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NATO-RUSSIA

¨     Large-scale exercises of Russia's Baltic Fleet now underway in the Baltic Sea are attracting close attention of military reconnaissance of NATO countries, writes Moscow's Itar-TASS.  "Five scout ships of NATO countries are following the operations of Russian ships day and night. Quite often, the ships come dangerously close to the ships of the Baltic Fleet engaged in missile and artillery firing practice, and they disregard warnings and commands to leave the firing exercises area," claims the dispatch, quoting Baltic Fleet Commander, Adm. Vladimir Valuyev, saying:  "We have no objections to professionals with special equipment drawing conclusions and informing their governments of the preparedness of ships and the fleet that fulfill purely defensive tasks.  We have nothing to hide.  However, it is deplorable that they jeopardize human lives."

BALKANS

¨     French daily Le Figaro devotes a full page to UN efforts to fight human trafficking in the Balkans.  Among other things, the newspaper describes a raid on a Banja Luka brothel by local police commandos, followed by non-armed members of the IPTF, accompanied by an SFOR jeep communicating by radio with a military helicopter.  The newspaper sees the SFOR helicopter as a modern version of British ships which, in the middle of the 19^th century,  patrolled the Atlantic Ocean to put an end to the slave trade.

ICC

¨     The United States will seek an agreement with NATO and other regional organizations to ensure its soldiers are not subject to prosecution by the International Criminal Court (ICC) if it is unable to secure bilateral agreements with each of their members, reports the Financial Times.  The newspaper observes that the decision, revealed by Pierre-Richard Prosper, U.S. ambassador at large for war crimes, raises the stakes of the transatlantic battle over the new war crimes court, which has pitted the U.S. against some of its closest European allies.  According to the article, Prosper said an agreement over exempting U.S. soldiers from the jurisdiction of the ICC would also be a factor in NATO enlargement.  "It will have to be considered within the application.  If we don't get (bilateral) agreements across the board, we will have to reach an agreement, or understanding, within NATO and UN peacekeeping.  If we don't reach that understanding, we'll have to evaluate the situation and reassess what it means," the newspaper quotes Prosper saying in an interview.  The newspaper notes that while it is unclear exactly what the consequences could be, the United States has threatened to pull the plug on NATO and peacekeeping operations, notably in the case of the Bosnian operation, when the issue of U.S. exemption was being discussed in the Security Council in July.

IRAQ

¨     The Washington Times quotes the Commandant of the Marine Corps, Gen. James L. Jones, saying in an interview that new war-fighting methods used on the Taliban in Afghanistan would not apply to Iraq, which could prove to be a more formidable foe in any military action to oust Saddam Hussein.  "When we draw lessons learned we should be careful that we don't draw the wrong lessons," Gen. Jones reportedly said, adding:  "Afghanistan was Afghanistan, Iraq is Iraq, and it would be foolish, for example, if you ever committed to going into Iraq to think that the (special-operations forces) principles that were successful in Afghanistan would necessarily be successful in Iraq.  In my opinion, it would not."  The newspaper notes that Gen. Jones, who President Bush has nominated to be the next SACEUR and next Commander in Chief of the U.S. European Command, made the comments in explaining Marine tactics in Afghanistan.

¨     According to the Financial Times, Senator Lugar, a leading Republican spokesman on intelligence and foreign affairs, Wednesday called on the Bush administration to pursue vigorously every possible remedy against Iraq within the UN.  In a strong statement of concern at the lack of planning and preparation for a U.S.-led military intervention in Iraq, Lugar also called for "more robust diplomacy in building an alliance," against the regime of Saddam Hussein.  Speaking in London, he reportedly said building a coalition of allies was not simply about strategy and tactics, but also about bases and financing for any campaign.

 FINAL ITEM