Paul Goble
Staunton, July 8 – The Norwegian Defense Estates Agency, the part of that country’s defense ministry that develops real estate for its military, has announced an 80 million US dollar modernization of defense ministry facilities on Jan Mayen Island, an otherwise uninhabited island near the Spitzbergen archipelago.
The announcement (in Norwegian) is available at forsvaretsforum.no/forsvarsbygg-jan-mayen-langtidsplanen/har-signert-jan-mayen-kontrakt-verdt-820-millioner-kroner/386427. It is discussed in detail at thebarentsobserver.com/en/security/2024/07/investments-jan-mayen-strengthen-norways-strategic-presence-north-atlantic.
This announcement is especially significant now because Jan Mayen Island, while often grouped with the Spitzbergen archipelago, is not subject to the 1920 Svalbard treaty that reaffirmed Norway’s sovereignty over those islands but declared that Oslo could not establish a military base there. There are no such limitations on Jan Mayen Island.
Moreover, it comes on the heels of Oslo’s decision to cancel the sale of the last large privately held parcel of land in Spitzbergen to the Chinese to prevent that land from being used against Norway’s national interests, a decision that is still being challenged (thebarentsobserver.com/en/2024/07/legal-experts-norways-decision-block-sales-svalbard-property-goes-against-svalbard-treaty).
And the announcement comes as Norwegian security experts and others warn Moscow might exploit the provisions of the Svalbard Treaty to make a move against Norway and thus NATO (jamestown.org/program/moscows-first-move-against-nato-could-take-place-in-norways-svalbard-archipelago/ and windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2024/05/norwegian-security-expert-alarmed-by.html).
No comments:
Post a Comment