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NATO

• America has told Iceland that it values the defense role that it has in the region, amid reports that the U.S. might pull troops out at the Keflavik base and put it under NATO control, The Times notes. It quotes U.S. Secretary of State Powell, in Reykjavik for talks about the base, as telling the Icelandic Foreign Minister Asgrimsson: "We understand the importance of our presence here as part of our mutual defense efforts." La Libre Belgique notes Iceland’s concern for the alleged "American withdrawal from the island" and above all for the "decision of Washington to pass the Keflavik base under the NATO European Forces in Stuttgart."

In a contribution to the International Herald Tribune, Joseph Nye - dean of Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and author of "The Paradox of American Power: Why the World's Only Superpower Can't Go It Alone" – stresses that NATO remains popular in national capitals and, despite the skeptics, relevant to the new challenges. NATO retains a vital role in helping to manage relations with Russia and former members of the Soviet Union and in helping control crises throughout Europe, the author opines. Equally important, Mr. Nye continues, NATO helps to enhance the development of new democracies and ultimately is critical to the international cooperation needed to combat terrorism, which cannot be met solely by military means. Therefore, more needs to be done in coordinating intelligence, preparing defenses against cyber attacks and sharing best practices in making homeland security more robust in NATO member nations. NATO exists as an effective framework for coordinating preparations in the security area. If NATO did not exist, we would need to invent it, the author concluded.

The Times notes Secretary General Lord Robertson’s drive for internal reforms towards a more streamlined approach to cope with the quick decisions needed in an emergency, but without abandoning consensus. In a confidential letter to the Alliance foreign ministers, he said that NATO risked becoming marginalized if its new core responsibilities, including fighting international terrorism and preventing the spread of weapons of mass destruction, were not properly funded and better managed, The Times reports. It notes that NATO has undergone several transformations since the end of the Cold War, but it has remained tied to many of its old ways of doing business and it is also weighed down by micro-management under which even the most insignificant decision has to go through a painfully slow bureaucratic process. Lord Robertson’s drive for internal reforms is matched by his often-repeated appeals to the European members of NATO to spend more money on improving capabilities, the daily points out.

Secretary General Lord Robertson in Newsweek stresses that an "unstable world with irrational forces in many ways needs a NATO more than ever." He further underlines the need for NATO to evolve into an organization able to "tackle the next enlargement,…terrorism,…modernize its Armed Forces so that they are able to deal with conflicts that affect Euro-Atlantic security" and that can have a special a new relationship with Russia. Asked whether the Europeans would come forth with more money because of the costly transformation, Lorb Robertson replied that they are already spending "very substantially on defense:" The problem is that "they are still oriented to the cold war – conscript forces, tank formation, heavy armor – and it hasn’t changed." "That will change. But it is not going to happen overnight," the magazine quotes him as saying. Lord Robertson further reportedly added that the U.S. and Europe agree about NATO’s aim and how to get there.

NATO-ACCESSION

• Interfax news agency quotes Russian diplomatic sources as saying that when NATO expands, new member-nations must not automatically become members of the Russia-NATO council. The unnamed sources continued: The understanding reached in Reykjavik about setting up the council do not cover the participation of new members and when new countries join the Alliance, talks must be held with each of them individually on the possibility of their inclusion on the council. This must apply in particular to the Baltic countries, the diplomatic sources reportedly stressed.

• Russia’s Foreign Ministry praised today Latvia for amending an election language law that Moscow said discriminated against Russian speakers and that had threatened the Baltic nation’s bid to join NATO. AP reports that Latvia’s Parliament, voted last week to amend the law, which required that candidates for elected office be able to speak Latvian. Top NATO officials have long said the law did not meet the alliance's democratic standards. "We view this as a first step by the Latvian authorities toward creating a more democratic character of Latvia’s election legislation," the Russian ministry said in a statement. The law was widely viewed as the final obstacle for Latvia's membership in NATO

Die Welt stresses that Russia continue to oppose the accession. It quotes Russian Foreign Minister Ivanov as stating that a "mechanic enlargement is nothing but a relic of the past." The daily further writes that irrespective of the historic agreement between NATO and Russia, the majority of the Russian people maintain the old image of NATO. According to a poll published yesterday, 52% of the Russians consider NATO to be a threat against 31% in favor of it, the newspaper adds.

BALKANS

• An editorial in The Wall Street Journal points out that in the Balkans there is still an unfinished business and calls on NATO to take the lead in the overhaul of the Yugoslav military and political structures left over since the ousting of President Milosevic. The first aim is to help the Yugoslav Army to find a new role for itself and in particular help to create a framework for democratic control of the military, writes the article. It further suggests that NATO should move as quickly as possible to get the country into the Partnership for Peace Program and also keep up the pressure to resolve outstanding war crimes issues shortly. Most importantly, the daily stresses, NATO and EU should assist in the birth of a civilian security-policy in case Serbia and Montenegro embrace democracy for real.

Plans by the EU to conduct its first military operation in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia look increasingly doubtful after NATO and EU diplomats failed in Reykjavik to resolve a Greek-Turkish dispute over the terms of the mission The Financial Times writes.

Operation "Amber Fox" was supposed to have been taken over by the EU on the basis of arrangements dubbed "Berlin Plus," spelling out how the EU has assured access to NATO’s planning, assets and capabilities, which are vital for the EU since it lacks them, the daily notes. It continues that Greece, has held up agreement on Berlin Plus by insisting it should also include a general code of conduct while Turkey is blocking a special security agreement between the EU and NATO dealing with the confidential exchange of information once the Europeans takes over the mission. The daily concludes: As long as there is no agreement on the EU side, there can be no joint planning exercises between NATO and EU defense organizations. These are crucial for the success of Amber Fox. La Libre Belgique, carries similar information. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung writes that Spanish Foreign Minister and acting President of the EU council, Pique has made a new proposal to bridge the differences between the two countries, but he has not released any details. He further reportedly added that both the Greek and the Turkey Foreign Ministers gave him their assurances that they would do everything to solve the problem.

AFGHANISTAN

• British forces rushing to discover the roots of a mystery fever that has struck 18 troops at Bagram air base, evacuated another six soldiers to the United Kingdom for emergency treatment today after two had already been flown out of the country. AP quotes LTC Ben Curry, a British military spokesman, as saying that no fresh cases have been discovered over the last 22 hours, but "we still cannot categorically identify the source or nature of the infection, but symptoms are congruent with enteric febrile illness, which can in some cases show meningitis-like symptoms." Two of the 18, considered seriously ill, were flown Monday and Tuesday one to Britain and another to a U.S. military hospital in Germany, but they are reportedly "stabilizing" while the six were nor seriously ill.

 FINAL ITEM