Military

GEN. RALSTON-ALGERIA

¨         Algiers ETV television, Oct. 28, reported that Algerian President Bouteflika had received Gen. Ralston Monday.  The network carried Gen. Ralston saying:  "We have had very good discussions with your president and with Gen. Lamari today. I am very much interested in having closer relationship between the military in NATO and Algeria.  As I told your president today, Algeria has suffered from terrorism for many many years and there is much that we, in NATO, can learn from Algeria."

TERRORISM

¨         USA Today quotes Italy's ANSA news agency reporting that U.S. military officials have raised the level of the threat of attacks by terrorists in Italy from moderate to considerable, the third of four levels used overseas.  The newspaper also quotes Italian Defense Minister Martino saying the heightened alert was "based on solid information from reliable sources."

ESDP

¨         The Financial Times reports that France, backed by several other countries, has thrown down the gauntlet to the EU's military experts, suggesting the Europeans should run the military operations in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia by themselves without waiting to end a long-running and damaging dispute with NATO.  According to the newspaper, France's move, backed by Belgium, Spain and others, was made at last week's Brussels summit where EU security chief Solana was given a last chance to clinch an accord between NATO and ESDP.  EU leaders reportedly gave Solana up to three weeks to receive a response from NATO over their latest proposals.  Failing that, a sentence inserted in the summit conclusions at the insistence of France and other countries states that "the European Union will adopt the necessary decisions."  The newspaper quotes a diplomat saying that in plain language France wanted the EU "to stop wasting time in endless talks with NATO, take over the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (mission), and prevent further damage to ESDP's credibility."  France claimed it had the planning and troop capability to take over from NATO, the diplomat reportedly added.  In contrast,  Die Welt appears confident that the dispute about the EU's use of NATO structures will soon be settled and that an agreement will be adopted at the Prague summit.  Politicians count on the EU to be able to take over the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia mission from NATO already in mid-December, stresses the newspaper, adding, however, that "it is anything but sure whether the EU will actually be able to get ready for its military debut." The article explains:  "The EU military Staff in the European quarters in Brussels is reticent about the prospect.  Its head, German  Gen. Schuwirth, did not want to comment on the prospect of an agreement too early.  'We have already had too many solutions that seemed a 99,9 percent secure,' a member of Schuwirth' staff explained.  No comment from NATO either. "

ISAF

¨         NRC Handelsblad, Oct. 26, reported that Defense Minister Struck and his Dutch counterpart Korthals came out of a meeting last week "confident and satisfied that they are of one mind on all fronts about jointly taking over the command of ISAF." According to the newspaper, the two ministers agreed that they wish to see two firm demands accepted:  ISAF's mandate must absolutely not be extended outside Kabul as long as the staff of the German-Dutch army corps is in command.  Another demand is aimed at NATO.  In this respect, the newspaper recalled that during an informal NATO summit in Warsaw, the Netherlands and Germany had already established that they want "to use the Alliance's support in carrying out their mission."  Furthermore, added the newspaper,  Korthals and Struck will soon ask NATO to ensure that there is a successor, when the German-Dutch command expires.

RUSSIA-THEATER SIEGE

¨         The BBC World Service quoted the U.S. Embassy in Moscow saying Tuesday it had identified the gas used by Russian security forces as they stormed the theater on Saturday where 800 hostages were held by armed Chechens.  The substance was not a nerve gas as previously suspected, but an opiate which dulls the senses, the Embassy reportedly said.  The broadcast highlighted that in too heavy a dose, an opiate can cause coma and death by shutting down breathing and circulation.  It carried its correspondent in Moscow saying the high death toll continues to make the raid controversial but the strategy is now being studied by foreign intelligence agencies. "They are examining whether the deployment of gas might prove helpful if thy are ever faced with similar sieges," the correspondent claimed.  A related article in the New York Times  quotes U.S. officials saying they suspected the Russian security police who raided the Moscow theater might have used an aerosol version of a powerful, fast-acting opiate called Fentanyl to knock out Chechen extremists.  The article notes that in interviews Monday, senior U.S. authorities and private experts said the agent used by the Russians was probably similar to one of a small arsenal of non-lethal weapons that the United States is quietly studying for use by soldiers and police officers against terrorists.  The newspaper quotes a senior U.S. administration official saying that if the drug used in the incident was Fentanyl, that would probably not constitute a violation of a 1997 treaty banning the use of lethal chemical weapons.  Many experts, both Russian and American, argue that the treaty permits the use of non-lethal chemicals for law enforcement and riot control purposes, the newspaper remarks.  In another development,  The Guardian writes that respected scientists on both sides of the Atlantic warned Monday that the United States is developing a new generation of weapons that undermine and possibly violate international treaties on biological and chemical warfare.  The scientists, specialists in bio-warfare and chemical weapons, say the Pentagon with the help of the British military, is also working on "non-lethal" weapons similar to the gas used by Russian forces to end last week's siege in Moscow, adds the article. 

BALKANS

¨         Electronic media quote the Republika Srpska's Supreme Defense Council announcing that Defense Minister Bilic and Army Chief of Staff Simic had resigned over a scandal concerning the sale of arms to Iraq.  Reuters observes that the move brought to five the number of Bosnian Serb officials punished for organizing exports of parts for Iraqi MiG-21 aircraft by the state-owned Orao military factory. 

¨         According to AFP,  a spokesman for NATO-led peacekeepers in Tuzla said Monday that SFOR had arrested a Bosnian man suspected of spying on the force's  activities in the northeastern part of Bosnia.