Military

NATO SUMMIT

¨         Lord Robertson said in an interview, reported by the Financial Times, that change and transformation, the themes of this Summit, are on the way. After Prague, he said, according to the newspaper, NATO will become "a slim and more effective structure" even though the Alliance will expand from 19 to 26 members. Lord Robertson was quoted saying that he already succeeded in reducing the number of committees by 30 per cent. The reforms will also affect the NAC and to prevent its loss of effectiveness, he reportedly said, the  NAC will focus on the vital issues, the staff will undergo a reorganization too, and the post of executive manager will be created to introduce a proper recruiting, training and career structure into the organization.

¨         The New York Times  reports officials saying that President Bush will seek in Prague to redefine the mission of the trans-Atlantic Alliance and to win support from its members for a possible assault on Iraq. The President's national security adviser Condoleeza Rice was quoted saying: "It is also the central purpose of this summit to talk about how to improve NATO's capabilities to deal with threats that we face today." President Bush, asked by journalists if he would ask allies in Prague to contribute to military actions in Iraq, reportedly stated: "I will - first of all, I believe that the NATO alliance understands the issue." The President is also expected, according to White House officials, to deliver a speech on Wednesday calling for NATO to move toward an alliance capable of fielding a streamlined force for dispatch anywhere in the campaign against terrorism. The Bush administration expects the Alliance to endorse the idea of a NATO rapid reaction force of 5,000 to 20,000 troops that could be sent to battle within a month. President Bush will meet several European leaders but, as The Times notes, there will be no one-to-one meeting with Chancellor Schröder. To ease the embarrassment, Schröder is ready to give American troops from U.S. bases in Germany over-flight rights in case of war, but Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld is said to believe that the offer is part of Germany's obligations as a NATO ally.

EU

¨         According to AP, the Cypriot government accepted on Monday a UN plan for the reunification of Cyprus as a basis for negotiations with Turkish Cypriot leaders, but was skeptical that all matters could be settled by Dec. 12, the date chosen for the EU summit in Copenhagen. At the summit, the dispatch adds, the entry by 2004 of Cyprus and nine other prospective members is expected to be formally approved. Although there was no word from the Turkish Cypriot counterpart, The Washington Times reports that Turkish leader, Mr Erdogan, described the UN proposal as "negotiable" but complained that the maps suggesting territorial concessions were "abominable."

¨         The Daily Telegraph writes that yesterday the European Union set a date for the admission of 10 new countries on May 1, 2004. The newspaper adds also that EU foreign ministers pledged to give the 10 states a role as full participants in designing the future of Europe. In conclusion the newspaper observes that the decision to include the 10 in the treaty talks, with full veto power, was a humiliating blow to Giscard d'Estaing, who had insisted that the current 15 member states should retain a monopoly over the constitutional changes.

MISSILE DEFENSE

¨         The U.S. yesterday stepped up pressure on its European allies to embrace missile defense, according to The Guardian. "NATO's vulnerability to political coercion and blackmail will only increase" without a missile defense system, John Bolton, America's under secretary of state for arms control and international security reportedly said. The U.S. wants the NATO summit to endorse missile defense whereby missiles would knock out incoming missiles, the newspaper concludes.

IRAQ

¨         The Guardian reports that tensions emerged yesterday in the fragile UN consensus on Iraq over the U.S. government's insistence that Saddam is already violating the Security Council resolution on weapons inspections by firing on British and U.S. warplanes patrolling no-fly zones in the north and south of the country. Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld  reportedly said it was "up to the Security Council" to determine whether the attacks were technically in "material breach" of Iraq's obligations. While the U.S. and United Kingdom, according to the newspaper, say the no-fly zones were set up to enforce previous resolutions, others, notably Russia, disagree and Iraq condemns them as an infringement of its sovereignty.

WAR ON TERRORISM

¨         The Times reports that arrests in Britain have produced crucial leads for further investigations by the police and intelligence services in countries such as Germany, France, Italy and Spain. "There are no national boundaries in this lattice network of terrorist operations," one security source reportedly said. Investigators have also discovered that groups operating in one European country are often making logistic arrangements for an attack in another country. Further on terror, according to The Washington Post U.S. intelligence officials believe that the voice recorded on the tape purportedly belonging to Bin Laden is authentic. Intelligence experts believe the tape was made in the last several weeks because of its content related to recent terrorist attacks.

AFGHANISTAN

¨         The Belgian newspaper La Libre Belgique reports that the Belgian Defense Minister Andre Flahaut confirmed on Monday the government's intention to take part in the military operation that will be coordinated by NATO. The Belgian contribution to ISAF would be a transport logistic component, medical or communications support, special forces and even a company for the headquarters security.