Iyar 1, 5771, 05 May 11 12:39, by Amiel Ungar, (Israelnationalnews.com)
One of the payments that the Obama Administration appeared to be making for its reset in relations with Russia was to scrap the idea of basing an antimissile system in Poland and the Czech Republic.
The Bush administration viewed this as an important accoutrement to US defense in light of the potential for an "axis of evil states" to acquire nuclear capability and a delivery system.
All administration attempts to persuade the Russians that the system would not target them and that the size of the Russian arsenal would neutralize any malevolent intentions, cut no ice in Moscow.
Russia also viewed this as a prestige issue. America was rubbing in the fact that countries that were formerly part of the Warsaw Pact with Russia were now being employed as forward projections of American power.
As aforementioned, the Obama administration scrapped the idea and since then negotiations have been pursued with the Russians about linking NATO's and Russia's antimissile systems.
It therefore comes as a surprise that the United States is currently prepared to install a system in Southern Romania. Romanian President Traian Basescu announced Tuesday that his country and the U.S. have agreed to deploy missile interceptors at Deveselu as part of a missile defense shield.
Deveselu is an unused military base that was built in the Ceasescu era by the Soviet Union.
Romanian and U.S. officials also had an official ceremony to mark the agreement, with the State Secretary of Romania's Foreign Ministry Bogdan Aurescu and the visiting U.S. Under-Secretary of State Ellen Tauscher attending. Romania has been building up its NATO presence and military profile in genera,l including defense relations with Israel. A US base is also an economic and employment boon to the Romanian economy that has been welcoming foreign investment.
It is, however, unclear what reaction the Obama administration was expecting from Russia. Would the deployment in Southern Romania make it look as if this was a Balkan system rather than the East European one and thus offend the Russians less?. Perhaps the administration tired of endless negotiations with the Russians.
The Russians were quick to claim that the system would create an imbalance and pose a threat to their strategic deterrent. Russia's Ambassador to NATO called the system 'Trajan's Horse', a play on the first name of the Rumanian president.
The Russians demanded US legal guarantees that the missiles would not be aimed against Russia. Russia also signaled its eagerness for an agreement on European missile defense that would take into account regional and global security.http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/143911
http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/05/04/49847069.html
Russia may respond to US ABMs in Romania, the head of the State Duma Foreign Affairs Committee Konstantin Kosachev stated on Wednesday.
On May 3, the US and Romania agreed to deploy American missile defense system at Romania’s Deveselu base.
Moscow seeks guarantees that the system is not targeted against Russia, as the countries should be ABM-partners not rivals, Kosachev noted.
http://wiadomosci.gazeta.pl/Wiadomosci/1,80271,9547371,Czarnogora__Donald_Tusk_rozpoczal_wizyte_na_Balkanach.html
Czarnogóra: Donald Tusk rozpoczął wizytę na Bałkanach
rik, PAP 2011-05-05, ostatnia aktualizacja 2011-05-05 18:59:11.0
Premier Donald Tusk przybył do Czarnogóry. To pierwszy etap jego trzydniowej wizyty na Bałkanach Zachodnich, podczas której odwiedzi jeszcze Serbię i Chorwację.
Podczas spotkań z premierami Czarnogóry, Serbii i Chorwacji szef polskiego rządu ma potwierdzić poparcie Polski dla starań tych państw o wejście do Unii Europejskiej. - To bardzo ważna wizyta z punktu widzenia naszej prezydencji - powiedział Tusk na konferencji prasowej.
Jeszcze tego samego dnia Tusk będzie rozmawiał z premierem Czarnogóry Igorem Luksziciem. W piątek szef polskiego rządu uda się do Serbii, gdzie spotka się z premierem Mirko Cvetkoviciem oraz z prezydentem Borisem Tadiciem.
W sobotę, ostatnim dniu wizyty, Tusk będzie rozmawiał z premier Chorwacji Jadranką Kosor oraz z prezydentem Ivo Josipoviciem.
Według Centrum Informacyjnego Rządu, wizyta premiera na Bałkanach jest potwierdzeniem dużego znaczenia polityki rozszerzenia dla nadchodzącej polskiej prezydencji w Radzie UE.
Patrzą w stronę Unii
Wszystkie państwa Bałkanów Zachodnich mają perspektywę europejską. Chorwacja finalizuje obecnie negocjacje akcesyjne. Rząd w Zagrzebiu deklaruje, że do końca czerwca tego roku zamknięte zostaną wszystkie rozdziały negocjacyjne, by formalne podpisanie traktatu akcesyjnego nastąpiło już w czasie polskiego przewodnictwa w Unii - najpóźniej w grudniu 2011 r.
Z kolei Czarnogóra ma już oficjalny status kandydata do członkostwa, a Serbia może taki status uzyskać w przyszłości.
Tusk kilkakrotnie deklarował, że Polska w trakcie swej prezydencji będzie starała się doprowadzić do końca negocjacje akcesyjne Chorwacji.
Minister ds. europejskich Mikołaj Dowgielewicz powiedział, że w trakcie wizyty premier "chce się zorientować, jakie są perspektywy na takie rozwiązanie, na ostateczne decyzje, jeszcze w tym roku".
- Serbia i Czarnogóra są mniej zaawansowane w drodze do Unii Europejskiej, ale Polsce też zależy na tym, żeby promować wejście Bałkanów do Unii i chcemy wysłać mocny sygnał wsparcia dla ich transformacji i drogi do Unii Europejskiej - podkreślił minister.
Zdaniem Dowgielewicza, Tusk zamierza także zaproponować udzielenie Serbii, Chorwacji i Czarnogórze wsparcia m.in. w kwestii wykorzystania funduszy unijnych czy polityki regionalnej.
Jak zaznaczył, polscy eksperci mogliby również pomóc Chorwatom w przygotowaniu do referendum akcesyjnego, które czeka Chorwację jesienią lub na początku przyszłego roku.
http://en.rian.ru/mlitary_news/20110503/163839505.html
19:40 03/05/2011
Chief of the Russian General Staff Gen. Nikolai Makarov and NATO Military Committee Chairman Admiral Giampaolo Di Paola will sign the NATO-Russia Council's Consolidated Glossary of Cooperation in Brussels on Wednesday, a spokesman for NATO's Military Committee, Massimo Panizza, said.
The document will be signed during a meeting of the commanders of the general staffs of all of the 29 member states of the Russia-NATO Council, which will be held in the NATO headquarters in Brussels.
The glossary contains over 6,000 terms and covers key areas of NATO-Russia political and military cooperation; it will introduce a "unified conceptual framework" to help servicemen rapidly reach understanding, Russia's envoy to NATO Dmitry Rogozin said.
Panizza called the glossary the fruit of the ten year's of diplomatic work and added that common understanding of key terms is crucial.
The participants of the meeting will discuss the progress which has been achieved in the implementation of the plan of military cooperation between Russia and NATO in 2011, Panizza added.
This is the second joint meeting of the heads of the general staffs of the NATO-Russia Council member states in 2011. The first was held in January.
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20110504/163858404.html
20:35 04/05/2011
Russia has offered NATO a mid-term military cooperation plan for a period of three to five years, chief of the General Staff Nikolai Makarov said on Wednesday.
"This approach will help define exactly what we want to achieve as a result of our cooperation," he told reporters in Brussels.
"This will enable us to look beyond the horizon," Gen. Makarov said, adding that "corresponding instructions have already been issued to military representatives of the NATO-Russia Council."
Russian-NATO cooperation needs to be geared more toward practical results, he said.
Makarov cited an upcoming large-scale submarine exercise off the Spanish coast near Cartagena as a successful example of Russia-NATO cooperation.
The 12-day exercise, code-named Exercise Bold Monarch 11, will be held in June. It is held every three years and is the world's largest submarine rescue exercise, involving submarines, ships and aircraft from both NATO and non-NATO countries, including Russia.
This will be the first time a Russian submarine has participated in any NATO exercise.
Some 2,000 military and nonmilitary personnel from over 20 countries will participate in the exercise that is designed to maximize international cooperation in submarine rescue operations.
Thursday, May 5, 2011
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