Download - Newsletter YATA april 2014
April 15, 2014 Dear all, March was an extremely busy month for young people and professionals all around our network. The situation in Europe has changed from a minor political dispute to an international crisis that Europe has not seen since the end of the Balkans wars. A stable security environment was shattered by the de facto annexation of the Crimean peninsula and the ongoing political pressure on all sides involved. This has caused a lot of nervous voices to appear on the Eastern borders and concerned ones in NATO. Post Afghanistan topics have been shadowed by the new geopolitical or regional shifts of power in Europe. YATA members have become the forefront of the media attention on social media regarding security issues that their own countries and the alliance as a whole are facing. It has been 10 year since one of the largest enlargements of NATO took place on 29th of March 2004 and we can see how these new members enriched the alliance and especially YATA as a whole. Croatia and Albania are also celebrating their 5th anniversary in NATO. I am very proud on what the Youth Atlantic Treaty Association has done so far. We have been moving slowly but surely on a path we knew we could follow and expand to encompass YATA member’s wishes and needs. Chapters are seeing better communication and response from the Executive Board and we on the other hand are getting great cooperation and positive feedbacks from them. Spring will be a busy period for YATA as many events will take place. NorSec, Globsec, GYM NATO, DAYS are just some of these event where young professionals can meet and discuss their experiences and build their knowledge with the incorporation of new ideas and information. Smaller, but not at all less important are the local events that are taking place all around our network. These events which are aimed at the public and professionals outside of the security field and NATO affairs, serve one of the most important thing for maintaining our future cooperation: understanding and communication among the public. YATA is as strong as we the members involved. I am very happy to see smaller event that take place around the network and the numbers that are much higher as I have expected. There is at least one event per week somewhere in the network, either aimed at students or open to the public. The outreach we have is enormous and the impact one of the largest security related network of young professionals has is not to be underestimated. A LinkedIn group will help us form better connections and easier ways of connection to people around our network and I am pleased to say that it become operational in a couple of weeks the latest. The North American Action Group has already started to contact people that wish to join and help connect people in Europe and the US and Canada on a more practical and useful manner. I am also happy to say that mr Jozef Kosc
Youth Atlantic Treaty Association Newsletter 2014-‐3
will be the leader of the group and will help facilitate the processes of communication and keeping the group on their toes! Daniel Fazlić – YATA Executive Vice President
1. Report on Washington study tour by Rowin Appelman Last week of March 2014
Dear YATA members, The past 8 weeks have been very intense and crucial within the transatlantic alliance. Russia emerged into its sphere again, and Putin seems to ignore geopolitical consequences while pursuing his march Westwards. It demands a response from the West, which surprisingly takes a long time to even get discussed among its members. I was in Washington on behalf of YATA two weeks ago, together with delegates from the ATA, to meet with all important think tanks, and to ask for their opinion on the matters at hand. Brookings Institution, CSIS and the Centre for American Progress all stressed the same point: the European Union needs to take a stand, and act openly/visibly, as the United States will not act on its own in this case. Interesting was the meeting with the US-‐Ukraine Foundation, to receive further insight on the primary candidates up for election, and to view the Ukraine case through the perspective of Russia. The Foundation explained who is backing up the Russians, and how they regret that everyone already seems to speak about a "lost Crimea". They spoke about Russia's dependence on export, sometimes up to 30% of its GDP, and the opinion and influence of its rich minority, focussing interestingly already just on the devastating consequences of cutting Visa and MasterCard traffic. Johns Hopkins University's experts spoke with us on the importance for NATO to look at its contingency planning: the situation surrounding Russia and the Ukraine could be a game changer at this stage for the strength of NATO’s Alliance. It now has a security problem, which it did not know it had before. Additional infrastructure is not necessarily needed in Europe, but showing force is. Military port visits and visible training are needed in the nearby future, and NATO will have to respond when a cyber attack will be launched at one of our partner. It is not about putting up military bases at this point, nor to raise the nuclear issue. There is no military need for that. We have good contingency planning within our Alliance, but considering the situation, we need to properly update our planning. Contingency planning should be one of the main focus points of NATO at this time, according to them. The Pentagon and Leo Michel, from the National Defense University, stressed to us to also not forget Romania and Moldova, as the Russian effect might reach beyond the Ukraine. The upcoming NATO Summit needs to focus on strengthening the divided and weak West, while building a new Capabilities package, which is robust on Article 2, Article 5 and European territory. The Heritage Foundation
Looking back at previous YATA events
explained the need for a so-‐called Partnerships 2.0 Group, including Sweden, Finland and Kazakhstan, who have all proven themselves in NATO missions in recent years. Hearing all the opinions, I am curious to see what developments will arise, and I would love to discuss this with all of you. I hope everyone is reaching out within their own network in these crucial times, and stirring the debate which is so needed at this point.
2. ''Five years of Croatia in NATO'': ATA/YATA Croatia – 1st of April 2014
On April 1st the Atlantic Council of Croatia hosted an international conference ''Five years of Croatia in NATO'' at the Croatian Defense Academy ''Petar Zrinski'' in Zagreb. The conference gathered more than 50 participants from the region including government, military, academia and YATA representatives from Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, and United States. The goal of the conference was to evaluate the first five years of Croatia's integration into NATO and to share valuable experiences with countries from the region that are membership candidates. The ceremony was opened by Prof. Dr. Radovan Vukadinović, President of the Atlantic Council of Croatia. He emphasized the value of Croatia as a serious partner in NATO's operations all over the world, where the Croatian flag is proudly carried on representing the transatlantic values. Following dr. Vukadinović's remarks the audience was honored to have Ambassador Kenneth Merten, US Ambassador to Croatia deliver a speech to further welcome conference attendees. His remarks focused on the shared values of the transatlantic community, and the uniqueness of NATO because of those values. General Drago Lovrić, Chief of General Staff of the Croatian Armed Forces stated that the last five years were a very important period for the development of the Croatian Armed Forces
and stressed out new capabilities gained in NATO. He emphasized that the Ukrainian crisis showed the importance of maintaining Transatlantic ties and stressed out regional cooperation conducted between Croatia and its neighboring countries, especially the Republic of Serbia.
3. YATA Norway: Three major events in one day 25th of March 2014 On 25 March YATA Norway and its sub-‐divisions organized three seminars in three different cities, with a total attendance of approximately 320 people. Oslo: YATA Norway invited members to an exclusive seminar with the Norwegian oil and gas company Statoil. Topic of the seminar was the terrorist attacks in 2013 on the gas facility in In Amenas, Algeria, which is operated by a joint venture between Sonatrach from Algeria, UK-‐based BP and Statoil. In total 67 people were killed during the hostage crisis, of which 5 Norwegians. 12 Norwegians survived the attacks. Bergen: YATA Bergen held an event with Major-‐General Robert Mood about the Syrian Civil War. Major-‐General Mood was in 2012 appointed as Head of the United Nations Supervision Mission in Syria (UNSMIS). After the failed negotiations in the so-‐called Geneva II Conference on Syria in January 2014, he shared his thoughts and views on how the Syrian Civil War, which is described as one of the world’s worst humanitarian disasters, could be solved and handled. Trondheim: YATA Trondheim invited to a seminar with the Norwegian Police Security Service (PST). What kind of threats can we expect in the upcoming year? How likely can we expect a terrorist attack on Norway again? What danger do returned warriors from Syria impose? These were among the questions the Police Security Service answered during the session. PST was particularly focusing on what students in particular should be aware of in daily life. An English summary of the seminar can be found on YATA Norway’s homepage.
4. “NATO & EU Roundtable 2014” YATA Estonia – 4th – 6th April 2014
NATO’s 65th anniversary celebration event took place in the center of Tallinn, in a comfortable and contemporary Nordic Hotel Forum, that gladly adopted more than 100 guests and participants
from various European countries and beyond. At the beginning of the conference students and diplomats were warmly welcomed by Secretary General of Estonian MFA Mr Alar Streiman. In his welcome address Secretary General noted that for 65 years NATO has remained a main guarantor of European security. He also stressed the universality of the core values that underpin the Alliance. The discussion started with question on NATO’s development from its foundation to the present day, how the alliance has managed to transform and what tasks it has to perform in the future. The first who took the floor was British Ambassador to Estonia H.E. Mr Christopher Holtby. H.E. Mr Holtby brought up the fact that during recent years there has been lack of unity between the alliance members, which has resulted in a lack of cooperation. According to the ambassador, the alliance must develop existing potential and work more closely with the United Stated and use the advantages of this transatlantic relationship.
Mrs Guna Šnore for her side noted that the transformation of the alliance and its enlargement is a story of success. Main topics will be the situation in Ukraine, the defense spending of NATO members, as well as planning further actions to optimize and expand alliance activities. After a short break and celebrations of NATO’s 65th anniversary, discussions continued on the topic of “New threats and opportunities in the 21st century and the role of international organizations.”
Interesting questions that came from the audience addressed the distortion of the facts by the media and how NATO could affect the provision of reliable information. According to panelists, press and media are, and should be, free and any control over these is in conflict with the democratic principles. To obtain reliable information the
public should have access to various sources of information and be able to analyze it independently. The last section of the day was dedicated to the topic of “Military Cooperation among the Alliance and Partner Countries”. Participants and guests of the event had the possibility to listen two very interesting presentations-‐ first one from the representative of Baltic Defense College, Mr James Rogers, and the second one from Mr Kurt Engelen, representative of the Belgian Representation to the Military Committee of NATO. If the first day of the “NATO and EU Roundtable 2014” in Tallinn, Nordic Hotel Forum, was dedicated to the panels and presentations given by distinguished panelists, then the second and third day in Saka Cliff Manor, Ida-‐Virumaa, saw participants themselves engaging in deep discussions about NATO & EU relations in the form of a NATO simulation game. Each participant was assigned a NATO member country that he or she had to represent as well as a Committee (i.e. either Political and Partnerships Committee or Defence Policy and Planning Committee). All delegates were divided into 4 groups (moderated by Mr Tõnis Asson, Ms Tiiu Pohl, Mr Kurt Engelen and Mr Eoin McNamara) and then tasked to discuss at least two of the following topics depending on the Committee to where they were assigned to: 1) What is and could be the role of women in security? 2) The role of NATO, EU and Russia in the security of the South Caucasus? 3) How involved should NATO and EU be in the Arctic? 4) Situation in Ukraine (2014)
Upcoming YATA events: highlighted
1. GYM NATO 2014, 12 – 16 May 2014
GYM-‐NATO is an international student simulation of NATO’s decision making process that will be held in Gorizia (Italy) at the prestigious Conference Centre of the Degree Course in International and Diplomatic Sciences of the University of Trieste, Gorizia Branch. It provides a unique opportunity for students and young professionals to foster their awareness of NATO’s role, activities and organization as well as at increasing the understanding of the capabilities and the restrictions that shape the decisions of NATO Member States in matter of collective defense. Since the main theme of the simulation will be NATO’s role in the new Mediterranean geopolitical asset, we would like to aware our delegates of NATO’s activities with the partners in the broader region, especially the Mediterranean dialogue countries that will be included in the simulation, as well as the main challenges to the euro-‐atlantic integration and to the post-‐ conflict peace building operations. More than 100 students and young professionals will gather in Gorizia, from NATO Members and Partners Countries, to simulate intra-‐NATO diplomacy and to debate about these relevant issues, trying to think out of the box in order to produce some valiant policy recommendations. Furthermore, at the beginning of the simulation, members of the Italian Foreign Service, NATO civil and military officials will train our delegates through specific briefings and workshops.
2. Globsec 2014: Young Leaders Forum, 13-‐16 May 2014
On 13 -‐ 16 May 2014, Bratislava will yet again become the hub of security and foreign policy-‐making as top government, military and diplomatic officials as well as business and NGO leaders will gather for the 9th annual GLOBSEC 2014 Bratislava Global Security Forum. The Call for Applications for the 30 spots in the Young Leaders Forum is closed now. We hope that many YATA Chapters are sending in delegates aged between 25 and 35, and YATA President Rowinda Appelman looks forward to meeting them all (again) there.
3. 2BS Forum Montenegro -‐ YATA half year meeting, 29 – 31 May 2014 The half year meeting for this year will be organized during the 2BS Forum in Montenegro. The event will take place on the 30th and 31st of May, but YATA representatives will have their own day on the 29th of May, to discuss current issues within the network, and Chapter and cooperation updates. Finance opportunities for Chapters will be presented. For those of you who are attending 2BS please let the 2BS team know your flight details as soon as possible but no later than 1st of May. The YATA team is looking forward to be seeing all of you in Budva! For further information on the event, visit www.2bs.me.
4. Danish Atlantic Youth Seminar (DAYS) – 30 June – 6 July 2014
There are still a few available applications for the Danish Atlantic Youth Seminar (DAYS), from the 30th of June to the 6th of July 2014 at the Aalborg Air Base (Denmark)! The week will host numerous diplomats, academics, senior researchers and representatives from the Danish Defense sector in order to ensure an insightful and exciting debate.
The thematic agenda of DAYS 2014 will be “Conflicts and Warfare in a Globalized World” constituting issues such as «NATO post Afghanistan» or «The Arctic as a new sphere of interests», and you will also have an opportunity to test your diplomatic skills in the simulation game “Diplomacy and Crisis Management in the backyard of Europe. Case: The South Caucasus”. The price for participants will be 260 Euros for payments we receive before our first deadline (2nd of May) and 280 Euros for payments arriving later than this date. Closing dates for applications: Sunday the 27th of April. For further information, please consult the Facebook event (https://www.facebook.com/events/443788032417825/) and the official website (http://www.atlant.dk/arrangementer/2014/danish-‐atlantic-‐youth-‐seminar-‐2014/).
5. The South-‐Eastern European NATO Academy (SEE NATO), May 11-‐15 2014
(SEE NATO) is an international educational opportunity for university students from members or partners countries, designed to promote the importance of transatlantic values in our societies, while educating them about the modern day threats to global security that NATO HQ and its members face in our century, and about the abilities to respond. This event will host a five day international workshop and a simulation of an emergency situation, more specifically, participants will have the opportunity to gain a fruitful understanding of what policy options are available in a time of crisis and which are exactly the capabilities to respond. Leading in a new security climate, when the Alliance has taken on new roles, not only in fighting terrorism or in proving a safe world order, but also on conducting peacekeeping and humanitarian support, a clear understanding of the purpose and relevance of NATO amongst the youth is necessary for the future of national and global security. Furthermore, the simulation will focus on the importance of NATO’s close relations with its Member States and the necessity of Allies joining their efforts in achieving NATO’s primary transatlantic objectives. By providing a series of workshops, lectures and an active simulation, we will create an educational environment where students can get a clear understanding of how an international crisis is managed in today’s world. By simulating what NATO’s response mechanisms are, what capabilities and options it has available to it and how decision making processes within the North Atlantic Council works, students will gain invaluable insight into NATO’s role the 21th century, its importance to national security and the role plays in international relations.
We hereby present you with an overview of the upcoming international events. We will update this calendar whenever we receive new information, and actively ask the organizers of the events to keep us updated whenever new information or date changes arise. We will also post the announcement whenever registration opens up for one of the mentioned events. Please contact the YATA Chapters of the specific countries for any further information on the events. Date Event Country 24 – 27 April Norsec Norway 11 – 15 May SEE NATO Romania 12 – 16 May GYM-‐NATO Italy 14 – 16 May Globsec (25-‐35 year olds) Slovakia 29 – 31 May 2BS Forum / YATA half year
meeting Montenegro
Mid June Croatia NATO Summerschool Croatia 30 June – 6 July DAYS Denmark Last week of July PAYS Portugal 4 – 5 September NATO Summit Wales, UK Beginning of September Riga Conference Latvia September Balkan SAYS Slovenia November NATO Parliamentary Assem-‐
bly with YATA involvement Netherlands
November / December General Assembly -‐ unknown -‐ NB: The Parliamentary Assembly Session in the Netherlands will be attended by the Members of Parliament from the 36 countries involved within NATO. YATA President Rowinda Appelman is now in a far stage of negotiations to provide access to this event for YATA representatives. Further information will be provided on this event in the upcoming months.
If you need a letter of recognition, to show that your YATA Chapter is the official YATA organ within your country, please let us know. The ATA Secretariat and YATA President
Upcoming YATA events: international calendar
Letter of Recognition: official YATA Chapter
Rowinda Appelman will then help you receive one of these letters, to use when you contact government agencies and other institutions. Please keep in mind that it might take 1 day to conduct and send this letter, so please do not send requests last minute.
YATA, together with the ATA Secretariat will launch a YATA Photo Competition! This competition will ask participants – YATA and non-‐YATA – to capture in their own way, in one photo frame, what they consider to be the essence of security, NATO and defense, and the connection between the three points. Your pictures should reflect your own views what security is! The first call for pictures, followed by a selection by a committee will be announced on Sunday and the official opening of the competition will be Monday the 21st of April. The prize for the best picture, decided by the committee, will be a free admission to the Portuguese Atlantic Youth Seminar! We will have smaller prizes for pictures of the week, that will take the place of the cover on our Facebook page and the picture of the month that will be posted in Atlantic Voices. Do not miss this unique opportunity to get your message across our network! You can send your pictures to our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Youth-‐Atlantic-‐Treaty-‐Association/138147676262183 Or to emails: [email protected] and [email protected] who will make sure that the pictures will find the right people!
The YATA website in now working without major difficulties and we would like to ask our readers to give us any suggestions they may have regarding the page. We would also like to ask our Chapters to view their contact tab in the page and give us their introduction – a short summary of what the Chapter is doing, a couple of pictures and up to date contact information.
YATA photo competition
YATA website: your opinions matter!
Successful establishment of the North American Action Group
April was a busy month for the NA Action Group as it was finally becoming a reality that was brought alive from a theoretical framework. Mr Jozef Kosc has agreed to be the Leader of the group and will help in the group to facilitate communication between YATA Europe and Young professionals from the US and Canadian Chapters! The Group will have a core group of people ready by the end of the month but we are already pleased to say that the Canadian Atlantic Council has agreed to work with us through the group and they expressed a keen interest in connecting to YATA issues in Europe. I would like to congratulate all people involved in getting YATA a closer and better working relationship with all Chapters and I am looking forward to communicating and working with the group in the future!
1. Funding
The Board would like to remind all Chapters that NATO PDD has two deadlines for project funding still this year. Further information can be found through the following link: http://www.nato.int/cps/en/natolive/87998.htm The deadline is part of NATO’s Science for Peace and Security program. Deadlines for grant applications in 2014 still are 1 July and 1 October. Applicants should keep in mind that it can take up to 9 months before they receive a final offer. For further information on a quicker process, NATO PDD can be contacted directly, for special projects involving the youth. Next to that, our VP for Finance, Vladan Balaban, is working on a general YATA application for funding from the Council of Europe and the European Youth Foundation. A short presentation will be given at the 2 Be Secure Forum in Budva, Montenegro
Contact person per Chapter:
1. Rowinda Appelman: UK, Belgium, Finland, Spain, Armenia, Austria 2. Daniel Fazlić: Portugal, Canada, USA, Iceland, Lithuania, Turkey 3. Juxhina Sotiri: Georgia, Slovenia, Denmark, Bulgaria, Poland, Russia 4. Francisco Costa: Greece, Italy, Albania, Ukraine, Germany, Romania 5. Vladan Balaban: Macedonia, Croatia, Norway, Estonia, Slovakia, Hungary 6. Ilija Djugumanov: Montenegro, Serbia, Latvia, Azerbaijan, Netherlands, Czech
Republic, Bosnia-‐Herzegovina
Further Information: funding, internships and publications
regarding possible funding for Chapters and how they can apply for funding on their own. A copy of the presentation will be available for those who will not be attending.
2. Internship opportunities Type: Internship (21 or older) Where: HQ SACT – Norfolk, Virginia, USA
When: 2015: start dates determined individually (in principle, in Spring and Fall). Internships will be for a six month period.
Duration 6 months Application closing on: January 2nd 2014 to April 30th 2014 Link: http://www.act.nato.int/act-‐internship-‐programme Financial compensation: Yes: 1100$
Type: Internship Where: European Council – Brussels, Belgium When: 2015 Duration 5 months Application closing on: June 2nd 2014 to September 1st 2014 Link: http://ue.eu.int/contacts/traineeships-‐office/paid-‐traineeships?lang=en Financial compensation: Yes: TBA
Type: Internship Where: European Commission – Brussels, Belgium When: 2015 Duration 5 months Application closing on: Fall 2014 Link: http://ec.europa.eu/stages/about/whats_en.htm Financial compensation: Yes: Around 1000€
Type: Internship Where: Council of Europe – Brussels, Belgium When: 2015 Duration From 8 weeks to 5 months Application closing on: May 2nd 2014 Link: http://www.coe.int/en/web/jobs/traineeships Financial compensation: No
Type: Internship Where: NATO HQ – Brussels, Belgium When: 2015 Duration 6 months Application closing on: 15th April 2014 Link: http://www.nato.int/cps/en/natolive/72041.htm Financial compensation: Yes: 800EUR
Type: Internship Where: European Parliament When: 2015 Duration 5 months
Application closing on: 15th May 2014
Link: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/aboutparliament/en/007cecd1cc/Traineeships.html
Financial compensation: Yes: Around 1000€
If you come across any other interesting position, please inform the Executive Board.
3. Publications The March Edition of Atlantic Voices, called “Ukraine's Sovereignty & Russia's Near Abroad” can be found through the following link: http://issuu.com/atlantic_treaty_association/docs/vol.4__no._3__march_2014_1_final1 Please keep in mind that Atlantic Voices is always seeking new material. If you are a young researcher, subject expert or professional and feel you have a valuable contribution to make to the debate, please get in touch with the Executive Board. .