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SHAPE News Morning Update
10
August 2004
AFGHANISTAN
- Afghan
leader calls in U.S. commander after Afghan complaints,
wins pledge of more careful approach
RUSSIA
-
Russian Defence Minister says NATO has no access to
nuclear weapons during exercises
- Russia
criticizes U.S. plan to modernize radar in Greenland
CAUCASUS
-
Georgia asks Russia to drop support for separatists
IRAN
- Tehran’s
demands on nuclear program stall Europe’s initiative,
Americans see their push strengthened for UN Security
Council involvement
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AFGHANISTAN
- The
top U.S. general in Afghanistan, Gen. David Barno, promised
to tone down his troops’ aggressive search for Taliban-led
insurgents after a meeting with President Hamid Karzai,
the military said on Monday in Kabul. Local leaders have long
complained of Americans and allied Afghan militiamen sweeping
through villages in the dead of night, leaving a trail of
wrecked property, trampled customs and unfair detentions.
Gen. Barno said his forces would consult local officials and
tribal elders before starting sweeps. (AP 091539 Aug 04)
RUSSIA
- Defence
Minister Sergei Ivanov said Monday that Russia will not give
NATO representatives direct access to nuclear facilities and
ammunition during exercises meant to improve nuclear security,
the ITAR-Tass news agency reported. Mr. Ivanov spoke a few
days after NATO observers monitored a Russian exercise in
which army and law enforcement troops simulated repelling
a terrorist attack on a convoy carrying nuclear weapons, Russian
media reported. “We have never allowed NATO into the
nuclear facilities themselves or to our nuclear ammunition,
and never will,” ITAR-Tass quoted him as saying.
“Another matter entirely is familiarizing our partners
in the alliance with the organization of our system of security
and the liquidation of the results of possible accidents with
nuclear ammunition,” he added. Mr. Ivanov suggested
that Russia has given NATO a better look at its nuclear security
measures than it has been provided by the Western alliance.
He said Russian access to a NATO nuclear security
exercise next year was a condition for inviting NATO observers
to the recent exercise in Russia, ITAR-Tass reported.
(AP 091250 Aug 04)
- Russia’s
Foreign Ministry assailed U.S. plans to upgrade an early warning
radar station in Greenland, saying it could threaten Russia.
Under agreements signed last Friday by the United States,
Denmark and Greenland, the radar system at Thule, a Cold War
U.S. air base will be modernized and play a crucial role in
the planned U.S. anti-missile defence system. (AP 091409 Aug
04)
CAUCASUS
- Georgia
urged Russia not to ruin mutual relations by supporting separatists
in the provinces of Abkhazia and South Ossetia and called
for dialogue. “Abkhazia and South Ossetia are
not worth Russia ruining its relations with Georgia forever,”
Interfax news agency quoted Georgian Defence Minister Georgy
Baramidze, dispatched to Moscow to negotiate a compromise,
as saying. (Reuters 091200 GMT Aug 04)
IRAN
- Iran
has told Europe’s leading powers that it wants them
to back its right to nuclear technology that can be used to
make weapons. U.S. officials said the move has dismayed
the Europeans and strengthens Washington’s push for
UN sanctions against Tehran. France, Germany and Britain
have not formally responded to that demand and others contained
in a wish list, whose contents were made available
to The Associated Press. In London, a Foreign Office spokesman
declined comment on the negotiations with Iran beyond saying
that Britain was “not prepared to stand by and
watch them collect the necessary technology to make a weapon.”
On Sunday, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice said
on NBC’s “Meet the press,” that the U.S.
administration sees a new international willingness to act
against Iran’s nuclear program. (AP 100011 Aug 04)
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