On Friday, a Russian drone crashed into an apartment building in Galati, a city near Romania’s border with Ukraine, injuring a woman and a teenager. The entire building had to be evacuated, a building that is on NATO territory.
NATO’s reaction and the problems it entails
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said Russia’s reckless behavior was a “danger for everyone” but went no further than that. And, as Eduardo Saldaña explains in The World Order of Julia in the wavethe topic is “quite delicate” because, although everything indicates that it was a drone that “escaped” from the Russians, it is true that it ended up there. And that raises two problems:
- The entire strategy that NATO put in place to detect drones has not worked: there has been a clear security gap.
- The response that has been given has been communications and tweets saying that they are deeply concerned and that this cannot be repeated.
“The answer has to be to give even more support to Ukraine”
The fact is that “a red line has been crossed and no one assures us that Russia cannot make a mistake again and attack.” Eduardo Saldaña clarifies that this does not mean that we have to enter into a direct conflict with Russia, but rather “be aware” that this has happened and that “the response has to be to give even more support to Ukraine to put more pressure on Moscow.” Or, “at least,” that they see a more forceful response than empty statements because sometimes, “we forget, but if you travel to Eastern countries, there is a clear awareness of the security risk and the threat that exists on the other side of the old iron curtain.”
He explains that Romanians have suffered very strong interference in the last electoral processes. In fact, Romanian journalists have said that they saw how there was an orchestrated campaign during the electoral process to generate disinformation and promote a candidate who was the one who ultimately canceled the elections: “There is an important part of Romania that is fully aware of the threat they have and that it is an enemy that is going to use any type of tool.”
Washington has abandoned Ukraine
What is clear is that NATO’s response would have to be more forceful, but nothing could be further from the truth because the US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, has confirmed that the negotiations with the participation of Washington to end Russia’s war against Ukraine have been suspended due to lack of progress, but that the US is willing to resume them when there is a chance of achieving the result: “Let us remember that those negotiations, from which it was displaced to the European Union, were led by Trump’s son-in-law and construction friend (…) Washington has left Ukraine abandoned.
“Yes, because it is not a priority and it is related to everything that is happening,” explains Saldaña. “What we have in Iran in the end has a drag effect on the rest of American foreign action. Trump cannot escalate in Europe when his speech has been “we have to leave Europe and we have to leave the Middle East.” You cannot be escalating in the Middle East and in Europe and with your economy badly hit. The US is opting for absolute passivity because Trump understands international politics as a policy of strong lords who divide the world and for him, he would do the same with Russia. He is not doing it now because in “The medium term is going well for him because he is weakening Russia, spending little money, but it is necessary, that there be no doubt that Trump is going to sit down, he is going to close an agreement with Putin as it suits him.”
