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Europeans Weigh Defense Initiatives, NATO
(Source: Deutsche Welle German radio; issued April 13, 2005) A conference on European security has opened in Berlin. It's focusing on ways to effectively strengthen European defense efforts with a view to improving joint missions in crisis areas on the continent and elsewhere. The two-day conference in Berlin has drawn high-ranking politicians, NATO officials and EU defense experts and aims to highlight efforts to further harmonize defense cooperation within the North Atlantic Alliance and the EU's own defense initiatives. It's being held at a time when both the EU and NATO are in the process of building up rapid reaction forces, or battle groups, as European strategists prefer to call them. Both organizations are potentially drawing upon the same pools of soldiers which indicates that rivalry can never be ruled out. But in a bid to further heal transatlantic relations after the controversy over the US-led war in Iraq, assurances are being heard ever so often that the EU’s own security efforts are invariably intended to complement -- not duplicate or rival --NATO. "It would be totally wrong to view the development of European defense capabilities separately from advances within NATO," said Germany's Social Democrat Defense Minister, Peter Struck (photo). He added that both NATO and the European Union are currently making efforts to be better prepared for out-of-area missions in a bid to adapt to a fast changing security environment. "NATO must be open to reform" There can be no doubt whatsoever that in future NATO has to be the place where dialogue on transatlantic security strategies must be intensified, Struck added. "The alliance has to be open for reform," Struck added. This is what German chancellor Gerhard Schröder demanded at a recent security conference in Munich, and his words are being taken seriously by NATO leaders. Struck’s message to the conference was taken up by Alessandro Minuto Rizzo, deputy secretary-general of NATO. He made it clear that it had been wrong to try and sweep different threat perception levels on both sides of the Atlantic under the carpet and demanded that a fresh initiative be made to debate security strategies more openly within NATO. "We need to understand that NATO is not only a forum for action. We must also understand that it’s a forum for debate," said Minuto Rizzo. "During the Iraq controversy, NATO was manifestly under-utilized as a consultative forum, and we paid a high price for that," he said. "I’m confident that we’ve learned our lesson. If we want to preserve NATO as a central framework for effective multilateralism, we must engage in multilateral debate." Focus on rapid response forces Defense minister Struck said it would be in the interest of all to see the European Union reinforce its own military capabilities alongside those of NATO. He pointed to the EU’s successful peace-keeping operations in Bosnia-Herzegovina and parts of Africa. He announced that Germany would be willing to contribute 50 military observers to the 250-strong EU contingent to become active in Sudan soon. The chairman of NATO’s military committee, General Harald Kujat, himself German, left Mr Struck’s remarks uncommented and focused on the capabilities of NATO’s future rapid response forces instead. "A great proportion of the alliance’s forces will need to be deployable well away from their own territories and have the flexibility to switch rapidly between war fighting and peace keeping," Kujat said. "Future forces must be more capable of operating within a networked environment. There will be a greater need for specialist skills in areas such as engineering, communications, special operations, civil-military cooperation, logistics, medical services and intelligence." More money needed Several speakers complained about EU defense programs being gravely underfinanced. They noted that the 16 European NATO member countries together currently spend only $200 million on defense capabilities annually -- which amounts to only half of the US defense budget. |
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Basic Training |
Lets keep NATO and forget about the so called rapid reaction forces in Europe. A European army? And who's going to provide the majority of soldiers when there's going to be a campaign? Britain of course! I wouldn't trust my life with the French and the Germans thank you very much.
Not only that I'd rather have the US on my side. Hey, why don't the US and Britain become partners and set up their own rapid reaction force based around our special forces capabilities? |
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I could live with that. Throw in the Aussies and maybe the Israelis just for good measure.  |
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NATO, Russia Military Cooperation Pact
(Source: Radio Netherlands; issued Apr. 21, 2005) The conference of NATO members, currently taking place in the Lithunanian capital, Vilnius, has seen the conclusion of a military cooperation agreement between the military alliance and Russia. The deal - hailed as a milestone by NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer - will make it easier to hold joint military exercises and for NATO troops and Russian forces to cross each other's territory. It now requires the approval of the Russian parliament. Speaking at the conference, a senior NATO official said the alliance has no desire at the moment to get involved in the Middle East peace process. However, he added that it is not ruling out the possibility that it may do so in the future. Ukraine's Foreign Minister Boris Tarasyuk was also at the NATO meeting, where he announced that his country hopes to join NATO within the next three years. He said Ukraine could contribute to greater stability and security in the region. |
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Basic Training |
Russia has it's own agenda, I can't see it happening with NATO laising with their counterparts. As for Ukraine wanting to join NATO in three years time, that's one of the reason's why Moscow didn't want a pro-Nato official running the country in the first place. It's not exactly going down a storm in Moscow right now, and the fact that the Russians wouldn't want to see members of NATO on their borders because they'd feel threatened.
Putin is from the old guard, a communist through and through. Then there's this so-called exercise with the Chinese that we got to consider too, because the Chinese are ratcheting things up with Taiwan. Throw in the Russians, make out it's an exercise, but really it's telling the Taiwanese that they can invade. Which might just happen with a little help supplied by none other than Russia! NATO...good in principle just after the Second World War, but times have changed since then. Majority of those countries who opted for it are run by officials who'd rather not send their troops into war. Okay, lets get rid of those countries and reform NATO with those countries that were under the Russian rule, the likes of Poland who are willing to join. Better still lets keep what I said before, have our own Rapid Reaction Force, oh and yup, lets have the Aussies & the Israelis too. Imagine the formidable force that could be. |
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Basic Training |
To tell you the truth in Europe the most powerful country with the best economy of course is Germany itself and which has a decent army to tell you the truth. Their standard Army issue weapon G36 is a good weapon. I would combine the UK, US, Germany, Israelis and the Aussies as the rapid deployment force. |
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Once Schroeder and his "schrazis" are finally run out of office, we can consider Germany for a new reaction force...until then however...they are simply not trustworthy.
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US, Europe Still Split on NATO's Role
(Source: Deutsche Welle German radio; issued Jun 9, 2005) At the NATO Summit on Tuesday, Europe and the US will discuss the direction the alliance will take. Behind all the talk of harmony are some major differences on how much political power the organization should have. In the days after he made them, German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder's comments that NATO was no longer the "primary venue" for discussing global strategy offered a cue for every one to jump into an increasingly controversial debate. US President George W. Bush saw in them a threat to sideline the security organization and told German television that he "looked forward to reminding Gerhard Schröder that NATO is an active institution." NATO head Jan Hoop de Schaeffer, while rejecting Schröder's call to set up a panel of experts to look at rehauling the organization, said it reflected efforts he has made in recent years to make NATO more politically active. Behind the semantics are very real questions about what shape the 26-nation institution will take as Europe grows closer to forging a security and defense policy that could supplement some of NATO's tasks. It is an issue on which parts of Europe and the United States are still divided. France, for example, favors making the European Union ever stronger in defense matters, part of a grander strategy of providing a counterweight to the United States in the world. US: No NATO competition The United States, encouraging but at the same time wary of the European Union's military ambitions, is on edge when talk of changing the alliance comes up. Thierry Balzacq at the Center for European Policy Studies said the paranoia stems from plans Belgium, France, Germany and Luxembourg drew up at a summit last year calling for a military planning council that Washington saw as competition to NATO. Every time one of these countries says something, even if they're supporting NATO, the other side will always come and say 'oh, they are trying to undermine NATO's policy'," he said. When he meets with President Bush in Mainz on Wednesday, Schröder will take care to distance himself from the French position without selling out completely on Europe, said Henning Riecke, a transatlantic security expert. A certain ambiguity "I think NATO is very important for the Germans, but they aren't able to issue this NATO first principle the Americans would like to hear," said Riecke, who works for the Berlin-based Council on Foreign Relations. "So there has to be a certain ambiguity." Schröder himself left nothing to doubt when he defended his remarks two days after his defense minister read them out at the Munich Security Conference on Feb. 14. He lobbied again for an expert panel to look for ways to expand the organization's involvement in policy discussions. "I really believe that it contributes to a strengthening of NATO and transatlantic relations if we speak more openly on political issues than we have tended to in the past," he said. Providing troops - and strategic direction? At issue is whether NATO, an organization that provides the troops, weaponry and logistical support for peacekeeping missions from Afghanistan to Sarajevo, will have a greater say on how that weaponry and manpower gets used. Since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the organization has made great strides in increasing its military prowess, investing in technology and creating a rapid response force which is able to deploy anywhere in the world within a few days. But differences between some NATO allies -- like France and the US -- over the Iraq war, kept the alliance from discussing ways to increase NATO's say in strategic planning, said Riecke. "What is lacking is a strategic understanding of what these troops should be used for," he said. While NATO improved its capabilites, the EU for the first time got serious about developing a military wing. They pledged to develop a military response force simliar to NATO's and took over the organization's policing mission in Bosnia. No clear resolution Some in Washington worry that the steps taken both by NATO and the European Union are on a collision course. In the best of both worlds, the NATO would serve as the big stick to the European Union's well-intentioned diplomacy, say some observers. But NATO, and its biggest member, America, will not always have the same interests in a crisis region as the European Union. The Europeans "might need (military) capabilities to keep the neighborhood in order, like in the Balkans," said Riecke. No one expects any clear position to emerge from the NATO discussions Tuesday. Most analysts agree that Bush's visit will be a charm offensive designed to show European allies that the United States still cares. But many don't expect a more substantive indication on how their differences on NATO will get resolved. The visits by Condoleezza Rice and Bush are "clear signals that Europe is being taken seriously as a strong partner," said Reicke. We'll have to see what the wrangling on the working level will turn out to be, how this might poison the picture a bit." |
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Posting privileges suspended by Forums Administrator |
I think that the European countries should increase their defence budgets to at least 2 percent of GDP, and that they should stick to NATO and forget about their planned Rapid Reaction Force. Geramny can afford a Nimitz class aircraft carrier if it raises its defence budget to around 3 percent of GDP instead of the present 1.5 percent, or up to 6 Invincible class aircraft carriers, which will give it a very formidable power projection capability.
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And they need power projection capabilities because...??? |
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NATO to deploy peacemakers in Caucasus to oust Russia and encircle Iran
11/11/2005 link NATO is trying to intensify its activities in Russia's Caucasus. NATO officials have recently released two important statements. They particularly expressed their readiness to deploy NATO peacemakers in the conflict area of Nagorno Karabakh and render assistance in the cessation of long-standing hostility between Armenia and Turkey. NATO officer in charge of communication with South Caucasus, Romualds Razhuks, stated that NATO could deploy its peacemaking contingent in Nagorno Karabakh. The officer specified that such a measure could be possible upon the agreement of all parts involved in the conflict. Razhuks stressed out that NATO would conduct close cooperation with the OCSE, since this organization plays the leading role in the conflict zone. None of the sides of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict has supported the suggestion from the top NATO official yet. State officials from Armenia, Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan withheld comments on the matter. |
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Merkel Calls for Stronger NATO role
(Source: German government; issued Feb. 4, 2006) In the opening speech at the Munich Conference on Security Policy Chancellor Angela Merkel observed that NATO and the EU are the most successful security and value-based alliances in recent history. She said a country like Germany, with a population of 80 million, would never be able to deal with the challenges of the 21st century on its own, adding that NATO should be the prime forum for policy debates and the coordination of military action. "The erosion of government structures, terrorism, weapons of mass destruction falling into the hands of unreliable regimes - these are just a few of the challenges and threats we are facing in our time," Merkel said in her speech. Working together to deal with trouble spots As a result of globalization, the various parts of the world have become more closely linked with one another and it has become almost impossible to avoid being involved in some way in conflicts that occur elsewhere, Merkel noted, citing as examples reconstruction in Iraq, democratization in Afghanistan, and the Middle East peace process. Merkel expressed concern that Iran may be pursuing military objectives with its nuclear program, adding: "A president who denies Israel's right to exist and the Holocaust can't expect Germany to show even the slightest tolerance." NATO the basis of Alliance policy She stressed that for the German government there is only one viable response to these global challenges, saying that Germany can address these dangers only in concert with its transatlantic partners. She noted that Germany is willing to assume greater responsibility, including participation in out-of-area missions. Prime forum for security policy coordination She said that NATO needs to adjust to changes that have taken place in the world so that it can continue to be a cohesive framework for transatlantic interests and values, adding that a permanent joint analysis of threats needs to be carried out in the NATO framework. She also said that NATO should be the prime forum for consultations on new trouble spots as well as for the coordination of military action. It is only if no agreement can be reached that other options should be considered. In her view, given scarce resources, the current broad range of NATO activities should be reviewed by 2008. The Alliance is carrying out a wide variety of missions that include peacekeeping, training, transport services, advisory services, disaster relief, and security at major sports events such as the 2006 World Cup. Germany a capable partner Merkel noted that Germany, too, is faced with a major task in helping to ensure that the transatlantic partnership preserves its ability to act. It needs to recover economic strength that will open up greater latitude for foreign and security policy action. At present Germany is doing its part in Afghanistan with a contingent of 2,500 soldiers. It has around 3,500 military personnel involved in reconstruction efforts in Kosovo and Bosnia-Herzegovina. Germany has also assumed international responsibility in the Horn of Africa, Sudan, Southern Caucasus, and at the Rafah border crossing. A strong Europe for a strong transatlantic alliance Merkel noted that the process of European integration and the pursuit of a European security strategy are playing an important role in the Balkans, where it has been shown that holding out the prospect of EU membership at some time in the future is indispensable for us to be able to reduce our military presence. She indicated that NATO and the EU need security partners in other regions as well, adding that the large number of conflicts in the world underscores the need for a tight network of international cooperation. She urged support for regional organizations such as the African Union as well as stronger consultations with partners such as Australia, New Zealand, and Japan. Need for UN reform Merkel remarked that the United Nations, too, is called upon to do its part. She referred to the urgent need for UN reform to be carried out, in particular with regard to the Security Council, with a view to improving the ability of the organization to act as well as the effectiveness of its actions. She stressed that any international interventions must remain within the limits of international law: "Further development of international law must take place in the UN framework so that there is a legitimate basis, with broad support, on which it will be possible to respond to the entirely new challenges facing us in the 21st century." BACKGROUND NOTES: The Munich Conference on Security Policy looks back on a tradition of four decades. The international security community, now consisting of more than forty nations, has met annually in Munich since the early 1960s. Those who attend include armed forces personnel, military experts, ministers, legislators, and media representatives. Each year more than 250 participants come here to discuss transatlantic relations as well as European and global security. This international conference is a unique forum for the discussion of security and peace policy issues. In light of the global challenges being faced now, at the beginning of the 21st century, it provides key contributions in the process of shaping an international security architecture for the future -ends- |
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NATO should be just that...the North Atlantic TREATY Organization. It should be just a "treaty" between the countries of the North American hemisphere and Europe (to include Turkey). All the countries need to sit down and draft a real treaty of unity in the time of world crisis. Or.....NATO needs to close the book on it's history and become a part of history. The E.U. needs to stand on it's own and the U.S.A. can begin negotiating individually with all countries for basing forward military forces and supplies. With the rapidly changing world of politics/religion, it's too easy for the U.S. to lose most importantly, thousands of troops, American families overnight along with advanced weaponary equipment,and secrets that could cause grave damage to the USA. If a country would turn on us overnight in Europe, it would not be as in Panama where our forces on Panamaian soil could stand their own until the 82nd arrived within hours. Time is now to move our forces and families out. As I just heard on ABC radio news, our own southern border is being 'invaded' daily by more heavily armred and uniformed personnel. Our military is needed home, our military needs to be in stationed in 'secure' and 'safe' areas. More I think of it, NATO needs to go to the history books. France and Germany can pick up the tab from now on.
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NATO Team Embarks on Russian Navy Cruiser
(Source: NATO; issued Feb. 6, 2006) NAPLES, Italy --- For the first time since the agreement on joining Operation Active Endeavour (OAE) was signed, a team of NATO naval experts will work alongside the crew of a Russian Federation naval task group. With the aim of preparing Russian units to join NATO’s anti-terrorism operation and improving the interoperability between NATO and Russian ships, a five-person strong NATO team will embark on the cruiser RFS Moskva at Sevastopol (Ukraine) on 5 February. They will co-ordinate the training of personnel from the Black Sea Fleet headquarters and ships that will be deployed in the Mediterranean to support NATO in OAE. The first phase of the training will be held on board RFS Moskva during her transit from Sevastopol to Messina (Italy). The second phase will be in port, in which secure military communications with NATO ships will be established for the first time ever. On leaving Messina, two frigates from the Standing NATO Response Force Maritime Group 2, SPS Navarra and HMS Nottingham, will join RFS Moskva in the Ionian Sea for the third and last phase of the training. Operation Active Endeavour is NATO’s maritime contribution to the fight against terrorism. Launched in October 2001, it continues to conduct surveillance and monitoring operations of the major shipping lanes in the Mediterranean. In 2004, NATO decided to enlist the support of partner nations, Mediterranean Dialogue countries and other selected nations. In December 2004, an Exchange of Letters between the Russian Federation and NATO paved the way for joint training activities that will lead to the Black Sea Fleet deployment for Operation Active Endeavour as early as mid-2006. -ends- |
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Rapid Reaction Force on NATO Agenda
(Source: Voice of America news; issued Feb. 8, 2006) WASHINGTON --- U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld will be in Italy Thursday and Friday for an informal meeting of NATO defense ministers that is expected to focus on final preparations for expanding the alliance's role in Afghanistan and for the creation of the NATO rapid response force. VOA Pentagon Correspondent Al Pessin will be traveling with the secretary and filed this report on what is expected at the meeting. A senior defense department official who spoke on condition of anonymity says the expansion of NATO operations in Afghanistan to cover the southern part of the country will present more challenges to alliance troops. NATO activity in Afghanistan has been in the north and west, where the situation is relatively quiet, and troops have focused on stability and nation-building operations. But the south has had increased insurgent activity in recent months, and the official who spoke Tuesday said the NATO troops will have to deal with that. The deployment will add 6,000 troops to the 9,000 NATO already has in Afghanistan. It was delayed by internal political debate in the Netherlands, which will provide a substantial part of the new force, but that dispute has now been resolved. The senior U.S. official says the NATO mission in Afghanistan must succeed in order to prove that the organization's reforms are succeeding. The official says reform will also be an important topic of discussion at the meeting in Italy, including the need for the 26 NATO members to make their forces available to the alliance without too many restrictions attached. The official says progress has been made in that regard, but more needs to be done, and more members need to be convinced that NATO's mission of providing security for Europe requires more operations outside of the continent. In testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations committee Tuesday, the NATO commander, U.S. Marine General James Jones, called for the same thing. "My feeling is, we're moving in the right direction. We need to accelerate it but, generally, this is a new concept. And I think we have two kinds of transformation in the alliance, one physical and the other cultural. What do you do with the forces you have? What is NATO willing to do with it? Are we really willing to be a pro-active alliance, which I think is really the destiny of our future operations," he said. General Jones said NATO has made important progress in developing creative command structures and rules for participation in missions. The new procedures are designed to enable the organization to take on new missions like the one in Afghanistan, and operate effectively, while still enabling members to have some say over their own roles. The other senior defense official, who spoke anonymously, said that is true for the new NATO rapid response force. The official says the force will have a major exercise in West Africa in June, and is supposed to be declared operational in October. But the official says NATO members have committed only about 80 per cent of the troops needed for the force, and Secretary Rumsfeld will be pressing for more commitments at this week's meeting. The official says the Italy meeting will also include a session with the Russian defense minister, and another one with defense ministers from the seven members of NATO's Mediterranean Dialogue group. In the Russia meeting, the official says the main issues will be the sharing of radar information, strategy for fighting the drug trade in Central Asia and Afghanistan and concern over Russia's recent withholding of natural gas supplies from Ukraine in a political dispute. The official says Russia and three of the Dialogue countries will participate for the first time later this year in a NATO counter-terrorism naval operation in the Mediterranean. The three regional countries will be Morocco, Algeria and Israel, representing what the official called a "not insignificant" moment of cooperation between Israel and the two Arab countries. -ends- |
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Reid: NATO Risks Failing - Allies Must Shape Up
(Source: UK Ministry of Defence; issued Feb. 9, 2006) NATO must press on with its transformation if it is to survive in the future and the NATO Response Force is to be a success, UK Defence Secretary John Reid said today. Speaking at a meeting of NATO Defence Ministers in Italy, Mr Reid said that whilst NATO is the world's foremost defence and security Alliance, it is not guaranteed to survive and prosper unless it changes to meet modern challenges. He said that, "NATO needs to continue the momentum of it transformation programme to provide advanced, flexible, rapidly-deployable and sustainable forces. These must be supported by a fit-for-purpose headquarters that can make timely decisions". Mr Reid also said that at the moment generating forces for NATO operations remains difficult. This situation would remain until individual member states put their money where their mouth is and offer real, deployable capabilities for NATO operations. He said that Europe must do more to show that it will share risk as well as words. To do this Europe has to pay for its fair share of security by properly resourcing defence. Europe must also deliver Armed Forces fit for modern tasks and have the will to deploy them. Mr Reid said that the NATO Response Force is the centre piece of our crisis response capability. We need it to be able to carry out all the missions for which it is designed, as and when the NATO Advisory Council decides. "We must not fail to deliver. Achieving full operational capability for the NRF, and then sustaining it, is imperative for us as Defence Ministers", he said. Mr Reid paid tribute to the success of the NRF's efforts in Pakistan, highlighting how the capabilities provided by NATO and the co-ordination skills saved lives and helped towards the reconstruction of the devastated region: "NATO saved lives and helped people who had lost everything start to rebuild. We went to the aid of the Government and people of Pakistan, on whom we rely in securing the future stability of Afghanistan, at their time of need. We shall learn and build on our experience. This was a vital humanitarian mission in which the NATO Response Force played a crucial role. "But NATO today faces greater threats to its long-term future than it ever did at the height of the Cold War. Now is the time to replace immobile armies with more flexible, rapid-response forces that can deal with today's global challenges at short notice. Mr Reid also stressed that, "security is more than just a question of military hardware, or military defence". "We now have networked problems: the abhorrent phenomenon of the global terrorist network; the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction; global drug and people-smuggling networks; and global pandemics. These problems need joint economic, political and security solutions. Regional crises will no longer be confined to a regional problem; they are a real challenge to us all", he said. BACKGROUND NOTE: John Reid is attending informal meetings of Defence Ministers in Taormina, Italy, on Thursday 9 and Friday 10 February 2006. The meetings will be Chaired by the NATO Secretary General, Mr. Jaap de Hoop Scheffer. The Minister of Defence of Italy, His Excellency Mr Antonio Martino, will host the meetings at the Grande Albergo Capotaormina. -ends- |
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