Military

SHAPE News Morning Update

03 October 2003

NATO-RUSSIA

• According to Russian information agency ITAR-TASS, Oct. 2, Col.-Gen. Yuri Baluyevsky warned Thursday that “If the Alliance preserves anti-Russian trends in military planning, and the threshold of the use of nuclear weapons lowers, it will require a change in Russia’s nuclear strategy.” The Russian military leadership, the general reportedly said, closely watches the NATO transformation process, adding that Russia’s Defense Minister was taking a possible adjustment of the strategic deterrent forces control system under his personal supervision. A related AFP dispatch, Oct. 2, commented that while the Russian Defense Ministry demanded that anti-Russian sentiments were also removed from the “political declarations” of NATO member states, President Putin issued an unusual warning while attending a meeting of the Defense Ministry’s top brass in Moscow. “I would like to inform you about what the Defense Minister, Chief of General Staff and the head of the Russian strategic rocket division already know,” news agencies quoted the President telling his military audience. “Russia has a significant supply of heavy strategic rockets … we are talking about the most threatening rockets, and we have tens of them, with hundreds of warheads,” he went on saying in reference to the UR-100 N (NATO classification SS-19.) The Russian Defense Minister for his part, concluded the report, told the same meeting that Russia must be prepared to fight simultaneous wars on two fronts and resort to pre-emptive strikes should events warrant, just like the U.S.

NATO

• Finns have not become more enthusiastic about joining military alliances, wrote Helsingin Sanomat, Oct. 2. According to an opinion poll commissioned by the YL Radio A-Talk program, 20 percent of the people are in favor of NATO membership, while 63 percent are opposed. Finns, continues the daily, feel that the EU defense core is a somewhat preferable alternative, but a plurality of respondents would rather stay out of that too. Exactly one-half of the respondents were in favor of the idea that a referendum is the tool to make any decision on a defense arrangement. Likewise, AFP writes that the Finnish government is currently preparing a long-term position paper on its security and defense policies, to be published next spring. In the so-called “White Book” it will assess whether NATO membership or participation in EU’s defense core is necessary for Finland’s future security, ends the agency.

IRAQ

• UN Secretary General Kofi Annan yesterday took the unusual step of openly rejecting a U.S.-sponsored draft resolution calling for international support for the transition to Iraqi self-rule, saying President Bush’s administration had failed to heed his recommendations, writes The Guardian. France, Russia and Germany, adds the daily, also signalled that they were not ready to support the resolution in what is seen as a sharp setback for the U.S. post-war diplomatic efforts to share the burden of running Iraq. Secretary General Annan reportedly argued that the resolution should establish an interim Iraqi government before preparing for elections. The rejection, speculates the paper, partly reflected the failure of the U.S. and British government’s so far to prove the existence of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction when the conflict started, that was the main justification for war. Moreover, Mr. Annan reportedly told reporters that handing over power more quickly “may change the dynamics on the ground in terms of the security situation.”

ESDP

• AFP reports that EU Defense Ministers gathered in Rome Friday aiming to skirt a brewing row over plans to set up an EU military headquarters separate from NATO, on the eve of a historic summit on the bloc’s first-ever constitution. Italian Defense Minister Antonio Martino reportedly said in a welcome letter to participants that Italy rejected any moves toward European military integration that compromised the transatlantic NATO Alliance. “Italy sees military cooperation in the Atlantic framework as the presupposition for the development of the European Security and Defense Policy and the Common Foreign and Security Policy, the instruments by which Europe is building its international political role,” he is quoted stating. Portuguese Prime Minister Jose’ Manuel Durao Barroso, adds the agency, issued a similar warning Thursday, saying he would only accept a stronger European military role if NATO continued to have the upper hand. Italy, which currently holds the rotating EU presidency, says the report, is to put forward a compromise plan for a “virtual task force.” The Independent, in a related article under the title “Italy brokers deal to end EU defense rift”, writes that Italy has suggested forming a mobile team of planners for EU military operations. This pool of about 40 officers, explains the daily, would rotate around national military headquarters in the UK, France Germany, Italy and Greece. The idea is acceptable to Britain, opines the paper, because it would not set up an alternative center to NATO. Moreover, the EU already uses national headquarters for operations such as its intervention in the Democratic Republic of Congo, concludes the daily.

BALKANS

• Croat press agency HINA reported, Oct. 2, that Maj.Gen. Packett took over the NATO-led Stabilization Force in Bosnia-Herzegovina and will hold the position for a year. He replaced Lt. Gen. William Ward who is appointed deputy commander of the U.S. Army in Europe. The news was echoed by an AFP report, which noted that the number of peacekeepers, 62,000 in 1996, has been dramatically scaled back and SFOR is currently 12,000-strong.