Military

GEN. RALSTON-GEORGIA

¨         Coverage of Gen. Ralston's visit to Georgia continues. Noting that Gen. Ralston spoke with U.S. instructors at the Krtsanisi shooting range, Tbilisi's Rustavi-2 television, Oct. 17, showed Gen. Ralston saying in a news conference before leaving Tbilisi:  "During the visit we focused our attention on the Train-and-Equip program.  I personally witnessed that American instructors were very happy with the enthusiasm of the Georgian soldiers as well as the progress of the exercises.  I personally went to the shooting range and saw how thoroughly your battalion was preparing.  We welcome the inclusion of other countries in the Train-and-Equip program. But this issue needs to be solved as a result of Georgia's bilateral talks with these countries.   Turkey is the country which seeks most actively to get involved in this process."  The broadcast also carried deputy Defense Minister Bezhuashvili saying that "this has been an important visit."  He indicated that among topics discussed, was Georgia's relations with NATO-its participation in PFP.   A possible intensification of Georgia's integration into NATO and issues likely to arise after the Prague summit had also been discussed.  In a related dispatch, Moscow's Interfax observed that Gen. Ralston "did not say whether the United States was planning to use Georgian military airfields in a possible campaign against Iraq."

NATO

¨         Prague's Pravo, Oct 16, reported that the protection of Czech skies during the Prague summit is a source of concern,  not only for the entire Czech government, but also for the Alliance partners.  Although it has been said for quite some time that the Prague skies will be protected by fighters from some of the NATO states, the protector countries are reportedly beginning to waver, the report claimed.  It attributed this to the fact that the Alliance has never tested such assistance before, and therefore, there are many issues in the making concerning any possible liability for an intervention or possible accidents. The report added that Defense Minister Tvrdkik had called an extraordinary government session not only to discuss the situation, but above all to permit the stay of NATO armies in the Czech Republic for the days to come.  The report continued:  A simulated exercise should test the possibilities for the Czech air force to cooperate with other countries as well as possible risks resulting from the unprecedented procedure.  According to well-informed sources, the Czech government is concerned that while the summit is approaching quickly, none of the NATO partners has acknowledged the (Czech) request to send aircraft above Prague.

¨         AFP quotes the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) saying Wednesday that NATO's inability to play more than a peripheral role in the global war on terror has become a source of debate both inside and outside the Alliance.  In its annual report, the influential think-tank reportedly found that "European members of NATO have been slow to follow the U.S. lead in developing force structures and equipment to deal with asymmetric threats."  It noted that Britain was the only country to have acted on the requirement--identified through operations in Afghanistan--to develop a "network-centric" capability and reduce "sensor-to-shooter times."  While France and Greece have recognized this need, neither was said to have acted on it, the report said.  According to the dispatch, the IISS noted that there had been "increased scrutiny of the growing gap in the U.S. and European commitment to defense spending."  It added that there had been signs of a shift toward solving some of the problems inherent to the creation of an EU defense force, although it noted that only five of the 55 major shortfalls which had been identified had been solved by the end of 2001.   The think-tank also reported that real defense spending by non-U.S. members of NATO, when measured in constant 2000 prices, had fallen by 5.1 percent from the year before to 164 billion dollars, and down from 225 billion dollars at the end of the Cold War.  Although European nations had been urged to increase defense spending by NATO Secretary General Robertson among others, the IISS believed it was unlikely that defense would receive the same budgetary priority from European governments as other areas.

OTHER NEWS

¨         Concern is mounting in Paris and Brussels regarding the current squabbles over setting up Europe's Galileo satellite navigation, writes the Financial Times.  According to the newspaper, both President Chirac and the European Commission have privately urged Germany and Italy to end a dispute over the leadership of the project, so that it can receive 550 million euros of funding from the Europeans Space Agency (ESA).  The fear is that unless the five-month deadlock can be resolved, Galileo will lack money for key contracts, such as a first experimental satellite, at the beginning of next year.  Paris reportedly fears that failure to resolve the dispute would weaken confidence in Europe's ability to pursue strategic joint industrial programs-notably the A-400M military transport aircraft.  The newspaper remarks that "both the U.S. and NATO have voiced serious concerns about Galileo, primarily about wavelength and its use of encrypted signals." 

¨         According to De Standaard, in a Senate meeting Thursday, the mayor of Peer, Sen. Theo Kelchtermans, summoned Belgian Defense Minister Flahaut to improve security measures at the Kleine Brogel air base.   The newspaper notes that Kelchtermans had already complained about the lack of security at the base after a bombspotting action by anti-nuclear protesters Oct. 5.  It  adds that on Thursday, a British citizen was caught on the Kleine Brogel site but was subsequently freed. The article stresses, however, that Flahaut defended current security measures, saying they satisfied with required norms. 

¨         The Bush administration is trying to form an international coalition to steer North Korea away from its decision to pursue nuclear weapons despite pledges not to do so, reports AP.  "I think we're going to see that no one wants to have a nuclear-armed North Korea.  Effective international pressure may have an effect," the dispatch quotes U.S. National Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice saying.  It notes that the U.S. diplomatic offensive began not long after the administration disclosed Wednesday that North Korea had acknowledged, during bilateral talks earlier this month, that it was attempting to develop nuclear weapons.