logo
As Trump negotiates with Putin, NATO fights Russian sabotage of undersea cables

As Trump negotiates with Putin, NATO fights Russian sabotage of undersea cables

NBC News25-03-2025

Lt. Cmdr. Sjoerd Knoop, captain of the Luymes, said dragging an anchor along the seabed was an obvious sign of suspicion as the crew searched for saboteurs. 'It's not normal behavior,' he said. Other possible warning signs include sudden changes of speed by the ships in the area around the undersea cables.
Since the launch of Baltic Sentry in mid-January, there have been no clear examples of sabotage. But it's not clear what exactly the warships would do if they did come across an attack. NATO has no law enforcement powers and would likely have to rely on authorities in its member states to carry out arrests and prosecutions once the suspect ship passed through their territorial waters.
'NATO is here in the first place to deconflict and to deter, and we hope with our mere presence anybody who would think about inflicting damage to critical underwater infrastructure will think twice,' said Kockx.
The number of ships involved in Baltic Sentry fluctuates — there were seven vessels involved while NBC News was observing the mission — but all are European. U.S. involvement is limited to reconnaissance aircraft and a small force of Marines equipped with drones deployed to an island off the coast of Finland.
In that sense it appears to meet Trump's demand for a NATO alliance in which European states do more to protect themselves and rely less on the U.S.
But what works for a relatively small-scale naval patrol may not be replicable for the defense of a continent, where European allies rely heavily on advanced American capabilities like anti-missile systems and midair refueling.
Some Europeans fear that Trump's warm words for Putin and his criticism of NATO allies are signs that he is preparing to abandon the traditional U.S. role in Europe's security.
'It is clear that the Americans — or in any case, the Americans in this administration — do not care much about the fate of Europe,' said Friedrich Merz, the incoming chancellor of Germany, in a televised interview hours after his general election victory on Feb. 23.
Pete Hegseth, the U.S. defense secretary, has said that while the Trump administration remains committed to NATO's core principle of collective defense it was shifting its focus from Europe to the Pacific.
NATO naval officers interviewed by NBC News insisted that the political tensions between the U.S. and its European allies were not filtering down to the operational level. 'We are still NATO, we are one, and we are working together, absolutely,' said Kockx.
At the stern of the Hinnøy, there were what appeared to be three small, bright orange submarines. Each was in fact a different type of underwater drone. They were designed for the ship's original purpose of finding and disarming naval mines.
But they have also proved helpful in giving the crew a detailed look at the undersea cables they are tasked with protecting. One crew member laid an appreciative hand on a Pluto Plus 40, an Italian-made drone about two yards long equipped with several cameras.
'It's a very effective way to get eyes down at the sea bottom,' he said.

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Defense rests case in second trial of Karen Read for Boston police officer boyfriend's death
Defense rests case in second trial of Karen Read for Boston police officer boyfriend's death

The Independent

time26 minutes ago

  • The Independent

Defense rests case in second trial of Karen Read for Boston police officer boyfriend's death

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging. At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story. The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it. Your support makes all the difference.

'There is no Plan B': Republicans make a daring bet on the debt limit
'There is no Plan B': Republicans make a daring bet on the debt limit

NBC News

timean hour ago

  • NBC News

'There is no Plan B': Republicans make a daring bet on the debt limit

WASHINGTON — As Republicans barrel toward a critical deadline this summer to lift the debt ceiling, they say there's no 'Plan B' to avert an economically disastrous default if they fail to pass the massive bill for President Donald Trump's agenda in time. Congressional Republicans are eyeing increasing the debt limit by $4 trillion to $5 trillion so the government can keep borrowing to meet the country's obligations. It's part of their broader domestic policy package, which the Senate needs to pass before it can go back through the House and ultimately to Trump's desk for his signature. And the GOP only has three votes to spare in both chambers. 'There is no Plan B,' Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said Tuesday when asked by NBC News if he has a backup plan for the debt limit. 'It's Plan A. We have to get it done. Failure is not an option.' It's a risky gamble by GOP leaders, who are putting all their chips on passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act by the debt ceiling deadline. 'We're going to get reconciliation done,' Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyo., said when asked what the party's fallback plan is on the debt ceiling. (Reconciliation refers to the budget process Republicans are using to pass their bill, which allows them to bypass the 60-vote threshold in the Senate and cut Democrats out of the process.) The Treasury Department has urged Congress to raise the debt ceiling "by mid-July" to safely avoid default. The Congressional Budget Office projected this week that the deadline may be later, 'between mid-August and the end of September,' although that won't be official unless the Treasury Department agrees. If Republicans fail to pass their sprawling bill in time, they would need to negotiate with Democrats to pass a standalone debt limit extension through the 60-vote process in the Se nate. But there have been no negotiations between party leaders on that front, according to Republican and Democratic aides with knowledge of the dynamics. One GOP aide said the party is 'full steam ahead on Plan A' and suggested there may still be time to consider a fallback if they absolutely need to. Some Republicans say it's a deliberate tactic to drive up the urgency of passing their filibuster-proof bill. 'We should be set an expectation that we're getting this done in July, and it includes the debt ceiling,' said Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C. 'I think the minute you start talking about a backup plan, you're going to have a backup plan.' If Republican leaders eventually decide they want to cut a bipartisan deal on the debt ceiling, it's unclear what — if anything — Democrats would demand. Some, like Sen. Elizabeth Warren, of Massachusetts, and Rep. Brendan Boyle, of Pennsylvania., have insisted on abolishing the debt limit entirely in order to prevent the full faith and credit of the United States from being used as leverage in policy negotiations. That's an idea Trump recently endorsed. 'I am very pleased to announce that, after all of these years, I agree with Senator Elizabeth Warren on SOMETHING,' Trump wrote on Truth Social last week. 'The Debt Limit should be entirely scrapped to prevent an Economic catastrophe.' But there's scant support within the GOP for it, as Republicans have found success using it to extract concessions from Democratic presidents in the past. There's no indication that Democrats would respond in kind this year if Republicans came to them and asked for their votes on the debt ceiling. 'I'm not debating hypotheticals,' Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said when asked what he'd want in exchange.

Hegseth jokes about US allies doing nothing in Afghanistan – despite hundreds losing their lives
Hegseth jokes about US allies doing nothing in Afghanistan – despite hundreds losing their lives

The Independent

timean hour ago

  • The Independent

Hegseth jokes about US allies doing nothing in Afghanistan – despite hundreds losing their lives

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth appeared to make light of the contributions made by America's NATO allies during the war in Afghanistan at a Capitol Hill hearing on Wednesday. Speaking before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Hegseth attempted to make a point that the White House and President Donald Trump himself have frequently made: that other NATO member-states should increase their defensive capabilities to match the benchmarks laid out in the defense pact's charter. Instead, the secretary harked back to a remark he told Sen. Chris Coons (D-Conn.) was commonly made by US service members on the ground in Afghanistan during his time in the service. Hegseth said his fellow Army National Guardsmen would often joke that the ISAF acronym on their shoulder patches — which stood for International Security Assistance Force — really stood for, 'I saw Americans fighting.' 'Ultimately it was a lotta flags. Lotta flags. [But it] was not a lot of on-the-ground capability,' Hegseth continued in disparaging the NATO troops. 'You're not a real coalition, you're not a real alliance, unless you have real defense capability, and real armies that can bring those to bear.' His remark drew immediate rebuke from Coons, who noted the military and human contributions that America's allies made after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, when NATO's Article 5 was invoked for the first time. The Democratic senator launched into an explanation about how Denmark, with a population of just six million, suffered some of the highest losses per capita of any coalition ally, only closely trailing the United States. 'Let's just make clear for the record that our military partners in Afghanistan included many who served and died,' said the senator. But Hegseth wasn't finished. 'Don't try and make it look like I don't care about the investments of our partners,' said the secretary. 'Of course I do. I recognize that there were lives lost from other countries. But the bulk of the effort was Americans.' Alongside the US, 31 other countries participated in the war in Afghanistan and saw soldiers killed in combat and due to other circumstances. The U.S. lost 2,461 troops over the course of the longest military engagement in U.S. history, followed by the UK, which lost 457 service members. The final deaths of the war occurred during a chaotic withdrawal from the country in 2021, following the fall of large tracts of territory to Taliban militants the U.S .and its allies failed to dislodge over the course of 20 years. A blast attributed to Islamic State militants killed more than a dozen US service members outside of Kabul's airport during the evacuation, while thousands of desperate Afghans crowded the facility and sought exit on American planes. America's participation in the war grew unpopular as it dragged on, and the withdrawal of forces was ordered by Donald Trump during his first presidency. Completed under Joe Biden, the chaotic nature of the pullout and the speed of the collapse of Afghanistan's democratic government were points of soreness and contention in Washington, with defense hawks fretting that the Taliban takeover amounted to the country turning into a breeding ground for al Qaeda, the Islamic State and other terror groups once again. Britain's House of Commons library reports that the total cost of UK contributions to the war topped 32.8 billion pounds, adjusted for 2024-25 price levels. Tens of thousands of Afghan refugees were also resettled by the UK and other US partners. In 2021 and the two years following, Afghan refugees were the most common nationality accepted by the Home Office, according to the government's figures. The Trump administration in January froze a program allowing Afghan citizens who helped the US during the war against the Taliban, Islamic State and Al Qaeda to resettle in America.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store