Military

SHAPE News Summary & Analysis

4 March 2004

ISAF

• AFP quotes an ISAF spokesman saying in a news conference in Kabul Thursday that NATO-led peacekeepers and Afghan police have launched their first ever joint operation in a bid to prevent terrorists entering the Afghan capital. “This is the largest operation to date conducted jointly by the Kabul police and Kabul multinational brigade of ISAF,” the dispatch quotes the spokesman saying and adding: “Police at the checkpoints will be looking for indications of activities such as smuggling contraband, explosives, organized crime and infiltration of the city by suspected terrorists. It is designed to increase law and order in Kabul.”

NATO

• In a contribution to the International Herald Tribune, U.S. NATO envoy Nicholas Burns and his Norwegian counterpart, Kai Eide, urge NATO to tackle “the brutal crime” of human trafficking. Ahead of a NATO conference on trafficking in persons hosted by the U.S. and Norwegian missions to NATO, in cooperation with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Burns and Eide write: “Human trafficking affects the United States, Norway and all allies and partner countries across the Alliance. It has the potential to weaken and destabilize fragile emerging democracies, especially in southeastern Europe. While individual countries within NATO have acted to stop this dark and shameful crime, there is currently no Alliance-wide policy to coordinate the efforts of the countries in the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council. NATO has a special responsibility to ensure that our forces do not contribute to this problem.” Noting that since last October, the United States and Norway have launched a discussion about the problem of human trafficking—particularly of women and children—in the Balkans and across all areas of NATO’s operations, the envoys continue: “We want NATO to decide by April on a policy to help counter this crime. The conference is the first step in advancing the policy debate within the Alliance.” They stress that “only effective concerted multilateral action—the very type of action NATO is best at” can save innocent victims from the modern day slavery and exploitation of human trafficking.
  
  
• According to Moscow’s Agentstvo Voyennykh Novostey, Defense Minister Ivanov said in Paris Wednesday Russia does not see anything “frightening in NATO’s early enlargement” but is ready to offer a response to possible threats generated by this process. “NATO’s early enlargement can be regarded as a done deal. I do not think a decision on NATO’s enlargement will be made in Istanbul this summer. This will most likely happen earlier,” Ivanov reportedly said. He added: “A certain period of time will pass following the admission of new members of NATO, and, taking account of the Alliance’s further steps, we will have to make our decisions in light of the nature of the threats we face. We can withdraw from unilateral obligations dealing with confidence-building measures including the downsizing of our troops in the northwestern area since there are no legal documents confirming these obligations.”

Against the background of the future enlargement of NATO and the EU to former Soviet block nations, the Christian Science Monitor, March 3, remarked that Moscow has threatened to abandon two bedrock agreements, one governing its troops and conventional weapons in Europe, and the other its relations with the EU.
The newspaper commented: “Abrogating the security treaty is less ominous than it sounds, but a break with the EU would have wide-ranging political and economic implications. Europe depends on Russia for oil and gas. Russia enjoys special trade and travel arrangements with most of the EU newcomers, and it will lose these benefits when they join May 1. In order to preserve some of those privileges, Moscow wants to renegotiate its agreement with the EU, which includes trade. But so far, Brussels is saying no to Moscow’s demands: the newcomers are to enjoy the same standards as the EU’s 15 old-timers.” The article suggested, however, that neither side should lose sight of the fact that it is better for Russia to be inside the tent and engaged with the West, than outside and isolated. It concluded: “That is why, when EU and Russian ministers meet to debate these issues further next week, the EU should try to find ways to deal with Russia’s legitimate complaints. It should also consider giving Russia an EU presence that mirrors Russia’s seat in NATO, where it has a voice but no veto.”

BALKANS

• Reuters report SFOR said Thursday it had detained Gen. Bogdan Subotic, Bosnian defense minister during the Bosnian war and now an adviser to the Bosnian Serb presidency. The dispatch notes that it was SFOR’s third arrest operation in two months targeting the support network of persons indicted by the ICTY. “SFOR has in recent months stepped up efforts to tighten the net around Karadzic,” stresses the dispatch. In a similar vein, a related AFP dispatch notes that the operation comes as SFOR and the international community attempt to tighten the noose around Karadzic and other war crimes fugitives in Bosnia.

GREATER MIDDLE EAST INITIATIVE

• According to the New York Times, Arab governments began thrashing over a joint position Wednesday to counter the U.S. Greater Middle East Initiative. The newspaper adds that in the absence of any formal plan yet from Washington, Arab League foreign ministers meeting in Cairo were less than unified in how to deal with an American strategy known basically through leaks or policy speeches. It notes, however, that the level of concern among the 22 ministers, who were in Cairo to create the agenda for a meeting of Arab leaders later this month in Tunisia, seemed to ensure that the issue would be a priority.

A commentary in Paris’ Le Figaro compares the U.S., Franco-German, and UK visions of the “Greater Middle East.”
Noting that within the context of its “Greater Middle East Initiative,” Washington wants NATO to perform a key role, the newspaper writes: “This sensitive issue, a source of new tensions between the United States and Europe, was broached officially for the first time (Wednesday) at NATO headquarters…. This ‘NATO dimension’ of the U.S. grand strategy for the Middle East is still only at the planning stage…. For the present, the EU is maintaining a wait-and-see stance. France and Germany seem very skeptical about the U.S. plan. The Franco-German team considers it ‘clumsy,’ or ‘dangerous,’ to brandish the NATO flag in the region. Transatlantic discussions promise to be all the more difficult in as much as Paris and Berlin have recently drawn up a common plan to rival Washington’s…. In this four-page document, France and Germany clearly distance themselves from the U.S. strategy, which they regard, at best, as ‘complementary.’ Loyal to Europe’s security strategy, the Franco-German document emphasizes the economic and social development of the Middle East … and the security aspect. NATO’s role is limited to an absolute minimum. Unlike the United States, France and Germany give absolute priority to the settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict…. Though the Franco-German plan has received an initial favorable response from the other EU countries, it does not yet reflect Britain’s position, which will be defined at the European summit in June. Britain has also formulated a contribution to European strategy. Longer and more detailed than the Franco-German plan, the British document also gives priority to a settlement of the Israeli conflict, without, however, ignoring the issues of security, terrorism, or the situation in Iraq.”