https://arab.news/y6vta
The main phase of a large-scale NATO exercise called Steadfast Dart 2026 began last week. This exercise, billed as the alliance’s largest for the year, involves more than 10,000 troops from 11 NATO nations. The focus of the military exercise is Northern Europe and the Baltic Sea region, an area that has become more contentious since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent accession of Finland and Sweden to the alliance.
The exercise also comes at a time when transatlantic relations have been strained over issues such as trade disputes and American calls to annex Greenland. In light of the geopolitical circumstances, there are three notable observations about this exercise that set it apart from other NATO exercises in recent years.
The first is the limited US participation in the training event. This is the first large-scale NATO training event in which there is no sizable or significant US military presence since President Barack Obama’s decision to withhold full American participation in the 2013 Steadfast Jazz exercise. At the time, this was thought to be because Obama was shifting US focus away from Europe as part of the so-called pivot to Asia, meaning he showed little interest in bolstering America’s role inside NATO.
