The Watch

As residents struggled in the wake of Hurricane Helene, about 1,500 active-duty U.S. Army troops deployed to aid relief efforts, supporting thousands of National Guardsmen. U.S. ARMY THE WATCH STAFF As another massive hurricane bore down on Florida in October 2024, thousands of active-duty U.S. Army and National Guardsmen had already been working for nearly two weeks to aid relief efforts in devastated communities after Hurricane Helene’s landfall. U.S. Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) synchronized its efforts with the lead federal organization, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), as Helene approached to assist in rescue efforts and deliver crucial supplies like generators.…

Central American and Caribbean air chiefs met in Tucson, Arizona, in August 2024 to discuss ways to better integrate and support each other to combat illegal trafficking, climate change and other regional matters. DIÁLOGO AMERICAS ILLUSTRATION R. EVAN ELLIS/U.S. ARMY WAR COLLEGE From August 26-29, 2024, I had the honor of participating as the moderator of the Central America and Caribbean Air Chiefs Conference, hosted by the leadership of U.S. Air Forces Southern (12th Air Force) in Tucson, Arizona. The event was an opportunity for the heads of the air forces of the region to discuss shared challenges, from organized…

Nordic defense ministers gather in the Faroe Islands in April 2024 to discuss military cooperation. AFP/GETTY IMAGES THE WATCH STAFF Nordic prime ministers and defense ministers met in Stockholm in September 2024 to agree that Sweden would assume the leadership of NATO’s forward presence on its northeastern flank. The location of the forward presence remains undecided, but Finland’s Lapland region is believed to be the leading candidate to host the new NATO structure, according to The Barents Observer, a Norwegian newspaper. The plan isn’t to station NATO troops permanently in the area, but the base would be staffed by command…

U.S. Northern Command and Rhode Island National Guard officials, along with representatives from the Defense Institute of International Legal Studies, exchanged ideas about military justice and professional ethics with Royal Bahamas Defence Force members in September 2024. ROYAL BAHAMAS DEFENCE FORCE THE WATCH STAFF Officials with U.S. Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) and the Rhode Island National Guard held an ethics workshop and military justice seminar in the Bahamas in September 2024. Royal Bahamas Defence Force (RBDF) members who participated in the training, held at RBDF’s Coral Harbour headquarters, engaged in the exchange of best practices with U.S. military partners. “This four-day…

Barents Euro-Arctic Council regional council members met in October 2023 to inaugurate new Chairman Markus Hirvonen of Finland. The future of the 30-year-old council is in doubt after Russia’s 2023 exit. THE BARENTS EURO-ARCTIC COUNCIL THE WATCH STAFF The Kremlin’s war of territorial aggression against Ukraine likely has ended a cooperative Arctic council that once hoped to integrate Russia into the region’s framework of a rules-based international order. The Barents Euro-Arctic Council, composed of the foreign ministers of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and the European Union, hasn’t had a clear role since Russia’s September 2023 departure from the organization,…

Relations between Norway and Russia have become strained after repeated sabotage incidents that have been linked to Russia. The latest incidents occurred in the Norwegian Arctic near military installations. AFP/GETTY IMAGES THE WATCH STAFF Norway is responding to repeated acts of sabotage, including at military installations in the increasingly contested Arctic region. Most recently, in early September 2024, a jamming device set up in advance of military testing near Norway’s Andøya Arctic military base was damaged when someone cut a cable. The jammer had been set up at the far northern island as part of an international exercise to test…

Royal Marines and U.S. Coast Guardsmen deploy from the HMS Trent in August 2024 to interdict a drug smuggling boat south of the Dominican Republic. THE ROYAL NAVY THE WATCH STAFF A U.K. Royal Navy vessel conducted the sixth drug seizure in its 2024 deployment to the Caribbean, confiscating $729 million in illegal drugs. The HMS Trent, a River-class off-shore patrol vessel, has been deployed to the Caribbean to curtail illegal trafficking in migrants, drugs, guns and other contraband as the instability in Cuba, Haiti and Venezuela has worsened. The ship’s mission is to increase security in the region, including…

Five Russian LNG tankers, similar to the one pictured, have been deregistered and now operate as a shadow fleet trying to evade sanctions levied after Russia’s 2022 unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. AFP/GETTY IMAGES THE WATCH STAFF A Russian “shadow fleet” of unlicensed tankers trying to circumvent international sanctions traveled near Norway’s territorial waters in September 2024. The Russian fleet is operating outside of the international rules-based order and poses environmental and security risks for NATO members on the alliance’s northern flank as the tankers travel from the Russian Arctic loaded with compressed natural gas to seek illicit sales, which aids…

U.S. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken delivers remarks about Russian propaganda activities at the state television network, RT, in September 2024. AFP/GETTY IMAGES THE WATCH STAFF The Russian state television network, RT, is acting as an arm of that country’s intelligence services, U.S. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken said in September 2024 when announcing new sanctions to curb the network’s access to global financing. Blinken’s announcement came just days after the U.S. Department of Justice indicted two RT employees accused of funneling nearly $10 million to a Tennessee video streaming site that pushed Moscow’s propaganda. Blinken said that…

Chinese Communist Party General Secretary Xi Jinping, middle right, sits across from Russian President Vladimir Putin during talks in Beijing in February 2022 that led to a joint statement of cooperation. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FALK TETTWEILER, MARSHALL CENTER RESEARCHER AND ANALYST The China-Russia joint statement of February 2022 has widely been interpreted as a signal of deeper cooperation between the countries, which are the major challengers to the world order. Some have gone so far as to assess it as a sign of an institutional axis, or even an alliance. However, the lack of official People’s Republic of China (PRC)…