The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) scrambled its fighter jets over 400 times in Europe in 2020, chiefly to intercept approaching Russian military planes, the defense alliance said Monday.
Around 350 of these missions were in response to Russian military aircraft, NATO said in a statement. While this represents a “moderate” increase compared to 2019, it comes amid Russia’s growing military activity near the NATO perimeter.
“In recent years, we have seen an increased level of Russian military air activity close to the alliance’s borders,” NATO spokesperson Oana Lungescu said in a statement.
One of the potential dangers posed by unannounced Russian military aircraft is to passenger planes flying in their vicinity.
“Russian military aircraft often do not transmit a transponder code indicating their position and altitude, do not file a flight plan, or do not communicate with air traffic controllers, posing a potential risk to civilian airliners,” the alliance said in a statement.
NATO maintains about 40 air surveillance radars and reporting hubs in Europe, with some 60 jets on duty at all times to respond to aircraft flouting international flying rules or in distress. The alliance scrambles its jets in response to airborne intruders and to civilian planes that lose contact with air-traffic control, for reasons such as technical problems or hijackings.
“We are always vigilant,” Lungescu said.
“NATO fighter jets are on duty around the clock, ready to scramble in case of suspicious or unannounced flights near the airspace of our allies. Air policing is an important way in which NATO provides security for our members.”
The alliance, made up of 30 member countries, operates on the basis of a system of mutual defense, where an attack on one country is met with a joint response. Another 20 countries, including Russia and a number of former Soviet Union republics, are members of the NATO Partnership for Peace program, which seeks to create trust between participating states through military-to-military cooperation on a number of fronts, including training and disaster response.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, at a session at the World Economic Forum last year exploring the future of the intergovernmental military alliance, spoke of “a Russia which is much more assertive, responsible for aggressive actions from the Kerch Strait to the streets of Salisbury using their agent there.”
Stoltenberg was referring to an incident in 2018 in the UK involving the poisoning of a former Russian spy and his daughter by suspected Russian military intelligence officers using the deadly Novichok nerve agent. Russia denied any role in the incident, which sparked a crisis between the two countries and led to the expulsion of 23 known Russian intelligence officers operating under diplomatic cover in Britain.
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“NATO’s role is today, fundamentally, the same as it was back in 1949,” Stoltenberg said at the time. “And that is that we protect and defend each other. That we really believe that we are safer together than apart.”
Will America-First News Outlets Make it to 2023?
Things are looking grim for conservative and populist news sites.
There’s something happening behind the scenes at several popular conservative news outlets. 2021 was bad, but 2022 is proving to be disastrous for news sites that aren’t “playing ball” with the corporate media narrative. It’s being said that advertisers are cracking down, forcing some of the biggest ad networks like Google and Yahoo to pull their inventory from conservative outlets. This has had two major effects. First, it has cooled most conservative outlets from discussing “taboo” topics like Pandemic Panic Theater, voter fraud, or The Great Reset. Second, it has isolated those ad networks that aren’t playing ball.
Certain topics are anathema for most ad networks. Speaking out against vaccines or vaccine mandates is a certain path to being demonetized. Highlighting voter fraud in the 2020 and future elections is another instant advertising death penalty. Throw in truthful stories about climate change hysteria, Critical Race Theory, and the border crisis and it’s easy to understand how difficult it is for America-First news outlets to spread the facts, share conservative opinions, and still pay the bills.
Without naming names, I have been told of several news outlets who have been forced to either consolidate with larger organizations or who have backed down on covering certain topics out of fear of being “canceled” by the ad networks. I get it. This is a business for many of us and it’s not very profitable. Those of us who do this for a living are often barely squeaking by, so loss of additional revenue can often mean being forced to make cuts. That means not being able to cover the topics properly. Its a Catch-22: Tell the truth and lose the money necessary to keep telling the truth, or avoid the truth and make enough money to survive. Those who have chosen survival simply aren’t able to spread the truth properly.
We will never avoid the truth. The Lord will provide if it is His will. Our job is simply to share the facts, spread the Gospel, and educate as many Americans as possible while exposing the forces of evil.
To those who have the means, we ask that you please donate. We have options available now, but there is no telling when those options will cancel us. We have our GivingFuel page. There have been many who have been canceled by PayPal, but for now it’s still an option. Your generosity is what keeps these sites running and allows us to get the truth to the masses. We’ve had great success in growing but we know we can do more with your assistance.
Thank you, and God Bless!
JD Rucker
