Military

NATO

¨         Einars Repse, Latvia's former central bank chief, whose coalition government was voted in by parliament on Thursday, according to AFP has pledged to keep the Baltic state on the road to the EU and NATO. "Regarding (entry to) the European Union and NATO we continue the foreign policy goals, we ensure continuity," Repse told AFP. Repse has said a central plank of his policy would be to fight corruption, the major reservation harbored by the EU and NATO to Latvia's membership.

ESDP

¨         ESDP is at a crossroads, writes the Financial Times. Britain and France are now each competing to shape the future of ESDP. Four years ago, the British prime minister and the French president  unveiled plans that would give the European Union the capability to respond independently to international crises based on credible military forces. Mr Blair still wants ESDP as an instrument to improve Europe's military capabilities but with tight links to NATO, while France sees ESDP as being autonomous, eventually leading to an integrated European military and defense arm. Mr Chirac is in a stronger position to push that idea today. The French government had little interest in military spending four years ago under Socialist Jospin, while last month the government set aside 78 bn euros for the armed forces over the next five years. There would be disappointment among EU military officials with Britain's contribution to the defense debate in Europe, and diplomats say the reason for Britain's lack of enthusiasm for ESDP is its own ambiguity over what it should be. A senior EU official is quoted saying: "Europe needs its own army, its own defense structures and its own command structures too. It will not happen tomorrow. The transatlantic ties are not going to disappear. But it needs politicians at the highest level to spell out what they want from ESDP." 

IRAQ

¨         According to the Financial Times, the U.S. and UK were optimistic yesterday that they would obtain broad support for their resolution against Iraq, but Paris and Moscow have yet to give their final blessing to the text tabled yesterday. John Negroponte, US ambassador to the UN, is quoted saying: "I think there was a general sense around the [Security Council] table that we have come a long, long way from the situation that existed seven weeks ago in terms of the evolution of this text, yet at the same time it preserves what we think are really essential ingredients." The list of ingredients reported by the newspaper is the following: stating Iraq was in violation of its current UN obligations; outlining a tough new inspection regime and warning Iraq of serious consequences if it did not choose this last chance to disarm peacefully. Though France has been described as "basically happy" by diplomats, discussions with Moscow are not complete. Yuri Fedotov, a deputy minister of foreign affairs, told Russian agencies that a number of disagreements remained. Meanwhile China is expected to abstain from or support the resolution, depending in part on the decisions of France and Russia. An AFP dispatch highlights what it considered as the most important change in the new resolution: the disputed words "Iraq has been and remains in material breach of its obligations" were put into a new context. The new draft said the council would "afford Iraq a final opportunity to comply with its disarmament obligations" in spite of previous breaches.

¨         "For us the objective has to be to disarm Iraq of its weapons of mass destruction. It is not an EU objective to change the regime," AFP quoted the EU's foreign policy envoy Solana  saying Wednesday. Reportedly stating that the European Union recognized the risk posed by these kinds of weapons, he went on saying: "It is not just an American problem. We should also battle against the weapons of mass destruction,".

¨         The leader of Turkey's winning party refused yesterday, writes the Washington Times, to commit to allowing U.S. warplanes to use Turkish bases in any war with Iraq. Mr Erdogan spoke as the Head of Turkey's military, Gen. Ozkok, was in the U.S. to discuss Iraq, and the military is expected to have a dominant say in crucial security or foreign policy issues. When asked if the new government would agree to a request to use Turkish bases, Mr. Erdogan is quoted answering: "I don't find it appropriate to talk about indefinite results", adding: "We don't know what the outcome will be from the United Nations. The United States has not clarified its position yet." Turkey, the newspaper continues, fears fighting in Iraq could destabilize the region and harm the fragile Turkish economy and, moreover, worries that the minority Kurds could exploit an ouster of Saddam to declare an independent state in northern Iraq.

ANTI- TERRORISM

¨         The New York Times reports that federal law enforcement officials said they had broken up two major drug operations aimed at furnishing weapons to terrorists, including Al Qaeda. In the first case, two Pakistanis and an American were charged with plotting to trade heroin and hashish for four Stinger anti-aircraft missiles. The men told F.B.I. under cover agents that they were planning to sell Stingers to Al Qaeda. In a second case, four men linked to a Colombian rightist paramilitary organization were arrested on charges that they sought to trade 25 million dollars in cash and cocaine for five containers of Warsaw Pact weapons. Federal authorities pointed to the two cases as evidence of the dangerous  overlap between drug trafficking and groups that the United States considers terrorists.

BALKANS

¨         According to The Times, President Kostunica vowed yesterday to investigate and stamp out the illegal arms trade from Belgrade that has led to weapons and military equipment being sold to countries such as Iraq and Liberia. The Yugoslav leader, who had a meeting with British Foreign Secretary Straw, reportedly said that he ordered the creation of a federal commission to investigate the illicit arms trade. He was quoted saying: "I have told the commission that they must report to me as soon as possible. We are not going to hide anything. We are going to make it completely transparent." British and American officials have accepted Belgrade's explanations that the Serb arms trade to Iraq was a rogue operation by former military officers from the Milosevic era.

¨         AFP reports that Britain's Foreign Secretary Straw reaffirmed British support for the UN-administered province during his visit to Kosovo on Wednesday. "Our political commitment is absolute, but of course we also have very important commitments in terms of economic and humanitarian support directly and through the EU," he was quoted saying. Discussing troop strength, he was also quoted: "We should not measure a commitment just by troop levels, because it is in everybody's interest in Kosovo that, over time, Kosovo itself establishes its own arrangements for its own security."

ENDURING FREEDOM

¨         According to the German DDP  news agency, Defense Minister Struck supports the continuing work of the Bundeswehr in the struggle against international terrorism. The mandate he submitted to the Bundestag on Thursday envisages a one-year extension for the mission of up to 3900 soldiers outside the NATO area. Struck reportedly said the Bundeswehr mission at the Horn of Africa, in Afghanistan, or in Kuwait is an "expression of responsibility for global security".  The mission must be continued as long as necessary, the minister said.

¨         De Volkskrant reported that the Dutch government agreed yesterday to share the responsibility of the command of the ISAF troops with Germany. Dutch F-16s will participate and provide security for ISAF if needed, the newspaper added. Defense Minister Korthals reportedly said that the operational area of ISAF cannot be enlarged.