Stoltenberg asks in Davos to put security before trade and profits after the invasion of Ukraine

That the Russian invasion of Ukraine has changed the world as it was until February 24 is shown by the fact that the World Economic Forum (WEF) has granted a relevant space of its annual meeting to the secretary general of NATO.

Jens Stoltenberg issued a serious warning to the Davos Forum on Tuesday: war should not change long-term security needs for short-term economic interests.

A maxim applicable to both Moscow and Beijing.

“The war in Ukraine demonstrates how economic relationships with authoritarian regimes can create vulnerabilities.

Excessive dependence on the import of essential raw materials, such as energy.

Risks linked to the export of advanced technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence.

And a resistance weakened by foreign control of critical infrastructure such as 5G.

This is about Russia.

But it's also about China."

The secretary general of the Alliance has later specified that he is not opposed in principle to trade with Beijing, but he is opposed to leaving vital infrastructures such as 5G in the hands of Chinese companies.

The United States has long pressed European countries and others to exclude Chinese technology from 5G networks, where Beijing leads the way in technological development.

Washington considers Chinese technology company Huawei to be an arm of the Chinese Communist Party's global surveillance machine.

Huawei has repeatedly denied ties to the Chinese state, but has been at the center of the technology war between the US and China for years.

In a harsh and content-filled speech, Stoltenberg reminded the leaders and executives gathered in Davos that economic elections have consequences in terms of security and that, although free trade and globalization have provided well-being and prosperity, the time has come to rethink business alliances.

“Freedom is more important than free trade.

Protecting our values ​​is more important than profits.”

Stoltenberg has not spared words against Vladimir Putin, a president who seeks political objectives with military operations.

"We saw it in Grozny, we saw it in Georgia, we saw it with the annexation of Crimea and the bombing of Aleppo, he always pursues the same tactic," he stressed.

Hence, he has justified the number one of the organization, which NATO had been preparing since 2014, when Putin annexed Crimea, for a military attack on Ukraine.

An operation that has meant "a radical change for European security and for the world order" and that has been a strategic mistake for Putin.

“Last December Putin presented an ultimatum to NATO, he demanded a binding treaty (...), NATO's withdrawal from Eastern Europe and a stop to enlargement.

It wanted less NATO on its borders and now it is getting more NATO on its borders and more members.

Finland and Sweden have announced their candidacy for entry and that is historic”, she declared.

Stoltenberg has valued the deterrent role that the Alliance is playing.

“We must make sure that this terrible war does not escalate into a full-fledged war between Russia and Europe.

That is why we want to support Ukraine, but we are not going to send troops on the ground, we are not going to get directly involved, ”he said when asked about that possibility.

Hunger as a weapon of war

The NATO Secretary General was preceded on the main stage of the Davos Congress Center by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, who has accused Putin of using "hunger and grain" as a weapon of war, by bombing warehouses and burning wheat and corn fields, while limiting their exports to cause higher food prices and a cereal deficit that particularly harms the poorest countries.

“In the Russian-occupied Ukraine, the Kremlin Army is confiscating grain stocks and machinery (…).

And Russian warships in the Black Sea are blockading Ukrainian ships full of wheat and sunflower seeds," Von der Leyen said.

The European leader linked this strategy to "memories of a dark past" related to Soviet crop seizures and the "devastating famine of 1930".

The EU has promised to open "solidarity channels" with Ukraine, that is, alternative logistics routes to help the country export grain.

The Ministers of Agriculture of the EU countries were scheduled to meet this Tuesday in Brussels to discuss the progress in its implementation.

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