Have you heard the phrase “hope for the best, prepare for the worst”? NATO officials put that advice into practice. They staged a war game to test their response to an attack.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, or NATO, formed after World War II. Member nations agree to come to each other’s defense if attacked. In such an event, NATO could invoke Article 5, its “collective defense clause.”
But much must happen before an international conflict reaches that point. The recent military exercise tested how NATO nations would act before invoking Article 5.
Officials laid out a hypothetical scenario. One of NATO’s newest members, Sweden, faced a threat from an “unnamed country” on its eastern border. The game focused on the Swedish island of Gotland. This island sits in the Baltic Sea between Sweden and Russia. It’s a spot of particular strategic importance.
“If you control Gotland, you pretty much control the central part of the Baltic Sea,” says Sweden’s chief of defense, General Michael Claesson.
It’s not tough to guess which real-world threat the “unnamed country” represents. Tensions build between Russia and NATO. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine put the rest of Europe on edge. That event prompted Sweden to join NATO in the first place. Russia hasn’t yet targeted NATO territory with military aggression. But Russian cyberattacks have struck NATO nations. Russian agents also spread online disinformation campaigns. Such campaigns can weaken Russia’s adversaries by sparking divisions among a nation’s people.
Some NATO members also suspect that the United States’ commitment to the group is wavering. U.S. officials removed 5,000 troops from Germany this year. They hint at removing even more. President Donald Trump criticizes NATO for failing to support the war against Iran.
In an unusual twist, Ukraine—a non-NATO nation—joined in the war game. Ukrainian drone pilots offered advice. They have hands-on experience facing Russia in drone warfare. They passed on some of the valuable lessons learned to Sweden in a drone exercise, in which they squarely defeated Sweden’s troops.
NATO nations prepare for the worst. At the same time, leaders work hard to maintain peace. We can pray that God would give world leaders the wisdom to avoid conflict.
The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but the victory belongs to the Lord. — Proverbs 21:31
