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• Italian daily La Stampa expects a "radical enlargement" of NATO at the Prague summit next November. Echoing a widespread view in western media, the daily notes that in the wake of Sept. 11, focus has moved to the Black Sea region, increasing Bulgaria and Romania’s chances of membership. Among other things, the newspaper notes that a U.S. military base has already been built in Bulgaria for U.S. tankers involved in refueling U.S. aircraft during raids on Afghanistan. U.S. aircraft are also using Romanian airspace on their way to and from Afghanistan. The daily considers that the Black Sea region is being transformed into a military platform for the expansion of the "war against international terrorism." In a similar vein, Die Welt remarks that "the war against terror" has increased Bulgaria and Romania’s prospects for NATO membership.

Recalling NATO’s historic achievements, the Christian Science Monitor deplores what it considers as a "mutual malaise" between the United States and Europe.

According to the article, the current strategic discomfort is unfortunate for more than sentimental reasons. NATO’s presence literally saved Europe after 1950. Its charter was invoked for the first time to defend the U.S. after Sept. 11. But it is more than a military instrument, stresses the newspaper. NATO admonishes the allies to foster the development of peaceful and friendly international relations, an aspect of special relevance this year when new countries will receive the NATO membership they seek for their security, it adds. Insisting that the mutual malaise calls for "more than a pat on the head" when President Bush visits Europe in May, the newspaper stresses: "It needs a strong course of intimate consultation, appropriate for friends in time of trouble. NATO was historic in anchoring the U.S. in Europe. Together and with Canada, they form an Atlantic community that is not an anachronism, but a demonstration to the world of freedom in diversity not shaven by adversity. It would be a tragedy were it undermined by bad temper."

AFGHANISTAN

• Media focus on the deadly earthquakes in Afghanistan. Several highlight that troops serving with ISAF are helping with the relief effort. Deutschlandfunk, March 26, quoted the German Defense Ministry announcing Tuesday that the international force deployed in Kabul would participate in relief measures. The task would affect mainly engineers and medics. "ISAF troops are expected to be widely involved in the rescue operations," writes The Independent. The newspaper quotes defense sources as saying, however, that the 1,700-strong British expeditionary force, led by Royal Marines, will concentrate on military operations against remnants of Al Qaeda and the Taliban rather than take part in humanitarian missions. BBC World reported that ISAF dispatched a Chinook helicopter to Nahrin Tuesday. The helicopter carried reconnaissance teams from ISAF itself, aid agencies, Britain’s international development department and representatives of Afghanistan’s interim authority. It also transported a ton of emergency medical kits from the United Nations World Health Organization to the quake zone, said the broadcast. It quoted a British Defense Ministry spokesman as saying that the force was on standby to offer assistance, but had yet to receive a formal request from the interim government.

• Turkish Prime Minister Ecevit said today that Turkey soon would decide whether to take command of the international peacekeeping force in Afghanistan. AP quotes him as announcing that talks on "what conditions we requested and how far these can and can’t be met have ended." "We are now at the evaluation stage" and it looks like the situation will become clear "in the coming days," he reportedly added.

BALKANS

• According to AP, scientists said Wednesday that three years after NATO forces bombarded Yugoslavia during the Kosovo conflict they found areas where the soil, plants and even air were contaminated by depleted uranium. A 199-page report by the UN Environment Program (UNEP) reportedly said that the study of six sites in Serbia and Montenegro found "widespread, but low-level" contamination. UNEP Executive Director Klaus Toepfer is quoted as saying: "We did not find levels of radioactivity that could pose a direct threat to the environment or to human health. Nevertheless, we strongly recommend taking precautionary measures." According to the dispatch, team leader Pekka Haavisto said that the team was surprised to find DU particles still in the air. Based on these findings, he added, "the authorities should carefully plan how DU-targeted sites are used in the future. Any soil disturbance at these sites could risk releasing DU particles into the air." He reportedly said that continued monitoring was needed, and the local population should be told about the issues surrounding DU. According to the dispatch, the study said the biggest long-term concern was the possible contamination of ground water by penetrators—ammunition tips made from DU—that are slowly corroding. The water quality at the sites should be monitored on an annual basis, the report recommended.

TERRORISM-IRAQ

• Deputy Secretary of State Armitage’s briefing to the NATO ambassadors Tuesday on Iraq’s ability to develop and deploy weapons of mass destruction is noted. The International Herald Tribune observes that while the U.S. briefed NATO on Iraq, it offered no hints on a possible strike. In what it sees as moves paving the way for a U.S. attack, The Guardian reports meanwhile that the U.S. Air Force has begun preparations to move its Gulf headquarters from Saudi Arabia to Qatar, in order to bypass Saudi objections against military action against Iraq. The newspaper also quotes a senior executive of a Saudi contracting firm as saying that several companies had been invited to prepare bids to move computers and electronics from the hi-tech command center at the Prince Sultan air force base. And, adds the newspaper, the independent Saudi Information Agency reported that U.S. military trucks had been seen leaving the base at al Kharj, 50 miles south of Riyadh, and arriving at the border with Qatar in the second week of March. The apparent preparations to evacuate the Prince Sultan base are the latest in a series of U.S. moves preparing the ground for a U.S. military operation: central command has moved its service headquarters to the Gulf; and special forces have set up a base in Oman and, according to Turkish sources, have moved into Kurdish-run areas in northern Iraq. There have also been unconfirmed reports, in the U.S. press and from Iraqi opposition groups, of a quiet U.S. military buildup in Kuwait to between 25,000 and 35,000 troop, stresses the article.

• According to Reuters, European Commission President Romano Prodi said in an interview published today that he was deeply worried by the prospect of war with Iraq and that the EU was divided and unaware of U.S. plans. The report adds that he also told Britain’s New Statesman magazine that the international support for Washington’s "war on terror" was fraying at the edges, undermined by rising Palestinian-Israeli violence.

 FINAL ITEM