Military

SHAPE News Morning Update

8 April 2004

NATO-RUSSIA

• Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said the West expected Moscow to bend too much in exchange for partnership. In an opinion column published Wednesday in The New York Times, Ivanov said Moscow had significant concerns about the alliance's "hurried expansion. "The alliance is gaining greater ability to control and monitor Russian territory," Ivanov wrote. "We cannot turn a blind eye as NATO's air and military bases get much closer to cities and defense complexes in European Russia." Russia has also expressed uneasiness over NATO plans to have four F-16 fighter planes, stationed in Lithuania, make regular flights near Russia's border, close enough to conduct reconnaissance. The planes are part of the alliance's air defense shield. Russia's Air Force launched a command post exercise of the Commonwealth of Independent States' Unified Air Defense System on Wednesday, Interfax reported. More than 100 air force and air defense units and more than 80 aircraft from eight nations were taking part. (AP 071612 APR 04)

IRAQ

• Iraq's Shiite Muslim uprising is transforming America's coalition partners from peacekeepers into warriors a role few of them wanted or were equipped to handle. Soldiers from coalition countries came under fierce attack by Shiite militias in a wide swath of central and southern Iraq. The effects have been devastating. That's more than many of the coalition governments bargained for when they signed on to a "coalition of the willing" formed after Washington failed to win a UN mandate for the Iraq war last year. The U.S. government put together the coalition after failing to win support within the UN or the NATO alliance. Several coalition countries have suggested a bigger role for the UN or NATO. (AP 072246 APR 04)
  
  
• Iraq's fresh eruption of violence pitting U.S.-led forces against Sunni guerrillas and now Shi'ite insurgents risks breaking the resolve of allies with troops on the ground, analysts said on Wednesday. The three dozen countries supporting the United States in Iraq have between them deployed some 26,500 troops, a snip compared to the United States' 130,000. "Unless they can be induced by a pledge of greater security they are going to be reluctant to stay the course, particularly countries where it's domestically controversial," said Jonathan Stevenson of the International Institute for Strategic Studies. The vast majority of coalition members are for the moment holding firm despite political and popular pressure to pull their forces back from danger. (Reuters 071754 GMT Apr 04)

AFGHANISTAN

• The Afghan government said it would rush troops to a northern province to restore order after several districts were overrun by forces of a regional strongman on Wednesday in a fresh challenge to President Hamid Karzai. The ministry was meeting officials of the U.S.-led military forces in Afghanistan to arrange for the troops to be flown to the province, spokesman General Zahir Azimy said. "The aim of sending these troops is to stop the fighting, preserve peace and stability and show the presence of the central government," he told Reuters. It is the second time in less than a month that the government has decided to send in troops from the still infant national army to keep order in the troubled provinces and deal with unrest involving warlord militias targeted for disarmament. The fresh burst of factional fighting is bad news for Karzai, who needs to ensure security for elections due in September with the help of NATO-led peacekeepers, who currently number 6,400, and a U.S.-led force whose main task is pursuing Taliban and al Qaeda militants which will soon number 15,500. (Reuters 071720 GMT APR 04)

OTHER NEWS

• Greece's prime minister promised Wednesday to hold safe and successful Olympics despite "choking deadlines" in construction and admissions by his ministers of delays in security preparations at two key sites. "I want to be clear, our main concern and highest priority in Olympic preparations is to secure the complete safety of the country, of athletes and visitors ... Greece will guarantee safe games." Premier Costas Caramanlis said. Greece is spending more US$800 million to mount massive policing at the games, is receiving assistance from the US and six other countries, and is seeking the active support of NATO and the European. Ministers involved with security said preparations have fallen behind at two crucial sites, the Olympic Village and Athens' main port of Piraeus, but refused to give any details and insisted everything will ready by August. ( AP 071333 APR 04)