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BALKANS

• According to AFP, Mijo Anic, the defense minister of Bosnia’s Moslem-Croat Federation, said on Thursday that COMSFOR, Gen. Sylvester, had dismissed a Bosnian Moslem general following allegations that he was involved in recent anti-U.S. protests. Anic reportedly told a news conference he had received a letter from Gen. Sylvester saying the general was being dismissed. He showed reporters a letter from Gen. Sylvester in which he stressed: "We have received information about the alleged involvement of Brigadier General Sulejman Vranj in the protests recently held in Sarajevo. Such activities are counter-productive for the peace process here." Anic reportedly said that Gen. Sylvester appeared to be referring to demonstrations by Bosnian Moslems in January to protest at the handover of six Arab terrorist suspects to U.S. authorities. The dispatch notes that an SFOR spokesman confirmed Vranj’s dismissal but declined to provide any additional information. The dispatch recalls that the men--five Algerians and a man of joint Algerian-Yemeni nationality--were arrested in Bosnia last October on suspicion of having links with Al Qaeda. The Sarajevo authorities handed the detainees over to U.S. officials on Jan. 18, for transfer to a prison camp for Taliban and Al Qaeda suspects at Guantanamo, adds the dispatch.

• The Financial Times reports that a Bosnia-based Saudi aid agency raided last October by NATO troops contained computer files with photographs of terrorist targets, maps of Washington’s government buildings and materials for forging U.S. State Department identification bridges. The newspaper quotes western diplomats saying the finding, finally confirmed Thursday after weeks of speculation among diplomats and Bosnian officials, suggested that Osama Bin Laden’s Al Qaeda cells were still present in Bosnia-Herzegovina. A related AP dispatch reports that a senior U.S. official disclosed Thursday that NATO authorities who raided a Saudi aid agency last fall found computer files containing photographs of terrorist targets and street maps of Washington with government building marked. The October raid of the Sarajevo Office of the Saudi High Commissioner for Aid to Bosnia also netted a computer program explaining how to use crop duster aircraft to spread pesticide, and materials used to make fake U.S. State Department identification badges and credit cards, the official reportedly told the news agency, on condition of anonymity. The dispatch adds that a high-ranking Bosnian government official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed the findings.

ISAF

• The Bush administration is divided over whether to build up the international peacekeeping force in Afghanistan in the face of deteriorating security in several parts of the country, writes the Washington Times. According to the newspaper, the Pentagon opposes expanding the force and prefers to spend the money on training an Afghan national army. The State Department, however, is said to support expanding ISAF, which includes no American troops. "There are definitely other points of view within the U.S. government on what to do about the ISAF. There is now no agreement on how to proceed," the newspaper quotes a State Department official saying, on condition of anonymity.

NATO-EU

• According to AFP, NATO Secretary General Robertson Friday praised the EU’s common currency, the euro, but said a European rapid reaction force would supplement NATO and not become a separate European army. "The common European currency was a big step, but there will be no common European army," he was quoted as saying in the Lithuanian daily Lietuvos Rytas, ahead of his arrival in Vilnius. The dispatch further reports that talking to journalists later, Lord Robertson stressed: "The European Union is seeking to create structures that will allow them to put together the component parts of a European rapid reaction force and to do so in association with NATO’s planning capabilities and indeed other capabilities that NATO might make available to the European Union. That is not a European army."

• According to industry officials, writes Defense News, Feb. 18-24, NATO is expected to issue requests for bids this summer for a satellite communications system to replace the Alliance’s aging spacecraft. Bids are expected to come from at least five nations: France, Britain, Italy, Spain and the United States, the officials reportedly said. The article remarks that NATO officials have long said the selection will be one of the most politically sensitive contract decisions they have ever made, as each of the five bidding nations wants its industry to have a hefty portion of the award. A further complication is that different governments have different broadcast frequencies for their satellites and related ground terminals, whereas NATO would like a system that is interoperable with the ground equipment used by all of its member governments. The article quotes a NATO spokesman saying NATO governments have not yet decided on a procurement schedule for what is called NATO Satcom Post-2000. It remains unclear whether NATO would purchase replacement communications capacity in a conventional satellite procurement, or become a customer for another satellite system already operated, or planned, by one or more NATO members, the spokesman reportedly added.

Media continue to focus on transatlantic relations.

"Aznar wants to prevent a drift between Europe and United States," writes Die Welt, quoting Spanish Prime Minister Aznar, whose country currently holds the EU’s rotating presidency, stressing in a news conference: "We have to cooperate with the U.S. closer than ever." The newspaper adds that referring to President Bush’s description of North Korea, Iraq and Iran as "an axis of evil," Aznar stressed that "the axis of evil does not mean that these countries form an axis, but that their politics are bad, for example they produce weapons of mass destruction." The United states has taken three decision, Aznar reportedly continued: "Their entry into World War II and the subsequent bonding of Western Europe through organizations such as NATO, the overcoming of the East-West conflict by a courageous initiative of the Reagan administration, and now the determined combat against world wide terror." According to the article, he added that now, it is not about the division into West and East, but the division into peaceful states and states that threaten world peace. "According to Aznar, it was only natural that the United States wants to do everything to prevent another 11 September," the newspaper adds and continues: "Aznar stressed that the Balkans had shown that Europe was unable to guarantee its external and internal security by itself. ‘Without the U.S., Milosevic would currently not be in the dock in The Hague,’ he explained. ‘Who in Europe would be ready to bear the actual consequences of any military intervention?’, he asked, stressing that transatlantic cooperation urgently needed greater intertwining."

Based on a conversation with French Foreign Minister Vedrine, the International Herald Tribune looks at "what bothers Europe," claiming that "American power isn’t the problem, just how it’s used."

"The Europeans, including the French, know they will have to live for the foreseeable future in a U.S.-dominated world…. The Europeans understand that American wealth has purchased a kind of military power the world has never seen before…. What does bother Vedrine is that America isn’t using its vast power wisely. And it is here that he thinks the United States could benefit from more consultation with its allies. That’s especially true over Iraq, Iran and the Arab-Israeli peace process, he says…. My hunch is that the French, and most other Europeans, would in the end support a well-drafted U.S. plan for toppling Saddam—but only if it was backed by a solid international coalition that was rooted in real consultation. Europe’s nightmare is that America will take actions that vitally affect their interests—without bothering to consider their views."

 FINAL ITEM