Military

SHAPE News Morning Update

13 May 2003

NATO

• Poland can expect a nod from allies when it knocks on NATO’s door for help with its peacekeeping mission in Iraq, but the alliance flag is unlikely to fly there, diplomats said on Monday. They said no alliance member wanted a row over support for the Poles, including European nations whose opposition to the U.S.-led war on Iraq plunged NATO into a damaging crisis just three months ago. “We’re reasonably optimistic they will get the support they seek,” a senior NATO diplomat said in Brussels. Diplomats said Poland would probably make its request for NATO support in Iraq next week, by which time the UN Security Council will have had a chance to thrash out its debate on the United Nations’ role in getting Iraq back on its feet. (Reuters 121620 GMT May 03)

EU

• Italy’s Premier Berlusconi said Monday that the European Union must expand to include Turkey and Russia if it is to be an equal to the United States. Berlusconi said in a news conference with Turkey’s Prime Minister Erdogan that he would take on as “his duty,” when Italy’s takes over the rotating EU helm in July, to push Turkey’s bid to enter the bloc. “A Turkey which becomes a member is also an integral part of that project of a great Europe,” Berlusconi said. “I continue to illustrate in all international occasions that Europe will only be able to look at the United States not as a subordinate if it becomes a great Europe, not only great in the economic sense but also important in the sense of military authoritativeness.” Adding: “This will only be possible when Europe expands its borders to encompass Turkey, Ukraine, Belarus and the Russian Federation.” (AP 121956 May 03)

BALKANS

• Montenegro’s newly elected President Vujanovic said on Monday that he would let the people decide whether they want to stay in a loose union with Serbia. He said he still firmly backed independence and would put the issue to a referendum in three years, even if the union proved workable. He also said if the state union created in February did not work well, it could be changed, before the three years were up, into a “union of two independent states,” as a step toward a final split. (Reuters 121557 GMT May 03)

OTHER NEWS

• Setting the stage for further friction with the United States, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said Monday that the United Nations must play a central role in confronting international threats. Ivanov told an international conference on Russia’s role in global affairs that the postwar settlement in Iraq as well as a range of bilateral issues would be on the agenda when he meets U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell in Moscow on Wednesday in their first meeting since the end of the war. “There is no alternative to the United Nations,” Ivanov said. “The new world order should be based on international organizations,” Ivanov added. However, he offered no new ideas as to how such organizations could cope with international terrorism, which Russia says is a primal threat to world security. (AP 121344 May 03)
  
  
• Egyptian President Mubarak urged Muslims on Monday to practice moderation in a bid to improve their faith’s image in the non-Islamic world. “The Islamic community must reassess its calculations and correct any wrong concepts to improve the image of the (Islamic) community and its relations with the outside world,” he said in a televised address on the eve of the birthday of Islam’s 7th century Prophet Muhammad. President Mubarak said the Islamic community will learn the lessons “of what ... is happening in Iraq and in the occupied Palestinian territories, and will work on outlining a new strategy to deal with the challenges that face the (Islamic) community.” He was apparently voicing concerns of many in the Arab and Islamic worlds that Muslim countries are being targeted by the west, especially the United States. (AP 122115 May 03)