Military

SHAPE News Morning Update

20 November 2003

NRF

• NATO on Thursday rolls out its new strike force designed to spearhead the transformation of the Cold War alliance into a 21st-century peacemaker. War games on the Turkish coast south of Izmir involving air, sea and land forces from 11 nations mark the debut for the NATO Response Force which brings together elite troops from around the alliance into a single unit to tackle threats from terrorists, rogue states or regional crises. NATO’s military commander, U.S. Marine Gen. James Jones believes setting up the new force is one of the most important decisions in the history of the alliance. (AP 200028 Nov 03)

NATO

• NATO’s outgoing boss, Lord Robertson, told the United States and the European Union on Wednesday to swiftly heal a rift over a proposed EU military headquarters, and focus instead on tackling terrorism and other growing threats. “I think there is a possibility of reaching an agreement here, and I have tried very hard to bridge the gap,” he said after meeting French President Jacques Chirac in Paris. (Reuters 191857 GMT Nov 03)
  
  
• A military alliance of former Soviet republics led by Russia pledged closer cooperation with NATO at a meeting in Bishkek of the five countries’ foreign ministers, insisting they had no rivalry with the western security bloc. “We are not going to compete with NATO. We are going to cooperate with it,” said Nikolai Bordyuja, secretary-general of the Collective Security Treaty Organization. He said the two organizations were similar because they both involve military and political components. Kyrgyz Foreign Minister Askar Aitmatov also denied there was any rivalry between NATO and the treaty organization. “We are facing common threats,” he added. The treaty organization includes Russia, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Belarus and Kazakhstan. Most of the countries also cooperate with NATO, usually through its Partnership for Peace program. (AP 191635 Nov 03)

IRAQ

• More direct help from NATO in Iraq would be welcome but is unlikely, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld said in Washington. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is busy with its command of the international peacekeeping force in the Afghan capital, Kabul, though its participation in Iraq is “conceivable,” Donald Rumsfeld said Wednesday at a Pentagon news conference. (AP 200036 Nov 03)

EU

• German Chancellor Schroeder said that differences between existing members and newcomers over the European Union’s planned constitution will be solved only at the last moment. After a brief meeting with Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Medgyessy in Budapest, Gerhard Schroeder said agreement on the constitution must be solved by the end of this year. But he said differences remained over several questions, including representation on the EU’s governing body, the European Commission. Chancellor Schroeder said that Prime Minister Medgyessy and himself had also agreed that any future EU common foreign and defense policy should not be seen as an alternative to NATO. (AP 192108 Nov 03)

WAR ON TERRORISM

• The international police organization Interpol said on Wednesday it is expanding the scope of its global crime-fighting to play a more active role in the so-called war on terrorism. Interpol’s international wanted persons notices, known as Red Notices, will now include people charged with being members of a terrorist organization, said Interpol Secretary General Ronald Noble. “In order to fight terrorism effectively, countries must be able to search internationally for members of terrorist organizations before they commit specific acts of terrorism,” Noble told a conference at New York police headquarters. (Reuters 192118 GMT Nov 03)