EU-DIGEST

EU to deploy first-ever naval force off Somalia - by Hans de Vreije

Next month, the European Union is launching its first-ever naval mission, Operation Atlanta. Its dual aim is to protect United Nations food aid shipments to Somalia and to combat piracy in the region. At the moment, NATO has a small naval force temporarily stationed in waters near Somalia which is the base for most pirates. The second aim is to combat the region's piracy in general. The problem of ships being hijacked for ransom has become much worse over the past year. Operation Atlanta is an ambitious project. The area of sea to be policed is enormous, while the resources are limited: just seven ships and a budget of eight million euros for a whole year. Contrary to the NATO Navy Task force the EU Navy Task Force is allowed to fire at will at attacking pirates.

Labels: EU, Nato, Navy, Pirates

Georgia, Ukraine Told They Do Not Meet Standards For NATO Membership - by Liz Fuller

The NATO foreign ministers' decision on December 2 not to offer Membership Action Plans to Georgia and Ukraine should not have surprised anyone. Nor should their reaffirmation of the provision enshrined in the final document of the April 2008 NATO summit in Bucharest that those two countries will at some unspecified future date join the alliance. But the fact remains -- and was stressed by both NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice -- that both Georgia and Ukraine still fall short of basic NATO standards in terms of both political reform and military readiness.

Note EU-Digest:
There also is absolutely no need to admit Albania and Croatia into NATO. As a matter of fact the EU should also insist for reasons of unity and conformity that those EU nations which already are in NATO should be grouped under a single EU unbrella possibly as proposed by French President Nicolas Sarkozy re: EU Elite Defence Force.

Labels: Albania, Croatia, EU, Georgia, Nato, Ukraine

EU, NATO Helpless Against Piracy as Hijacks Become More Daring

Efforts by the European Union and NATO to fight pirates off the coast of Somalia have proven futile. With a limited mandate, their ships cannot keep armed bandits from seizing merchant vessels and taking hostages. Pirates off the coast of Somalia captured another ship on Wednesday, Nov. 19. It is the third vessel since the spectacular hijacking of the Saudi supertanker "Sirius Star" last weekend. Although NATO, European and US vessels are stationed in the region, they are helpless in effectively battling the increasing problem of piracy -- though single operations are sometimes successful.

Note EU-Digest: the EU and Nato should follow the recent action of the Indian Navy by destroying pirate crafts or even doing a special combat mission to the area and clean out the pirates stronghold. The Sudan Government is too weak to do it themselves. Right now it seems the naval forces of Russia, the EU and the US are being held ransom by rag-tag pirates - this is ridiculous to say the least

Labels: EU, Nato, Piracy, Sudan

NATO-The German Question - by George Friedman

German Chancellor Angela Merkel went to St. Petersburg last week for meetings with Russian President Dmitri Medvedev. The central question on the table was Germany’s position on NATO expansion, particularly with regard to Ukraine and Georgia. Merkel made it clear at a joint press conference that Germany would oppose NATO membership for both of these countries, and that it would even oppose placing the countries on the path to membership. Since NATO operates on the basis of consensus, any member nation can effectively block any candidate from NATO membership.In one sense, Merkel’s reasons for her stance are simple. First, expanding NATO guarantees to Ukraine and Georgia is meaningless. NATO and the United States don’t have the military means to protect Ukraine or Georgia, and incorporating them into the alliance would not increase European security. From a military standpoint, NATO membership for the two former Soviet republics is an empty gesture, while from a political standpoint, Berlin sees it as designed to irritate the Russians for no clear purpose. Next, were NATO prepared to protect Ukraine and Georgia, all NATO countries including Germany would be forced to increase defense expenditures substantially. This is not something that Germany and the rest of NATO want to do.Finally, and perhaps most importantly, Germany spent 1945-1992 being the potential prime battleground of the Cold War. It spent 1992-2008 not being the potential prime battleground. Germany prefers the latter, and it does not intend to be drawn into a new Cold War under any circumstances. This has profound implications for the future of both NATO and U.S.-German relations.

Germany is also heavily dependent on Russian natural gas. If the supply were cut off, Germany’s situation would be desperate — or at least close enough that the distinction would be academic. Russia might decide it could not afford to cut off natural gas exports, but Merkel is dealing with a fundamental German interest, and risking that for Ukrainian or Georgian membership in NATO is not something she is prepared to do.

Labels: Croatia, EU, Germany, Nato, Ukraine, US

NATO denies rifts with EU on Georgia

NATO denied any differences with the European Union (EU) on the Georgia crisis on Wednesday and toned down its rhetoric against Russia. NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer told Monday's Financial Times newspaper that the Sept. 8 agreement between Russia and the European Union (EU) was unacceptable as it allows heavy Russian military presence in Georgia's two breakaway regions-- Abkhazia and South Ossetia. De Hoop Scheffer said that the new arrangement was in direct contravention of an earlier six-point plan brokered by French President Nicolas Sarkozy which called for a return to the status quo before the conflict broke out.

On Aug. 7 Georgia launched attack on South Ossetia, which has enjoyed de facto independence since 1992, in an attempt to retake control of the region. Russia sent troops into the region on the next day and defeated Georgian forces in a five-day war.

Labels: EU, Georgia, Nato

France pays tribute to 10 fallen soldiers in Paris ceremony

France held a commemoration ceremony on Thursday to honour 10 French soldiers killed in a gun battle with insurgents earlier this week in eastern Afghanistan, as questions are being raised over the official account of how the soldiers died. French President Nicolas Sarkozy joined dignitaries and the soldiers' families inside Paris's Invalides palace, where France's war dead are honoured, as lines of uniformed men and women filled the boulevard outside the iconic building. Under the great dome of the Napoleonic institution rested 10 identical coffins bearing the bodies of the soldiers, whose deaths mark the largest single loss of life for any of the international forces engaged in combat in Afghanistan in more than three years.A majority of the French are opposed to the mission in Afghanistan, and the opposition Socialists are demanding a parliamentary committee meet to examine this week's battle. Reports also emerged Thursday of Afghan officials claiming that four of the French soldiers were captured and then executed by the Taliban, the CBC's Common said. Survivors were quoted as saying NATO air support arrived late and then bombarded French positions, while Afghan soldiers called in as backup reportedly also fired on the French.

Labels: Afghanistan, France, Nato

East Europe Best Not Depend on 'Obsolete' NATO - by Jeam Matouck

For the founders, the European Union was destined to become a confederation with the partial status of a sovereign state and which implied political integration. For the East, just as for the British, it should remain just a vast single market. With fear in the belly of the Russian bear, they have never relied on European integration to ensure their security. In their view, only the United States could provide that. Hence their absurd following of the Americans into the Iraqi adventure. Hence their irrepressible desire to join NATO.A grave error on their part, because the United States, entangled as it is in the Iraqi affair and with its allies in Afghanistan, won't budge for a piece of the former empire's confetti [Georgia] and perhaps not even in case of a more serious invasion. Especially since the new American leaders, starting in November, are likely to mobilize all their forces on domestic affairs.

And by the way, what is NATO? It was intended to consolidate the capitalist countries of Western Europe and the United States to defend against a supposed Soviet attack, which everyone knew to be unlikely as soon as a certain level of nuclear symmetry had been achieved. From the moment the USSR had disappeared and Russia, somewhat weakened, no longer threatened anyone, what use did it serve? We must work tirelessly to convince our Eastern European partners that in the long run, the political integration of East Europe is the best guarantor of security, and incidentally, that we haven’t welcomed them simply to finance their development or receive their homeless! And we must simultaneously maintain good relations with Russia, which is recovering and which obviously has no desire other to develop and enrich itself with dignity.

Labels: Eastern Europe, EU, Nato

NATO, Energy and War - Georgia pays price for its Nato ambitions- by Robert Parsons

Two key events well beyond Georgia's borders have triggered Russia's fury. The first was Kosovo's declaration of independence in February and the new country's subsequent recognition by many Western states. This brought a public warning from Moscow that Kosovo's move to independence could set a precedent for Georgia's two breakaway regions, Abkhazia and South Ossetia. The second was Nato's pledge at the Bucharest summit in April that membership of the Atlantic Alliance for both Georgia and Ukraine was not a matter of "if" but "when", although in deference to Russian objections, no timetable for entry was granted. This provoked Vladimir Putin, then still Russia's president, to promise more support for Georgia's breakaway regions.

Note EU-Digest : "Georgia's bid to join NATO is driven by its desire to drag other countries into its bloody undertakings, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said at a meeting Vladikavkaz to discuss measures to help those affected by the South Ossetian conflict. "I think both in Georgia and Russia, and in the rest of the world it has become absolutely clear that the desire of Georgian authorities to join NATO is motivated not by their ambition to form part of a global security system and contribute to the strengthening of international peace. Tbilisi's NATO bid is determined by other considerations, namely an attempt to embroil other nations in its bloody undertakings," Putin stressed.

The EU should react with calm to this explosive situation and not get embroiled in the emotional fallout by former Eastern European states in reaction to this conflict. The basic issue is that the subtle but very real expansion of power by NATO (US) towards the Russian border is seen by the Russians as threatening to their national security.

Labels: EU, EU Russia, Georgia, Nato, US

Afghanistan: No 1 Heroin Producer in the world: "A bottomless Pit which is hard to sell in Europe" - by Celestine Bohlen

As allied casualties mounted - more than 840 at last count - popular support for the war has waned in Europe, limiting the ability of government leaders to respond to urgent pleas for help from the United States and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, which leads the international force. Continued involvement hinges on a comprehensive plan for the country's reconstruction, which was the focus of an international conference in Paris last week. European leaders "want a new strategy that's more saleable at home," says Daniel Korski, author of "Afghanistan: Europe's Forgotten War" and a senior fellow at the London-based European Council on Foreign Relations. "It is part of an outreach to the domestic audience that there's more to this than the military component." When the war was started in late 2001 in response to the attacks of Sept. 11 against New York and Washington, the fight against Al Qaeda and its Taliban allies had broad support in both the United States and Europe, in stark contrast to the more divisive, costlier and deadlier Iraq war that began two years later. Since then, Afghanistan has increasingly been caught in a spiral of violence and corruption, fueled by a booming opium trade that has put local officials in thrall to a criminal narcotics racket.

Heroin production in Afghanistan has tripled since 2001 and now accounts for 90 percent of the world supply, according to U.S. figures. Profit from the drug trade helps fund Taliban insurgents, who have stepped up attacks. In 2003, there were three suicide bombings. In 2007, there were 130.

Labels: Afghanistan, Europe, Heroin, Nato, Taliban

American strategy in Europe hindering a common relation between Europe and Russia and introducing permanent tension - by Jesús Torque

Security in Europe has been one of the main subjects discussed at NATO Summit in Bucharest this week. It is true that it has been an historic Summit, that important decisions have been taken and all the members were happy with the results. NATO has decided to accept Croatia and Albania as members, has left Ukraine, Georgia and Macedonia in the waiting list, has given its approval to the Anti-missile system that Americans want to integrate in Poland and Czech Republic, has increased the number of soldiers in Afghanistan and has welcomed Sarkozy’s very important announcement: that France will rejoin NATO military command, which quitted in 1966.

Many decisions taken and almost all of them happy. France and Germany, for instance, are satisfied because they have been able to stop by now the extension to Ukraine and Georgia. Paris and Berlin think that Russians are too angry already with all this to make them get angrier. But it is United States the one having most reasons to be happy since it gets almost all its aims. The American strategy consists on hindering a common relation between Europe and Russia, introducing a permanent tension between Brussels and Moscow, and it is achieving it due to the successive NATO extensions.

Labels: EU, Nato, Russia, US

Putin beats Bush on points in the battle of the legacies - by Bronwen Maddox

Putin beats Bush on points in the battle of the legacies - by Bronwen Maddox

President Putin was the first winner from the Nato summit in Bucharest, and he wasn't even there. The Nato-Russia Council begins only today, but Putin, who has played the Western alliance with obsessive skill in his last months as President, ensured that relations with Russia dominated the earlier gathering. For him and George W. Bush, Bucharest was a battle of the legacies, and on points Putin won. The summit failed to give a date for Ukraine and Georgia to join, which Bush had forthrightly declared it should, but which Germany and France blocked, partly to avoid antagonising Russia. Gordon Brown yesterday said that “no one outside a Nato meeting could influence it”, but Russia's threats and courtship seem to have done just that.

Labels: Bush, EU, Nato, Politics, Putin

Allies reject Bush's call for NATO role for Ukraine, Georgia

President Bush threw the NATO summit here off-script yesterday by lobbying hard to extend membership to Ukraine and Georgia, but he failed to rally support for the move among key allies. Bush believes Ukraine and Georgia should be welcomed into a Membership Action Plan, or MAP, which prepares nations for NATO membership. The US stance contradicts German and French positions stated earlier this week, and it risked upsetting efforts to persuade Russia to soften its opposition to a missile defense array in Eastern Europe. Bush failed to win over a consensus of NATO members in a debate at a dinner of NATO leaders, a senior German official said last night, with at least seven countries lined up against him.

Labels: Bush, EU, Nato

Nato summit: George Bush abandoned over Ukraine and Georgia - by Michael Evans and Francis Elliott

President Bush was today being abandoned by his closest allies as his appeal for Ukraine and Georgia to be earmarked for Nato membership met with opposition from Britain, France and Germany.Nato leaders, including Gordon Brown according to senior officials, thought it was premature to put Ukraine and Georgia into the official Nato membership system, even though it can take ten years before a formal invitation is made to join the alliance. The British judgment is that, although there was full support for both Ukraine and Georgia, the question of "when" they joined should remain in the balance. Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, and President Sarkozy of France are of the same mind.

Labels: Bush, Georgia, Nato

Could the Bucharest NATO Summit Give Birth to an EU Army? - by Gulfstreamblues

When it comes to great expectations, few summits could be said to be generating as much anticipation recently as the NATO summit in Bucharest this week. Besides hammering out a plan to rescue the military fiasco in Afghanistan, it is set to enlarge and restructure the alliance in a way that will fundamentally change it. All indications seem to suggest that Sarkozy will push this issue hard at the NATO summit, and that the meeting could end with not only new members and a redefined mission in Afghanistan but also with a specific NATO and US blessing for an EU army, starting with the EU policing project in Kosovo. Ironically, the most important thing to come out of this meeting may be the birth of an entirely different organization that could one day replace.

Labels: EU, European Army, Kosovo, Nato, Sarkozy

For the complete report from Reuters.com click on this link

Prospect of French NATO return tilts power balance - by Paul Taylor

The prospect of France returning to NATO's military command after more than four decades of estrangement is tilting the balance of transatlantic relations. The United States is courting France as a new partner in leadership, overshadowing Britain and Germany, diplomats and analysts say, even though President Nicolas Sarkozy is likely to skirt the reintegration issue at this week's Bucharest summit of the 26-nation alliance. Sarkozy announced last year that Paris was willing to return to the military structure from which General Charles de Gaulle withdrew it abruptly in 1966, provided the European Union first made progress on a common defense capability.

The new president has taken a risk at home, since much of the political establishment is wedded to the notion of an independent French or European foreign policy and hostile to any hint of subservience to the United States.

Labels: EU, France, Nato, Sarkozy, US

Czechs trust UN, EU more than NATO says poll

Czechs trust UN, EU more than NATO-poll

Czechs still trust the United Nations and the European Union more than NATO, which is controlled by the US, according to the results of a poll.The number of Czechs who trust all three international organisations prevails over the number of those who do not trust them, the poll showed. The United Nations enjoys the highest support among Czech citizens as almost three-fifths of respondents or 59 percent said they trusted it while 24 percent said they did not trust the UN. The UN is followed by the EU that is trusted by 55 percent of Czechs while 37 percent do not trust it, and NATO that enjoys support of 44 percent of Czechs while 40 percent do not trust it. Two-thirds of Czechs are satisfied with the Czech Republic's membership in the UN while 17 percent are dissatisfied with it, and 61 percent are satisfied with EU membership and 30 percent are not satisfied with it.

Labels: EU, Nato, the Czech Republic, United Nations

America Wrong, Europe Right

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates is again beating up on Europeans for not doing more in Afghanistan, a now familiar theme in his blame-anybody-but-us strategy. With 3,200 more Marines being deployed to the country to stem the Taliban resurgence and with a new military focus on Pakistan -- and with the Iraq war seemingly put in the "pause" box -- Gates has found religion in the other war against terrorism. Speaking to NATO two weeks ago, he questioned why some were "ready to fight and die in order to protect people's security and others ... are not." In Australia this weekend, he lauded our Pacific ally's contribution, warning that military failure in Afghanistan could lead to more terrorism in Europe.

The public image that Gates has created is not only that the European contributions are weak and worthless, but that if there were more shooters from Europe, somehow the war would be going better. This is a false proposition: The Afghanistan war may require a renewal, and it may even demand greater resources. But the notion that we can just ship the Iraq surge strategy to the country and win is thoughtless, and the non-lethal European approach, as slow and excruciating as it might be to the Bush administration, is ultimately the right approach.

Labels: Afghanistan, EU, Nato

Europe: Divorce the US Military - Charles De Gaulle must be turning in his grave - by Neil Clark

Five years ago, Donald Rumsfeld arrogantly stated that the US, would, if necessary, go it alone in Iraq and attacked "Old Europe" for its opposition to the illegal war. But now, the US empire builders realize they urgently need European support. With its own military forces overstretched and its economy heading into recession, the US desperately needs the EU to fall into line, and for European troops to be sent – in their thousands – to die on the front line. That's why Condoleezza Rice spent last week scurrying frantically around Europe's capitals. The opposition of most of the EU to the Iraq war still irks the neocons and they are determined to do all they can to ensure that Europe's governments are much more pliant in the future.As welcome as recent developments in France and Poland are to the neocons, what the serial warmongers require most is to have control of the EU itself. Which is where a certain former British Prime Minister comes in. The appointment of Tony Blair as President of the European Council, with extended powers in the sphere of defense and trade would be the culmination of the neocon dream: to fully neuter Europe as alternative source of global power. While the election of Sarkozy has already neutered France, traditionally the main European source of opposition to Pax Americana; the appointment of Blair as EU President would be the final piece of the jigsaw.

Labels: EU, Europe, Military, Nato, US

French minister of defense Herve Morin accuses US of a «schizophrenic» approach to European security and criticizes European allies for an «infantile» dependence on American power

Nicolas Sarkozy is keen to improve trans-Atlantic relations and is considering a return of France's armed forces to NATO integrated military command 40 years after Gen. Charles de Gaulle pulled them out over concern about American domination of the alliance. But France is expected to link the return to American backing for a greater EU defense role. «We need a strong Europe, we also need a strong (NATO) alliance,» Morin said. The French minister also took a swipe at his German hosts and other European allies for cutting defense budgets and preferring to rely on American protection rather than building up European military muscle. «Europe does not assume enough responsibility, it simply falls into dependence,» Morin complained. «Europeans must do more to share the burden, they will only do this if they grow up.

Labels: EU, France, Nato, US

Time to Shift Focus in Afghanistan - by Christoph Hasselbach

In Europe, many NATO member countries are getting fed up with demands, primarily from Washington, for greater military involvement in Afghanistan -- demands that have persisted ever since the launch of the NATO mission. For years, Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer has been doing the rounds of the European capitals lobbying for more troops, helicopters and transport aircraft, only to be fobbed off with vague promises. Germany has finally agreed to extend its broad activities in Afghanistan by deploying reconnaissance tornados, but it refuses to send soldiers to the hostile south of the country. Given the public's waning support for the mission and Berlin's political status quo, this is simply out of the question.

Labels: Afghanistan, EU, Nato

Greece will veto Macedonia's NATO bid

Unless there is a compromise over its name, Macedonia's southern neighbor Greece will veto Skopje's effort to join NATO. The statement came Friday, from the Greek prime minister, Kostas Karamanlis.

"It is out of the question for Skopje to become a member of any organization, be it NATO or the EU, unless that country opts for adopting a name acceptable to all," he said during a televised debate in Athens.

Labels: EU, Greece, Macedonia, Nato

British Criticize US Air Attacks in Afghan Region - by Carlotta Gall

A senior British commander in southern Afghanistan said in recent weeks that he had asked that American Special Forces leave his area of operations because the high level of civilian casualties they had caused was making it difficult to win over local people.

Other British officers here in Helmand Province, speaking on condition of anonymity, criticized American Special Forces for causing most of the civilian deaths and injuries in their area. They also expressed concerns that the Americans’ extensive use of air power was turning the people against the foreign presence as British forces were trying to solidify recent gains against the Taliban.

Labels: Afghanistan, Britain, EU, Nato

Russia Pulls out of Arms Treaty over US Plans in Bulgaria, Romania

US plans to deploy conventional arms in Bulgaria and Romania made Russia withdraw from a key post-Cold War arms control treaty, a Kremlin statement said. The US plans have had "a negative impact" on Russia's compliance with the Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty, the statement said, as cited by RIA Novosti agency.

Russian President Vladimir Putin suspended Saturday the country's involvement in the arms control treaty, which limits the deployment of military craft, including tanks, jets, artillery and combat vehicles in Europe.

Labels: Nato, Russia

Russia Calls For Conference On CFE Treaty

Russia has requested an emergency conference to discuss the Conventional Forces In Europe (CFE) Treaty. The Foreign Ministry said that Russia has approached the Netherlands, the depositary of the treaty, with a request to call an emergency conference on June 12-15 in Vienna.

President Vladimir Putin last month said Russia will suspend compliance with the treaty because NATO members Slovenia and the Baltic states have not signed it, while other NATO signatories have not ratified it and are not abiding by its provisions.

Labels: Nato, Russia

Rift growing over NATO's Afghan tactics - by Peter Graff

A U.S. commander's repudiation of a cease-fire in Afghanistan that was backed by his British predecessor reveals rifts among the main Western allies over how to defeat Taliban insurgents and win hearts and minds.

The aggressive U.S. approach "doesn't seem to be in tune with the philosophy of the British Army," he said. "On several occasions, senior British commanders have expressed a desire to try to modify the allegiances of potential insurgents, rather than try to kill them."

Labels: Afghanistan, Britain, Nato

480 US nuclear warheads in Europe

A documentary aired on Italian TV channel, RAI 24, has claimed that the U.S. military is keeping 480 nuclear warheads across Europe, 90 in Italy. Fifty of the warheads are being kept at Aviano Air Base, north-east of Italy and forty others at a military facility near Brescia. The documentary warns of possible nuclear strikes against countries in the Middle East.

Pointing to remarks made by NATO's Deputy Assistant Secretary General for Weapons of Mass Destruction policy, Guy Roberts, the documentary emphasizes that all sovereign countries have the right to call on the U.S. government to remove all its nuclear weapons from their soil.

Labels: EU, Italy, Nato, Nuclear, USA, War, Weapons of mass destruction