Military

DSACEUR

¨         Moscow's Agentstvo Voyennykh Novostey, an independent Russian Internet website devoted to military affairs, announces DSACEUR Gen. Stöckmann's visit to Georgia Aug. 19-20.  The report quotes Georgian Deputy Defense Minister Bezhuashvili saying Georgia-NATO integration would be discussed during the general's visit.  "During his visit, the high-ranking NATO commander will be informed about the course of Georgia's army reforms and progress in the implementation of the U.S. military assistance program," the report quotes Bezhuashvili saying.  The dispatch further reports that Gen. Stöckmann will meet with President Shevardnadze as well as top Georgian government officials.

NATO

¨         AFP reports NATO Secretary General Robertson on Saturday pledged assistance by the Alliance for flood-stricken people in six central European countries.  "I am personally saddened by the scale and consequence of the floods and I should like to assure the citizens and governments of the countries hit by this natural disaster that they can count on NATO and the Alliance's member states and partners to come to their assistance," the dispatch quotes Lord Robertson saying in a statement.  He reportedly added that the Euro-Atlantic Disaster Response Coordination Center (EADRCC) maintained contacts with Prague and other capitals to provide further assistance if needed.  EADRCC, which was created in 1998, is the focal point for coordinating disaster relief efforts of the 46 Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council (EAPC) nations in case of natural or technological disasters within the EAPC geographical area, stresses the dispatch.  In a similar vein, Reuters highlights that NATO's  disaster relief arm was coordinating assistance for the Czech republic and had offered its support to five other central European countries, including Germany. Prague's CTK, Aug. 16, reported that in a message to President Havel, Lord Robertson expressed sympathy for the Czech government and people hit by the recent devastating floods as well as solidarity with other flood-afflicted European countries. 

¨         According to Reuters, the Czech Republic said Monday it would cancel a plan to buy 24 fighter planes to replace its ageing fleet of MiG-21s as it looks to rebuild after severe flood damage. The dispatch quotes a Defense Ministry spokesman saying Defense Minister Tvrdik will not submit a plan for the purchase to the government.  "The minister will instead submit a different plan on how to defend Czech airspace from 2004," the spokesman reportedly told a news conference.  AP writes that in the meantime, Czech officials continued preparations for the NATO summit due to take place in Prague in November, and a presidential spokesman stressed that the disastrous flooding should not spoil the plans.

BALKANS

A purported statement by COMKFOR, Lt. Gen. Valentin, that the recent detention in Kosovo of a group of ethnic Albanians was aimed at preventing the group from destabilizing upcoming elections in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia is noted by the Financial Times.   The newspaper suggests that the statement confirmed recent warnings from Skopje, so far denied by the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia's ethnic Albanian parties, that new rebel formations aim to restart the armed conflict that pushed the country to the brink of civil war in 2001. 

Media continue to report on SFOR's large-scale operation last week to pursue information concerning indicted war criminal Radovan Karadzic.  Media generally echo statements by SFOR officials that the noose is tightening around the former Bosnian Serb leader.

COMSFOR Lt. Gen. Sylvester insisted that Karadzic's arrest was not the aim of last week's operation.  But he stressed that the noose is tightening around Karadzic and SFOR would now decide when and where to use the information it has gathered, wrote De Volkskrant, Aug. 17.  "Gone is the time when SFOR looked idle while Karadzic was visiting a café in Sarajevo, as was reported two years ago, or when he spent his holidays on the coast of Montenegro, as was reported by local newspaper only one year ago," wrote the Dutch daily.   It stressed, however, that while SFOR is now more resolute in the search for Karadzic, it cannot count on the cooperation of local authorities.  The newspaper based its conclusion on statements by Republika Srpska President Sarovic that the SFOR operation was "unnecessary" and on the conviction that no cooperation is likely until after the October election in Bosnia.

Officials said troops from the Alliance had gained new information about the support network said to be keeping Karadzic on the run, writes AFP, noting that NATO sources have blamed earlier failure to capture Karadzic on a local alert network helping the war crimes suspect.

IRAQ

¨         In the September issue of Washington Monthly, former SACEUR, ret. Gen. Clark, opines that "in the war on terrorism, alliances are not an obstacle to victory.  They're the key to it."  Stressing that the longer this war goes on, the more America's success will depend on the willing cooperation and active participation of Washington's allies to root out terrorist cells in Europe and Asia, to cut off funding and support of terrorists and to deal with Saddam Hussein and other threats, Gen. Clark writes:  "The real lesson of the Kosovo campaign at the highest level:  NATO worked. It held political leaders accountable to their electorates.  It made an American-dominated effort essentially their effort.  It made an American-led success their success. And, because an American-led failure would have been their failure, these leaders came determined to prevail.  NATO not only generated consensus, it also generated an incredible capacity to alter public perceptions, enabling countries with even minimum capacities to participate collectively in the war..  The lesson of Kosovo is that international institutions and alliances are really another form of power. They have their limitations and can require a lot of maintenance.  But used effectively, they can be strategically decisive."    Gen. Clark also suggests that "if there is to be a military operation against Iraq, then certainly NATO participation should be sought."  Involving NATO more directly and deeply would give European leaders a personal political stake in the war, he writes, concluding:  "In particular, bringing NATO into an expanded peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan would go a long way toward convincing the Europeans that the United States is serious about stability in post-war Iraq or other post conflict situations.  The NATO framework can be expanded at the military level to encompass countries that do not belong to NATO, just as we did in Bosnia and Kosovo." Gen. Clark made similar statements in a CNN interview in which he stressed that NATO is perfectly capable of playing a part in any operations inside Iraq, either in time of war or in the aftermath, in terms of a peacekeeping.   "We have the full mechanism in NATO to bring other non-member nations in..  What's important about NATO is not the forces, it's the consensus machinery of NATO.  It keeps governments and diplomats operating in step and in accordance with international law.  And, ultimately, that's going to be our most powerful weapon in the war on terror," said Gen. Clark.   The Washington Post, Aug. 18, observed that the hesitancy of the U.S. administration to argue aggressively for the American military option has had the effect of ceding the public debate to opponents of an attack on Iraq.  The latest caution came Friday from ret. Gen. Wesley Clark, who wrote in the new issue of the Washington Monthly that is a "fundamental misjudgment" to pursue the counterterrorism war, including efforts against Saddam Hussein, without NATO, noted the daily.  The Times notes meanwhile that ret. Gen. Schwarzkopf, the U.S. general who commanded allied forces during the Gulf War, joined a growing number of senior U.S. military and political figures Sunday who are opposed to unilateral invasion of Iraq and said Bush "should not go it alone." According to the newspaper, Gen. Schwarzkopf, emphasized the dangers of an invasion without international consensus and military support because of the size and strength of the Iraqi Army.  The newspaper remarks that Gen. Clark also joined the voices counseling against an invasion without international cooperation. 

Reports that the U.S. ambassador to Berlin had expressed concern over Germany's stance on Iraq are noted by German media.  Sueddeutsche Zeitung draws the conclusion that the clear opposition of a military intervention against Iraq now weighs heavily on Germany's relationship with the United States.  The newspaper notes, however, that during the  weekend the Federal Government tried to play down the significance of the meeting.  A government spokesman explained that the U.S. ambassador had merely required an explanation of the German position.  He said reports that the ambassador had complained was wrong, says the daily. "