02 – April – 2020
Subject: Field Observations on COVID-19 crisis and practical suggestions for a more effective coordinated response from NATO under US Leadership
Attention: Senior Leadership in NATO
Quote :
“ This is a common invisible enemy and therefore, we need common and coordinated efforts by NATO Allies “
“ Nations are now focused on their own needs because this is a crisis which affects us all
, NATO was calling on allies to help each other out “
Secretary-General – NATO – Mr. Jens Stoltenberg, 1 – April-2020
Observations :
- There is an unprecedented demand for ventilators from 150 plus countries and this has resulted in the price increase of 10 times in the last 3 weeks. The quotations were 5500 USD and now they are in the range of 35-55.000 USD
- Traders, dealers have lined up in front of factories/warehouses with cash to bid for any amount that is available which is one of the main reasons for what we are seeing in the market now
- There is no coordination between countries and we have seen NATO Ally countries confiscating each other’s merchandise due to the panic and chaos that has been created in the market.
- The Chinese government is doing nothing to prevent this as they could have implemented various mechanisms such as price controls as well as central coordination with governments.
- On the contrary, the Chinese military has blocked the shipment of certain batches to Italy, the US and other countries as we observe that they have an agenda to utilize this current status to increase the panic, chaos mainly in NATO countries to prepare for the next stage of creating more political capital/advantages in their favor. We observe a clear Chinese strategy on multiple fronts to turn this to their advantage post corona era as well.
- The issue for disinfectants, masks, gloves are handled with a lot of efforts, however, ventilators have become the main issue of losing lives. Lack of units at hospitals have become a major cause of the losses as patients are turned back when they check-in and this will continue until a solution is found fort his critical problem
- Local production of ventilators has started in various Nato countries and within 6-8 weeks, we foresee a shortage of ventilators will be handled in certain member countries while others will continue to suffer from this problem.
- Nato has been coordinating certain efforts such as transporting patients from Italy to Germany for IC treatment and encouraging supplies aid from member countries to each other and doing a great service with various efforts.
- However ,NATO can create a more coordinated response acting as the general logistics & procurement institution to put a pressure on China to decrease the prices, control the flow of critical equipment and demonstrate unity by controlling this panic atmosphere as this has become an equal threat such as an invasion of an allied member. Governments are being criticized heavily by its citizens creating a potential risk of public disorder, lack of confidence in institutions is observed and NATO needs to prove again that it is the most powerful institution against any adversary element as has been the case for the last 70 years with US leading the effort
Threats :
- China is using this interim crisis period to its political advantage.
- China is trying to state the following: “ I have managed this crisis better than anyone and I can supply much-needed equipment as the sole provider unlike the US & NATO member countries and therefore I am the global leader in the new era “
- The real truth is that they are the main source of the problem and while they're filling their coffers with a lot of profits as a result of the loss of lives for controlling supply and allowing for price increases
- The chaos in Nato countries might result in economic downfalls whereby the Chinese economy will be growing which is another major threat for the balance of power
- China is already using this chaos for its traditional “ political capital deployment “ strategy. They have started sending aids/ medical supplies to African countries and in return, they are asking for contracts to be awarded back to them. As one example, this week China sent medical supplies aid to Sierra Leone.
- We are observing these similar Chinese strategies as we are in continuous talks with close to 10 African countries leadership and the trend is the same
Practical Solution Strategies & Our Current Course of Action :
- NATO’s Euro-Disaster Response Coordination Center – EADRCC can be mandated to act as the central procurement center for all NATO countries that shall bring the following advantages :
- Economies of Scale for procurement of the critical medical supplies and G to G interaction with the Chinese government demonstrating unity to have a better negotiating strength
- Central coordination in inventory management of ventilators and other critical equipment which will enable temporary shipment of goods from one member country to another to respond to an immediate crisis and reversing the shipment with the replacement of the equipment with new purchases.
- Sharing Data & Experiences to detect issues and problems between member countries to create swift responses and take pre-emptive measures for member countries that will face the same issues that other members have already experienced. COVID 19-Task force teams of each country shall assign one member to have joint calls daily to share the data & experience which will create a database of statistics, problems, solutions
- Post-Corona crisis, provide documented evidence in official capacities to commence legal action against China. Any resistance to the demands from NATO will allow us to verify and document their agendas before, during and after the corona problem.
- Africa has the potential to be affected severely from the crisis as the whole continent lacks qualified laboratories for testing, equipment, critical supplies as well as Finance to create rapid and effective responses to counter this crisis.
- China has already started working to take advantage of this situation and as a private business group, as of last week, we have established a private joint task force with our associates in the US and Italy to create a response to these Chinese attempts. We are in close contact with the African governments, working on sorting out finances for them utilizing their assets and also working on a structural proposal for US Exim and DFC to increase country limits for these African states while mitigating the risk of our Finance agencies
- Our concept is based on creating mobile hospitals with ICU units working in partnership with 2 US Military Contractors and a logistics center in Italy to assemble all the units first to run the tests for compatibility of different equipment to create a smooth operation when they are shipped to the fields in Africa.
- Africa also represents a refugee issue for our NATO allies in Europe when the situation gets out of control due to lack of infrastructure, Financial strength and destabilized regimes with continuous Chinese disruptive interventions.
We will continue putting all efforts to assist in dealing with this humanitarian crisis to advocate for US &NATO interests in our private capacities as it is time to unite all possible efforts from all layers of structures including governments, private entities, multilateral institutions , supranational organizations to bring more resources to be able to fight the COVID-19 virus with a view of keeping our systems , freedoms and societies intact immune from any external threats post corona era.
We remain at your disposal,
Kindest Regards,
H. Burak Erten Angelo Rossi
Published on
https://agenparl.eu/coronavirus-erten-letter-to-nato/