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NATO
Continents of Kosovos Await British Forces
in US Vision for NATO Strategy
8 March 1999
NATO has proved unable to end the Balkan wars that have been
spreading South since 1990. In November 1991, while Dubrovnik
was being shelled by the Yugoslav army, NATO agreed its present
strategy in Rome with the promise of extending stability in
Europe.
Eight years after the Rome summit, the Balkan wars continue.
According to BASIC's research the new NATO strategy review
so far contains no new crisis management initiatives or any
proposals for reducing armaments in Europe, be they nuclear,
heavy weapons or small arms. NATO last updated its arms control
concept in 1989.
The major issues in the strategy review concern when to bring
new states into NATO and how to manage military intervention.
Little attention is being paid to managing conflicts in order
to provide exit strategies for troops deployed in peace-support
missions. BASIC recommends a comprehensive policy agenda in
its new report "A Risk Reduction Strategy for NATO: Preparing
for the Next Fifty Years".
While London hosts ceremonies for the 50th anniversary of
NATO, British and other European forces are poised to be deployed
in Kosovo. European leaders hail the ability of European forces
to act independently of the US.
At the NATO Summit in Washington DC on 23-25 April, Alliance
leaders are likely to endorse plans to expand NATOs commitments.
The US Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright, described her
vision of NATOs future as "a force of peace from the Middle
East to Central Africa". Other NATO states are pushing for
Alliance membership for other Eastern European nations.
With the US continuing to press for a global role for NATO
there is widespread concern in European capitals that Europeans
should not have been so quick to commit so many forces without
a similar commitment from the US.
NATO enlargement only increases the concern that if new members
seek military help, the US will again require Europeans to
shoulder all or most of the burden. Europeans are unaware
that isolationist Senators in the US have already obtained
a pledge from the administration that Article V tasks will
be treated on a case-by-case basis (document available on
request). In these circumstances the most loyal allies of
the US will feel the need to provide forces first to help
NATO solidarity, and these forces will tend to be British.
"The extension of Allied commitments without proper consideration
of its implications for British forces is short-sighted to
say the least", says Daniel Plesch, director of BASIC.
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