The U.S. Really, Really Wants Sweden to Join NATO

Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at U.S. efforts to solidify Swedish NATO membership, a broken cease-fire in Sudan, and Scotland’s latest SNP controversy.

The West is far from abandoning Sweden’s NATO bid. In a rare visit to the Nordic nation, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin—along with Erik Ramanathan, the U.S. ambassador to Sweden, and Julianne Smith, the U.S. ambassador to NATO—met with Swedish Defense Minister Pal Jonson on Wednesday to discuss expanding the military bloc. This was the first visit by a Pentagon chief to Stockholm in more than two decades.

Sweden and Finland first pushed for NATO membership following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, and earlier this month, Helsinki officially became the alliance’s 31st member. But both Turkey and Hungary continue to block Stockholm’s path. Ankara specifically has pushed against Swedish membership over its support for Kurdish groups that Turkey labels as terrorists. Sweden has since paved the way for legislation to toughen its stance against terrorism, but tensions between the two countries flared in January after a far-right politician with ties to the Kremlin burned a Quran near the Turkish Embassy in Sweden.

Many experts and officials, including NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, believe it is unlikely that progress will be made until after Turkey’s presidential election in May; Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has used the rejection of Sweden’s NATO bid as a reelection campaign strategy. Both Austin and Stoltenberg have said they aim to secure Swedish membership before July’s NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania.

The U.S. visit coincides with Sweden’s biggest military exercise in 25 years, known as Aurora 23. Beginning this Monday, 26,000 military personnel from 14 nations participate in almost monthlong land, sea, and air drills. This comes while Washington has increased its military cooperation with Stockholm over the last few months. Both the United States and Sweden are also staunch Ukraine supporters. Sweden has provided more than $2 billion to Kyiv since the war began, and on Wednesday, Ukraine received Washington’s U.S.-made Patriot missile system it requested last year. Now, the two nations hope cementing a NATO alliance will further that outreach as well as European security at large.

• The West Is Preparing for Russia’s Disintegration by Anchal Vohra

• Ukraine’s Longest Day by Franz-Stefan Gady

• Ukraine and Russia Need a Great-Power Peace Plan by Stephen M. Walt

Foreigners flee Sudan. The specter of civil war in Sudan is growing. Despite both the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) agreeing to a 24-hour cease-fire on Tuesday, neither side paused its fighting. Warplanes are reported to have hit Khartoum International Airport, as around 6 million residents in the capital hide in their homes from the crossfire and debate fleeing. Nearly 300 people have died so far.

As the violence spreads, foreign diplomats and international aid workers are becoming targets, some of whom have been “harassed, beaten, or, in several instances, sexually assaulted by fighters believed to be aligned with the RSF,” sources told FP’s Robbie Gramer and Jack Detsch. Numerous Western governments have begun mapping out rescue plans. On Wednesday, Japan announced it would evacuate all of its citizens from the African country—making it the first nation to fully bolt since fighting began five days ago. But evacuations are easier said than done. The airport bombings prevented German aircraft from successfully rescuing 150 of its citizens living in the city. “This is an absolute nightmare scenario,” one Western official told Foreign Policy on condition of anonymity.

“Total meltdown.” The Scottish National Party (SNP) is in a wee bit of trouble. Treasurer Colin Beattie was arrested on Tuesday in connection with an ongoing investigation into the governing party’s finances—only hours before First Minister Humza Yousaf planned to announce the government’s priorities for the next three years. Beattie, who was released later that day without charge, has since stepped down until the investigation, called Operation Branchform, is concluded.

At issue is whether party funds specifically earmarked for a second independence referendum campaign were used for other things, potentially including personal purchases. Former SNP chief executive Peter Murrell, the husband of former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, was arrested two weeks ago but was also released without charge pending further investigation. Senior SNP officials reportedly fear Sturgeon herself will soon be arrested for questioning as well. Scottish Conservatives are calling for Sturgeon’s and Murrell’s suspension from the party, saying the SNP faces a “total meltdown” with this latest controversy, but Yousaf has stood firm that “people are innocent until proven guilty.”

Spyware’s home in Latin America. Mexico is the world’s most prolific user of Pegasus spyware, according to a New York Times investigation this week. Data shows Mexico’s government and military have used the surveillance tool, which is made by the Israeli company NSO Group, to monitor political dissidents and human rights activists, similar to how other countries—like Rwanda and India—used the software. But whereas other foreign governments are cutting ties with Pegasus, Mexico’s military has maintained its contract.

Mexico has a fraught past with foreign spyware. Its federal agencies began purchasing surveillance technology in 2011, with the stated goal of using the software to target criminals, such as Joaquín Guzmán Loera, known as El Chapo. However, evidence shows Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s administration has used the tech to silence critics—weakening the country’s already fragile democracy, FP’s Rocio Fabbro reports.

Not everything’s better when put to a little music—or so French President Emmanuel Macron is learning. In a staged singalong with a group of young Parisians, Macron joined in on some traditional tunes to boost public approval ratings after his highly controversial pension reform bill passed last week. Other French citizens have taken to banging saucepans at him to show their discontent. It was his first public appearance since the ruling, and his handling of the situation was tone deaf at best.