REFERENCE: Clause 17-1 - The Military Engaged Neutrality (Part II)

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The following references are associated with The CURD Plan: » The Plan » Point 17: The Engaged Neutrality » Clause 17-1: The Military Engaged Neutrality

NARRATIVE

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armenia%E2%80%93Azerbaijan_border_crisis

The largest escalation occurred in September 2022, when Azerbaijan launched the largest attack on the Republic of Armenia in the history of the conflict between the two countries. Casualties were reported on both sides. Armenia has unsuccessfully requested that the Collective Security Treaty Organisation and Russia independently intervene due to Azerbaijan's military incursions in May 2021 and September 2022. The CSTO and Russia declined to provide assistance both times.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Nagorno-Karabakh_War

The First Nagorno-Karabakh War was an ethnic and territorial conflict that took place from February 1988 to May 1994, in the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh in southwestern Azerbaijan, between the majority ethnic Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh backed by Armenia, and the Republic of Azerbaijan with support from Turkey. As the war progressed, Armenia and Azerbaijan, both former Soviet republics, entangled themselves in protracted, undeclared mountain warfare in the mountainous heights of Karabakh as Azerbaijan attempted to curb the secessionist movement in Nagorno-Karabakh.

 

https://en.odkb-csto.org/institute/

The Regulations on the CSTO Partner and the Observer under the CSTO provide for different levels of interaction and responsibility of the participants in the cooperation process. The status of a Partner is determined by a special Regulation and qualifies as a state or an international organization that shares the goals and principles of the CSTO, wishing to establish and develop relations of mutually beneficial cooperation with the Organization in areas of mutual interest, with the commitment to participate in practical activities of the CSTO. The Partner status can be granted to a state or an international organization interested in practical cooperation with the CSTO in some or all areas of the Organization's activities ... Moreover, the Partner is offered a choice of the widest range of areas of such cooperation ... Presumed modes of interaction with the CSTO are diverse and tailored to the Partner's individual interests:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collective_Security_Treaty_Organization

Similar to Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty and the Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance, Article 4 of the Collective Security Treaty (CST) establishes that an aggression against one signatory would be perceived as an aggression against all. The 2002 CSTO charter reaffirmed the desire of all participating states to abstain from the use or threat of force. Signatories are prohibited from joining other military alliances

 

https://www.newhistorian.com/2019/01/08/how-did-siam-thailand-avoid-european-colonization/

How did Siam (Thailand) avoid European colonization?

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thailand

Thailand is the only Southeast Asian nation never to have been colonised by a Western power, in part because Britain and France agreed in 1896 to make the Chao Phraya valley a buffer state.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belgium_in_World_War_II

Despite being neutral at the start of World War II, Belgium and its colonial possessions found themselves at war after the country was invaded by German forces on 10 May 1940. After 18 days of fighting in which Belgian forces were pushed back into a small pocket in the north-west of the country, the Belgian military surrendered to the Germans, beginning an occupation that would endure until 1944.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vyborg

Finland declared independence from Russia in 1917, after which Vyborg became its second-most significant city after Helsinki, and represented internationally as its most multicultural city. During World War II, Vyborg's population was evacuated and the town was ceded to the Soviet Union.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finland%E2%80%93Russia_relations#Finnish_NATO_membership

On 18 May 2022, Finland formally applied to join NATO, simultaneously with Sweden. Finland formally became a member of NATO on 4 April 2023 during a scheduled summit, finalizing the fastest accession process in the treaty's history.

 

https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2023/10/13/finlands-2024-defense-budget-targets-arms-restocking-border-security/

The expected budget increases Finland’s defense spending to 2.3% of its gross domestic product, lifting it above NATO’s 2% goal for member states. A border-reinforcement plan embedded in the 2024 budget includes the construction of 125 miles of so-called smart fencing supported by advanced sensors and drones operated by the Finnish Border Guard. The smart fence, erected at strategic points along the Finnish-Russian border, costs between $400 million and $500 million.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_occupation_of_Norway

By the autumn of 1939 there was an increasing sense of urgency because of its long western coastline facing access routes into the North Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean, as Norway had to prepare, not only to protect its neutrality, but indeed to fight for its freedom and independence.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Munich_Security_Conference

Over the past four decades the Munich Security Conference has become the most important independent forum for the exchange of views by international security policy decision-makers. Each year it brings together about 350 senior figures from more than 70 countries around the world to engage in an intensive debate on current and future security challenges.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_Munich_speech_of_Vladimir_Putin

Although NATO was still a year away from inviting Ukraine and Georgia to become NATO member-states in 2008, Putin emphasized how Russia perceived eastward expansion as a threat.

 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/top-ukrainian-politician-david-arakhamia-gives-seventh-confirmation-of-russia-ukraine-peace-deal-agreed-in-march-2022/ar-AA1ky3eT

Top Ukrainian politician and presidential advisor David Arakhamia added a seventh confirmation that a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine was agreed in principle in March 2022 that was later shot down by UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson ... The deal would have included the following main points: Ukraine would abandon its Nato aspirations; the bans on the Russian language in Ukraine would be removed; Donbass would remain in Ukraine but as an autonomous region; .... the Crimea problem would be addressed.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Participants_in_Operation_Enduring_Freedom

Ukraine allowed use of its airspace and airbases to the US and its allies, but only for cargo flights. Ukraine is a participant in the NATO led International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan and has deployed troops as part of NATO's ISAF mission to the country.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russia%E2%80%93Switzerland_relations

At the end of 2018, there were 732 Swiss nationals living in Russia. As of 2020, 16,500 Russian nationals lived in Switzerland. There are 70,000 Russian speakers in Switzerland (2022).

 

https://ndupress.ndu.edu/Media/News/Article/1220620/building-a-stay-behind-resistance-organization-the-case-of-cold-war-switzerland/

To mitigate this risk, a targeted state’s society must be ready to conduct resistance should all or parts of its territory be occupied or subverted by a foreign invader or its proxies. This requirement implies looking back to the Cold War concept of “Total Defense” for some applicable models to evaluate and implement. The Cold War–era case of Switzerland, a small, neutral state that prepared for resistance against the Soviet Union, provides valuable inputs to the creation of stay-behind resistance organizations in the modern context and informs U.S. interagency and special operations forces (SOF) considerations in supporting such efforts.

 

https://www.aljazeera.com/amp/news/2022/3/8/russia-deals-with-unfriendly-countries-require-moscow-approval

According to a government statement, the (unfriendly country) list includes Albania, Andorra, Australia, Great Britain, including Jersey, Anguilla, British Virgin Islands, Gibraltar, European Union member states, Iceland, Canada, Liechtenstein, Micronesia, Monaco, New Zealand, Norway, South Korea, San Marino, North Macedonia, Singapore, United States, Taiwan, Ukraine, Montenegro, Switzerland and Japan.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finnish_Defence_Forces

The Finnish Defence Forces (FDF) (Finnish: Puolustusvoimat, Swedish: Försvarsmakten) are the military of Finland. The Finnish Defence Forces consist of the Finnish Army, the Finnish Navy, and the Finnish Air Force. In wartime, the Finnish Border Guard becomes part of the Finnish Defence Forces. Universal male conscription is in place ... Finland's official policy states that a wartime military strength of 280,000 personnel constitutes a sufficient deterrent. The army consists of a highly mobile field army backed up by local defence units. The army defends the national territory and its military strategy employs the use of the heavily forested terrain and numerous lakes to wear down an aggressor, instead of attempting to hold the attacking army on the frontier ... "Furthermore, memories of World War II – in which over 2 percent of the population perished in two brutal wars with the Soviet Union – are very much alive in Finland".

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/07/us/politics/russia-finland-nato-border.html

The peaceful scene belies the fear among many Finns that despite Russia’s weakened state, this transit point, and their country, could one day become a Russian target. That anxiety prompted Finland to seek membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization last year, a process completed in April when Finland became its 31st member in what Mr. Biden calls a strategic blow for President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. That move infused a long, placid relationship between Moscow and Helsinki with sharp new tensions. In January, Russia’s military announced plans to add a new army corps to the border region of Karelia.

 

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/what-can-finlands-armed-forces-arsenal-offer-nato-2023-04-04/

Finland is one of few European countries to have retained a conscription army through decades of peace, wary of its eastern neighbour Russia after the former Soviet Union tried to invade Finland during World War Two. Finland's ground, naval and air forces are all trained and equipped with one primary aim - to repel any Russian invasion.

 

https://www.businessinsider.com/world-war-i-soldiers-played-soccer-on-christmas-2014-12

Intermixed with all this destruction is the "Christmas Truce" of Dec. 25, 1914. On that day, German and British soldiers "walk[ed] about together all day giving each other cigars and singing songs," as British General Walter Congreve wrote in a newly discovered letter. The soldiers also played soccer during the now-famous truce.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_presidents_of_Ukraine

<List of presidents of Ukraine.>

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonid_Kuchma

Leonid Danylovych Kuchma ... was the second president of Ukraine from 19 July 1994 to 23 January 2005 ... Kuchma signed a "Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation, and Partnership" with Russia, and endorsed a round of talks with the CIS. Additionally, he referred to Russian as "an official language". He signed a special partnership agreement with NATO and raised the possibility of membership of the alliance. Under Kuchma's leadership, the Armed Forces of Ukraine participated in the Iraq War ... In September 2000, Gongadze disappeared and his headless corpse was found mutilated on 3 November 2000. On 28 November, opposition politician Oleksandr Moroz publicised the tape recordings implicating Kuchma in Gongadze's murder.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-Vector_Policy

The Multi-Vector Policy or Multi-Vector Doctrine (Russian: ????????????????, romanized: mnogovektornost) was the foreign policy doctrine of Ukraine during the presidency of Leonid Kuchma from 1994 to 2005. The Multi-Vector Policy's primary concerns were balancing Ukrainian relations with the United States and European Union, as well as with Russia, in an effort to preserve Ukraine's neutral status between Russia and the Western world. Controversial both within Ukraine and internationally, the Multi-Vector Policy has been accused by its critics of being used to stall processes advancing the accession of Ukraine to the European Union, while supporters have claimed that it is both pragmatic and economically beneficial to Ukraine.

 

https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/natosource/ukraine-will-not-join-csto/

From Interfax: Ukraine does not plan to become a member of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), Ukrainian Foreign Minister Kostyantyn Hryshchenko told the 2000 newspaper. Ukraine has not and cannot be invited to join the CSTO because it ‘has made it absolutely clear that it is opposed to membership in any blocs,’ Hryshchenko said ... "The declaration of our opposition to membership in any blocs, as well as our decision to abandon plans to join NATO open up new opportunities to promote partnership and good neighborhood relations with Russia," he said.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viktor_Yushchenko

Viktor Andriyovych Yushchenko ... was the third president of Ukraine from 23 January 2005 to 25 February 2010. He aimed to orient Ukraine towards the West, towards the European Union and NATO.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viktor_Yanukovych

Viktor Fedorovych Yanukovych ... was the fourth President of Ukraine from 2010 to 2014 ... A member of the pro-Russian Party of Regions, his removal from the presidency via revolution in 2014 led to the Russo-Ukrainian War. Since then, he has lived in exile in Russia.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukraine%E2%80%93NATO_relations

A few years later, in February 1994, Ukraine was the first post-Soviet country to conclude a framework agreement with NATO in the framework of the Partnership for Peace initiative, supporting the initiative of Central and Eastern European countries to join NATO ... Kuchma and Russian president Boris Yeltsin negotiated terms for dividing the Black Sea Fleet based in Ukraine's Crimean peninsula, signing an interim treaty on 10 June 1995. But Moscow mayor Yury Luzhkov campaigned to claim the city of Sevastopol which housed the fleet's headquarters and main naval base, and in December the Russian Federation Council officially endorsed the claim. These Russian nationalist territorial claims spurred Ukraine to propose a "special partnership" with NATO in January 1997.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukraine%E2%80%93NATO_relations#Popular_opinion_in_Ukraine

Popular support in Ukraine for NATO membership since 2000.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukrainian_involvement_in_the_Iraq_War

Ukraine began its involvement in the Iraq War on 5 June 2003, shortly after the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Throughout the conflict, Ukrainian troops were limited to a peacekeeping role, as part of the Multi-National Force – Iraq, though they engaged in combat with Iraqi insurgents. On 9 December 2008, Ukraine formally withdrew its last forces from Iraq, ending its participation in the Iraq War. Prior to the Russo-Ukrainian War, Ukraine's involvement in the Iraq War was the largest military operation ever performed by the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Over 6,000 Ukrainians performed military service in Iraq and Kuwait during the war, including a permanent presence of 1,600, and 18 Ukrainians were killed.

 

https://www.unian.info/world/ukraine-forces-as-part-of-nato-mission-in-afghanistan-withdrawn-from-country-11448670.html

Ukraine has pulled out of Afghanistan its contingent, which took part in the NATO Resolute Support training and advisory mission. The Ukrainian military returned home from June 1 to June 5, 2021, on board an IL-76MD flight operated by Ukraine's Air Force, according to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine ... The Resolute Support NATO training and advisory mission in Afghanistan consisted of 21 servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

 

https://www.polemics-magazine.com/int/csto-versus-nato-potential-cooperation-or-further-confrontation

Although NATO does not cooperate with the CSTO as a separate entity, the Alliance collaborates with individual CSTO members, indicating a lack of a common political direction within the CSTO. It is no secret that almost all CSTO members have concluded bilateral agreements with the alliance and do not perceive the USA or EU as potential enemies.For example, prioritizing Russia in military affairs did not stop Kazakhstan’s cooperation with the US and NATO. A distinctive feature of the cooperation was the initiative to enter the Partnership for Peace program as well as the continuation of the tactical military exercise “Steppe Eagle”, hosted by Kazakhstan and operated under NATO-led command.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerial_incidents_in_Switzerland_in_World_War_II

n 1943, the Swiss military began attacking Allied aircraft breaching Swiss airspace. Six Allied aircraft were shot down by Swiss Air Force fighters and four by anti-aircraft cannon, killing 36 Allied airmen. The first Allied aircraft to be shot down were two Royal Air Force bombers flying low over Swiss territory on the night of 12–13 July 1943, which were shot down by Swiss anti-aircraft fire over Valais. The first American bomber shot down over Switzerland was downed near Bad Ragaz on 1 October 1943, and only three of its crew survived.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgians#History

The Georgian kings and Russian tsars exchanged no less than 17 embassies, which culminated in 1783, when Heraclius II of the eastern Georgian kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti forged an alliance with the Russian Empire. The Russo-Georgian alliance, however, backfired as Russia was unwilling to fulfill the terms of the treaty, proceeding to annex the troubled kingdom in 1801 as well as the western Georgian kingdom of Imereti in 1810.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poland%E2%80%93Ukraine_relations

On October 13, 1990 Poland and Ukraine agreed to the "Declaration on the foundations and general directions in the development of Polish–Ukrainian relations". Article 3 of this declaration said that neither country has any territorial claims against the other, and will not bring any in the future. Both countries promised to respect the rights of national minorities on their territories and to improve the situation of minorities in their countries.

 

https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/topics_110496.htm#The%20Principle%20of%20Providing%20Assistance

Every participating country agreed that this form of solidarity was at the heart of the Treaty, effectively making Article 5 on collective defence a key component of the Alliance. Article 5 provides that if a NATO Ally is the victim of an armed attack, each and every other member of the Alliance will consider this act of violence as an armed attack against all members and will take the actions it deems necessary to assist the Ally attacked.

 

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/06/15/world/europe/ukraine-russia-ceasefire-deal.html

The (Ukraine-Russia treaty from April 2022) draft included limits on the size of the Ukrainian armed forces and the number of tanks, artillery batteries, warships and combat aircraft the country could have in its arsenal.

 

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