[A-List] "Nato weakened"

[Chris Burford <cburford@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Revealing passage from

"How to save the western alliance" [!]

 placed in the Observer (London) 28 Apr 2002 presumably to influence the
UK Labour government.

This is designed to maintain military cooperation between the USA and the UK

 by  Henry R. Nau

> Professor of Political Science and International Affairs at the Elliott
> School of International Affairs, George Washington University and author
> of 'At Home Abroad: Identity and Power in American Foreign Policy'
> (Cornell University Press, 2002)


for Chatham House


> This article will appear in the January issue of The World Today,
> published by the Royal Institute of International Affairs at Chatham House.


re NATO


Nato weakened

> At the very least, Washington should have requested a battalion or brigade
> of forces under NATO command to assist its operations in Afghanistan.
>
> This decision will come back to haunt the United States. NATO is being
> progressively weakened as a military organisation. After a troublesome
> experience in Kosovo, it is not being used in out-of-area conflicts.
> Instead, the United States is unilaterally deploying a growing number of
> forces to combat terrorism - in Yemen, Georgia, Pakistan, the republics of
> central Asia, and the Philippines. America is sticking its neck out beyond
> the multilateral consensus. Even if it succeeds, will the alliance be
> there to support the peacekeeping that follows?
>
> At the same time that America neglects NATO, the alliance is becoming
> increasingly unwieldy. It is expanding to include new members and deepen
> its relationship with Russia. A new council of twenty - the nineteen NATO
> members plus Russia - proposes to make certain decisions collectively.
>
> If NATO was always an awkward alliance to use in the post-Cold War world,
> it is becoming even more so with expansion. And deepening ties with Russia
> threaten to impose a de facto veto on its operations, especially in areas
> such as Georgia or the Baltic states where Russia is most concerned about
> NATO intervention.


Much of the article is about what needs to happen for the USA to be able to
overthrow Saddam Hussein in Iraq. It sounds vital for Blair to give the US
political cover because NATO is out of the question as an instrument for
attacking Hussein.

http://www.observer.co.uk/worldview/story/0,11581,706052,00.html


Chris Burford

London