NATO and Russia Battle Over European Defense Shield at Youth G8/G20 Summit

Impact

In the Defense Committee of the G8 & G20 Youth Summits, delegates are debating the critical issue of international security on the second day of negotiations. Unlike real politicians, the delegates are not giving up when the topics get difficult.

The first theme of interest is the European defense shield. All the G8 representatives are aware that

The proposals that were put on the table have focused on restarting the NATO-Russia Council dialogue, pursuing a deeper strategic partnership. This means, first of all, temporary agreement as a starting point for concrete dialogue, to work out further technicalities regarding radar targeting data for the European continent.

Every delegate agreed with the implementation of transparency between the Russia and NATO, but there was disagreement between Russia and Canada and Russia and Japan for how to carry this out in practice. Russia rejected the proposal ultimately. From Russia's perspective, it’s not safe to share this kind of information with states with which there could be territorial tensions.

For the second half of the day, delegates debated the security of international waterways. The G8 nations have recognised that they are incurring ever increasing costs, because of the illegal activities in the international waterways; they also admitted that regional states do not currently have the ability to defend their own waterways. That’s why they agreed with sharing a supervision plan, in which international waters are free and safe.

On the last day of negotiations on Thursday, conditions seem to be good to achieve consensus and a shared great plan for international security.