missions. Furthermore, differences in gender roles and stereotypes impact everything we do, and our adversaries are capitalising our own misconceptions and biases. What gender perspective means in building or maintaining peace is to challenge the military to adapt their response to the societies they seek to protect, by changing the way we plan and execute our missions and operations.

Lieutenant-Colonel Katherine Prudhoe: I am motivated to work in this field because I think the gender perspective is essential to understanding modern conflict. Conflict is no longer taking place on a Napoleonic battlefield. Modern conflict is taking place on social media, and in towns and cities among the civilian population. We need to consider how men, women, boys and girls are affected differently both as victims or perpetrators of conflict. Conflict vulnerabilities, such as CRSV, and conflict drivers, such as terrorism or state adversaries, need to be viewed through a gendered lens to understand how to better plan and respond.

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The people behind the policies: integrating gender perspectives into the military - NATO HQ

Todays generation of youth is the largest the world has ever known, and young women and men are often forming the majority of the population in countries affected by violence and armed conflicts. Their input in security is therefore essential.

The Youth, Peace and Security (YPS) Agenda established by the United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 2250 (2015) and subsequent resolutions UNSCR 2419 (2018) and UNSCR 2535 (2020), recognises the inclusion and participation of young people as a key dimension of building and sustaining peace and security for all. The resolution identifies five pillars for action:

1. Participation Take youths participation and views into account in decision-making processes, from negotiation and prevention of violence to peace agreements.

2. Protection Ensure the protection of young civilians lives and human rights and investigate and prosecute those responsible for crimes perpetrated against them.

3. Prevention Support young people in preventing violence and in promoting a culture of tolerance and intercultural dialogue.

4. Partnership Engage young people during and after conflict when developing peacebuilding strategies along with community actors and United Nations bodies.

5. Disengagement and reintegration Invest in youth affected by armed conflict through employment opportunities, inclusive labour policies, and education promoting a culture of peace.

As indicated in: Global Coalition on Youth, Peace, and Security (2022) Implementing the Youth, Peace and Security Agenda at Country-level: A Guide for Public Officials.

Through the meaningful integration of young people in peace efforts, institutions will recognise their contributions in the present and in the future. Young people carry out important peacebuilding work, including reaching out to peers, working at the community level, maintaining dialogue, and bridging divides in polarised contexts. When youth are given the opportunity to participate in peace processes, they acquire civic skills, and often make lifelong commitments to peace. Therefore, it is also an investment in the future.

NATOs work with youth

NATO engages with young people on several different levels and through different approaches. The Alliance can benefit and learn from fresh perspectives, and at the same time give young people opportunities to get involved and make themselves heard.

NATOs Science for Peace and Security Programme, for instance, is developing more and more projects that offer opportunities and stipends to support and involve young scientists in the early stages of their careers.

Furthermore, as part of the NATO 2030 initiative, NATO has engaged with young leaders to gain their input on how to further strengthen the Alliance to meet the emerging security challenges of the coming decade. The NATO 2030 Young Leaders Group, which was announced at the NATO 2030 Youth Summit, consisted of 14 emerging leaders from across the Alliance that were selected from prominent young leadership programmes. They represent diverse professional fields, from researchers to space engineers and diplomats. On 4 February 2021, the NATO 2030 Young Leaders submitted a report to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg with advice on how to make NATO an even stronger Alliance.

Another major project is the annual NATO Youth Summit. The most recent NATO Youth Summit took place on 28 April 2022. It was entitled Securing Our Shared Future, and was organised in cooperation with the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA). The Youth Summits panel discussions covered pressing security challenges including climate change, disinformation, humanitarian crises, emerging technologies and gender discrimination.

These are just a few examples, but there are many more ways in which NATO interacts with young people and encourages their participation in all aspects of defence, peace and security.

The future is female (and young)

So how do the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) Agenda and YPS fit together? The WPS and the YPS agendas are interlinked and complementary: both agendas advocate for groups that have historically been excluded from decision-making processes. The contributions of both groups build on experiences and knowledge that go far beyond traditional conflict environments, but also include various forms of exclusion and discrimination, organised crime, and sexual and gender-based violence. These different forms of violence are highly gendered, with young women being particularly vulnerable to experiencing domestic violence, sexual assault, abduction, trafficking, torture and forced labour, and other forms of violence.

However, recognising the complementarity between the WPS and YPS agendas does not lump the two groups of women and youth together. This would deny the specific needs and challenges of each of these groups. Instead, policymakers and practitioners must take an intersectional approach that ensures that all policies, programs, and initiatives fully capture age- and gender-based power dynamics.

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Youth, peace and security: What is it and why should we care? - NATO HQ

I have too much respect for our friends and our allies to tell them what they should do, Rama said. We are always very careful to be very humble in our assessments.

The discussion inside the Albanian government over triggering Article Five underscores the ongoing debate as to whether a cyberattack will ever be serious enough to truly trigger a full-blown NATO collective defense response which could involve cyber retaliation against the attacking country by all NATO members or crippling sanctions. The provision has only been triggered once, just days after the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States, and the consequences have not been fully spelled out for a cyberattack. NATO member countries must come to the aid of the nation that invokes Article Five, but each member country can determine the extent of their response.

For Rama, the July attack which forced the country to shut down websites across government used for everything from paying utilities to obtaining drivers licenses walked right up to the line.

Its like bombing a country, Rama said of the cyber strike, which was widely attributed to Iranian hackers. Ninety-five percent of Albanias government services are provided online, meaning daily operations halted at government offices across the country, he said. The hackers also attempted to wipe sensitive government data, he said, but were not successful.

Albania severed diplomatic relations with Iran in response believed to be the first time a nation has taken this step due to a cyberattack. But Rama decided against taking the incident to NATO.

It was too much for us to think about and to get to the decision that we should ask NATO to trigger Article Five, Rama said.

In likely retaliation for the severing of relations, Iranian hackers again attacked Albania in early September, disabling certain systems used in border and customs processing. Rama warned that his nation expects more attacks from Iran, and is working to strengthen cyber defenses.

The line around when a cyberattack could trigger Article Five is unclear. The NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence described the application of it to a cyberattack as a blurry but consistent position of NATO, while NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said in 2018 that the level of cyberattack to trigger collective defense must remain purposefully vague.

I am often asked, under what circumstances would NATO trigger Article Five in the case of a cyberattack? My answer is: we will see, Stoltenberg said at the time.

Jim Lewis, director of the Strategic Technologies Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said NATO is likely still working through the menu of options it would use to respond to a cyberattack. Its going to be messy for a while until we sort out what you can do short of violence that can have [an] effect.

The Iranian cyberattacks may have caused widespread disruption, but did not lead to any deaths or permanent destruction of systems. These facts, paired with the smaller size of Albania in terms of geography and population, made triggering Article Five even more remote.

If the attack had been more damaging, they might have gotten some support, Lewis said. No one was hurt, so its hard to make the case that its Article Five.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has intensified these discussions, given recent warnings that Russia is preparing to intensify cyberattacks against Ukraine as the winter months approach, and that a cyberattack against Ukraine could spill over into neighboring countries that belong to NATO.

Many NATO members, including Albania, have provided cybersecurity support to Ukraine.

We have done our part, Rama said of Albanias assistance, but whats happened with Iran imposes a different speed.

NATO and its member states did take actions to support Albania after the July strike. NATO released a statement condemning the attack and pledging to provide support to strengthen Albanias cyber defense. The U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned Irans intelligence agency and its leader, and the Justice Department indicted alleged Iranian hackers for widespread attacks against global critical infrastructure.

The FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency released a joint advisory in September detailing how the Iranian hackers gained access to the victimized Albanian networks 14 months prior to the attack being carried out, periodically stealing emails associated with the government of Albania. The British government noted in a separate alert that Ramas emails were among those accessed.

Rama pointed to U.S. assistance following the attack, which included providing in-person expertise to investigate the incident, as a big support, and noted that Albania is currently awaiting U.S. financial aid for cyber defense efforts.

Every dollar that will come will be very much appreciated, Rama said. I think they should and they will show that they support us in this situation.

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Albania weighed invoking NATO's Article 5 over Iranian cyberattack - POLITICO

Vladimir Putin. (AFP via Getty/ Sputnik/ MIKHAIL KLIMENTYEV).

In a speech following his illegal annexation of Eastern regions of Ukraine,Russian president Vladimir Putin attacked the US and NATO for imposing perversions on children.

At the end of September, Russia announced the annexation of four Ukrainian regions Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson following what has been described as a sham electionpresided over by Russian troops.

After the illegal annexation was announced, Putin gave a victory speech in which he hit out at the US, NATO and the rest of the West, saying: They do not give a damn about the natural right of billions of people, the majority of humanity, to freedom and justice, the right to determine their own future. They have already moved on to the radical denial of moral, religious, and family values.

In the speech, Putin accused Ukraine of starting the war, and said that the people of the four annexed regions had chosen to become our citizens, forever.

Unsurprisingly, the Russian president used anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric to vilify the West, telling his audience: All citizens of Russia: do we want to have here, in our country, in Russia, parent number one, parent number two and parent number three (they have completely lost it!) instead of mother and father?

Do we want our schools to impose on our children, from their earliest days in school, perversions that lead to degradation and extinction? Do we want to drum into their heads the ideas that certain other genders exist along with women and men and to offer them gender reassignment surgery?

Is that what we want for our country and our children? This is all unacceptable to us. We have a different future of our own.

Putin added that the fighting would continue for the great historical Russia, for future generations, our children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, because: We must protect them against enslavement and monstrous experiments that are designed to cripple their minds and souls.

In a bizarre effort to stop people fleeing Russia since the country cruelly invaded Ukraine, Putins regime released a video this month saying that Russians would be forced to respect LGBTQ+ and Black people if they were to leave suggesting that should be a deterrent.

The video was circulated shortlyafter Putin announced that he would be instituting a draft to aid the countrys war against Ukraine, prompting more Russian citizens to flee to safety.

Read more:
Putin says US and NATO want to 'impose perversions' on kids - PinkNews

People in Moscow celebrate the occupation of Ukrainian territories, September 30

This was reported by several Telegram channels, including pro-Russian ones, which posted photos and videos from the site of the rally.

Read also: Biden bans the exchange of special borrowing rights with Russia and Belarus

According to Russian news outlet RIA-Novosti, the rally was organized by an organization called the National Liberation Movement. The demonstrators rallied outside the U.S. Embassy carrying orange and black striped flags styled after the St. Georges Ribbon Soviet military symbol, which is widely used by Russian ultra-nationalists.

The demonstrators also led by the hand a person dressed in a costume supposedly representing one of Russias new RS-28 Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile. The person, whose black-gloved hands protruded from the black cylindrical costume, was apparently unable to see out of it.

Read also: Crimean bridge hit, fuel train on fire, road section downed

The protesters accused the United States of provoking a nuclear war and demanded that the U.S. president resign. They also demand that NATO withdraw troops from post-Soviet states and former Warsaw Pact countries.

Many of these countries are in fact members of the NATO defensive alliance.

Read also: Arrests of military personnel going on in Moscow, claims Ukrainian intelligence

The demonstrators also held posters with the slogans USA world evil, Russia defender of the world, US hegemony is collapsing, and The attack on the Crimean bridge was ordered by the CIA.

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine

Continued here:
Moscow demonstrators demand Bidens resignation and withdrawal of NATO troops from post-Soviet countries - Yahoo News