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Weekly Report
NATO Strategic Concept's revision is an opportunity for the European Union 989 words - Change is inevitable and it's already taking place de facto with the revision of NATO Strategic Concept. As a new political, diplomatic and strategic environment emerges, there are new trends like climate change, energy or cyberthreat that will durably affect international security and NATO's mission as well. NATO countries face a new strategic landscape. "New technologies, new adversaries, and new ideologies threaten our security, and (...) there is little certainty about the future," U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told a seminar on 22 February 2010. Considering that in such new conditions, West's influence is very likely to decline while instability grows and multipolarity becomes the strategic standard, there is absolute need to reconsider the scope, the role and the task of NATO as a military organization and as what it must become to take up ongoing and upcoming challenges. First task would consist of strengthening the Euro-American relationship after European complaints that the Obama administration doesn't care about Europe the same way its predecessors did. Indeed, many European officials voiced concern Asia became the top priority of U.S. foreign policy while, despite criticism from Washington circles, the Europeans remain the best and most powerful allies of the United States. Second task would be to agree on the threats' assesment and how to counter them. For example, Europe (mostly countries from Eastern Europe) sees more Russia as a threat than the U.S. does, especially because of energy crisis and 2008 South Ossetia War. Last year, the dramatic change brought to the controversial anti-missile shield which Polish and Czech officials described as "unilateral" cast some doubt over United States's consideration for Europe. The re-configuration of the anti-missile shield project finally made Russia even more unhappy than with the project of the Bush's years, especially because of its mobile components. And on such an important issue, a European consensus doesn't exist and that will be needed to give NATO its 21st century posture and its coherence. Yet there are very encouraging signs that show the United States would be willing to let Europe plays a greater role inside NATO and on the international stage too. The EU now plays a growing role in overall transatlantic relations and is developing its capacities in the areas of foreign policy and defense because of significant changes which result from the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty. Analysts agree that the EU adopted a broad definition of "security" that does not exactly fit with the one covered by NATO's treaty, among them energy and climate change. Political, social and economic dimensions have taken an importance which exceeds the military dimensions of NATO and which already prove decisive in what happens today, i.e. in Iran or in Darfur. Consequently, Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty, which says that an attack against one is an attack against all, will have to provide with a common and proportional response to emerging threats although it will remain the bedrock of the alliance. The Americans remember NATO's decision to invoke Article 5 for the first time in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. "It was the attacks of Sept. 11 and the Afghanistan campaign that turned what had been theoretical analysis into reality," U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said at the National Defense University on 23 February 2010. "Few would have imagined that the first invocation of Article 5 in the alliance's history would follow an attack on the United States homeland by a nonstate entity based in a nation far beyond NATO's traditional borders - a desperately poor country scorned and ignored by the international community," he underlined. According to American officials, the main issue for the future of NATO is that the European Union (EU) still does not live up to its potential due to contradictory forces into it that both encourage and oppose further development of the EU itself. As a result, NATO lacks needed capabilities and it renders both institutions less effective. Thus, a fundamental reconfiguration must support the building of a stronger EU. What's new is that there is greater consensus in Washington D.C. that a stronger EU will serve the long-term interest of a reinforced and more coherent NATO. Also, the U.S. seems to have great expectations with the Lisbon Treaty. France's rejoigning the NATO integrated military command structure on 4 April 2009 sent a very strong signal that continuing U.S. doubts on the consequences of a European defense were empty. The U.S. wants a deepening and more concrete, practical and operational partnership with the EU but the latter's defense efforts are too weak and must invest much in defense capabilities. Some U.S. officials rather see the EU as the civilian part of operations while the U.S. would be the military one. To ride on the current wave of U.S. openness in its best interests, the EU must take a unified stance as for the revision of the NATO Strategic Concept. The U.S. apparently agrees with greater EU decision-making on the condition that the EU shares the burden as well. On 26 February 2010, the EU and NATO have agreed to set up a stable cooperation framework for joint and coordinated action, optimisation of resources and increasing operational safety and efficiency when they coincide in the same operational theatre, a statement by the Spanish Presidency reads. Such a cooperation will initially be centred on the joint use of transport helicopters and coordination of programmes to counter improvised explosives of the type that are found along roads in conflict zones. The EU-27 have decided to formally propose this initiative at the Council of Defence Ministers in Luxembourg at the end of April 2010 as part of the process of reinforcing its role under the terms of the Treaty of Lisbon. In the end, it is likely the changing world will give shape to the idea that the U.S. and a EU that is more autonomous and more capable in defense and security issues don't compete but aim at reaching the same objectives. Not a member yet?
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Over recent decades, "Europe has been the region with the greatest capacity for economic growth and for building a welfare state. We must make a huge effort to regain and maintain that lead. Our foreign policy will be a decisive factor in creating the means that the world will use to tackle the challenges of the future", President of the Spanish Government, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero told Conference of Foreign Affairs Committee Chairpersons (COFACC) in Madrid on 25 February 2010. "We need political will to ensure a shared vision of international relations that can support multilateralism, the peaceful resolution of conflicts, solidarity with the underprivileged, and to spread democratic systems across every continent", he added, stressing the foreign action of the European Union (EU) should include defending its economic interests. Full Article for Subscribers (1415 words)  Iran mobilizes its supports, deepens ties with Syria
During his two-day stay in Syria on 25-26 February 2010, Iranian President Ahmadinejad met and conferred with his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad, a group of Palestinian leaders and Secretary General of Lebanese Hezbollah Hassan Nasrallah. His visit was in response to August 2009 visit to Tehran of Syrian President al-Assad. According to Iranian statements, Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, Minister of Housing and Urban Development and the Iranian head of the Iran-Syria Joint Economic Commission, Ali Nikzad, Head of the Presidential Office Esfandiar Rahim Mashaie, President's senior aide Mojtaba Samareh Hashemi and a number of Majlis deputies accompanied the President in his visit. With top Syrian officials, they emphasized the strength of bilateral ties and discussed issues related to mutual ties as well as regional and international developments. Full Article for Subscribers (895 words)  Australia faces a range of complex security challenges
On 23 February 2010, Australia launched (pdf) its 2010 Counter-Terrorism White Paper titled Securing Australia, Protecting Our Community. As Australia faces a range of complex, dynamic and evolving security challenges, the National Security Statement of 2008 previously set out the Government's vision for a coherent approach to addressing these challenges. An official statement reads that this White Paper reflects a number of improvements to Australia's approach to counter-terrorism. and that for the first time, it brings together, in a comprehensive manner, Australia's response to terrorism both domestically and internationally. Full Article for Subscribers (751 words)  Organized crime requires the same attention as terrorism
Transnational issues, including drug trafficking and organized crime, are increasingly on the Security Council's agenda. This reflects the seriousness of the threat as drug trafficking and organized crime affect almost all aspects of the United Nations work: development, security, the environment, and the rule of law. A major step towards a tougher combat against organized crime has been Security Council's presidential statement of 8 December 2009 on peace and security in Africa that called (pdf) for the issue of drug trafficking and organized crime to be mainstreamed into the United Nations work throughout the conflict cycle. Full Article for Subscribers (700 words)
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