General Michael Claesson is Sweden’s Chief of Defence Staff and Supreme Commander of the Swedish Armed Forces. How did Russia’s annexation of Crimea change Sweden’s global strategy? Is Russia weaker than it appears? How strong is the American alliance with Europe? With the tectonic plates of war shifting beneath our feet, the stakes are high and the future of NATO hangs in the balance.
Times:
02:46 Swedish view of the world
04:19 Crimea annexation
08:50 Geopolitical logic of joining NATO
10:10 Military background
13:48 The war in Ukraine
17:53 Lessons from the American Civil War
19:40 Drone combat
25:09 Command versus autonomy
27:09 European defense against Russia
33:14 Contested Kaliningrad
36:00 Russia’s vulnerabilities
37:19 Russia’s greyzone warfare
41:11 Europe’s role in global security
44:26 American and European alliance
45:00 The case for NATO
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