Military

SHAPE News Summary & Analysis

5 March 2004

ISAF

• Ahead of a force generation conference aimed at drumming up hardware and troops for Afghanistan, the Wall Street Journal charges that NATO members’ “continued stinginess with resources makes a mockery” of promises to expand ISAF. The article stresses: “There is some urgency here. Assuming there’s no delay, Afghanistan’s national elections are scheduled for June, and voters will need protection from local warlords and gangsters. Afghanistan again provides 90 percent of Europe’s heroin, giving NATO’s European members extra incentive to get on the ground. And then there’s the not-so-little matter of NATO credibility. If members can’t make the Alliance’s first-ever mission outside Europe a success, then the skeptics who are saying that NATO is obsolete will have proven right.”

BALKANS

• The Financial Times reports that Serbia’s government, led by Prime Minister Kostunica, came under diplomatic pressure Thursday to soften its stances on Kosovo and the ICTY. According to the newspaper, Kostunica was heavily criticized over his stance on Kosovo and on war crimes defendants. The article recalls that Kostunica, who took office Wednesday, floated plans for an ethnic territorial division of Kosovo and insisted Serb war crimes defendants be tried in their own country rather than in The Hague. It stresses, however, that the positions contradict the UN Security Council’s plans for the Balkan region, which envisage multi-ethnic government in Kosovo and extradition of all war crimes suspects indicted internationally. The newspaper remarks that it may be difficult for Kostunica’s minority government to soften its stance as it relies on the support of an eclectic cabinet of moderate nationalists, pro-western economists and monarchists that won parliamentary backing only with the outside support of 22 parliamentarians from the Socialist Party led by former President Slobodan Milosevic.

CFE

• Reuters reports a senior U.S. diplomat said Friday Russia must withdraw its troops and forces from the former Soviet state of Moldova to ratify the CFE treaty. According to the dispatch, the official noted that Assistant Secretary of State for Arms Control, Stephen Rademaker, met Moldovan officers Thursday to push Washington’s position on Russia’s arms and troops withdrawal, which Moscow earlier promised to do by the end of last year. “Rademacher underscored the position of the United States and NATO Alliance that the adapted CFE treaty cannot be ratified until Russia fulfils its Istanbul commitments, including the withdrawal of munitions and troops from Moldova,” the unnamed official reportedly said. The dispatch notes that Russia is anxious for the adapted CFE to be ratified so the three Baltic states, due to join NATO, can sign up. “Some Russian officials fear these states could become NATO outposts for nuclear arms or army bases, the dispatch adds. Moscow’s Itar-TASS writes meanwhile that Russia is seeking French support to its demand to have new EU members adapted to the terms of the CFE treaty. The dispatch quotes a high-ranking diplomatic source saying a meeting of the Russian-French Cooperation Council, later on Friday, would focus on European security in the light of the enlargement of the EU and NATO, on problems connected with the ratification of the CFE treaty, nuclear non-proliferation, global partnership in peacekeeping, and the fight against international terrorism.

GREATER MIDDLE EAST INITIATIVE

• According to AFP, Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Marc Grossman said in Brussels Friday the U.S. Greater Middle East Initiative for reform in the region is not a substitute for the Israel-Palestinian peace process. Speaking after briefing NATO ambassadors on the plan, Grossman reportedly said: “No one should believe that our idea to support reform in the Middle East is a substitute in any way for our interest in the Middle East peace process.” He added, however that while the plan is not a substitute, “it’s not an excuse for doing nothing either…. You can’t wait until there is a complete peace in order to promote reform.”